BY BANDINI • APRIL 30, 2019

Next month marks 25 years since In Living Color wrapped its fifth and final season. The FOX sketch comedy series started by Keenen Ivory Wayans introduced two handfuls of household names. The series, which debuted 29 years ago this month, also broke more boundaries in television than even its most diehard fans may realize.

At the Tribeca Film Festival, some key members of the In Living Color cast reunited to discuss the revolutionary program that had millions laughing at their screens on Sunday (and sometimes Thursday) nights. In a conversation, In Living Color‘s founder, Keenen Ivory joined a panel that included David Alan Grier, Tommy Davidson, Kim Wayans, and Shawn Wayans, who debuted on the series as a DJ, before eventually joining the cast. While only David and Tommy remained with the series until its finale, the spirit of this 45-minute conversation captures why In Living Color was a permanent part of 1990s American pop culture.

“It was like a pot of steam about to blow,” recalls Tommy Davidson in the first 10 minutes of the conversation moderated by Aisha Harris. “It had built up. Damon [Wayans] and Keenen and Jim [Carrey] and some other people had been out in Hollywood breaking down doors for us, for years. We finally arrived: me, Martin [Lawrence], D.L. [Hughley], anybody that you know as a comedian came to Hollywood probably around 1988.” Davidson recalls first declining an invitation to be a cast member on the fledgling FOX answer to Saturday Night Live. “Keenen and Robert Townsend and a lot of the creators were doing movies.” He says he met the former at the I’m Gonna Git You Sucka premiere. Previously, Keenen had worked with Townsend on The Hollywood Shuffle. While Davidson had a development deal with Disney, a bit part on Murphy Brown, and a role on Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America TV spinoff, he ultimately gave way to Wayans. The show would change his career.

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