The third season of In Living Color shapes up as an eerily prescient star-making system rather than another look at an edgy comedy series. Though popular characters like Fire Marshall Bill (Jim Carrey), Homey the Clown (Damon Wayans) and the "Men on Film" duo (Wayans and David Alan Grier) recur, in many respects 1991 was a transitional year for the show. Incoming cast members include Jamie Foxx, whose Ugly Woman character is featured prominently, and he does a dead-on Prince for a commercial parody. There is even a Ray Charles send-up but, ironically enough, he's played by Grier and not recent Oscar winner Foxx. Another big break comes for Jennifer Lopez, who's introduced as a brand new "Fly Girl." This proves to be significant in one of the season's amazing musical guest performances. ILC allotted more time for these this season, allowing artists like Leaders of the New School (featuring Busta Rhymes), Nice & Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, Eric B. & Rakim, and MC Lyte to close out the show with entire songs. There's a bizarre moment where an un-credited Sean "P Diddy" Combs nods in the background as Heavy D is joined by Flavor Flav and a young Tupac Shakur. So, for completely unrelated reasons, J-Lo, Diddy and Tupac are all on the same stage together. That's even creepier than Tommy Davidson's Michael Jackson chasing after a fake Macaulay Culkin in a skit lampooning Jackson's first round of child molestation allegations. (Fox)
In Living Color: Season 3
BY Vish KhannaPublished May 1, 2005
