Twenty-five years after Marlon Wayans and his brothers collaborated on the second — and their last — installment of “Scary Movie,” his father had a great idea.
Do another one, Howell Stouten Wayans told his youngest son.
“He's like, 'You guys do great work together. You should do another ‘Scary Movie’,” Marlon Wayans recalled. “I was like, ‘Man, you know how hard it is to work with these sons you made?’ And he was like, ‘I know, but I think there's something special in you guys' work’.”
Wayans couldn’t disagree. He and brothers Shawn and Keenen Ivory wrote, produced and starred in “Scary Movie” in 2000 and the 2001 sequel “Scary Movie 2.” Both were universally panned by critics, but were box office hits; the original brought in $278 million in revenues while the sequel made $141 million.
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But still, the idea of going back there …
“I said, ‘All right, for you’,” Wayans said. “The Bible says honor thy mother and father, and I did, although my brothers are annoying as all hell. And believe me, I went through the proverb that said, ‘Sell thy brothers to another family.’ I would.”
It’s a safe bet that Wayans will mention his brothers at some point when he makes his Tucson stand-up comedy debut at Fox Tucson Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 10.
The show is technically part of his “Problem Child Tour” that he has been doing since last year, but he said he has changed it so much, he’s considering renaming the tour “Ugly Baby.”
Actor/comedian Marlon Wayans will make his Tucson standup debut with a show Saturday, Oct. 10, at Fox Tucson Theatre.
“It's a completely different set,” he said. “The ‘Wild Child Tour’ was really about my having a trans child, so that those jokes are mostly about them and the transition and my transition dealing with their transition, getting from denial to acceptance and the five stages of grief I went to.
"This one is just more about me and more personal. It's like every show I do, I get more and more personal. Start peeling away layers of an onion, you get to the real stuff that makes you cry, and you go, ‘Yeah, this is really good stuff’.”
The 54-year-old Wayans has been doing stand-up for about 15 years after deciding he had hit a professional plateau and wanted to learn something different.
“If you know everything, learn something new,” he said. “And so I was a star for a long time, and I'm trying to be a superstar. And I think in order to do that, I was like, you know, I gotta perfect my craft, and so I just got on the stage and became this awesome performer.”
Doing standup has helped Wayans become “a better storyteller, a better joke writer. Just an all-around performer,” he said.
“I'm less desperate, which allows you to sit in the pocket. It changed me from just being a funny guy to (being) a visionary,” he said.
When he’s on stage, Wayans said he slips into “a whole other world” where he gets lost in the moment.
“I'm performing and I'm having a good time, and I think the audience feels that,” he said. “I have a good time on that stage and they have a good time with me.”
His stand-up complements the film career that he started when he was still in high school and big brother Keenen Ivory had him appear as a pedestrian in his 1988 comedy “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.”
Four years later, he got his big break in the Fox sketch comedy series “In Living Color,” created and written by Keenen Ivory and featuring siblings Damon, Kim and Shawn, with brother Dwayne working behind the scenes.
From 1995-99, he starred in the popular WB sitcom “The Wayans Bros.” with brother Shawn; the pair co-wrote and co-produced the series.
He and Shawn also co-wrote and produced the slapstick comedies “White Chicks” in 2004 and “Little Man” in 2006.
Comedian Marlon Wayans reunited with his brothers to resurrect their comedy “Scary Movie,” which parodies horror movies.
And per his father’s wish, Marlon and Shawn revisited “Scary Movie” for the 2026 version, released to theaters in June. The movie, critically panned like the other two installments they made, grossed $231 million worldwide.
Despite their history of filmmaking success, Wayans said his brothers still “bully” him.
“Because I'm the youngest, they do all kind of pranks,” he said. “In most families, you're the youngest, you're the baby; in my family, (I’m) the butt of every joke.”
Comedian DC Ervin opens Saturday’s 8 p.m. show at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St. Tickets are $24-$70 through foxtucson.com.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
