Uprising
Never Scared
Comedy queen Kim Wayans checks in to talk going indie and Scary Movie 6’s cancel culture crusade.
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UpRising: Earlier this year, you launched your own digital sketch comedy series. How has that journey been for you?
Kim Wayans: It's been amazing. I started my own YouTube channel; the show is called Still Got It. It's a comedic wellness show for women of a certain age. It features me playing a lot of different characters and imparting wisdom in a very funny way. And it's old school. It's like ’90s-style comedy. People are really responding to it, so that's great.
Why was it important for you to take a direct-to-audience route?
I got to a place where I'm not interested in sitting in any more rooms and watching blank stares as I pitch my heart out. I know what I can do. I know who I'm talking to. So I wanted to empower myself and go directly to my audience, do my thing, and not have to have any gatekeepers tell me “yes” or “no” or “you need this demographic.” All of that is gone. I'm having so much fun. This is so creatively liberating. The only notes I take are from me. I write everything. I get to really express what's in my heart, what's in my soul, what's in my creative vision. It's just wonderful.
You also appear in the long-awaited sixth installment of the Scary Movie franchise. What should fans expect from your role?
They should expect my role to be funny [laughs], to be a little outrageous, and to see somebody having a really good time.
You alluded earlier to a throwback era of comedy, and the genre has obviously changed so much since the first Scary Movie came out in 2000. What do you think is easier or more difficult about making people laugh today?
People are hypersensitive, so everything becomes a point of offense. The job of comedians is to make light of things and reflect what's going on in the culture and society. It gets increasingly difficult to do that if every subject you want to discuss is taboo.
Was there a moment in the production of Scary Movie 6 where you were shocked by one of the jokes?
There were a few places where I was like, “Yikes, they're really taking it there!” But you know what? It’s just what people need.
What was special about being part of the Scary Movie franchise at this point in its evolution?
It’s special because the brothers [Shawn and Marlon Wayans] are coming back to a franchise that had been theirs and then was taken away. It was very special to be a part of their homecoming to this franchise that they created. Overall, the movie is hysterical. People are going to have to go along for the ride and remember what it used to be like when we were able to laugh freely. Take a ride back to the '90s and have a great time.
—John Kennedy
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Scary Movie 6 is slated for release on June 5, starring Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Regina Hall, Damon Wayans Jr., and Kim Wayans. You can watch Kim’s Still Got It series here.
[IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING]
Becoming Kanye
Before bringing gangster/gentleman Coltrane Wilder to life in Netflix’s must-see Nemesis series, Y’lan Noel raised eyebrows by portraying Mr. Kanye West in the 2024 Morgan Stevenson Cooper short, Yay. The actor reflects on how he approached the role with energy and compassion.
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“That was Morgan's idea. He was touched by the spirit to do that, and he thought I could help him execute it. [Kanye West] is such a mega personality that I have deep, deep empathy for. So that created enough space for me to feel that. I had to get bigger to do that, energetically. But so much of that also comes across because of the directing and the way it was shot. [Morgan’s] vision was so clear that it was hard to lose, even though it was a really ridiculous undertaking.”
Check out an extended conversation with Y’lan (and Nemesis co-star Matthew Law) in this digital cover story.
[TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT]
The publicists have to be stopped! They’re setting us up. Tone down. ‘She’s the first! They’re the only! She’s the one! They revived!’ You’ve given us a death sentence.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a funnier bunch of comic actors than the crop assembled for a new The Hollywood Reporter roundtable interview. Take a wild guess who is telling PR teams they need to chill. And then enjoy this fun and earnest read.
[LET'S LINK]
At Rick Ross’s Miami Beach House, 35 Tons of Marble Set the Elegant and Audacious Tone [Architectural Digest]
Road To: Primavera Sound With Six Sex [Remezcla]
So What Exactly is Experimental Rap Anyway? We Asked Six Rappers, Producers, and Journalists [Okayplayer]
[TAKE THIS AUDIO DOGGIE BAG WITH YOU]
“Callin,” Syd Featuring Blu June
This is not a drill: Syd—the heavenly voice that powers music collective The Internet—is releasing a new album, Beard. It will be her first since Broken Hearts Club in 2022. This smooth new single is the first teaser of that project, one that she shared the inspiration behind in a press statement. Take a look to see what she has on the horizon with her third solo LP, and then get into the new track.
“Beard is a coming-of-age album for me. It’s a snapshot of what my life looks like right now. The title was inspired by the peach fuzz on my upper lip that society has always taught me to hate. I fell in love with my peach fuzz and it made me rethink everything that was supposed to make me feel insecure. It allowed me to take my confidence into my own hands, and own everything that I am and everything I love about myself, regardless of what anyone else thinks. The title also represents the way I see myself in relation to my peers, especially in music. ‘The bearded lady.’ Not so much a spectacle in my case, but an anomaly and an outlier. Hard to compare. I’m owning that too. Taking things that were once insecurities and flipping them on their head has been extremely empowering.”
