In Living Color: The Show that Launched 12 Major Careers
Wednesday, April 15 marked the anniversary for the introduction of the half-hour comedy show In Living Color. The show had a short four year run, but during that time it broke racial barriers thanks to its group of unknown actors and comedians that included Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, Kelly Coffield, Kim Coles, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier, T’Keyah “Crystal” Keymáh, Damon Wayan, Kim Wayans and the show’s producer Keenan Ivory Wayans.
The show was inspired from the streets and included a variety of hilarious skits, but there is so much more that can be learned about the show. Here are 6 facts about In Living Color.
A change in logo was needed due to a lawsuit.
For the first six episodes, the show used an exotic-looking logo, but the band Living Colour claimed the show stole their name and logo, so the logo was changed.
Queen Latifah was the first musician to perform on the show.
In Living Color was known for live music performances from season 2 and on. Queen Latifah was the show’s first performer followed by more big names like Mary J. Blige and Tupac.
Fox’s censorship increased as the seasons continued.
Fox decided to censor the show more and more as the seasons went on, especially after In Living Color produced a live Super Bowl halftime special sketch where Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier suggested that Richard Gere and Carl Lewis were homosexuals.
The Wayans Family left the show by the final season.
Even though Keenan Ivory Wayans was a writer and producer for the show, and his siblings were featured in several seasons, by the final season, they had nothing to do with the show.
Rosie Perez choreographed The Fly Girls.
For the first four seasons, Rosie Perez was the choreographer for The Fly Girls in-house dance troupe for In Living Color. One of the dancers went on to become one of the biggest names in Hollywood–Jennifer Lopez.
In Living Color poked fun as race relations and social issues in the United States
The show produced many skits that poked parodied race relations and social issues such as Jim Carrey as Snow and Vanilla Ice…Damon Wayans as the abusive Home D. Clown…and Grier along with Damon as two gay movie critics in Men on Film.
Source: article by Kristina Byas in The Reel Network
