‘We’ve never been tasteless’: Marlon and Shawn Wayans on the secret to ‘Scary Movie’ success

Ahead of “Scary Movie 6,” Shawn and Marlon Wayans share their approach to making boundary-pushing comedy in 2026.

26 years after “Scary Movie” first premiered in theaters, the franchise is making its way back, and the Wayans brothers are making sure it was worth the wait.

“Scary Movie “‘ hits theaters on June 5, reuniting the film’s “Core Four” — Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Regina Hall, and Anna Faris — for what the brothers are calling the franchise’s boldest installment yet, with a promise that  “every line will be crossed.”

Now, for longtime “Scary Movie” fans, the tagline comes as no surprise. But the entertainment world in 2026 is very different from the one the franchise first entered in 2000. Comedy, especially the boundary-pushing kind that the Wayans built their legacy on, is navigating a very different landscape in the age of social media and cancel culture. Jokes that push the envelope, but were once taken the chin, can now go viral and spark a full-on social media firestorm.

In an exclusive interview with theGrio, when asked how they approached making a film designed to “cancel cancel culture, the Wayans brothers shared the formula to their success. 

“We definitely went there [in the movie], but I feel like we have an autocorrect. We listen to the audience, we listen to ourselves, and every comedian has some kind of conscience,” Marlon explained. “Over time, you really start becoming tasteful. Just because something makes you go, ‘ooh,’ it doesn’t mean it’s absolutely hilarious. Sometimes it’s just a tasteless joke that makes you, we want you to feel good. So, if you go, ‘oh,’ there better be a ‘HA HA’  after that, or it’s not worth it. Anything that I felt hurt the movie, I took out. We want to keep the momentum.”

“[Which is to make people] Laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh, laugh,” Shawn added. 

“Now you try things, but that’s every comedian. You gotta try things, but when you’ve got a finished product, how does it feel? When you’re doing comedy, our whole purpose is to make everybody laugh, not to be liked. We want to make you laugh, and sometimes you can fail doing that too,” Marlon continued. 

“[And that happens when] you tried too hard to be like, so you wasn’t funny,” his brother injected. 

“You’ve got to go with your instincts, and then sometimes people try to be disliked, and it works. We Wayans have never been tasteless; that’s just not our formula. Ours is to make you laugh.” 

 And it’s a formula that’s resonated with audiences for decades, from “In Living Color” to “White Chicks” to the original “Scary Movie” films that changed the parody genre entirely. Now they’re back, ready to make viewers laugh with the “Scary Movie 6” premiere in theaters on June 5.