Get ready to laugh, we hope. In the new CBS comedy Poppa’s House, premiering tomorrow, Damon Wayans stars as a father with plenty of attitude. Sharing the screen with him is his real-life son, Damon Wayans Jr., who plays his on-screen son. Their natural chemistry is a highlight of the show, driven by their shared goal to keep each other laughing. “That’s the ultimate goal really, to make people who you respect laugh,” said Damon Jr. “If I can get my dad to break in a scene, that just gives me more energy for the next take.”
For 64-year-old Damon Wayans Sr., comedy has been a lifelong occupation and legacy. Over nearly four decades, he’s brought memorable, edgy characters to TV and film, from his drill instructor role in Major Payne to the iconic Homey the Clown on In Living Color. Fans still call out “Hey, Homey!” when they see him, which he finds amusing: “Does a woman ever get tired of being told she’s beautiful? Never, right?”
You have to be under a rock not to know that Wayans’ comedic roots trace back to a tough upbringing in New York City, where he was one of 10 children of the now famed Wayans family, living in a cramped apartment. “There was four of us to a room,” he recalled. “To sleep with someone’s foot in your behind is pretty much my childhood!” Despite the challenges, the tight-knit family learned to use humor as a survival tool. “In my stand-up, I talk about how my mother would tell us, ‘There’s no food; you can each have a little bit of toothpaste, so you have something in your stomach.’ That’s real.”
Back in 1982, Wayans followed his older brother Keenan to Hollywood, performing stand-up comedy at night and working as a mail carrier for Paramount Studios by day. “I would see Eddie Murphy, Henry Winkler, and Leonard Nimoy on the lot,” Wayans recalled. “I hope I didn’t mess up their mail!” Despite the humor, his early days were far from easy, especially since he dealt with pain from a club foot, which he described as “a constant toothache in my foot.”
Get this, Wayans’ breakthrough came with a brief role in Beverly Hills Cop, which led to his casting on Saturday Night Live. There, Eddie Murphy gave him key advice: “Write your own sketches. Otherwise, you gonna be doing white people stuff, and you gonna hate it.” Wayans struggled at SNL and was eventually fired, but his real success came later when his brother Keenan created In Living Color. The sketch show became a family affair, starring several of the Wayans siblings and launching Damon into TV stardom.
Wayans continued drawing from personal experience for his work, including the hit sitcom My Wife and Kids. During the show’s early days, he was going through a divorce, but he found therapeutic value in comedy. “Comedians live for that. I get into a car accident, I talk about my neck hurting, and when people laugh, my neck doesn’t hurt as much.”
Having risen from hardship to success, Wayans now finds himself at peace. “I got tired of chasing happy. Happy is fleeting. There’s nothing I need except my health and well-being. And guess what? Happy moved in next door to me.” Today, he enjoys the blessings of his life, including ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild. “Life. Does it get better? It doesn’t!”
Now starring opposite his son, Wayans is ready to start a new chapter on Poppa’s House. We’ll see if it’s as successful as his storied career.
Check out the trailer for Poppa’s House below:
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