History Series / InLivingColor

** Scary Larry (Jim Carrey) is a psychotic Vietnam veteran. (He also works as a mailman, referencing several high-profile workplace murders making headlines in TheNineties.)

* EnemyMine: A Season Five skit has Rush Limbaugh and Al Sharpton team up with each other, despite their opposing worldviews, in a tag-team wrestling match against Howard Stern and Robin.

* WhereNoParodyHasGoneBefore: The ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' parody sketch called "The Wrath of [Louis] Farrakhan", with Jim Carrey as Kirk.

* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Would-be child star Li'l Magic, whose biggest claim to fame is being "Miss Smile Bright 1987! See?"

* TakeThat: The show often made fun of ''SaturdayNightLive'' for underusing its African-American cast members at the time (such as Tim Meadows[[note]]though Tim Meadows would go on to be one of the most memorable cast members from 1995 to 2000[[/note]] and Creator/ChrisRock[[note]]who left the show because of how underused he was on ''SNL''[[/note]]).

* TokenWhite: JimCarrey (probably the most popular of the four), Kelly Coffield, Alexandra Wentworth, and Jay Leggett.

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* CrosscastRole: Besides Foxx as Ugly Wanda, one of Jim Carrey's recurring characters was steroid-abusing female bodybuilder Vera [=DeMilo=].

* TheMockbuster: Funky Finger Productions looks for backers for productions of this ilk. ''Stank Ho'' was their answer to ''Film/PrettyWoman'', and had test footage for a fourth ''Penitentiary'' movie on hand in another skit. Many have an XMeetsY twist: ''Theatre/TheWiz'' meets ''Film/{{Flatliners}}'', for instance.

* TheMockbuster: Funky Finger Productions looks for backers for productions of this ilk. ''Stank Ho'' was their answer to ''Film/PrettyWoman'', and had test footage for a fourth ''Penitentiary'' movie on hand in another skit. Many have an XMeetsY twist: ''Theatre/TheWiz'' meets ''Film/Flatliners'', for instance.

* MyCard: Clavell and Howard Tibbs III of Funky Finger Productions use this to get attention -- the former is always "fresh out" of cards (or what have you) for their confused potential investor, and then the latter whips out one with a "BAM!"

* FilmNoir: The DeliberatelyMonochrome segments with [[TokenWhite Kelly Coffield]] as a stereotypical FemmeFatale.

* DepravedKidsShowHost: Damon Wayans' Homey D. Clown (and later, Candy Cane [Alexandra Wentworth]).

** Damon Wayans: Was a feature player for ''SNL'' during its 11th season (1985-1986); got fired after playing a cop character as a CampGay (the voice of which he would use later for his "Men on Film" character) in retaliation for Lorne Michaels and the writers not giving him any decent roles in sketches. Despite this, Wayans came back to do stand-up on the last episode of season 11 ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen which was slated to be the last episode of the entire series]] because of how [[SeasonalRot bad]] it was) and hosted an episode in another season that was plagued with SeasonalRot: season 20 (1994-1995 season). The episode Wayans hosted brought back two of his recurring ''In Living Color'' characters (Anton Jackson, the homeless wino and Blaine Edwards from "Men on Film." David Alan Grier also appeared as Antoine Merriweather from the same sketch).

** David Alan Grier: Hosted ''SNL'' in the 1995-1996 season [season 21] (this episode became famous for a sketch called "Wake Up and Smile," about morning show hosts who turn savage after their teleprompter breaks and they find themselves incapable of ad-libbing) and in its 1996-1997 season [season 22].

Sketch comedy show created by Keenan Ivory Wayans and starring many Wayans Brothers (Damon, Shawn, and Marlon) and Wayans sister, Kim that aired on Fox in the early 1990s. The series is largely known as the launching pad for the careers of JimCarrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, and Tommy Davidson as well as Music/JenniferLopez and [[Series/DancingWithTheStars Carrie Ann]] [[Film/AustinPowers Inaba]], who were part of the show's "Fly Girl" dancers.

The series was largely seen as ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' for the black and Hispanic set (since ''SNL'' didn't have a lot of black cast members at the time and wouldn't get a Hispanic cast member until 1998, with Horatio Sanz), which featured hip-hop and R&B musical acts. The series spawned several popular characters, most notably the ex-con clown Homey D. Clown (Damon Wayans), the flamboyantly gay film critics for Men on Film (Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier), AbhorrentAdmirer Ugly Wanda (Jamie Foxx), and Fire Marshal Bill (Carrey), a masochistic fire safety official who always hurts himself and destroys buildings while giving safety lessons.

'''''In Living Color!''''' Wrote an article 'bout it! Like to read it? Here it goes!

* EditedForSyndication: Despite the Wayans' siblings objection to have the show censored in reruns, there have been some cuts done to ''In Living Color'' in reruns, particularly on Creator/{{BET}}, where such misogynistic epithets as "bitch" and "ho" are edited. The DVD version has the language intact, but some sketches have been pulled or edited to remove all references to pop songs (including the music video parodies) due to copyright and licensing issues.
** Also, the first episode originally had a parody of the Colt 45 commercials with Billy Dee Williams (played by Keenan-Ivory Wayans) making his date (played by Kim Coles) drink until she passes out with Williams moving in on her unconscious body. FOX didn't like the BlackComedyRape punchline to the sketch, so it was replaced in all reruns (including cable reruns and on the DVD) with a sitcom sketch called "The Exxon Family," about a clumsy Exxon ship captain and his wife (played by token white cast members Jim Carrey and Kelly Coffield). Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can now see this lost sketch and judge for yourself if FOX was right or wrong to remove it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlR-I57nmr4

* RomanceOnTheSet: Kelly Coffield later married Steve Park (the show's first and only Asian cast member who got his start on the third season).
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: The series became popular due to its edgy humor, so naturally FOX decided to clamp down on content, driving away the show's creative team in the process and leading to SeasonalRot in its fifth and final season.

* TypeCasting: One character named Magenta Thompson was an actress who always had roles where she is always pushed aside and told by the pusher to "get out of my way, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]]" This happens even when she is a playing a coma patient, or a potential victim in the latest ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' film.

Not to be confused with the funk-metal band LivingColour.

'''''In Living Color!''''' Wrote an article 'bout it! Like to read it? Here it go!

Sketch comedy show created by Keenan Ivory Wayans and starring many Wayans Brothers (And the Wayans Sister!) that aired on Fox in the early 1990s. The series is largely known as the launching pad for the careers of JimCarrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, and Tommy Davidson as well as Music/JenniferLopez and [[Series/DancingWithTheStars Carrie Ann]] [[Film/AustinPowers Inaba]], who were part of the show's "Fly Girl" dancers.

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<<|AmericanSeries|>>

* EditedForSyndication: Despite the Wayans' siblings objection to have the show censored in reruns, there have been some cuts done to ''In Living Color'' in reruns, particularly on {{BET}}, where such misogynistic epithets as "bitch" and "ho" are edited. The DVD version has the language intact, but some sketches have been pulled or edited to remove all references to pop songs (including the music video parodies) due to copyright and licensing issues.

* ThemeTuneRap: By Heavy D (who also did the theme to ''MADtv'').

<<|AmericanSeries|>>

The series was largely seen as an urban version of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', which featured hip-hop and R&B musical acts. The series spawned several popular characters, most notably the ex-con clown Homey D. Clown (Damon Wayans), the flamboyantly gay film critics for Men on Film (Damon Wayans and Grier), and Fire Marshal Bill (Carrey), a deranged fire safety official who creates disaster rather than safety.

Unfortunately, the edgy comedy of the series eventually brought down the wrath of the network executives upon it, and the Wayans family ended up leaving the series. The show ultimately was cancelled after five seasons, freeing the show's breakout stars to go on to varying degrees of success in film, tv, and stand-up comedy.

[[{{Revival}} It was scheduled to return]] in 2012, but the pilot was said to be so bad that FOX is holding off on the show until it can either be retooled and made better or dropped all together.

* CampGay: ''Men on Film'' -- though they also examine books, television, art, vacation...
* CatchPhrase: "Homey don't play that", among many, many others.

** Jim Carrey: Originally auditioned to be a cast member for the 1980-1981 season and the 1985-1986 season (those, along with the 1994-1995 season, are considered ''SNL'' at its worst). Despite this, Carrey has hosted ''SNL'' twice: in 1996 (the last episode of season 21 [1995-1996 season]) and in 2011 (season 36 [2010-2011 season]; the first new episode of 2011).

** Also, the first episode originally had a parody of the Colt 45 commercials with Billy Dee Williams (played by Keenan-Ivory Wayans) making his date (played by Kim Coles) drink until she passes out with Williams moving in on her unconscious body. FOX didn't like the BlackComedyRape punchline to the sketch, so it was replaced in all reruns (including cable reruns and on the DVD) with a sitcom sketch called "The Exxon Family," about a clumsy Exxon ship captain and his wife (played by token white cast members Jim Carrey and Kelly Coffield).

* Music Video Parody: A lot of the music videos (which, due to copyright reasons, are not included on the DVD sets).

* [[YourMom Yo Mama]]: One of the sketches was a game show called "The Dirty Dozens", in which the host would read off the first phrase of a "Yo mama" joke, and contestants would ring in to finish it. To wit:
-->'''Host''': Yo mama so hairy...\\
(T-Dogg rings in)\\
'''Host''': T-Dogg\\
'''T-Dogg''': Yo mama so hairy, {{Bigfoot}} be takin' pictures of ''her''.

** Jim Carrey: Was originally supposed to be part of the notoriously awful 1980-1981 season, but was rejected. Despite this, Carrey has hosted ''SNL'' twice: in 1996 (the last episode of season 21 [1995-1996 season]) and in 2011 (season 36 [2010-2011 season]; the first new episode of 2011).

* RefugeInAudacity: Moreso than ''SaturdayNightLive''. Given that Jim Carrey was originally supposed to be a cast member on that show and Damon Wayans spent a year on ''SNL'' as a feature player before getting fired over creative differences, the whole show makes you wonder if this is the direction ''SNL'' would have taken if Jim Carrey was hired and Damon Wayans never fired.

* RaceLift: Most of the sketches that posed the question, "What if [X celebrity] was black?" Also, there was "All Up in the Family" and "East Hollywood Squares" from the final season.

* DistaffCounterpart: Kelly Coffield played [[SamKinison Samantha Kinison]] in some early sketches. Culminated in one of the most hilarious sketches ever when Sam himself joined in to play the other half of a very dysfunctional couple.

* TakeThat: The show often made fun of ''SaturdayNightLive'' for underusing its African-American cast members at the time (such as Tim Meadows[[note]]though Tim Meadows would go on to be one of the most memorable cast members from 1995 to 2000[[/note]] and ChrisRock[[note]]who left the show because of how underused he was on ''SNL''[[/note]]).

* MusicVideoParody: A lot of the music videos (which, due to copyright reasons, are not included on the DVD sets).

Sketch comedy show created by Keenan Ivory Wayans and starring many Wayans Brothers (And the Wayans Sister!) that aired on Fox in the early 1990s. The series is largely known as the launching pad for the careers of JimCarrey, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier, and Tommy Davidson as well as Jennifer Lopez and [[DancingWithTheStars Carrie Ann]] [[AustinPowers Inaba]], who were part of the show's "Fly Girl" dancers.

The series was largely seen as an urban version of ''SaturdayNightLive'', which featured hip-hop and R&B musical acts. The series spawned several popular characters, most notably the ex-con clown Homey D. Clown (Damon Wayans), the flamboyantly gay film critics for Men on Film (Damon Wayans and Grier), and Fire Marshal Bill (Carrey), a deranged fire safety official who creates disaster rather than safety.