In Living Color

If you ask me, I think the show was underrated. "SNL" gets all the credit for being a great sketch comedy show, yet there are certain seasons (like the current one) where the writers seemed to have conjured up the sketches in their sleep. In the case of "In Living Color," the writing was always sharp. There are certain sketches that I don't find funny, like Jim Carrey as the female bodybuilder, but it's hard to make a show where "every" sketch is funny. I remember Tommy Davidson said the reason why the show turned out to be so great was because plain and simple, they worked so damn hard on it. Well, it absolutely shows. Throughout each season, the actors always seemed to give it their all, even if the sketches were weak. In a horribly PC society, it's refreshing to watch a show like this (luckily, I have Seasons 1-5 on DVD). A show like this couldn't be successful nowadays, because we live in a society where you can't say anything about anybody. Doesn't anybody know that political correctness is the enemy of comedy? What made the show so great was the writers' and actors' willingness to break boundaries and make fun of all these ethnic stereotypes, and do it in an intelligent and witty fashion. Though it wasn't one of the more popular sketches, one of my favorites was "The Dysfunctional Home Show" where Jim Carrey would play a drunken father. If you ask me, Carrey was the funniest when he was on this show. As far as his movies go, sometimes he's funny and sometimes he's just plain obnoxious (I can't, for the life of me, sit through either one of the "Ace Ventura" movies). In a sketch comedy show, his in-your-face comic style works. I also loved Damon Wayans as the homeless guy. I crack up so much every time I see that sketch. Of course, everyone on the show was great. I can't think of a weak link in the chain. I think one of the cool things about "ILC" was that despite its predominantly black cast, it was able to reach a universal audience. This isn't like some UPN sitcom. People of all races seem to enjoy it. I think that proves that there's no color when it comes to good comedy.

This show was guaranteed to make you laugh from beginning to end. Though I feel I may have outgrew this type of humor, it was nonetheless the funniest thing ever to watch for me, as a 10-year old!

Who could forget Carrey as the Firemarshall, a female bodybuilder, or the dorky schoolkid named Parnell; Damon Wayans as Homie the Clown, Men on Film, 'Mo Money(the thieves w/their own TV show), and the homeless dude who carries a pickle jar as a toilet and uses big words to sound smart! What about the gossip queen, who always ends with something like..."so you 'aint heard nothing from me."

The 3 best: Firemarshall Bill, Men on Film, and Homie the Clown.

Not sure what happened to Keenan, but I thought Scary Movie sucked. The material has gotten more crude(to get shock value) than anything else.OK, I'm not saying I don't like crude humor (I loved Kingpin and Mary), but somehow either its timing was off or there was too much of it, almost like it was forced. Either way, it made a lot of money.

"In Living Color" has always been great to watch.

Amongst the many sketch comedy shows of recent years, "In Living Color" stands out as one of the best. In it's first three seasons, it was unbeatable, featuring comics and actors who would go on to distinguish themselves in film and other TV (James Carrey, Damon Wayans, David Alan Grier, Keenan Ivory Wayans). However, after Damon's departure, the show took a pretty swift nose-dive (though Damon was by no means the only reason to tune in). Interestingly, Carrey stayed on the show through it's entire run, even in it's awful final season. There was nothing revolutionary about the show's format, it was just damn funny and extremely well-cast (Kelly Coffield being excellent, as well; the weakest member being Kim Wayans). Along with the recent seasons of "Saturday Night Live," "Mr. Show," "Exit 57," and "The Kids in the Hall," "In Living Color" will stand the test of time for all comedy lovers.

"In Living Color" was a training ground and launching pad for many young people, and with good reason - it was a terrific show. Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, Jennifer Lopez, Carrie Ann Inaba, Rosie Perez, Chris Rock, Molly Shannon, Alexandra Wentworth, Kelly Coffield, not to mention the Wayans family, all had early starts here. Most of the people who participated in this show are still working as actors, writers, directors, and/or producers.

"In Living Color" was a series of skits with no boundaries. How could there be, with a restaurant called Chez Whitey, a physically challenged superhero, Handiman, and two gay reviewers, Blane Edwards (Damon Wayans) and Anton Merriwether (David Alan Grier) who covered film, TV, and vacations where they kept returning to Greece. There was absolutely nothing sacred, including Martin Luther King Day and bonfires on black people's lawns in Arizona.

Hands down, my favorite characters were Homey the Clown ("Homey don't play dat") and Anton and Blane as reviewers (who were disappointed in "Die Hard" because the title suggested a love story). The episode where Blane is hit on the head and becomes straight was hilarious. Kelly Coffield did the old film heroines a la Bette Davis beautifully. And Jim Carrey showed the brilliance that would make a film star.

Not all of the skits were successful, but the ones that were more than made up for them.

Two snaps up for this one.

I just wanted to say.. I agree so much with you guys.. first of all .. it is now 2010 and I must say... I still miss In Living Color. It was fresh.. it was these fresh comedians take on things and with the little hints of reality that we all see.. on the streets and in our lives.. it was refreshing to laugh about that stuff. Is it Politically correct .. I am so FReakin tired of Politically Correct (PC) PC is for politicians. Its not real. Its not real life. We should all be accepting of each other but forget the being PC all the time..we need to be real.. we need to laugh at each other some and at ourselves but still be OK and realize basically life is just funny and its OK to laugh at those things we are wondering about in our heads.. that these comedians bring up.. we need to laugh while we can. We need more stuff like this. Unfortunately In Living Color is STILL fresh comedically. We really need some fresh new talent and views with a new show developed from a comedic point of view. Their way of presenting things in a fun and lite hearted and ACCEPTING but still poking fun way... and the style in which they did it.. its still much better than all the things being presented so far. Yes I liked MADTV for awhile...Sat. Night Live is not even funny anymore. Lets pick up some raw, breaking the "rules" (whatever they are.. who knows since its changing all the time) talent. And the fact that they were black.. some people mentioned that white people didn't want to watch it.. well they had preconceived notions about what it was. I think I actually did too (embarrassed here) but once I watched it IT was SO not about that. and it was AWESOME.