DAMON WAYANS GOES BEYOND `NO LIMITS'.Byline: David Kronke Television Critic Not since David Lynch went from the hard-R rating of his ultra-creepy ``Lost Highway'' to his G-rated movie ``The Straight Story,'' and then back again to the lesbian love 1. See Lesbianism. scenes of ``Mulholland Dr.'' has anyone revolted against their established persona as Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans (pronounced "Waynes") (born September 4, 1960) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who began his career as a stand-up comic in 1982. He is one of the Wayans brothers. has in transitioning himself from ABC's banal sitcom ``My Wife and Kids'' to Showtime's eager-to-offend sketch show ``The Underground.'' On tonight's premiere, Wayans, observing that Showtime show·time or show time n. 1. The time at which an entertainment, such as the showing of a movie, is scheduled to start. 2. Slang The time at which an activity is to begin. Noun 1. boasts ``no limits,'' declares, ``I is here to test them.'' And test them he does, though not to the extent of the original pilot episode, which flagrantly sacrificed wit at the altar of offense. Though clear provocations are still present: Consider the sketch in which white businessmen copiously address one another as (expurgated ex·pur·gate tr.v. ex·pur·gat·ed, ex·pur·gat·ing, ex·pur·gates To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or otherwise objectionable material from (a book, for example) before publication. ), or, channeling Eve Ensler Eve Ensler (born 25 May 1953 in Scarsdale, New York) is a playwright and feminist activist best known for the play ''The Vagina Monologues. Personal life Ensler graduated from Middlebury College in 1975. She married Richard McDermott in 1978 and divorced in 1988. , a female (censored) chats, or the skit during which Wayans, playing an ex-convict, (surely you didn't expect a description of actions such as this in a family newspaper) an elderly woman, or the commercial for jeans revealing (c'mon, now, certainly by now you've figured out we can't discuss this sort of thing). Two episodes in, and they haven't even resurrected the sketch in the original pilot about (how many ways do we have to explain to you: Wayans sorely wants to offend you?). Some of the shock-comedy works, such as when Peter Pan visits Somalia and tries in vain to lift the spirits of its orphans, and there's a laugh or two to be had in sketches featuring disparate cultures seeking pedicures in the same shop, or a young woman introducing her fianc(hrt) to her very doting dote intr.v. dot·ed, dot·ing, dotes To show excessive fondness or love: parents who dote on their only child. [Middle English doten. dad. Wayans even revives the notion of his previous sketch show's ``Fly Girls,'' though clearly playing to a pay-cable audience. Too often, however, Wayans' cult of personality Noun 1. cult of personality - intense devotion to a particular person fashion - the latest and most admired style in clothes and cosmetics and behavior seems to force the gags upon audiences, making the series' very first sketch, in which viewers are forced to laugh at gunpoint, feel like a metaphor for the entire enterprise. David Kronke, (818) 713-3638 david.kronke@dailynews.com THE UNDERGROUND - Two stars What: Damon Wayans' extremely risque ris·qué adj. Suggestive of or bordering on indelicacy or impropriety. [French, from past participle of risquer, to risk, from risque, risk; see risk.] Adj. sketch-comedy series. Where: Showtime. When: 10 and 10:30 tonight; midnight Friday, 11 and 11:30 p.m. Saturday. In a nutshell: More interested in offending than amusing, though it is intermittently amusing. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Damon Wayans and his sketch-comedy ensemble make a habit of crossing the line on Showtime's ``The Underground.'' |
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