“You can do what you want to do, In Living Color.”
Iconic and veteran comedian Damon Wayans recently chatted with New York’s Hot 97 (July 13) about how the hit show, “In Living Color,” influenced Super Bowl’s halftime show.
Around the 32:42 mark, Wayans said, “We started the Super Bowl halftime show? Like we set it off. Before In Living Color, there were marching bands. There wasn’t even entertainment and then we came and did [the show] and had a huge audience. The next year [FOX Network] brought in Michael Jackson.”
In the early 90s, FOX Network was awarded television rights on a multi-year contract from the National Football League. The cable network would serve as a host for televising National Football Conference games. The contractural partnership began with the 1994 football season.
Originally, In Living Color had a special episode that aired during the halftime show in 1992 when the Redskins triumphed over the Buffalo Bills.
The following year, Jackson performed in Pasadena, California with 133.4 million views. His performance is considered one of the greatest halftime shows in history.
Other megastars with huge ratings include legends Prince, U2, Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, and of course, the Queen Bee herself, Beyoncè.
“In Living Color” was a comedic skit series that aired on FOX from 1990 to 1994. During its course, it launched careers for some of Hollywood’s biggest names like Jim Carrey, David Allan Grier, and Jennifer Lopez.
Wayans said he would “love to do specials” with the cast. In the world of reboots, that may not be a bad idea. “That’s what we should be doing. Forget trying to do it on a weekly. Let’s all get back together and do a couple of specials,” the “My Wife and Kids” alum said.
Back in 2021, Grier told Entertainment Tonight that a reboot was in talks but never took flight. “We tried. We tried!” he said. “But [Fox] had a new cast, so that was the first complication. And they said ‘Well, maybe we can try to mix the old with the new…’ and it never got further than that.”
Check out Wayans full interview below:
