Homey Dont Play That!, David Peisner
Homey Dont Play That!, David Peisner
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Homey Don't Play That!
The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution

Author: David Peisner

Narrator: JD Jackson

Unabridged: 13 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/26/2018


Synopsis

Few television shows revolutionized comedy as profoundly or have had such an enormous and continued impact on our culture as In Living Color. Inspired by Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett, and Eddie Murphy, Keenen Ivory Wayans created a television series unlike any that had come before it. Along the way, he introduced the world to Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, David Alan Grier, Rosie Perez, and Jennifer Lopez, not to mention his own brothers Damon, Marlon, and Shawn Wayans. In Living Color shaped American culture in ways both seen and unseen, and was part of a sea change that moved black comedy and hip-hop culture from the shadows into the spotlight.

Now, Homey Don't Play That reveals the complete, captivating story of how In Living Color overcame enormous odds to become a major, zeitgeist-seizing hit. Through exclusive interviews with the cast, writers, producers, and network executives, this insightful and entertaining chronicle follows the show's ups and downs, friendships and feuds, tragedies and triumphs, sketches and scandals, the famous and the infamous, unveiling a vital piece of history in the evolution of comedy, television, and black culture.

About David Peisner

David Peisner is a freelance writer based in Decatur, Georgia. He has been writing about music, film, television, books, politics, technology, sports, and world affairs for a wide array of publications for nearly twenty years. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the New York Times, TV Guide, Spin, Billboard, Vibe, Fast Company, New York, Esquire, Playboy, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and BuzzFeed. Peisner is coauthor of Steve-O's New York Times bestselling memoir Professional Idiot.


Reviews

Goodreads review by EuroHackie on July 23, 2021

I desperately wanted to enjoy this way more than I did. Some of that is on me - I was hoping for more of an oral history of the actual show than its spot in the greater cultural landscape - but wow. It was really difficult to read about how absolutely horrible the writers' room was (are we sure Les......more

Goodreads review by Nakia on March 12, 2020

I love history, Black folks, comedy, and television, so of course this was right up my ally. "Home Don't Play That!" gives a lot of insight into Keenan Ivory Wayans' start in television, from growing up in the hood in NY, doing stand up, becoming best friends with Robert Townsend (another childhood......more

Goodreads review by Bunny on February 06, 2018

Received via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. I was going to start this review by telling you how old I was when In Living Color first premiered. But better than that, let me tell you that Damon Wayans first started doing stand up comedy the year I was born. Yeah. I was a very yo......more

Goodreads review by Key on January 23, 2024

It read like a history lesson. I enjoy history so I had no issues. It began giving you a biography of the Wayans Family. Then the story simply propelled forward through the history of the show. All great black comedians were mentioned in this book. From Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor , Paul Mooney and......more

Goodreads review by Ben on June 10, 2021

For someone who grew up watching In Living Color, this book is a nice inside look at what lead to its creation, success, and ending. Book reads like an extended magazine article (which according to the acknowledgements is what it started out at) taking quotes from various interviews over the years al......more