Damon Wayans & Damon Wayans Jr. To Headline Father/Son Comedy In Works At CBS

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: In a dream on-screen sitcom pairing two decades in the making, Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. are set to star in a father-son multi-camera comedy. CBS is developing the untitled project, co-written by the elder Wayans and former Last Man Standing executive producer Kevin Hench.

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The comedy revolves around legendary talk radio host and happily divorced “Poppa” (Wayans), who has to drag his grown son (Wayans Jr.), who has all his charm and none of his drive, kicking and screaming into adulthood before he turns 40.

Wayans, Hench and Wayans Jr. executive produce. CBS Studios, where Wayans Jr.’s Two Shakes Entertainment has been based since its launch, is the studio.

This marks Wayans’ return to network comedy after he co-created, executive produced and starred in ABC’s My Wife and Kids, which ran on ABC for five seasons from 2001-05. It is on that multi-cam show that his son, Wayans Jr., made his TV acting debut with a major recurring role. He went on to star in single-camera comedies Happy Endings and New Girl before headlining the CBS multi-camera sitcom Happy Together.

That CBS sitcom lasted a season, but it gave fans a taste of what the Wayanses’ onscreen father-son dynamic would look like when Wayans guest starred as Wayans Jr.’s father in an episode titled, “Like Father, Like Son.”

Wayans Jr., who also appeared on his father’s Showtime sketch comedy The Underground, most recently was seen in the films Supercool, Cherry and Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. He recently wrapped Netflix’s Players and is an executive producer on the streamer’s upcoming drama series Glamorous.

Wayans is a four-time Emmy nominee who co-created and starred in the iconic sketch series In Living Color. He most recently starred as Roger Murtaugh on Fox’s Lethal Weapon series and next will be seen starring alongside Pam Grier in Tubi’s noir thriller Cinnamon.

In addition to his lengthy stint as executive producer on Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing, Hench co-created and executive produced Cristela and Mr. Iglesias. He is currently executive producing Allen’s new Disney+ series The Santa Clauses.

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