Living in Color: What's Funny About Me (Stories from In Living Color, Pop Culture, and the Stand-Up Comedy Scene of the 80s & 90s) - 9781496712967

No one has ever told the behind-the-scenes story of "In Living Color," a landmark program in Television history and a touchstone for so many of today's comics and performers. Until now. Actor and comedian Tommy Davidson narrates the rise and fall of one of the most beloved of comedy sketch programs, while also providing insights on the experience of black performers - both before and after In Living Color - and sharing his own very remarkable personal story.

Abandoned as an infant on the streets of Greenville, Mississippi, and rescued by a loving white family, Tommy Davidson spent most of his childhood unaware that he was different from his brother and sister. All that changed as he came of age in a society of racial barriers--ones that he was soon to help break. On a fledgling network, Tommy joined the cast of In Living Color, alongside other relative newcomers all united by an ingenious throng of Wayans siblings, poised to break new ground. Now Tommy gives readers the never-before-told behind-the-scenes story of the first show born of the Hip Hop Nation: from its incredible rise, to his own creation of such unforgettable characters as Sweet Tooth Jones and dead-on impressions of Sammy Davis, Jr., Michael Jackson, M.C. Hammer and Sugar Ray Leonard, and appearing in such classic sketches as "Homie The Clown," the "Hey Mon, family," and the "Ugly Woman," through guest-star skirmishes (and black eyes) to backstage tensions and the eventual fall of this pop-culture touchstone. He reveals his own nascent career on the stand-up circuit, as well as reflections on working with Spike Lee, Halle Berry, Chris Rock, and Jada Pinkett Smith. He also shares his very personal story of living with--and being inspired and empowered by--two distinct family histories. Told with humor and hard-won honesty, Living in Color is a bracing, illuminating, and remarkable success story.