Marlon Wayans says that cancel culture has caused comedy to be in a “recession” for ther last 15.
In a recent GQ interview promoting his film Scary Movie 6, Wayans shared his thoughts on the comedy landscape.
“I feel like for the past 15 years, we’ve been in a recession in terms of comedy,” Wayans said. “I think people are scared. And I think executives are scared, like, ‘You can’t say that, you can’t say this,’ and it’s like, you’re right. You can’t, but I can.”
Wayans explained that he knows how to toe the line.
“I know how and when to make an audience laugh with dark stuff,” said Wayans. “I do it all the time.”
“Those are a bunch of sensitive ass people that ain’t going to watch my show anyway,” he continued.
Wayans also spoke about Tony Hinchcliffe’s controversial joke about George Floyd at Kevin Hart’s roast.
“You gotta understand, if you take it there, and you go there, and you get that ‘Ooooooh,’ you better make sure the laugh is worth the offense,” Marlon Wayans said. “That laugh doesn’t hit, and that meter falls fast in your face.”
“It just wasn’t funny enough, and in this case, it’s too sensitive, and he didn’t find the right joke,” he added. “If you find the right joke and George Floyd’s family laughs, you did the right joke. If you go there, you’d better come out with some laughs, and his mother better be laughing the hardest.”
Additionally, the Wayans family have returned to the Scary Movie franchise for the first time since 2001. Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Ivory Wayans have reunited to write and produce the “rebooquel,” a creative homecoming sparked by a final wish from their late father, Howell Wayans. He wanted to see his sons collaborate once again.
”I got my brothers and me together to come back to a franchise that we were removed from,” Marlon said. “And I think the assignment is to bring back the cast, bring back me and my brothers working together, and to bring back big-ass laughs. The world needs a big-ass laugh.”