While Saturday Night Live has been the staple of sketch comedy for over four decades, you can't talk about cutting edge sketch comedy without talking about Keenan Ivory Wayans' In Living Color. While the show was a perfect launch pad for '90s comedy stars in Hollywood, it was also rich in parodying the hell out of popular culture. From music videos to the stories that ruled the newswire, the Wayans were on point with their social commentary. Although by the time In Living Color premiered on Fox in 1990, Keenan was in the game for a bit, and his 1988 comedy I'm Gonna Git You Sucka was the debut of a parody film with a real black voice.
Since '88, the Wayans family–which includes Damon, Shawn, Marlon, and Damon Jr.–have put their spin on pop culture with a host of films that took a Naked Gun approach to everything from Menace II Society to Save the Last Dance. There aren't too many big budget films that looked at this kind of comedy in a black voice, and this week, Marlon Wayans' latest spoof, Fifty Shades of Black, is keeping the Wayans dynasty alive with a wild new take on the S&M franchise Fifty Shades of Grey.
This new film caps off over two decades of Wayans parodies, so it's high time we take a look back at the cinematic wins (and losses) from the Wayans family.