By Chuck Darrow
If you’re looking for laughs, Caesars Atlantic City is the place to be Friday evening. But if you tend to be, shall we say, sensitive, about certain subjects, then probably not.
“There’s no space for fear in comedy. How do you be funny if you’re scared?” asked multi-hyphenate Marlon Wayans, who recently called to beat the drum for his appearance tomorrow at the midtown pleasure dome.
“The first thing you learn in comedy is, you don’t let the audience dictate your thoughts. Either they’re gonna agree or disagree, but either way you gotta say what you gotta say.
So, he doesn’t self-censor when conjuring a new standup set?
“Absolutely not. I don’t give a f—,” he insisted. “I think no comedian needs to, because that ‘cancel culture’ is only a thing created by social media. It’s not true. It’s not what people feel.
“Real people really still like to laugh. I’m on a stage every weekend. I say some of the craziest stuff, and guess what? People still laugh. They wanna laugh. So, I’m here to debunk that whole theory, that whole ‘cancel culture’ theory. If, [someone] cancels me, good; that means you wasn’t my fan to begin with.”
In the comedy realm, the common route to fame and fortune often begins at the standup level. Mega-stardom is conferred upon comics who make the transition from the stage to TV or, less commonly, film (Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano and Roseanne Barr are but three examples that come to mind). But Wayans, 52, turned that process on its head.
He first came to prominence as a cast member—along with his brothers Damon, Keenan and Shawn and sister, Kim–as well as Jim Carrey—of the barrier-smashing sketch-comedy series “In Living Color,” which aired on the Fox network in the first half of the 1990s. When the show’s run ended in 1995, he segued (with Shawn) to “The Wayans Bros.,” a sitcom that ran through 1999 on the long-defunct WB network.
While he had small parts in films including “I’m Gonna Get You, Sucka,” which was directed by Keenan, and Darren Aronofsky’s grim, but acclaimed, “Requiem For A Dream,” it was in 1998 that he became a Hollywood “player” as producer of the first “Scary Movie” flick, which lampooned the big horror films of the day. Wayans, who divulged that he was named for Marlon Jackson of The Jackson 5, likewise supervised production of the sequel, “Scary Movie 2.” Since then, he has appeared in some 20 movies, including “White Chicks” and “Air.”
All of which means he was a late-comer to the live-comedy universe.
“Actually, I didn’t do standup until about 13 or 14 years ago,” he offered. “I kind of reverse-engineered my entire career. And now I think all my other disciplines are kicking in with the standup. There’s just something really special starting to happen on that stage.
“Just every day, every show, every weekend I get better. And if you watch my progression in movies, you’ll see my performances in the movies have gotten better. My drama has gotten better, my writing is getting better. Standup has just been like this awesome playground or gym where I could go to and perfect my art.”
Wayans’ most-recent Amazon Prime-streaming special, “Marlon Wayans: Good Grief,” dropped earlier this year and immediately went to the outlet’s number-one viewership spot. His current road trip, dubbed the “Wild Child Tour,” will likewise result in a special. He noted that, as always, his act is constantly changing and evolving, which means no two performances are identical.
“Every night, I allow myself the space to create,” he said. “Every night, I don’t just go verbatim word for word. It’s gotta be perfect–no, it doesn’t. It has to be imperfect until it’s time to shoot it for a special, then I’ll rehearse to get it perfect, or as perfect as I can. But every night is special. I allow myself the freedom to, if something happens, to work with it.”
Besides being the laboratory for his video specials, Wayans, who also co-stars as Lou on the Peacock streaming series, “Bel Air,” suggested he enjoys doing standup because of its solitary nature.
“Doing standup really allows you to focus on you,” he reasoned. “Standup allows me to be concerned with just me, but also how I’m affecting the crowd. And it’s continuing to foster me as a creative visionary. I’m an actor, producer, star, director and writer. Every night [onstage], I’m working my instincts.”
In addition to releasing his next standup-comedy offering, Wayans’ 2025 plans include acting in “Him,” a psychological thriller being produced by director Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions. So, is there anything else on the horizon?
“Just staying on the stage,” he replied, “and seeing just how great my mama made me.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Lauper heading to Hard Rock
It seems like more and more really significant and high-profile concert tours are missing Atlantic City these days, but at least one is headed our way.
On Dec. 7, Cyndi Lauper will be checking in at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City as part of her career-closing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour.”
The road trip kicks off tomorrow in Montreal, so there’s no way of knowing exactly what’s on the set list. But it’s fair to assume—given this is her last waltz, the show will be chock-full of her most beloved tunes including “Time After Time,” “True Colors,” “Change of Heart” and, of course, the song that blasted her career into the stratosphere, 1984’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
