Shawn Wayans had plenty of in-house (literally) influences, with older brothers Keenen Ivory and Damon and younger brother Marlon competing for laughs at the Wayans' family home.
Even after Keenen Ivory launched Shawn's acting career by hooking him up on the early 1990s TV show “In Living Color,” Shawn was intense about pursuing a career in stand-up comedy. He got up on stage and told jokes for the first time at 17.
The most influential advice about comedy came from outside the family.
“Most of the guys I came up with are doing quite well,” Shawn Wayans says. “Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle — they're doing fine. Rock was older, he used to take me out to comedy clubs and school me on the game.”
After doing sets in his budding-comedian days, Wayans wanted to hang out at the club, enjoy the attention of fans and soak up the atmosphere. Chris Rock would have none of that.
“He said, ‘Go home and write!,' ” Wayans said, dialing up a raspy-voiced Rock imitation. “He would always say, ‘Screw the club! I'm a nobody! That means you're nobody to the nth degree! Now go home and write.'
“Over time, I really understood it.”
The comedy-is-a-business message resonated over the years. So here Shawn Wayans is, after starring in (and writing) TV shows like “The Wayans Bros.” and movies like “White Chicks,” still doing his live comedy.
Asked to compare his comedy style now to when he started, Wayans gives a scornful laugh.
“It's a whole ‘nother ballgame,” he says. “Nobody is the same comedian they were at 17 — and if you are, you need to quit.”
Wayans launches what he expects to be a busy 2017 with mid-January shows at the Pittsburgh Improv.
“I really love Pittsburgh,” he says. “I think it's a pretty charming place. Love the people.”
The Manhattan-raised, Los Angeles-based performer was asked what he thinks of, when he thinks of Pittsburgh: “Now that I've been there a few times, I think of bridges and Christmas. Pittsburgh loves Christmas. I'm a big Christmas holiday guy, so I know when someone really loves the holiday. I could feel the spirit. I was there in July, they still had Christmas trees up.”
Christmas and New Year's and Wayans' holiday gatherings will be in the rear-view mirror by the time Shawn Wayans hits Pittsburgh. It will be time to start thinking about his 2017 (he turns 46 on Jan. 19).
After a hot stretch that saw him in hit-and-miss movies like “Scary Movie,” “Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood,” “White Chicks,” “Little Man” and “Dance Flick,” Wayans has been off the big screen for more than five years.
He hopes that changes, this year. Shawn Wayans' plans for 2017: “More standup. Creating some more TV stuff,” he says. “And writing some films.”
As Chris Rock would say, “Go home and write!”
Tom Scanlon is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
