Damon Wayans Sr. Praises Jim Carrey: ‘He’s Our Eminem’
Damon Wayans Sr. recently heaped a ton of praise onto acting legend Jim Carrey, calling him In Living Color’s “Eminem” in a recent interview.
What did Damon Wayans say about Jim Carrey?
Speaking to Shannon Sharpe during a recent appearance on his Club Shay Shay podcast, Wayans opened up about working with Jim Carrey on In Living Color. Wayans said that he and his brothers still have an immense amount of pride over just how big Carrey became, and said he was “our Eminem,” and knew he would special when he introduced Carrey to Keenen Ivory Wayans.
“I truly knew he was special, special, and it didn’t take Keenen [Ivory Wayans] long to go, ‘He’s the guy’, ’cause they saw every white boy in Hollywood for that role,” Wayans said. “He’s our Eminem.”
Wayans said that he and Carrey would use to perform in comedy clubs together, and Carrey would always perform incredibly well.
“Me and Jim used to be in the comedy clubs. Jim Carrey is a master impressionist. Like, he does like Sean Penn, like weird, like Michael Landon,” said Wayans. “He would get standing ovations in the comedy club, doing a 20-minute. Now, any comedian will tell you that’s damn near impossible. There’s few and far between that can do that; that’s how good he was. But he hated doing the impressions ’cause people thought that’s all he did.”
To this day, he still considers Carrey family, and said that any of the comedians he grew up with and that also appeared on In Living Color remain close.
“When I see Jim, it’s all love. It’s like, that’s how you know you’re family,” Wayans said. “Like when you see your old teammates, you just pick up like it was yesterday … Instant connection, and we’re just talking about anything without resentment without— just love. David Alan Grier, Tommy [Davidson], it’s all love — Jamie. Because we fought a fine fight and we won.”
