Despite hailing from a comedic dynasty with father Damon Wayans — and his siblings Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Keenen Wayans, the latter with whom he co-created sketch comedy show In Living Color — Damon Wayans Jr. said he still feels he hasn’t completely clinched his place in show business.
The father-son duo, who are headlining CBS’ new sitcom Poppa’s House, sat down with People to reflect on their family legacy and various programs, including My Wife and Kids, which marked Wayans Jr.’s first TV arc (much to his chagrin at the time).
“He used to make us be in the scenes, he would be like, ‘And you’re gonna be his friend, and you’re gonna be his friend,’ and we were like, ‘Ugh, fine, I’ll go act,’” Wayans Jr. recalled of his father making him and his brother Michael Wayans cameo on the ABC comedy.
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Notwithstanding his son’s protestations at the time, Wayans Sr. reflected on seeing a “light” blossom in his son when he began to take to acting and noted his pride at Wayans Jr.’s spearheading of his own sitcoms, including Happy Endings (and later the short-lived Happy Together, on which Wayans Sr. guested): “The environment, just walking in and seeing that everybody loves him, just singing his praises: the showrunner, the cast, everybody, and you go, ‘OK, I did something right.’”
The New Girl alum segued, saying that despite his successes in the comedic TV space, he still feels like he is working toward a place in the industry where he feels he can dictate his conditions.
“I still don’t feel like I made it made it, I feel like I’m a working actor — I appreciate it, but I feel like making it, for me, is doing things completely on your own terms,” he said. “I feel like that’s the beauty of what my family did before me is that they came into the game kind of on their own terms, kind of like ‘take it or leave it,’ like ‘this is us,’ and I feel like I’m still building to that, but I do like all the things that I’m doing on my way.”
Poppa’s House airs on CBS Monday nights from 8:30 to 9:00 PM, ET/PT, having landed a full series order from the network back in November.