Wyatt Cenac

I don't know. It makes pretty good sense to me. Roll the credits. Show's over. This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Meadowlark Media production.

I don't know that that wasn't a good impression of you. Mildly disrespectful. No, this is my impression of you.

I don't know that that wasn't a good impression of you. Mildly disrespectful. No, this is my impression of you.

I grew up watching In Living Color. It's a show that I enjoyed as a kid. It was one that inspired me to do what I do. But then also, a few years ago, I had been having some preliminary conversations to make a documentary about In Living Color. No way!

I grew up watching In Living Color. It's a show that I enjoyed as a kid. It was one that inspired me to do what I do. But then also, a few years ago, I had been having some preliminary conversations to make a documentary about In Living Color. No way!

Unfortunately, it fell through. There, I think, were just too many things, one of which being Disney owns the IP. And so there's a lot of stuff there to navigate. And then with all the cast, they are all giant megastars.

Unfortunately, it fell through. There, I think, were just too many things, one of which being Disney owns the IP. And so there's a lot of stuff there to navigate. And then with all the cast, they are all giant megastars.

Jennifer Lopez, yeah. Rosie Perez was the choreographer. Right, this was a sketch comedy show on Fox. It ran for five seasons. And in that time, in that short amount of time, has done so much as far as, like, given us so much entertainment, both the show itself, but then the people who came from that show, that there's no real story about it. Like, I remember when...

Jennifer Lopez, yeah. Rosie Perez was the choreographer. Right, this was a sketch comedy show on Fox. It ran for five seasons. And in that time, in that short amount of time, has done so much as far as, like, given us so much entertainment, both the show itself, but then the people who came from that show, that there's no real story about it. Like, I remember when...

the show had had, like, its 10-year anniversary and its 15-year anniversary, and nobody would write about it. Like, there was never, like, the Vulture article that was, -"Hey, here's a--" -"The oral history that we've seen for so many other things."

the show had had, like, its 10-year anniversary and its 15-year anniversary, and nobody would write about it. Like, there was never, like, the Vulture article that was, -"Hey, here's a--" -"The oral history that we've seen for so many other things."

Yeah, and so in doing the research for it, to kind of pitch the idea, one of the things that I got really into was at the time that CBS at that moment had the Super Bowl, that Fox, as this kind of upstart network, had decided... we want to do something outrageous. What if we could steal some of the Super Bowl audience?

Yeah, and so in doing the research for it, to kind of pitch the idea, one of the things that I got really into was at the time that CBS at that moment had the Super Bowl, that Fox, as this kind of upstart network, had decided... we want to do something outrageous. What if we could steal some of the Super Bowl audience?

And what could we do to do that? And initially they said, what if we got MC Hammer to perform and then we could get, like, In Living Color is our big show. What if we got them to do some live sketches? Right. This is 1992. Right.

And what could we do to do that? And initially they said, what if we got MC Hammer to perform and then we could get, like, In Living Color is our big show. What if we got them to do some live sketches? Right. This is 1992. Right.

And every network at that time had just ceded that to the NFL, that whatever network it was on, if it was on CBS, then we're never even thinking that halftime could be a thing or even counter-programming. against the Super Bowl.

And every network at that time had just ceded that to the NFL, that whatever network it was on, if it was on CBS, then we're never even thinking that halftime could be a thing or even counter-programming. against the Super Bowl.

Right. Yes. And so that's what they started talking about. And they said, yeah, what if we get MC Hammer and then we'll have the In Living Color folks just do a couple sketches. And then when it was presented to Kenan and the folks at In Living Color, they said, f*** that. What if we do a show and MC Hammer can be our musical guest? And so the network was like, all right.

Right. Yes. And so that's what they started talking about. And they said, yeah, what if we get MC Hammer and then we'll have the In Living Color folks just do a couple sketches. And then when it was presented to Kenan and the folks at In Living Color, they said, f*** that. What if we do a show and MC Hammer can be our musical guest? And so the network was like, all right.

They started going for it. They got some corporate sponsors. It was taking too long. MC Hammer eventually dropped out and was replaced by, if you can't get MC Hammer, who do you get? You get Color Me Bad.