There’s a reason why Wayne Brady is an old-school, multidimensional talent, who can seemingly do everything: sing, dance, act, improv comedy, host and produce.
First of all, the man works hard. And then there was his childhood.
“My grandmother didn’t let me watch a ton of TV,” the Orlando, Florida-reared performer told me on this week’s “Renaissance Man.”
“So, the things that we watched were like a lot of PBS because she didn’t want me to watch the things that she thought at the time were fast. So, we ended up seeing the greats like Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier and Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy could drum. Sammy was a dancer. Sammy could act. Sammy could sing and talk. Back in the day, Sammy could impersonate anybody of his day. Sammy could sound like Frank Sinatra more than Frank Sinatra could sound like Frank Sinatra. He could trick-shoot and he could drive a race car.”
Sure, the “Let’s Make a Deal” host studied comic greats like Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams. But it was versatile artists like Davis Jr. and Poitier who were put on a pedestal in his home.
“I remember just loving Sidney Poitier and just thinking, ‘That’s how I want to be as an actor,'” he said. His approach was informed by classic performers and he is undoubtedly a refined gent, who broke through on family-friendly network hits such as “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and “The Wayne Brady Show.” In other words, there is nothing rough about Wayne’s image. And in the early aughts, late legendary comedian Paul Mooney took a crack at him on “Chappelle’s Show,” saying, “White people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.”
It didn’t sit well with Wayne, who said the joke meant “that now we are policing ourselves. And he just questioned my blackness. The same black face that could get me arrested, the same black face that could get me killed, the same black face that has kept me out of rooms because of how I look. I can’t wash it off. I’m not going to get rid of it. I don’t want to, it’s beautiful. So, I took it to heart. Folks would expect that to roll off my back. Pardon me, but f–k that.”
He used it as fuel and turned the slight into a career-defining moment: a now-iconic “Chappelle’s Show” sketch where a seemingly wholesome Brady turns into a murderous, sociopathic pimp.
“I’m too proud of my accomplishments and I’m too proud of our accomplishments, so I couldn’t let it go. So, I was very happy that Dave reached out, he said, ‘Hey, I didn’t like that joke. Do you want to come and do this thing with me?’ And we were able to write something that I’m proud of because it’s a funny sketch. I’m not going to question another black person’s blackness because they are who they are.”
It was a genius chess move and turned me into a full Wayne Brady fan. Soon after, I flew to Las Vegas to see him perform, which I highly recommend by the way.
But the story behind that sketch goes deeper, specifically the dynamics that exist in the black community, where you are an “Uncle Tom” or a sellout if you act a certain way. I’ve been publicly guilty of that myself, calling Grant Hill and the Duke ballplayers “Uncle Tom,” who is actually the hero of the story. It was immature and ill-informed. And, sometimes, the best way to teach that lesson is through humor — a medium Wayne has perfected.
And the Mooney line was also a test. How do you take a joke you don’t appreciate? Are you a Wayne or a Will Smith, who is now infamous for his Oscar slap? And Wayne had a lot of thoughts on that.
“I see someone who has laughed at all these jokes about his situation with Jada. I’ve heard rumors and everybody’s heard the things. How is it to be that famous that everybody wants to know what’s going on in your bedroom and has a take on it, especially black comedians. Everybody’s got a take.” He noted that Will has been the good guy laughing and showing up on Jada’s laundry-airing “Red Table Talk.”
“I think it was a matter of time. If it wasn’t Chris Rock saying that joke — very stupid, low-hanging fruit, not a funny joke — it would have been someone else at some point.”
Wayne is also honest that he, too, struggles with issues that can lead to self-sabotage, like depression and imposter syndrome. He goes to therapy and practices mindfulness. And he also isn’t afraid to poke fun at himself and his drama tribe.
“Absolutely, theater kids can be insufferable. My daughter, she’s studying theater right now. And she loves theater. She loves Broadway. She was raised that way. She always says to me, ‘Dad, I’m of the theater, but I’m not a theater kid. The theater kids are annoying.'” And I said, ‘I absolutely understand, but you also have to think of it this way. Theater kids are annoying in the way that some people find jocks annoying.’ Any special interest group I find, but especially theater, because [they] smack of outsiderness.”
And, speaking of his daughter, we may be getting to know 19-year-old Maile better soon. Because when I asked if he’d ever add reality television to his long résumé, he said this: “If I were in control of it, and that’s just the ritzy way of saying, ‘You’re not going to catch me on the show, trapped in a house with people,’ and then, at some point, they’re like, ‘Well, whose alliance are you on?’ No, that’s not me. I think I work a little too hard for that. No judgment, I don’t want all the drama.”
However, he is developing a show with E! about his blended family, which consists of Maile, his ex-wife Mandie Taketa, her boyfriend, Jason Fordham, and their 7-month-old son, Sundance-Isamu.
He’s doing it because he can have his hand on the wheel and drive the show. Just like his iconic ride with Chappelle, only with less illicit activity. Though the fan in me hopes it will be called “I’m Wayne Brady, Bitch!”
Detroit native Jalen Rose is a member of the University of Michigan’s iconoclastic Fab Five, who shook up the college hoops world in the early ’90s. He played 13 seasons in the NBA, before transitioning into a media personality. Rose is currently an analyst for “NBA Countdown” and “Get Up,” and co-host of “Jalen & Jacoby.” He executive produced “The Fab Five” for ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, is the author of the best-selling book, “Got To Give the People What They Want,” a fashion tastemaker, and co-founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter school in his hometown.