Marlon Wayans As Richard Pryor

Evan Narcisse is worried:

One would hope that Wayans' ambition isn't exceeding his grasp. I pray that it's not ego driving this move. Despite how it may look from the work they produce, I always got the sense that the Wayans Bros. as a collective understood their comedic roots. In Living Color had some cutting satire in its time. (Though as I understand it, Marlon wasn't necessarily part of that creative engine.) You could even trace a sketchy line from more earnest fare like the Jeffersons and 227 forward to that stupid WB sitcom Shawn and Marlon starred in in the '90s. The throughline that connects their project is a stubborn insistence on visibility. They make movies that make money and, while that may seem strictly mercenary, the cold truth in Hollywood is that profitability is the only way you get a spot onscreen or get a producing credit. Hell, I'd even call it brilliantly subversive if wince-inducing crap like White Chicks and Little Man turn out to be the reason the Tinseltown movers and shakers greenlight the project and Wayans as Pryor. And as I sit here and type this, I can't think of any actor who could play Pryor. That's ironic when you consider scads of comedians who've appropriated--consciously or not--Pryor's tics and techniques. Could any of them breathe life into a portrayal of the man himself...

I'd like to have seen Eddie give it a shot.

Anyway, this gives us an opportunity to revel in the glory of Live On The Sunset Trip. Thank God they got prisons. Heh.