Comedy legend Damon Wayans called fellow icon Jim Carrey the “Eminem” of In Living Color.
During an appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, Wayans shared how he always knew Carey was destined for fame when he introduced him to his brother Keenan Ivory Wayans.
“I truly knew he was special, special, and it didn’t take Keenen [Ivory Wayans] long to go, ‘He’s the guy’, ’cause they saw every white boy in Hollywood for that role,” Wayans told Sharpe. “He’s our Eminem.”
“Me and Jim used to be in the comedy clubs. Jim Carrey is a master impressionist. Like, he does like Sean Penn, like weird, like Michael Landon,” he recalled. “He would get standing ovations in the comedy club, doing a 20-minute. Now, any comedian will tell you that’s damn near impossible. There’s few and far between that can do that; that’s how good he was. But he hated doing the impressions ’cause people thought that’s all he did.”
“Me and [Carrey], after Sam Kinison made it, we made a pact that we were going to push each other,” he continued. “So [Carrey] would go on stage, he could not do his impressions and we’d just yell out stuff to him, and he would do the same thing for me. And we would just challenge each other on stage. We had nothing to lose.”
Wayans also shared how In Living Color was the launching pad for several other comedians.
“When I see Jim, it’s all love. It’s like, that’s how you know you’re family,” Wayans said. “Like when you see your old teammates, you just pick up like it was yesterday … Instant connection, and we’re just talking about anything without resentment without— just love. David Alan Grier, Tommy [Davidson], it’s all love — Jamie. Because we fought a fine fight and we won.”
In Living Color debuted on Fox on April 15, 1990, and ran for five seasons, until May 19, 1994.