Happy Birthday! Keenen Ivory Wayans's 5 Funniest Clips

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Happy Birthday! Keenen Ivory Wayans's 5 Funniest Clips

I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA (1988)

Complex says: At the ripe old age of 30, Keenen wrote and directed this classic send-up of '70s Blaxploitation flicks. His Jack Spade wasn't the movie's main funny guy, but we're giving KIW props for writing the damn thing. Also, Spade had one of the dopest theme songs in movie history.

IN LIVING COLOR (1990-1994)

Complex says: KIW was the creator of this (also classic) early '90s sketch show that launched the careers of Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, and David Alan Grier (not to mention Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez). Never afraid to play to stereotypes to push the limits of good taste, ILC also didn't mind turning on said stereotypes, as with this spoof of homophobic construction workers with a little too much insider knowledge.

A LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME (1994)

Complex says: KIW was often best playing the straight man, but he could definitely switch teams when the need arose. Also note: another mid-'90s KIW written and directed banger.

DON'T BE A MENACE TO SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD (1996)

Complex says: The '90s was a time for intense introspection among black filmmakers, with auteurs like John Singleton and Spike Lee giving their take on the problems facing urban communities. Of course, it was also a time for KIW and his family to lampoon pretty much anybody that took anything seriously (yeah, in hindsight, we prolly could've seen White Girls coming from a mile away).

IN LIVING COLOR (1990-1994)

Complex says: We've always been wary of Mike Tyson impressions (mostly because we're slightly worried Iron Mike can read our thoughts and would knock us out for laughing), but KIW was a) first, and b) always able to at least give a little depth to the standard high-pitched-voice-and-oddly-expansive-vocabulary stylings of most Tyson parodies.

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