Marlon Wayans: Wild Child Tour

Adam Davidson, Special to The Detroit News: February, 2025

The tour is a raw and introspective comedy show as he opens up about his journey to understand and accept his child who came out as transgender and mourn the death of his parents.

“I’m grateful that God gave me the ability to do stand-up and comedy and to take my broken heart and turn it into art. It’s been a lifesaver,” said Wayans. “Some people look in the newspaper, on TV or in pop culture for their jokes but I look at myself, I look at my life and I look at my pain and go, ‘What’s funny about this?’”

For Wayans, comedy has a unique therapeutic power as he believes that regardless of what you’re experiencing in life, laughter can be the best medicine.

“We are in such a bad place in this world. You know why? There’s no comedies on TV or in the movie theaters.  What happened to the laughter? What happened to the big comedies that we used to have? What happened to the good times that we used to have,” said Wayans.

“People need to be reminded of that sentiment of humor and how important it is. This is why I stay on tour, I feel like this is my calling. It’s my way of contributing to the world by making people laugh and smile. The world got too serious and I think we just need to laugh again.”

As comedy meets therapy, Wayans is unashamedly vulnerable and honest about his flaws and his emotions. Comedy is a coping mechanism that is ingrained in the Wayans’ family DNA as they find comedy in even the darkest moments.

“As soon as something happens, I digest it and take the pain and sadness and store it away for when I do dramas. I take the comedy and I immediately extract what’s funny out of every situation. The worst thing can happen and I’ll be the first to crack jokes,” said Wayans.

“It’s been our family recipe," he added. "Me and my brothers are crazy people, we will be at funerals laughing and finding the jokes. It’s never too soon to laugh if you can find the humor. The quicker you get to the laugh, the quicker you get to healing.”

“Detroit people are crazy, y’all love to laugh! They want to hear the real. They don’t want to hear all these politically correct jokes, no. People want to laugh. People are reminded to laugh at stuff that’s not supposed to be funny, said Wayans. “The [people of Detroit] don’t want you to be soft, they want that hard stuff. And my show, for as crazy and irreverent as it is, there’s a sweetness to it, too.”

Wayans is not taking his foot off the gas. He’s going full-throttle to reinforce his family’s legacy in the comedy world with more projects in the works.

“It’s all starting to come together," Wayans said. "For me, it’s been a 40-year journey — 35 of them professionally. I’ve been dreaming and working toward becoming what I had become for over 40 years. And before me, my brothers were doing it, too.”

“I don’t just look at it as building Marlon as a brand but I look at the Wayans brand as we are needed. We are going to come back in a really big, meaningful way. Now is the time to make the brand a staple. We are like a Disney. Disney was beautiful for families and kids. We are beautiful for families and young adults.”

Marlon and his brothers, Keenan and Shawn, will write and produce a new “Scary Movie” film, which will start shooting this year. Just like the original movies, Wayans has promised to continue to push the boundaries to make people laugh.

“It was important for us to come back to the franchise that we started and give the world its next big comedy, it’s necessary. No holds barred and all gloves are off, we are going to bring that funny,” said Wayans. “The one thing you can’t do is be afraid to touch on certain topics or to explore certain areas or characters. This is a journey and you can’t be afraid.”

Marlon Wayans is an actor, producer, comedian, writer and film director. His films have grossed $1.14 billion in domestic box office and nearly $1.8 billion in global box office. As a stand-up comedian, he is selling out nationwide and adding shows every weekend.

Marlon’s latest comedy special “Good Grief,” which premiered in June 2024 on Amazon Prime Video, hit #1 on the streaming platform its first week. His other critically acclaimed #1 comedy specials include “Woke-ish” on Netflix and “God Loves Me,” “You Know What It Is” and “Marlon Wayans Presents: The Headliners” on HBO Max. Wayans can next be seen in September 2025 starring in the psychological horror thriller “Him” from Universal Pictures and Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw banner. Wayans is commonly recognized for his role as ‘Marcus Copeland’ in Columbia Pictures’ 2004 hit comedy classic “White Chicks” opposite Shawn Wayans and directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. His other hit films include “Scary Movie” and “Scary Movie 2, “Requiem for a Dream,” “Respect,” “Fifty Shades Of Black,” “Little Man,” “A Haunted House” and “A Haunted House 2,” “Naked,” “Sextuplets,” “The Curse of Bridge Hollow,” “Air,” “On The Rocks,” and “Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood,” among others. His TV credits include The WB’s “The Wayans Bros.,” which was the highest rated comedy on the network and continues to air in syndication, the NBC sitcom “Marlon,” “Fox’s “In Living Color” and “Bel-Air.”