Cautionary advice from Eddie Murphy turned into a prophecy for the future “In Living Color” star.
We gonna talk about it."
“I felt like I was born to be onSaturday Night Live.
“Mr. Monopoly” sketch on “SNL” starring Damon Wayans, Griffin Dunne, Jon Lovitz, and Randy Quaid.Credit:R.M. Lewis Jr./NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
So I was not nervous for the audition,” Wayans began.
TheSNLsuperstar shared some words of wisdom when Wayans was cast on the show in 1985.
“Eddie’s advice to me was, ‘Write your own sketches.
Damon Wayans and Lorne Michaels.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Slaven Vlasic/Getty
“But they would shoot my ideas down.”
He cited Al Franken in particular as not meshing with his frame of reference.
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Slaven Vlasic/Getty
“Everything Eddie said came true.
Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier on ‘SNL’ as their ‘In Living Color’ characters the Men on Film.Saturday Night Live/Youtube
They started writing me in their sketches,” he said of roles that felt like stereotypes.
He noted there were times he had to outright refuse a part the white writers created for him.
“I’m like, ‘Hell no.’
I said, ‘Listen, my mother’s gonna watch this show.
I can’t do this.
I won’t do this.'”
“And then Lorne fired him pretty much as he walked off the stage.”
I just did not care,” Wayans reflected.
“I purposefully did that because I wanted [Michaels] to fire me,” he explained.
Michaels called firing Wayans “really, really hard, but it had to be done.”
He currently stars onPoppa’s Housewith his son,Damon Wayans Jr.
