My mother's death shattered me into a million pieces. Really? Break a Heart, break up my life. I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different. Expression became therapeutic. I'm bleeding inside, but I'm literally pulling myself from depression. I'm back with my buddy Marlon Wayans.

Actor and comedian Marlon Wayans.

He's been performing stand-up since he was a teenager, and it's starred in dozens of popular series and movies. Please welcome Marlon Wayans. I got people cracking me off right for 57 minutes. And then it hit me. One stage after a pot broke down, I cried because the reality of my parents being gone hit me.

If you could hear a message from your mom, what would you want that message to be?

Big boy, you did good. You did right by our family. You showed the grandkids and the great grandkids, and everybody was good. You took care of your brothers and your sisters. Always me would.

What do you wish more people would ask you?

Probably what I'm afraid of. What are you afraid of? I'm afraid of...

Hey, everyone. This is Lewis Howes, and I am so excited to invite you to the Summit of Greatness 2024 happening at the iconic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. This is more than just an event. It's a powerful experience designed to ignite your passion, boost your growth, and connect you with a community of other inspiring achievers. Join us Friday, September 13th, and Saturday, September 14th, for two days packed with inspiration and transformation from some of the most incredible speakers on the planet. Don't miss out on this chance to elevate your life, unlock your potential, and be part of something truly special. Make sure to get your tickets right now and step into greatness with us at the Summit of Greatness 2024. Head over to luishouse. Com/tickets and get your tickets today, and I will see you there.

Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guests. We have the inspiring Marlene Waynes in the house. Good to see you, sir. Good to see you. Very excited that you're here. Just for people that don't know, you are extremely talented, not only as an actor, but producer, director, creative, writer, stand-up icon, and your films have done over a billion dollars globally over the years. Crazy. We were just talking beforehand about you've been in this industry. I asked you, when did you start making your first Dollars? And it's been over 30 years, three decades of in this world of entertainment, writing, creativity, and expressing yourself. It's crazy because I only look 30. I do look 30. That's what you're buying. You were born, exactly. Something I read about you recently that I think is really cool because I think a lot of people think of you only as... Well, maybe not a lot of people, but I think a lot of people might assume that you're always out for the joke. You're always out for writing the best joke and getting to laugh and whether it be on stand-up and the movies that you're creating.

But I saw something recently where you talked about wanting to bring spiritual growth to audiences. I don't know if that's over the last few years that's come to you or if you've always had that, but when did that start to become a focus for you, saying, I want to obviously bring laughter because laughter is healing, but how can I help audiences grow spiritually through my creativity?

I think that started for me. I think stand-up has developed me into that. I think that was always there, but I couldn't hear it because I was too desperate for the joke. But then life happens. You understand, for 47 years of my life, 48 years, I had an amazing life. I say it to them. I'm like, If people could die and come back as anybody, please come back as me for my first 48 years of life. Really? Magical life. Story existed. My mother would love me. My father who protected us and stayed with my mom and brothers and sisters when they wasn't trying to kill me. They were great role models and they poured into me. Uncles and aunties that love me. I just had a beautiful time, a career. I grew up in a house with my legends. You know how crazy that is? The people that you want to be like, they're sleeping in a bed above you. That's crazy. On the bed underneath you. Everybody, you grow to be like, and then they become superstars. Then you meet Eddie Murphy when you're eight years old, and Robert Townsend when you're six, and guys like John Witherspoon and another comedian giant when you're 12.

Then your brother creates a living color, and you know Jim Carrey, and Tommy Davidson, and J Lo, and all these great... David Allen Greer, all these great people I had a great life. Then what happened was my parents died, and 57 people I love died. 57? 57.

Wow.

That's the sad part about getting to be my age is people die. It happens, yeah. Not to be a hater, but you better hope that you watch people die because that means you're still alive. I'm going to miss you, but I don't want to go. I want to be here forever. So I started having this different vision of myself because I was rescuing myself with my comedy. The expression became different. The expression It came therapeutic. I'm bleeding inside, but I'm literally pulling myself from depression because my mother's death shattered me into a million pieces. Really? So I break up my life. Yeah. And my father's death, I started putting myself back together piece by piece. And with that piece, my dad was a very religious and spiritual person. I realized that when I did my last special Good Grief, and even the special before that, God Loves Me, I realized that it's not about the joke, that it's about the story. If I could bring story to stand up, I can do something different. That would be my voice because I've been doing movies and TV for 30 years. And now I'm like, Oh, wow.

I only been doing stand-up 12. And I'm like, Oh, wow. If I put all this knowledge that I have, these together Together, I could create something that hasn't really been done. And then that's what left me with the spirit. Because when I do stand up, it's like a character that has, in a movie, a hero, that has to find an elixir. That elixir, for a lot of times, is not the last. The last is the thing that keeps you entertained. The elixir for me is always going to be love. That is a universal thing, love. So if I put that, whether it's love of self, whether it's love of a girl, whether it's love of my family, whether it's whatever it is, healing, right? Those things. And that's what I'm trying to get at the end. Then beyond the joke, because if I tell you a joke, I could change your mood, but I'm not going to change your life. Now, if I tell you a great story that affects you, now I left you with a jewel that you can actually change your life with from watching me tell you these jokes and these stories.

That's how I think I'm going to be a very effective communicator and brand. It's like a rebranding of myself. I have all this time, me and my brothers did all these great things, and I realized the individual that I am. Now I could do Marlin. Take Wayne and put over there for a second. Let me fly around as Marlin and find my voice without having to answer to a committee, without having to do things. Everybody, the older brothers say, I could just do me. Then when I learned all of me, I could come back to Wayne and be like, Guys, let me tell you how we can build this brand. That's why I That's what I'm finding, that my voice is more than just telling jokes. Telling jokes is the smallest part. Telling you a great story and changing your mood and changing your life.

Who taught you how to tell stories better? Or when did you start to really master the art of storytelling?

I'm still working on it. You never really master the art of storytelling. There's a different storytelling. Storytelling would stand up, and then there's just storytelling. I think the best book about writing and storytelling I ever read was probably The Writer's Journey. I think it was Chris Vogler.

The Hero's Journey?

Chris Vogler.

The Hero's Journey.

The Hero's Journey. Hero's Journey. You're right. I think it was Chris Vogler?

Is that Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey or different?

No, Joseph Campbell did. I think he did Hero as a Thousand Faces.

Yes.

I think it was Chris Vogler. I think it's the same thing that did myth and movies, whatever. Hero's Journey, or Hero's Journey. Sometimes they call it either. That book really made me look at... When I watch movies, I look at them differently. I see scripts, I see characters, I see journeys. What does he want? It made me look at... I'm not entertained by movies anymore.

You're studying instead.

I'm studying. It's crazy. When me, I'm watching a movie, you guys are, no, I'm watching the construction. I'm like, Oh, my God. Good news, bad news, worse news. Indiana Jones is an hour and a half, two hours of good news, bad news, worse news. Something good happens, something bad happens, something worse happens. I escape that and good news again. That's bad news. Good news, bad news, worse news. I get the thing from this egg or whatever. It's a valuable egg. It unleashes a boulder. Oh, my God. I'm running, I'm running, I'm running, I take and I jump and I get to safety. And when I land from escaping the boulder, I'm in a pit of snakes. My worst nightmare. I escape. Studying stories Story, studying character, studying what a hero goes through, studying how other characters help the hero or try to hinder the hero from getting the elixir, right? Those are obstacles in his way, insurmountable odds. And every scene has to be like that. So I learned from that book, and I also think I took Robert McKee's story. Story by Robert McKee. He had a seminar that he did, and I went five times.

First time, I went, I didn't understand the word he was supposed to say.

I swear to you.

I cut English. You know what I mean? Even when I write, I'm like, Look, I'm not great with grammar. I'm not going to work this good, but here... And then at my writing partner, Rick, he's a stickler for that. So we work. I'm like, Yo, here's this funny... Yo, make it work. What if it was this character? Let's write that. And then we collaborate on that. He is never going to be able to give the flavor in them jokes like I could give. So we have a great collaboration. But taking that course the first time, I didn't know what he was saying, but I kept going. And now, on the fifth time I took it, I was like, I don't need to take it no I understand everything that man is saying. I understand everything that man is saying when it comes to writing the story. Crazy enough, parody, of which I came up with in Story is the least important thing. Really? It's all about the jokes. It's a desperate medium.

This story is not important?

A thin one. But the jokes, everything.The.

Timing of the jokes.

Got to funny. Really? When you write a script, when you're in a parody, unlike any other genre, right? Everything got to be funny. The slug line, okay, where am I? What's funny about where the person is? What is the people doing? They got to be doing something funny. Who is saying something funny? Who is the character? They got to be funny. Their interaction with the next person got to be funny. The dialog, what's funny about the dialog? What's funny about the world. Everything joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke Right?Sketch. Back to... I'm sorry. I talk a desperate medium. That's why not a lot of people can do parody the way we can do parody, because we have such a well and a knowledge of great characters and our experience, and through way in just telling jokes for years. You got to master the art of comedy. It's its own art. There's different forms of comedy within the art of comedy. There's different genres, right?Sketch.Outside.

Of your own movies, what do you think are the three best parody movies that you've seen that have done incredibly well?

Airplane, Hot Shops, Blade of Saddles. I think they did it great. Those guys, the Zuckers, no, Brooks, they're the forefathers of the genre. So respect. Without them doing it, we would have never... We probably would have come to it, but they gave us the blueprint.

Yeah, and they showed you how it works. We did.

We just remodeled the whole thing. He was like, This is the old Ford car and runs on gas. He was like, No, take all that off. We're going to make it electric. We're going to put the exhaust system on there. This car is going to go zero to 100 in three seconds.We just changed it up.Wrapped it up, yes. And put the flavor on it. We put our urban voices on a white genre, which gave it flavor. And it was like, Oh, we never seen that before. And it's hard to replicate because it's based on our experience. That's why we're like, Somebody wants to do Scary Movies 5. We're like, Okay, go for it. It's not going to do well.

Yeah, it'd be hard.

Because you You have to know what you're doing. You have to love the art of parody. Parody is its own beast. Now, as a writer, I understand that story. So next time I write a parody, it's going to be way better than the parody I've wrote in the past because now I understand story.

But you said story doesn't matter as much as jokes in parody.

It doesn't, but I still think if you could marry the two, you've done something great. So that's what I'm looking forward to, is writing the next thing that's going to be... I'm putting it all together. Everything is coming all together.

You're working on it right now?

No. Well, I have a couple ideas in my head. I think Rick and I are going to lay into one, and then we're just going to let it rip. That's cool. I had one I was going to do, but I can't. So I'm not going to even go there. I think books helped me tell stories. Also, I think some of the great comedians tell great stories. Richard Pryer, great storyteller. Dave Chappelle, wonderful storyteller. Dave is his You watch Dave, man. Dave is like, it's like going to school. He's like a science professor. You know what I mean? Or an English teacher. He's well-read, well-spoken, knows how to put it all together. My brother Damon, Great story tell a great comedian. I think you have to steal fire from the gods. What you learn is you don't steal jokes. I never want to tell anybody's joke. You never got to accuse me of... I'm a writer. I'm a writer not just for myself, but for others. You know what I mean? I'm a creator, so I don't ever want to hear you steal. No, I don't do that. I look at things that they do that are inspiring, and I go, I like this This element.

You know what I mean? I like that Dave can educate you with his humor. I love that Kevin Hart could sell you a joke. That's a great salesman right there. Well, this is good or bad. He knows how to sound.

It makes it sound funny either way.

Chris Rock. I love his artistry because Chris is a perfectionist. You're right? And these are guys that's been doing it before me. I'm newer to stand up, so they're like the big brothers for me, even I know some of them are younger or my age. I just started taking stand-up really serious the past 12, maybe 14 years. But now I'm progressing at a crazy rate because I write, produce 30 years of I'm mature. I write a TV. I know how to direct. So when all these things meet the stand-up comedian, and the reason why I started doing stand-up, because I was a star for 20 something in years, I've been a star. Tv, movies. Yeah. I'm not content, really. I want to be a superstar. I want to be a superstar. Meaning when the best scripts come in, I want to be one of the 10 guys that they're sending those scripts to. I want to be one of the 10 guys that get the best scripts to work with the best directors because they want to collaborate and we get the best budget. And then I go on a worldwide tour selling them out of this movie.

But I need the fans to be like, I trust him. So see, stand up has made me a professor in comedy. Really? Now I understand And I know how to sell a joke. When I'm on these talk shows, I've been lighting them up. I light Jimmy Fallon up. Jimmy Fallon, I go on the show, he's like, Oh, my God. It's always a seven-minute vacation when you come on. You're not going to ask me questions. I just rolled and ripped because I got 300 people in front of me. I'm going to make them laugh. And then I know how to make them laugh in the morning. So when I do Kelly and Ryan or Kelly and her husband, what's her name? My favorite is Kelly. Kelly and Mark, do this show? I know how to... I'm appropriate for who's watching. So females in the morning, I'm not going to curse. I'm not going to be too edgy. You read the room. Yeah, read the room. Know who's... You know what I mean? There's a morning talk show, this is the afternoon drive. Knowing who to sell and how to sell. So me doing stand-up, I was I was like, I'm going to get people to pay $50 a ticket to come see me.

And one day, I'm going to sell out the garden. And if I can get to sell out the garden and they're paying 50 to 100 something dollars to come see me there, or maybe a couple of hundred, I don't know. Then when it comes to movies, they're going to pay that $20 to come see me in a movie. Because I have been working to be a huge international star, and everything is what is being created through just me working. I don't even look up and see what I've done. I just love to work. And now I'm starting to look up and go, Okay, you have to pull out of the micro and you have to be macro. Now look at yourself, and how do you build this artist into this wonderful business? But I have the knowledge and the skillset. And I used to be very humbled because humble people want to learn. I've just gotten confident.

Really?

Because I know I did the work. I can talk to you about how to write a... You want to know something? I have an excellence in something. I have a skillset. I have a knowledge of something that is like, Oh, how did you put that together? I could sit there and I could tell you how I did it. I know the science beyond comedy. I know the math beyond comedy. I know this. I've done it my whole life. Now I'm learning sales, and now I really want to learn business. You know what I mean? So I'm going to surround myself with people that can teach me about that so I can apply all those things to this thing called comedy and built this out of Marley.

But for so many years, you had movies that people were already coming to the movies and watching you. They're already paying $20 to come. You're selling billion dollars at the box office globally with all your movies. Most comedians, Because you know, stand-up comedians, it seems to me, do stand up to try to get big enough to be able to then go movies. You started in 10 movies, and you're going backwards. Why go backwards when you've already been a star?

Because I don't want to be I want to laugh at a billion dollars in box office. I want a hundred billion in box office. Why do you want a hundred billion? I want Tom Cruise because I know I can do it. I have an amazing skillset, not just comedy, drama. I went to Fominoff High School. They don't even know that. I'm a really talented dramatic actor. I know it. I know it, and it just got better. And this year, I got Bel Air. I got two episodes of that, and then I have a movie with Jordan Peel, him, and that Justin Tipping director, who's an absolute visionary. And I'm telling you, man, I'm in my bag, and I could finally say it. You know when you-Put the reps in.

You got I got the reps.

I got the reps.

I did the work. What do you think is holding you back from the next level of those results that you want?

God.

Why do you think God is holding you back?

Because I think in order to make the sword that I'm going to be, I have to go through a lot of fire. I had to go through a lot of fire. So everything is building me. God is not breaking me. So every time, every milestone that I don't reach, or I get close I'm still hungry. I'm still thirsty, but I'm better. Wow. I'm better and more skilled. Now, I was too young to headline movies. I couldn't get the girl and save the day. I just started putting muscle on my body and getting the beard and knowing having the poise to stay still in the scene and be charming.Not funny.You.

Were the funny guy. Yeah.

I'm the friend. Now, I know how to be both. Now, I know how to be Ryan Reynolds I'm ready for those things because this is what I have a... And say it like, there's only... Jordan Peel told me, he said something funny to me, he came to the set, and he was like, Let me take 15 minutes and just talk to you about how special you are. He watched my performance, watched my daily. I got to say, there's nobody like you. I said, You're one of one. Anybody that's like you is either dead or crazy. But the well you can come from dramatically-And comedically. And drama and comedy at the same time, he's like, There's only been like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey. There's not a lot of guys that can hit that high note. There's one thing like Will Smith can do both, but he's not a stand-up guy. And he can hit the hit the low point of drama.

But he wasn't a stand-up guy, though. He isn't.

But that's what I'm saying. Will, when it comes to the comedy, not that he can't do it, but he would have to study a little bit more to hit the high notes that Eddie Murphy has hit. That high note. Do you know what I mean? It's different. It's like Beyoncé versus Jennifer Hudson. It's that high note. Beyoncé, superstar, right? And she's amazing. Damn high note Jennifer Hudson I can never... That's the level of funny. Like a Jim Carrey, that's the high note. Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Martin, those are the high notes. You know what I'm saying? For me, Marlin, I'm trying to hit the high notes. Like Dave Chappelle, high note. And then they hit every level in between. And so I'm not comparing myself. And I have nothing but respect for all those and love for all those mentioned, including Will. I think Will has been an amazing star and an example for years. I could look at that and go, Yeah, he broke the mole. Eddie Murphy, he broke the mole. You're telling me Black don't travel and Black ain't overseas, but yet thebox office is saying different. Yes, and the same thing with us.

There's Black and Comedy don't work. Yeah, we give them a movie called Scary Movies, and that makes $300 million worldwide. And we give them part two, makes $100 something million worldwide. Then we do White Chicks, it makes $100 something million worldwide. And you're telling me, Black don't travel. All my movies on Netflix have been number one in every territory around the world. Number one. They don't tell you this, but it does travel. And now I know I want to be able to do it all. So I want to be able to do the romantic comedy. I want to do the action. I want to do the action comedy. I want to do the buddy action comedy. I want to be able to do a drama. I want to be able to do all of it. And I want people to go, That's the guy. And I want to sell the shit out of it in every market. And along the way, align myself with great brands. And I've managed myself pretty good. I grew up in the projects. Trouble all around me. My whole life. I've never been to jail. I had fights. I could scrap.

I've never been to jail. I never got a DUI. I don't do dumb shit. I never disrespect women because I know where I'm going. And in order to get there, I got to keep it clean. Yes. So I behave myself. I'm appropriate.

But I mean, I talk a lot. No, I love it, man. This is beautiful. You mentioned that... I don't know if you said God is holding you back or you still need more connection to God to get to the next level or whatever that is.

God makes me have to do the work. This is more I need to learn.

What is God speaking to you about how to get to the next level of service through your creativity to be able to You create the results you want?

Keep working and keep building and keep, stay on your path. You're doing great. I see it now because my last standup, Good Grief, was about my parents dying, about how to grieve, how to get through it. Minute 57, I'm making people laugh. I'm talking about changing my Pamper. My dad's Pamper and my mom's Pamper. I'm talking about their private parts. I got people cracking up. I got all right for 57 minutes. Then it hit me. I was running from my own pain. And I was talking about my mother and I just started. I broke down. On stage, after a pop, broke down. I cried. I was just slight. Because the reality of my parents being gone hit me.

That didn't hit you until then.

It did. But it wasn't supposed to hit me in a show. When I'm filming a special. And it did. And I was like, All right, cool. And I was going to cut that out, but I was like, No. Keep it Because I need people to understand that I, like you, I'm hurting. But life goes on, and we still look for smiles. I get so many messages in my inbox about good grief on Amazon Prime about how it affected them and how it helped them, helped them grieve. They lost their parents, too. We're in the same club, gang, gang, and how they cried with me. They thanked me because they were in a place in a place of depression, and I helped them see their way out because I showed myself my way out. So that's healing. That's why doctors make a lot of money. That's why pharmacies are a huge business because they help people feel better. Well, so can comedy. I want to help people feel better. I want to heal. So the stories I'm telling now, my next one I'm working on. I have a trans child. Daughter turned into a son. I talk about the transition, not their transition.

I talk about the five stages of grief Storytelling, the Alara Malouh's books, The Alara Malmolun's books. The five stages of Grief to get to acceptance. From defiance to accept.

Resistence, frustration, anger, upset.

I was defiant. I was like, No, you're not doing it. Then I went through the five stages of grief. Now, I'm proud to say it only took me one week. I'm sad to say that there's a lot of people that it may take them a lifetime, and they'll never get to this beautiful place called acceptance. I find God speaks to me. I need to talk about this in a funny way with truth because there's people out there that need some healing. Really, yes. There's people out there that need to hear this to know that, Oh, I identify with you. I got people coming up to me crying. Oh, my God. My child is going through the same thing, and I just want you to know. Once again, I'm taking my art of comedy, and I'm hopping the heel, and I think that's something different. I want to make you feel good, not just all some silly. I don't want to punch down on nobody. I want everybody feel good, I'm going to punch down on me. I'm the joke. I'm the butt of my jokes. And I'm going to tell you a good story about how to be better.

I was telling my friend this morning at the gym because he was asking me. I lost my father a couple of years ago as well.Sorry.And thank you.Gang.

Gang.yeah. You lost your dad?Yeah.Mum's still here?Mum's.

Still here.Man.

Love her.Yeah. Love her. Let me tell you something. I love my daddy, but if I to choose between him and my mama. Bye, how?

Bring your mom back.

Mothers is something. You see, your dad always prepares your boy for when I'm gone. Your dad, especially if you're close, your dad gives you those lessons in that the guide on how to be a man. When your mother goes, it rips your heart. My mother died. Blending my heart into pieces, and she went first. So So love them. If you don't, and once a week, go take your mother on a date. Go take her on a date. I took my mother once a week. I didn't care where I was. My father, too. Take him out for a drink. I don't care where I was in the world. If I'm in Ohio, I'm flying to New York because they live separately. I fly to New York, hang out with my dad, take them to dinner, laugh with them, have some wine. Then I get on a plane. Tuesday, pick my mother, go take her to dinner, go on a date. And I did that because I knew one day they weren't going to be here. It was important to give them that time because when they go, yeah, you're going to be sad, but I have no regrets.

I have no regrets. I was a great son. That's good. I was a great brother. I was a great friend. And titles that really mean something to me. I've been great in. Make sure you-That's beautiful. Go take her on a date.

Since their passing, what's been the biggest lesson, as you can reflect back, that each of them taught you about Life.

My mother taught me to always learn, try different things, find joy, even though your situation may be bad, whether it's poverty, whether it's grieving, always find the funny, right? To love hard and to be affectionate, to let it all out, and not be afraid to be vulnerable, let it all out. And some of it, I learned, is from watching her, is not letting disappointments or failures make me bitter, negative, and too afraid to be vulnerable. So really watching the journey, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think people People spend so much time worrying about what their parents did wrong. I study what they did right. When I watch movies, I remember one time we was watching Men in Black, and my brother was like, You know what's wrong with this movie? I said it made $400 million. It was nothing. It's perfect.

Right.

So here's what they did right. And my dad... So that's what my mom taught me. My father taught me, and I was saying he would be so proud to hear this. My father taught me God.

Really?

My father taught me the importance of God's journey, the importance of the Bible. I need to read it more. I need to study it. My dad could tell you the scriptures. He knew Only one book, the Bible. Wow. You ask him a verse about love, Corinthians, 13:7, Chapter 4. How do you know he studied the Bible? My dad would wake up in the morning. First thing he did was he got up and he studied the Bible. Then he closed that book and he would say a prayer. Then he would rub his knees and look up to God like, How am I going to feed these 10 people today? And he'd go, Let's go. And he'd come back with dinner.

Wow.

So my father taught me the importance of God and the importance of working hard for your family. And don't be afraid of hard work. If you're going to clean a toilet, no, don't do that. No, Get up underneath it. Getting the ball, getting them. When I was working in sneaker stores and stuff, I was a great employee. That's why when it comes to me doing movies, I've always had great experiences. All my directors love me because you don't have to tell me, Hey, can you learn your lines? No, no, no. When I leave a set, I don't get away on a 14-hour day. I got my acting coach that I pay for this. They pay for it. I'm like, All right, let's work. We're going to work three hours in the morning, and then we're going to work an hour before after I work out. Come back, because when I get to set-I want to be prepared.I'm going to be prepared. So now I'm not sitting there learning lines. No, I got it all packed in. I'm ready. I'm ready. And you can move me any way in the all, and I can adjust because I'm not worried about gathering lines.

So I do more work than you actually expect or I'm expected to do. I don't give less. I always give more. If I'm writing movies, I love to do it all. On all the meetings, I'm there. I don't fall nothing in. I do all my writing, all my stand-up. They're like, How did you bid you? How are you dropping a new hour of material every year? Because I'm a writer, and I don't write it down no more. The audience don't even know. You're basically coming to watch me write Live.

Live.

You're creating live. Live. I don't do them in town, five minutes here, five minutes there. I don't have to. I just do a brand... I do my special 11:11. 11:17, I was in I forgot. Baltimore or somewhere else with a brand new hour. Not one word from the special. Brand new hour that I worked through. Now, how do you do that? I'm a writer. I know it, and I challenge myself. I challenge myself. I already know what my next special is. I know what my next three specials are now. Now, I haven't worked on all the material, but I know.

You have the idea of the journey of where it's going.

Yeah, I know what the next one, ugly Baby. Skittles is this one. Next one's ugly Baby.ugly Baby is my journey with my brothers and sisters in my household. And then after that, talk about relationships. I know them because life has been my greatest writer, this journey. And now I could apply it to my business. So my last three specials, my last two, maybe my three, I paid for them myself. I was like, No, I don't. They were like, Oh, and we don't have the budget for it right now. We were slotted through till 2026. I'm like, Okay, that's cool. But I'm ready to film my special. Now, so I filmed my special. Then I licensed it to HBO. Then I licensed it to Amazon. And now I still have my special. Because I'm not waiting for somebody or anybody, Hollywood, to tell me I'm ready. No, I know when I'm ready. I know when I'm making people laugh. You're going to bite down and you're going to give me the budget, go market the hell out of this and bring people to your site. And this is what it was going to cost. But I'm not waiting on you to tell me I'm ready.

I know how good it is. I'm getting stand ovations everywhere I go. Wow. I know how good it is. So I'm going to film it in a place that I desire. I'm going to give it my all, and then I'm going to cut it together and hopefully you like it. And if not, thenI'll sell somewhere else. Or I got a write-off.

You know what I mean? Yeah, or you sell it online or whatever.

Yeah, I'll sell it. I'll create my own website. Everything is God. They don't want to buy it. They don't want to license it. That's God. God saying, Okay, well, then you got to create your own business.

What do you mean everything is God?

There's no failure. There's no wrong. Whenever something doesn't go my way, it's because it wasn't supposed to. So when I say everything is God, you trust God. You think of the positive, not the negative. If it didn't happen, my brother told me, If one door closes, Because if you sit there and you're staring at that one door, you're not looking around. A thousand other doors have opened. All you're going to do is look around. You're staring at the door like a dog stares at a tennis ball. I was like, launching it into the world, and you put all your heart, your life, your soul into this thing, and then no one wants it. Cree.not time.Really? I learned a lot, though. I learned I could put a movie together for a million dollars. I learned I could put a special together for a million dollars. I learned about the location. I learned how much it cost for crew. I've learned about the director do a great job. What crew work. Everything is lessons. This is a positive. I'm not worried about there's going to come a time where I'm going to be so big that people are going to buy everything I have.

There's going to come a time in my life, and then I'm building a library. And then when I'm gone, maybe... And my kids have this thing that dad did that you go, Wow. All these things my dad did that they never saw. Now, the legend of me, my kids, kids, kids will be able to eat all the things. So there's no failure. Everything is supposed to happen exactly the way it is. When I was 19, I got Batman. I was going to be the first Black person besides Billy D to be in one of these big movies. Was with Tim Burton, and I was going to be Robin. Then I got a phone call from Tim Burton and Denise Dinovi in a letter saying that I wasn't.

Really?

See, I was going to be off to the races. Batman, Robin. Do you know what my career would have been? But it didn't happen. Immediately, I was hurt. But I said, No. I'm going to start writing these movies. I'm going to start creating my own show. I'm going to start doing things that I know put the ball in my own hand. Had Robin happened, I would have had a different career.

Where would you be right now had that happened?

I don't know. Probably cracked out somewhere because I wouldn't know what to do with that success of money. But God put me on this journey to create. Look at what I've done. Look at what I've... Because I took the long route. He didn't want me taking the shortcut. I had to take the long route because there was a lot I needed to learn. I It was jewels for me to gather all along the way. No, I didn't go straight to it. I went the long way. But look at all the things that I know now. Look at all this that I know. I'm going to make my way here. It's taking a long route, a scenic route.

I mean, it's been a beautiful scene. Wonderful.

I'm sitting there depressed that I didn't get that part. When I say everything is God, I'm saying everything is not all bad. Sometimes the things that you think is failure is actually success is how do you interpret not just the business, but life. There's always good and bad. A bad relationship could teach you more than a good relationship, and maybe that wasn't the relationship for you because that next relationship, you get to apply all this stuff to the perfect woman. And now I am successful, so I'm grateful for the bad. Always be grateful for the bad. And when I say everything is God, you trust God, there's a reason to happen. So just keep doing the work. Don't let it discourage you.

Speaking of relationships, it sounds like you work 15, 18-hour days for the last 30 years, whether it be on a set or in your own mind, in your own creative lab, however that looks, you're always working, it seems like. Yeah.touring, traveling, producing, writing.I don't have a day off. Yeah, anything. It's like you're always got work.

I don't have a day off.

How can you have a healthy, successful relationship relationships when you're always working?

Because people that love you understand, they cheer for you. They don't want your time like that. They don't want to pull from the thing that makes you you. They want to see you shine. They know your purpose. And I've been lucky. My first children's mother, Angela, was amazing. I never felt like, Man, I can't do this. No, baby.

Go do it.

Go do your work.

Wow.

Go do your work. They know that this makes me happy, and it provides me family. Go do your work. To this day, she's still my best friend and never bothers me. Your kids, you ain't paying enough time. My kids adore me. But they know dad has to work, and dad's doing his purpose, and now they're growing, and they're like, Hey, I want to do my purpose. And dad is inspiring. People that love you, cheer for you, and they want you to be successful. Or if they want to spend some time, they'll come on the road with you. And even though you're playing these little, you got to go from this and you're playing a rink-a-dink comedy club or whatever it is, if they want to support you and love you, they just care that they're with you and spending time with you. That's cool, too. But never let somebody take away from you. This is me. And I'm going to invite people in my life that get me. I need wrapping paper. Everybody's wrapping paper. And I'm going to do the same for you. I'm going to inspire you to be your best self as an individual.

I don't want to take your time. I hope you blow up to be a big, huge business. I'm there to support you, baby. I'll get on a private plane. It comes to you anyway. You can be the breadwinner. After a certain amount of time, I'll retire. I'll find you because I want you to be happy. I don't like when people take. Don't take from me. Let me do this. This is my purpose. If I don't do this, then I'm not living a purpose life. I have to make people smile. Like a fireman that goes in the buildings and rescues cats and people in a burning building. That is what comedy is. I go into a burning building to find this elixir called a laugh. So, yeah, sometimes you get burned. Sometimes there's Casually, but man, I'm here to try and make people feel good. I have to do this.

When you have had so much success as a movie star, and a TV star, a comedian, why go small town, comedy clubs, and spend all the time traveling around the country? Why spend the time doing that at smaller towns, smaller clubs, smaller venues, now when you've had so much success? Why not just stay in the big cities and stay in LA and New York and just do your show three, four nights a week?

No, bro, that way. That's the shortcut. That's the ego. I don't want to be surfaced. I don't want to be dude that did the work. You respect the guy that had had 50 fights before he ever... Or 270 fights before he finally got the opportunity to become a pro, to build his way up to get the championship, at least to bout with the championship, because there's a lot of knowledge and a lot of licks I got to take. I have to learn the long way. I'm just going to be a paper champ.

But you're 12, 14 years in.

Stand up, right? Yeah, but everything is God. I'm not trying to be regular. I'm different. It's going to take me longer because I'm logging 10,000 hours, outliers. You log 10,000 hours in something and you can be great at it. I've logged 10,000 hours in five different disciplines. So I'm building something different. It's amazing. I'm going to be different, and that's going to take a long time, and that's okay. I'm not cheating the process. Nobody could tell me I cheated the process. I didn't. I did the work. I worked in pizza shops. I could tell those stories. I did stand up at a pizza shop. I lead this pizza shop. It smelled like pizza. Five people in there, hauling way into on scary Movies. $750 million in box office. I'm in a pizza shop. Really? In a coffee shop, in a dive bar, in a biker bar, doing stand-up comedy. And all my peers Sydney Castillo and Esaw and DC Irving and all the guys I came up with. I didn't come up with Kevin Hart and Dave Chapelle and those guys in stand-up. I come up with a different group of people because I started late.

And so I'm playing catch-up. And if I'm going to play catch-up, that means that every weekend I got to work. I don't care where it's at. You learn in stand-up, give me a microphone, give me the right lights, give me a good sound system, give me some water, give me a Let's go.

I don't care where I'm at.

Corporate event, I don't care where I'm at. Who's in the crowd?

Are you trying to make money everywhere you go, or is it sometimes just about the reps?

It's about the reps, and you make money doing what you love. I love what I do. I'm not going to work. I'm going to play. I get to play every weekend. And you don't care if it's a diebong, even a elite club, like an improv, whatever. I have to go the long way. Before I play the garden, I have to do this Jury, I got to play Winkie's Hot Dogs. Before I do the garden, I got to do Demaurie's Pizza.

If you could pick a date the garden would happen in your future, what would that date be? Where you're selling out at Madison Square Garden? Obviously, it's all God's timing.

I would say when I'm 55.

Three years?

Three years from now.

55?

Yeah.

I'm going to make a note of that. What's the date? Give me the month and day that you would want to be selling out the garden for your show.

On my birthday, July 23rd.

July 23rd.

All right.

Three years? Yep. What is it? 2027?

2024 or 2027.

2027. Okay.

We're going.

Let's go.

If I don't make it there, then it'll be 2028. If it don't make it there, it's going to happen.

It'll just keep doing it. It's just showing up.

I'm telling you, I see it, man. But that's why I'm able to write material. I still do the little clubs and stuff. I'm just now starting to dig in theater as I'm going on a theater tour, Wildchild Theater Tour, starting in September. Check my website, Marlin Wayne's official for tickets and tour dates, Wildchild Tour. So I'm doing my theater tour now, and I'm still building it with this new I'm telling you, now I got four specials underneath me. Five, four specials. Five, actually, because I did Handliners, which was one I put all my friends on. Five specials, and I did this in 12 years. Wow. That's on her.Amazing. The space, pace. I already know my next one, and analytics three after that. I'm telling you, there's something special happening because everything is coming together.

After 12 years of doing stand-up, and obviously 30 years of being in comedy and creativity and artistry, what is the next level for you to really be at the, I guess you mentioned Chapelle and these other individuals who have mastered stand-up. What is where you are to where you want to be? What's in the gap?

I think I had to get the right team. And not only that, but I think, for me, I think every... Kanye said something, every artist got to think of themselves as a brand. I don't need a manager as much as I do a CEO.

You need a CEO? Yeah.

I need to start putting together my team of strategists and how we're going to move. Right now, it's all over the place, but I know after I get that big tour and I'm able to go, Okay, now let's go. Let's put this in place. This is how we're going to rock. I'm telling you... Next look.

Who are the two or three guys or gals right now who are just doing it really well in stand-up that you think they've got the right team, they've got the right branding, they've got the right messaging on tour, they've got the audiences. They're just, boom, every night.

I think Dave Chapeau. Yeah. Because Dave has the... He's like Bigfoot now. If he comes, everybody's going. You know why? Because he's masterful because the dude spends his life on a stage. Nobody has more hours long. Dave will do six hours of stand-up. He'll be sleep on the stage and wake up and tell you a joke. Seriously, I'm watching real estate drinking coffee, whiskey, and sleep for a minute, looking down at I wake up and have a joke. I think Kevin Hart has mastered the science of his business. He's proven that you can do it all. You don't have to just do stand-up, which is great for me because You've done a lot already. Yeah. Right. Now I can put it together like that. Oh, we going. I'm at the point now, I want to really build a real-life studio. Because with my brand of humor. I want a studio. I want a Tyler Perry. I want to mix all these people together to create Marlin. I know I can do it. Now, that's my goal. The meetings I'm having, sitting down with more hedge fund guys and sitting down with more people that want to invest money.

I have an excellence. I made a track record that's crazy. We made Hollywood a billion dollars. And that's more than a billion. Look at all the things we've done, all the TV shows we created. Wayne's Brothers still syndicated. Wayne's Brothers probably cost, I don't know, a million dollars an episode. So that's a $100 million investment. And over the course of time, they probably made $500 million, $400 $10 million. And a scary movie, $19 million, made $300 million, 1,000 %. I did a movie for a million dollars called Hunter House. I should have did it myself out of my pocket, but I did not partners. Opp.

And how much did it bring in?

Open to $19 million. Went on to do $70 million.

And if you would have put the million yourself?

I would have made... Why not take those? Everybody made eight figures. Yeah, yeah. But I probably would have made 30, 40 million.

Why not invest and make that investment yourself?

I don't know. I think because I needed to learn. I don't want to take these leaps of faith without, I'd rather a partner that knows.

Yeah, yeah. And they can do the distribution and the marketing.

Yes, and they know the distribution. They know the right production team. Yeah, of course. They can help me and assist me. I don't need to be greedy. If I own 50% of a movie, it was 70% of a movie, I own 70% of a movie. You know what I mean? Of course, we had an end game who gave us the money for the promotion, which was about $15 million. Then there was Open Road who distributed us. So you have partners. So we all made money off these investments. We all, and I sold the shit out of it. Put me on a plane.

Let's go.

I did a 20-city tour, sun up to sundown, and I didn't even have a jet. I got on American Airlines, Delta Airlines, city to city. I land, I sleep three, four hours to get up, five o'clock in the morning. I'm hitting the morning shows. I'm hitting the news. I'm hitting the afternoon drive. I'm going to the basketball game. They're playing a trailer. I'm getting on the last flight out, and I'm going to the next city, 25 cities. And then I told them, I beg them, I was like, Please let me go overseas and do this. And they was like, We're only going to see you in a couple of states. I'm like, But this is me. I want to sell.

I want to-You do the work. Yeah.

Yeah. I don't want to cheat nothing. My mother said, If I could bottle your energy, boy, I'd be the richest woman on Earth because I just have... And I I have good intentions. I'm not going to cheat nothing. If we do it, if I sit across from somebody and I go, I'm going to take your money. I don't want you to make $1 on that dollar you gave me. If you gave me $100,I want you make 10, 20 times out of it. I want you to make at least not... Because $20. If you made $20 on $100, that's good. Someone did it. But if you gave $100 and somebody brought you back $500, you're like, What the fuck is that?

I'll keep reinvesting in that guy.

But what you won't do, if I'm going to do that, I need to be responsible for my business. I need to do everything in my power to make sure that I didn't fail anybody. If you give somebody money, that's the passion that you want from somebody. You want to trust somebody. You want somebody to be like, Okay, cool. Go do it. Build a What's his name? Steve Jobs. You trust him. You build great computers and phones, and trust him. Stop people in the market. I'm going to put my money in that. That money returns your investment. When you go, I'm going to give you $100. I'm going to give you $10 million to do a movie. I'm going to make sure that the production is great. I'm going to make sure the script is great. I'm going to make sure we cast the hell out of it. And I'm going to make sure that we market. I sit in all the marketing meetings and that I put this on my back and I get it exposed as much as possible. Now, I need you to make sure that I'm not just doing promotion, that you got marketing beneath it.

And then together, we can hit this thing and we can make this A huge explosion. And we've done it in the past. I've done it in the past. So I'm looking forward now to doing more of that.

You mentioned Jim Carrey. I'm a big fan of his work. Brilliant artist. But also when I saw the mini-documentary about him doing his art, his art studio, it opened a whole nother level of appreciation for him as an artist. And then his spiritual journey I've been a fan of with his content around that as well, which It sounds like you bring a lot of God into your life also. So I respect that in you as well. I saw an interview clip of him about a year ago, maybe it was a year and a half ago, where he said he was retiring from making movies. Unless some magical script comes to his door that he feels he's called to do.

Jim made a lot of money.

He made a lot of money.

Plus, Jim has always struggled with, I think, depression and other things. He's brilliant, but he always had some torment. And I think he just wants peace. And he gave a lot to the art. He gave a lot to people. You get tired of being that famous. And that brother deserves to retire and have his peace. These are his years of peace. And if he's happy, then we should all be happy for him. Lead him in until he's ready to come out of... Because Fame is a 24-hour job. I can't clock out.

How do you navigate that?

I just love what I do. I ain't made it yet. I ain't made it. I didn't make it yet. You know what I'm saying? One day, he felt like he made it. I didn't make it. I didn't make it yet. So when I make it, oh, yeah, I But I don't know if I ever will. I think it's part of my matrix. I just love it. He said-I would vacation.

You don't do vacation at all.

Yeah. Man, well, I skipped this summer. I was supposed to go to Europe, and I was with Lake Cuomo, and I was like, no. I'm working on a build this because I want to film my next special on 1212.

Wow.

Yeah, because I want it out for next June.

In that interview, he said something. The interviewer was saying, Why are you done? And he said, I'm paraphrasing, But he said, I'm going to say something that I don't think any celebrity in Hollywood has the courage to say. And that is, I've done enough, I have enough, and I am enough. And again, maybe he's older now and he has done all these things. But do you ever feel like you will get to that place? Or do you even want that? Do you feel like you are enough?

I think it's 70.

70. How old is Jim?

Jim is probably 65, 66. I think it's 70. I think it's 70. Yeah, but see, I still have a young face. I could still play 35. You know what I mean?

You trim the beard up.

Oh, yeah. Why'd you take this off? It's crazy. With a mustache, it's I'm crazy. I literally don't change. You know what I mean? My body is still good. I probably got a great 30 years ahead of me. Wow. Maybe 20. Definitely 20 hard years, 25 hard years.

But 30 of working. Yeah. So you've been in the business for 30-ish, 32 years, somewhere around there. If you could give three pieces of advice to yourself right before you started making money, right before you started getting on TV and doing movies 30 years ago, if you could give younger Marlin three pieces of advice, what would that be? Of 30 years of experience and wisdom and failures and success and love and heartbreak.

Get on stage as soon as you can, really. Learn the science behind your art. Standup will teach you how to be a writer, producer, director every night. You learn so much by doing standup comedy. Two, Hollywood. Don't worry about Hollywood. You are Hollywood. Hollywood needs you more than you need Hollywood. That's true. Don't worry about so much feeding the business. Become a business.

Be the business. Be the business.

Three, put together a right team. Groom your team from day one. Stay loyal, communicative, bonded, so you have a trust. Make sure that each one of you do something different. When you come together, you learn about each other's art and knowledge, and then you can come meetings of the mind here. So you don't need the new startup like I do. But you need a strategist. Somebody has to play chess with you. It's hard. I tried to do it all. I can't.

You're an artist.

Yeah, I was an artist. I'm always going to be an artist.

Now you're a business mind and an artist. I'm a businessman.

That's what I'm really focused on. I'm going to got that. I'm going to continue to work that, and I'm going to build that. I'm going to build Some businesses that go with the business. But right now, I got to become the business. I've learned you have to say it, and you have to mean it, and you have to work toward it. If you can't say it out loud and God can't hear you, then how are you going to get to where you have to get to?

That's why you declared the date for your garden tour.

I'm glad you asked me.

July 23rd, 2027.

That's my birthday and my mother's birthday. Wow. My mother.

That'll be a beautiful 55.

Yes, sir.

That's number one.

My mom would be so proud. Look at my baby. I knew he was going to do it.

You got to have a photo of her on the screen. Absolutely.

I'm going to cry that night. Not just because I made million dollars for one show.

I can see that, though. I can already see the future three years in the future. I hope it happens then. I'll be there. It will. I'll be there if it's happening. If it don't, we'll call back to this moment.

Absolutely. I'll come do it again.

If you could go, you've been in the business for 30 years, and you said you'd want to go for another 30. If you could do a hypothetical for me and you could imagine your future yourself at 72. And if you can see your life from now until then, and imagine all the things that are to happen, the highs, the lows, the in-betweens, and if you could give yourself three pieces of advice from then to now, future Marlin to today, what would he tell you today? Three things that you need to hear to really actualize your potential, your gifts, make sure you're taking care of your heart, feeling the love, being a good human being along the way, all these different things that you feel like What do you need to hear from the future self?

Dessertion. Everybody deserves to eat. Not everybody deserves to eat at your table. Who are you investing your time with and spend your time with? Is it valuable or are you just wasting time? Don't waste your time. Time is the most valuable thing that you have. Every moment should be accounted for, you should feel great about. You learn something. If you're not learning, you're dying. Two, don't be the smartest guy in the world. Not that you're going to lose your circle, but you could create another ring. So create a new ring of people that inspire you and you can learn from. Three, remember that in branding, you can create other brands. As you create the brand of Marlin, what else is Marlin selling? What other brand? What are you interested in? What's authentic to you? I like smelling good. You need a cologne. I like my skin well. You need a men's skincare I love good clothes. You need a clothing line. I love smoking cigars. You need a cigar company, which I do have legal trident experience cigars. Check them out. They're delicious. You like to have your cocktails. What's your favorite drink? I like bourbon.

You need to create a bourbon or get in the business with a great liquor company that you can market everywhere you go. Create great partnerships with your brand, with other great brands. And then don't forget that you're the brand, so protect it. And continue to stay out of trouble and stay away from knuckleheads and always be an honorable, considerate person. To stay humble as a person. Don't be so humble in your business. You have to own it. Or be humble as a person because you can't bring that arrogance into every day because you're going to offend and hurt people. But sometimes business, you got to be a shark. Period. You have to own it.

This has been inspiring, Marlon. I've got a couple of final questions for you, but I'm grateful for the conversation. It's been really beautiful. Go for it. If you can imagine all your dreams coming true, which I believe they will, and you get to live as long as you want, but it's the end of the day for you. And if you could hear a message from your mom on that last day of your life, what would you want that message to be?

Big boy, you did good. You made me proud, your father proud. I'm looking at God. He You smiling. You did right by our family. You made sure the grandkids and the great grandkids and everybody was good. You took care of your brothers and your sisters that I told you that I made for you. You've been an honorable child. You You made the world laugh. I always knew you would.

That's beautiful, man.

Sounds like a beautiful mom. Your father and I. Up here waiting on you. I feel so... I'll close my eyes and wake up, helping my parents. Do you have-I'll drink this water now.

It's beautiful, man. I know the grief is something, again, your special good grief. You share a lot of this with the audience, and it's beautiful to watch you continue to share openly and vulnerably about your relationship and the sadness and the joy and everything in between.

I don't cry about them a lot. It's just when I'm thinking about them. What's good is I've gotten through crying every day, and now you get to that point. I have to think about it. I have to visit it. What does it feel like? You know it's funny. Before, I think now I'm ready for whatever I've been asking God for. I know I'm ready, even dramatically, because I've always been a good dramatic actor. But I bet I'm very happy life. So it was hard for me to manufacture pain. And I could get to the tears. But now, since my parents gone, I know I got wings because it's so easy for me to access those emotions. I couldn't before I had to think about it, wanted this and look. Now, just open the safe. Let it out.

That's beautiful. What do you wish more people would ask you? Because they ask you about all the people you know and you've worked with, and the stories of the past, and the celebrity, and the fame, and the money, and the success, and all the jokes. But what do you wish they really asked you?

I'm going to ask me what's anything, everything. Probably what I'm afraid of.

What are you afraid of?

Death. I'm afraid of...

Is it dying too soon or dying before you reach your potential? Or dying? It's dying. I love life. Yeah, it's beautiful.

I have FOMO, and I'm going to be so mad at you. I'm going to be feeling alive, and I'm not there. I'm going to be hate him from the ground. He's cute. Then I think marriage.

You're afraid of marriage.

Never been married because I never wanted to cheat on my wife. I'm a noble dude.

You never wanted to cheat on your wife.

I never wanted to cheat on my wife. I never felt like I was ready for marriage until I hit my 50s. Really?

Yeah. You feel like you're ready now? Yeah, I can do it. You're still afraid?

Yeah, but less. Because I'm much more stable. Even though I travel, I'm not in the clubs. I did everything I wanted to do. Have fun everywhere. I did it all. I'm just like, now I want to do less. I just want to just hang out and chill and smile and enjoy my girl, enjoy my kids and my family. When When I have that time.

What do you think is available for you as a man and a human being when you get married? If you get married, what's available for you? What's the next level?

I think I'll have a lot more I'll be able to accomplish a lot more.

More focused energy, less distracted.

More frickeish energy because I ain't going nowhere. I ain't mean. I'm not going anywhere.

I ain't texting everyone ever in there.

No, I'm not. I ain't following nobody on You know me on Instagram. I ain't got people DM me. I'm following them in person. That's all. My wife. Just being focused on my family, all the other noise and all the other stuff. At that point, I'm probably going to get a farm somewhere far away.

Like Chapelle, living in my home state in Ohio.

I've been to this place.

Have you? It's nice. Small town, Ohio, man.

He will not move. I'm like, You're so rich.

Because he doesn't need to, right?

At least get a $10 million house. You can do it, Dave. You're rich. He has this little place that he hangs out.

In a little town?

Yeah, no, his own little-On his house. Yeah, buy his house. We call it The Shack. And this guy didn't have no ice. He had an ice machine that was spitting one cube of ice at a time. I'm like, Yo, Dave. I said, I love you.

Get a $200 ice machine. Let's go. Yeah, yeah.

I went and bought him an industrial ice machine. I sent it to the I was like, I can't let you live like that.

I can't come here and visit you without getting ice.

So he was like, Marlin, you're a gentleman. You're the only guy that bought me something. That's funny. I do want a farm. I want a big palatial estate and put all my family on it and just have all these houses and just make everything my family, my office and work, everybody right there, all my friends on a big land where we grow our fruits and our vegetables, live off the land, and just kick back on the porch until it's time to ride out, man.

It's beautiful. Any other fears? Death, marriage.

Skydiving.

Yeah, man. Water. I haven't done that.

I do not like the ocean. That one, it drowned me three times. I'm good. Unless I got a life vessel, I'm good. I think my fear is... I've always feared Disappointing people. But I don't anymore. That's part of life. But as long as I do everything in my power is not to, then as long as I'm doing my best, sometime I'm in business, you do a movie, put all this stuff into it, and then the movie doesn't perform. Well, sometimes it's not your fault. And you do everything in your powers to ensure that it was successful. Because if I did, then maybe somebody else failed. But I don't mind taking the blame because taking the blame, I think that's when you grow. I'm here to grow in life. I'm here to get better. I'm here to improve. I don't mind some criticism. I don't. I have the hardest critiques in the world. I think part of me taking so long to make it to where I want to make it because I got all these different voices in my head and I'm trying to get all this approval from them. And then I realized I don't want to be.

I don't want to do it that way. One time, we took Keenan, the Mecanos, for his 60th birthday, and we had a sprinter van. In the sprint event, I was talking to my brothers about stand up in the state of business and I was like, Me, they're talking about stand-up specials. I said, I want to do one every year, year-and-a-half. It was like, That's stupid. That's not going to be funny. Yeah, what special is that? That's It's a regular. Yeah, they're stupid. It takes 20 years to put together a special. These are my three brothers telling them. That's it. I'm going to show you all something different. I believe that I can do a great special every year and a half. Here's why, because I get bored with telling the same jokes. I don't need to perfect the jokes. I don't need that much time to rehearse because I remember scripts. I write. I get tired of doing the same material. Every night, I'm doing something different. I like to do different stuff. I want to hurry up and put this out and perfect it and talk about some new stuff. They're like, That's not the way it goes.

You got to work the same material for five years. You have to work the same material five years. I don't have to. I went to performing arts high school. It's in me. I can do a sitcom in three days and kill it on Thursday. So Monday, just a tape and read. Tuesday, we do network run through and a little bit of rehearsal. Wednesday, we do block and tape. Thursday, I'm filming a film of a live audience and I'm crushing it. So if I can do a sitcom where they keep changing the script and I'm learning all these new lines, and I could do that in a matter of four days, why the hell I can't do a special in a year and a half? Real stupid. They were in the van. Sean That's the dumbest thing I heard of. And then my brother David, he looks at that and goes, You know ugly? That's been the little nickname for him. He said, You know, I ain't to burst your bubble. It's damn near impossible. But if you think that you can do it, show them. Now, I hope that shit is funny. He left. From that day on, I was like, Okay.

I'm not going to show them in the anger. I'm not going to show you. No. I'm going to show you that it can be done. You guys can do the same thing. Here's how I did it. Wow.

That's beautiful, Jeff. That's beautiful. Where should people follow you and support you online? You got the tour coming out.

You're on social media. Tour, Wildchild tour. Marley Wayne, it's official. Get your tickets. Hurry up. You can get a discount. I am doing meet and greets. I'm going to be doing meet and greets, so you get the chance to come meet me. Check it out. Probably going to put an option to get my album. It's the Live at the Apollo, which is the taping of Good Grief, but there's a lot of jokes that isn't in there that you can find golden nuggets. Also, online, Instagram @Marlon Wayansx or Twitter, Marlon Wayans. Facebook, Marlon Wayansx. I have two pages. One is personal, the other one's fan page. Sign up for both. And lastly, I'm on TikTok, but I think it's Marlon Wayne's on TikTok. Snapchat, it's weird, but find me. Every now and then, I'll pick it up and I'll do some voices and characters. But Marlon Wayne. Also, don't forget to... I got my tour, my special Good Grief on Amazon Prime. My other specials, if you want to find them, Wokeish is on Netflix. Then you know what it is, is on HBO Max as well as Good Griefs and headliners on HBO Max. Make sure you check them out.

I got a lot of great things coming for you. Thirty some years in the game, and I'm just beginning.

It's amazing, man. It's amazing, man. We'll have it all linked up for everyone in the description as well. But we've got one final question for you, Marlin, before I ask it.

Is this shit going to make me cry?

No, you already did that. Before I'm going to ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you, Marlin, for what it looks to be, this is the first time we've met, but I've seen your work online, and we've got some mutual people in common who said great things about you. But what it looks to be is you've really tapped into a different level of spiritual growth, even though you've been connected to God your whole life, and your father brought that to you since you were very young, and that's been a part of your life. But it sounds like you're unlocking a different level of spiritual growth in your creative service to the world. It's not just about how can I be funny and make money and get the laugh, but how can I be funny, get the laugh, and serve and help others? In whatever story that I'm telling, how can I be of service in my art? Yes. It's something my fiance does really well is thinking about how she can in her comedies that she does as well as a writer and actor. I'm just really happy you're doing that. I'm really happy that you are using 50 years of your life experience and talents and gifts that God keeps pouring into you to also think about serving on the highest level, whether you're doing it at a donut shop for five people at a stand-up, or when you're selling out the garden in three years on July 23rd to 30,000.

I appreciate I appreciate that you're thinking in that way of service, and it just makes me feel happy to know that.

It's funny. I don't go to church because I realize I can serve as God better by being a church. When they come to see my shows that I'm giving them God's word without being preached, you get it through comedy, you get it through. But there's always this spirit. That's beautiful, man. I am of service. I I want people to be happy. Happy is important for me. I want everybody to be happy, including myself.

That's beautiful, man. My final question, Marlon, what's your definition of greatness?

They enjoy authentic Self, point of view and voice, reach the masses. And does everybody trust from people, the fans, to the business, to the money people, trust you with your vision of what you see yourself and your business as. Greatness, to me, is not a destination. I read a book called The Alchemist. In that book, it's a little boy that wants to see the pyramids. In the book, you never seen the pyramids, but he's on a road to see the pyramid. And to me, Greatness is the road that I'm traveling. The destination is an illusion. As long as I'm walking toward being my best me, I'm headed toward greatness. And part of greatness is ultimate joy and happiness. To me, that's greatness.

I hope today's episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today's show with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me, as well as ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple podcast. If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend over on social media or text a friend. Leave us a review over on Apple podcast, and let me know what you learned over on our social media channels at luishouse. I really love hearing the feedback from you, and it helps us continue to make the show better. And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness. Com/newsletter. And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.