MARLON WAYANS - Crying, Laughing Through Grief

AFTER THE DEVASTATING LOSS OF HIS PARENTS, THE COMEDIAN IS USING HUMOR TO LIGHTEN THE LOAD

- JANINE RUBENSTEIN

"That was my girl," Marlon Wayans says of his mother, Elvira, who died in 2020. As the youngest of 10 siblings, "I was her baby," he adds. "She felt I was special."

In fact, the lot of Elvira's kids proved exceptional and exceptionally funny. The social worker and her husband, Howell, a supermarket manager, raised the family in New York City public housing. Marlon's older siblings Keenen, Damon and Kim blazed a unique and hilarious trail to comedy stardom in the early 1990s with their hit Fox variety show In Living Color. Shawn and Marlon followed with their own sitcom, The Wayans Bros., and successful slapstick films like White Chicks and the Scary Movie franchise. For Marlon, 51, it all goes back to their parents, especially his mom, fostering an environment of love and laughter. "I wouldn't change anything about my childhood," he says. "I feel like the luckiest kid who ever lived."

So when Elvira died and his dad followed in March 2023, Marlon felt lost. "It broke me," he says, describing his "deep pain and depression." His search to find light in that darkness is at the heart of his latest comedy special, Good Grief, premiering June 4 on Prime Video. Again, he has his mom to thank. "She was a creative. She taught me to take my broken heart and turn it into art," he says, "and so that's what I did."