In Living Color: Season One

This Emmy-nominated, Image Award-winning 1990s time-capsule TV series served as a springboard to stardom for the likes of Jim Carrey, the Wayans family--including creator Keenan Ivory Wayans--Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, and that big-butt Fly Girl J. Lo. But in 1990 the talented ensemble cast of this Fox-aired sketch comedy show was comprised of a bunch of hungry, largely unheard-of comedians who pushed themselves to the max for laughs and recognition. Tackling topics related to race, status, and stereotypes, as well as spoofing current events and people in the news, this 13-episode set--containing five-to-eight sketches each, coupled with hip sequences by the Fly Girl dancers--includes memorable bits such as the “Do-It-Yourself Milli Vanilli Kit,” Star Trek-spoof “The Wrath of Farrakhan,” “The Making of a Tracy Chapman Song” (with Kim Wayans' spot-on imitation of the singer), “Andrea Dice Clay,” “Michael Jackson Potato Head” (complete with peeler to update Jackson's lighter look--ouch!), “Ray Charles in Charge,” and “Mitzvah Train.” The debut season also launched recurring skits and characters, including “Homey the Clown” (Damon Wayans as a crabby clown), the “Hey Mon” Jamaican Hedley family, “Great Moments in Black History,” “Homeboy Shopping Network” (Damon and Keenan peddle stolen goods in a QVC-style program), “Vera DeMilo” (Carrey as a pigtailed, freakish female bodybuilder), “Ted Turner's Very Colorized Classics,” and, my favorite, the “Men on…” segments, featuring Damon and David Alan Grier as overtly gay critics. A blast of bawdy humor nostalgia, the In Living Color: Season One box set also includes a “Looking Back” segment and a Fly Girls featurette. Highly recommended. (J. Williams)