KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: That’s always been my source, has been my family. We grew up in a house and we didn’t have anything but each other, and we used to make each other laugh. We know each other’s sense of humor, and we also know if I’m gonna ask someone’s opinion, I’m gonna go to them because I know that they know what’s funny. So we’ve been blessed. My mother was the funniest person ever. And we didn’t realize it until she passed. We thought she was just mean. She wasn’t mean. She was funny. Everything she said was funny. And so we know that we get our humor from her.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome to We Disrupt This Broadcast. I’m your host, Gabe González, and today we’re asking a comedy legend to take us back to the 90s, an era with some questionable fashion, but some groundbreaking TV, especially when it came to sketch comedy. That’s right for our first installment in the Legendary Disruptor series, we’re talking about In Living Color with the one and only Keenen Ivory Wayans, a comedian whose work in television and film pretty much defined the nineties and early 2000s, using satire and parody to critique cultural stereotypes while challenging the limits of what comedians, especially black comedians could say on network TV.
While that show first aired over 35 years ago and lasted four seasons, In Living Color‘s had an indelible impact on sketch comedy and generations of comedians. So Keenen’s gonna talk to us about how he got his start in comedy, what it was like creating black led comedy on TV during the nineties, and the two qualities he was looking for when bringing together the writers and actors that made In Living Color such a cultural phenomenon.
Later on, we’ll be joined by Felicia Pride, a TV writer, director, producer, and showrunner for Netflix’s reboot of A Different World. She’ll talk to us about why the 90s was such a golden era for black led comedies on tv, what the landscape looks like now and why revisiting classic sitcoms could help inspire new talent. So don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back with Keenen Ivory Wayans.
CLIP: In Living Color
All kids come on, I’m Homey D. Clown. Y’all ready to have some fun?
Yeah. Yeah.
Alright. What y’all want me to do first?
Do a silly clown dance for us. Yeah.
Degrade myself, huh? I don’t think so.
Homey don’t play that.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Hey everyone, welcome back. This is your host, Gabe González, and we are here with a guest I am thrilled to welcome the legendary Keenen Ivory Wayans.
So I wanted to talk to you about In Living Color. In Living Color was a sketch show, but I feel like you all leaned so heavily into satire.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Yes.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: You leaned into satire to criticize stereotypes. You would embody them and then exaggerate them to show how ridiculous they are. You have to be willing to be transgressive and think about social commentary, but you also have to be kind of a clown.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Right.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: So in those early days, what qualities were you looking for in a writer or in a cast member to let you know that someone was down to clown the way you needed them to?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Smart and funny. You couldn’t be one or the other. You had to be both. So we had some really smart, funny writers, and I was the moderator, so they would pitch to me and I would say, ‘write this one, write that one, write the other one.’ Then they would do their first draft, and then I would give them notes, and then they would get a second draft. And if they didn’t get it, we’d take it and myself and another writer would do the third draft.
I’ve always been blessed with an ear for the audience. Having done standup, you can pretty much tell you know what the audience is gonna laugh at and what they’re not. So my ear worked for me and you know, I don’t think I ever missed.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I’ve read so many interviews you’ve done, uh, where you’ve spoken about there being a, a bit of network pushback and some fear before that first episode of In Living Color came out, what were the days like leading up to that pilot episode?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, I remember having a meeting with Peter Chernin, who was the head of the network. And he said, you know, because they had held onto the show for almost a year, and he said, we want to air it, but they want to take out Men on Film, Wrath of Farrakhan. He said, you know, ‘we want kind of ease our way in, you know?’
I said, ‘I don’t want to ease my way in.’ I said, ‘I want to kick the door open. Guns blazing and whatever happens, happens.’ And he looked at me, he said, ‘you sure?’ I said, ‘yep.’ He said, ‘okay.’ And that’s what we did. I think if we had taken those sketches out, we wouldn’t have got the fanfare that we did.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I mean, I’ve gotta say “Men on Films” is one of my favorite sketches from the series. It’s one of the first I ever saw, and it’s so funny ’cause, you know, looking back and doing research for this episode, I was surprised at how divisive it was. But like literally kind of 50/50, there were so many L-G-B-T-Q magazines that ran polls and half of the people loved it and half the people were offended by it. But it’s wild because nowadays it’s shared among my friends as a very iconic sketch. I mean, we all, we quote it to each other now. I’d love to share a clip with our listeners.
CLIP: In Living Color
Hello, I’m Blaine Edwards. And I’m Antoine Merriweather. And welcome to Men On Films. We are gonna be reviewing the latest films from a male point of view. First up is that controversial movie Do the Right Thing. Now, I really like little Spike Lee’s courage in making this film. I especially like the way he mixed the racial tension with the violence in order to give his message, “do the right thing,” come on out the closet, don’t be afraid to be who you is. Black, white, whatever. Mm-hmm. Ain’t that the truth Ruth?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: In West Hollywood, in the gay bars, they would play it on the loop and I mean, it was, you know, there’s the media and then there’s the fans, so you can’t listen to the media. Because they have to, you know, overanalyze and criticize and all of that to sell publications. The fans tell you when you’re going too far.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Absolutely. If you’re being played on a loop in a gay bar in West Hollywood, that’s a pretty strong sign from the fans, I think.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Right, exactly.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I mean, so much great talent came out of In Living Color. You all clearly had an eye for it. The show was an incubator for so many incredible writers. I mean, I don’t have enough fingers to count how many comedians have told me Larry Wilmore has been instrumental in their career. Right. You had amazing actors, you had the Fly Girls. I’m Puerto Rican, like almost every famous Puerto Rican was dancing on your show. So I’m curious, what do you see today as the legacy of In Living Color?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, the legacy is all the people who are on the show who’ve gone on to be the kings of comedy. Jamie Foxx, Jim Carey, the whole Wayans family. You know, it’s like, I mean, Jennifer Lopez is an icon now, you know, she started out as a dancer and she helped put Puerto Rico on…You know? Yeah. And she’s a proud Boricua. You know, she says that all the time. So that’s what I think the legacy is, that the fact that everybody went from that show on to do great things and that’s it.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: No, absolutely. I mean, the work speaks for itself, right? Yeah. And I’m curious, Hollywood Shuffle is based on your experiences in Hollywood, right? The way white folks kind of ran the industry. So I’m curious, how did it feel shifting to television and actually dealing with that on a weekly basis, right? Kind of holding onto a show that was for the fans while the network maybe wanted it to be something else.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, the network, for the first three seasons, they were fine. Third season, a new guy came in and I guess he was supposed to be the ballbuster. And that’s when it got hard because they weren’t meddling into the creative process, but then all of a sudden everybody had notes. And that’s when it got harder because they didn’t understand the culture and what they were trying to do was soften. And that’s not what we were, you know, we were a hard edge show and that’s what we wanted to remain. So there were some battles, but in the end, you know, I won.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: And it feels like In Living Color was part of this cultural moment where there were a lot of shows led by black cast members and black creators that built up TV networks in the 90s and the early 2000s. But then it seems like these shows started disappearing. How do you reflect on that moment in TV history? Did it feel like that to you?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, they were basically pimping us. They used us to build a base. And then transitioning from the base into mainstream. Fox did it. WB did it. UPN did it. They just, like I said, they would use us and then discard us. And it was okay. Most of us survived, so it was all good.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I know we are here to talk about In Living Color, but you’re also known for legendary films like White Chicks and Scary Movie. There’s actually a new installment of Scary Movie coming out soon.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Right? Mm-hmm.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Now, I don’t know if you saw this, but during an interview with Vanity Fair, last year, Regina Hall said that the biggest treat of getting to do Scary Movie was working with you. And she mentioned a piece of advice you gave her and Anna Faris during their first day on set during Scary Movie 1, and she said that you told them ‘There’s no vanity in comedy.’ And I’m wondering, what does that phrase mean to you? Why is that so important to remember?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, if you look at the great female comedians, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, they were not afraid to look ugly. You know, they were not afraid to be goofy. They were not afraid to, you know, have stuff thrown in their face, and they weren’t worried about their hair. There was no vanity. It was just the joke.
And the thing was, you will always be beautiful. You’re beautiful, but your character isn’t. So if you’re doing a character, you can’t worry about how you look. You gotta worry about the character. And they took it to heart and they did a great job.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I love that. It feels like advice a lot of comedians could remember today too. I think, you know, as a lot of. People cut their standup into 15 second clips for Instagram. It’s, I gotta look good. I gotta look good. Right?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Yeah.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: And so it, it almost feels like that’s advice that could apply to so many folks today.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, the internet is the death of creativity. It’s 60 seconds. Anybody can be good in 60 seconds. 60 minutes – That’s hard.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: And now, you know, given that Scary Movie is coming out with a new installment this year, I’m wondering how are you kind of bringing this old school sensibility that you have to a younger audience that’s maybe more trained on the internet and shorter clips?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: I think they miss the old school. So we’re not trying to give them what they already have. We’re gonna give them what they miss. So I think funny is funny, and as long as we give them that, we’re good to go.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Now, I come from a much smaller family than yours. You’ve got a lot of siblings, but my brother and I are both comedians as well, and my mom was not happy about that, but we tried to work to… she’s, let me tell you, Puerto Rican moms are not psyched when their kids don’t come out to be lawyers.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: My mom was not happy with me quitting college. I was up in my senior year for an engineering degree.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Oh wow.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: And I quit to do standup and she threw me out the house.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Oh my gosh. Well, I was gonna ask, it seems like you maybe paved the way ’cause so many of your siblings ended up being comics. She must have been disappointed so many times.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: No, no. After she saw me having success, she told Marlon to quit college and go out to California and be with me.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Maybe I just wasn’t good enough. I should have been better if my mom would’ve changed her mind.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: No, no, no. Parents don’t, they don’t understand show business, you know, to them especially, you know, we grew up in the projects. It was like, ‘who do you know? You know, that’s famous. Nobody.’ So they see it as a dream, not as a real profession.
And um, I remember after we were all successful, we were having a dinner and my dad was there with my mom and he said he was thinking about opening up a management company, and me and my brothers all busted out laughing. He said, what’s so funny? I said, man, you had five famous people living in your house. You were raising five great comedians and you had no idea. Now you’re talking about you wanna go out and search for talent? It was tough, but worth it. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: And I’m curious, what brings you back to working with family?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Well, that’s always been my source, has been my family. You know, we grew up in a house and we didn’t have anything but each other. And we used to make each other laugh. We know each other’s sense of humor, and we also know if I’m gonna ask someone’s opinion, I’m gonna go to them because I know that they know what’s funny, you know?
So we’ve been blessed. My mother was the funniest person ever, and we didn’t realize it until she passed. We thought she was just mean. She wasn’t mean. She was funny. Everything she said was funny. And so we know that we get our humor from her.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: How do you think your family influenced not only your work itself, your comedy, but the way you work?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: I learned how to communicate with a bunch of different personalities from my brother Damon doesn’t like to be upstaged. From when we were doing, I’m Gonna Get You Sucker, Kadeem Hardison, he came up with this thing where he would repeat everything that Damon said, and it was really funny, but Damon was getting mad. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. I said, don’t get mad, just listen to him. I said, and pick when you wanna shut him down.
So if you watch the movie Kadeem, he’s over in Damon’s ear, and then Damon goes ‘Shut up’ and Kadeem has to shut up, you know? But I told him, just take it back. Let ’em have some room to be funny and then take it back.
I learned how to do that with Damon, ’cause Damon would have the same issue with Jim. They did this preacher sketch and Jim carried, literally did a donkey kick up in the air and Damon was like, ‘yo, man, you see what this guy is…?’ I said, ‘Hey, don’t worry about it. I said, just watch him. Listen to what he’s saying, then comment on that.’ And so when you watch, they got a really good rhythm going.
CLIP: In Living Color
My name is the Reverend Ed Cash Dollar Bills, no food stamps, please. And I’m the Reverend Dr. Carl Pathos. This ministry’s spiritual gynecologist. Uh, now would you, uh, please tell us the name of your church? Uh, that would be the first Church of Discount Sin. Yes Lord. As of now, we have six locations throughout the greater metropolitan area. The Lord is slicing prices and all sin must go. Just dial 1-800-Settle-Up for the franchise nearest you. Uh, we even have a drive through window. Can I take your order, Reverend? Yes, I’d like some forgiveness, please. Would you like a hot apple pie with that? Yes, and I have a Moses McMuffin too. Drive around.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Do you have a favorite memory from your time on set during In Living Color?
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Men On Film, the first time they did that. So what had happened was the head of the studio told Peter Chernin, he wanted them to cut that, and I called him up and I said, ‘Do me a favor. Come down to the taping. If you don’t like it, I’ll cut it.’
He came to the taping and Damon and David went into their thing and the audience went crazy. When they did the two snaps, all you heard was foot stomping. The sketch ended. I looked at him, he looked at me. He said, ‘you got your sketch,’ and he left.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: There is a moment during that first sketch where I think David Allen Grier’s character is getting kind of upset about something and Damon just leans over, puts one hand on his thigh and goes, ‘Don’t get mad.’ And the way people scream, the way I scream at that every, you know what I mean? It just says so much. Yeah. It says so much about who they are. It’s so funny. Man. Thank God you won that battle. Thank you. Yeah.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Originally that was gonna be me and Damon.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Oh!
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: I had David read it for the rehearsal and I saw it and it was so funny, and I said, no, you do this one. I stepped out. I never had an ego about any of the sketches. If I thought somebody else was better. I put them in there.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Well, thank you so much, Keenen Ivory Wayans. I really, I can’t tell you how much your work means to me and how much it means to our entire team here. We’re blown away that you had the time to join us today. I’m so excited to see the new Scary Movie, and I’m so excited to hear this episode. Thanks for talking about In Living Color.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Let me know when you’re doing standup. I’ll come check you out.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Oh my God, absolutely. If you’re ever in New York, I’m in Brooklyn all the time, so yeah, I’d love to connect. Thank you.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: All right, cool. Peace.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Thank you again to Keenen Ivory Wayans for joining us. And you know, I’ve gotta say, if given the chance, I think I would be forced to let Jim Carrey upstage my brother too.
When you talk to people about sketch comedy on TV, they always tend to focus on the past, not the future. When it comes to formats that can critique the day or week’s news, think sketch comedy shows, late night shows, weekly variety series, we’re seeing fewer and fewer options for viewers on cable even streaming today, especially ones with a majority black cast. And dancers. Bring dancing back to comedy.
While the reason behind the disappearance of TV sketch comedy seems constantly up for discussion, Keenen hones in on a central reason. Networks seem less willing to take a risk, to take a chance on an ambitious idea from a group of young creatives. And maybe the era of private equity investment in media and IP revivals and TV mergers has made creative execs more risk averse. If you listen to our episode with Julio Torres last season, you know what I’m talking about.
But what do we miss out on when the ideas surrounding profitability take precedence over talent? If there’s anything In Living Color shows, it’s that those risks are what produce comedy with a cultural impact. Those risks bring new, unexpected voices to our screens. Those risks resonate with audiences when creators are given the room to speak freely. So maybe there’s a reason we look back when we talk about sketch comedy, ’cause looking back could teach us something about how to ensure its future on our screens.
Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back with Felicia Pride.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Hey everyone. Welcome back. I’m your host Gabe González, and we are here with our next guest. Felicia Pride is a writer, director, and producer who’s worked on shows like Bel Air, Grey’s Anatomy, and Queen Sugar. Now, she’s spearheading Netflix’s reboot of the beloved sitcom, A Different World. She’s here to talk to us about her own work, In Living Color, and that era in the nineties where it seemed like networks were doubling down on black led content… until they weren’t. Hey, thanks for joining us.
FELICIA PRIDE: Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: I wanted to talk a bit about your work. You were working as a showrunner on the reboot of A Different World with Debbie Allen returning as executive producer. You all are taking us back to an era of TV that really was so influential for a ton of creatives, especially black comedians today. How do you reflect on that time in TV history?
FELICIA PRIDE: It was a special time. You know, there was everything from Martin and Living Single to In Living Color. I think it came right after that. So we would gather together, 8 PM and watch it as a family. So it was a solidifying force. And also just the representation that in the back of my mind, this is something that I could possibly do.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: So when you’re bringing a sitcom, like A Different World, which sort of straddles the late 80s and early 90s on tv, what does that feel like, right? To kind of revisit this and bring it into today, into 2026?
FELICIA PRIDE: It feels like pressure. You don’t wanna mess it up ’cause it already has an incredible legacy. There’s also the question of the why, right? So you wanna have a strong why, of why we are even doing this? And you also want to represent the communities and the beloved fans, right? So you wanna make sure that they feel seen and heard while also ushering it into a new time and space. So it’s incredibly challenging, incredibly difficult. But the thing that kept me going was one, Debbie Allen wanted to do it. Debbie Allen and Tom Werner. I was like, ‘well, if y’all wanna do it, you, you know better than me.’
And then two, all the opportunities that could be presented from new cast members to bringing the OGs back to all the people that we can hire, but also the representation of the show. How we can show HBCUs now, how we can show a diversity of black people, how we can represent for these audiences.
And we, the why for us was the timing feels divine in that we’re in a moment where we need to hear from young people. We need to hear from young black students. We also need to feel hope. We need to feel joy. We need to feel comfort. And so those things keep me going.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Do you remember the first time you watched In Living Color? What was the impact of that show on you?
FELICIA PRIDE: I think the thing about In Living Color, was that it told black people that we one, deserved to be in sketch comedy; and two, that our sketch comedy doesn’t have to look like everybody else’s. Right? So that was very powerful in itself.
And then they just had these characters where you’re like, what? Like I know the baseline of this character, like we know Homey D. Clown. We know our uncle who went to prison and now has this job, right? We know Benita Butrell. We know our auntie who lives on the block and talks about everybody. So it was tapping into something that felt very real for black people while also was funny but didn’t feel hurtful.
And I think that’s also where we’re in a time now where sometimes comedy punches down. And I say for me, watching In Living Color, I could be wrong, but it just felt like, ‘this is funny, this is my Aunt Benita, but we love Benita.’ You know? And so it felt very daring, almost felt like, you know, the network kind of, and I’m sure this wasn’t the case, left them alone. I mean like, it just felt like a creative freedom that I think artists, especially black artists crave.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Is that something that you’re finding is more difficult today as the avenues for TV shows to get green lit become narrower and narrower and start kind of consolidating?
FELICIA PRIDE: I think that now, there’s a lot less risk taking. There’s a lot less being daring and bold from studios and networks. And then there’s a lot more it feels like, it almost felt like too, like, and maybe this was just the nature of like Fox at the time, but white folks left it alone. You know, like white audiences. If they watched it, it was fine, but it was like, fine, let them have their little show. Now I feel like there’s even pushback from like white audiences in terms of audiences of color having too much.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: And it’s funny how that perception of too much doesn’t always align with reality, right? I mean, we spoke…
FELICIA PRIDE: at all.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Yeah. It’s like, so when we’re talking about In Living Color, we’ve talked a bit about the legacy, but where do you sort of see that legacy showing up today?
FELICIA PRIDE: Yeah, I think one, I keep going back to the talent that came out of that show. I think that we can’t underscore that enough. When you think about David Allen Grier; you think about Jamie Foxx; you think about Tommy Davidson; you think about Kim Wayans. Just the amount of powerhouse talent that could do so many things. You know? I think the creativity and sort of offbeatness of the show has a legacy in terms of showing the diversity of comedy when it comes to black folks, and also I just think the Wayans themselves are iconic and legendary and they continue to make and do and create together, separate. So that to me is really powerful, too. They’re one of our top Hollywood families. You know, we don’t have many, but they’re one of them.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, absolutely. So I think when it comes to black-led television today, what’s something you’d like to see more of? What are you hoping that we see more of from black creators and black TV shows in the next five, 10 years?
FELICIA PRIDE: More from the black gaze. I think sometimes black creators unconsciously, consciously create for the white gaze to help white audiences understand us better or treat us better, and I just don’t believe in that. I don’t believe it works. That’s not my ministry. My ministry is to illuminate our humanity back to ourselves. So I want more messy. You know, like we don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to always be excellent. Let’s show the full spectrum of our humanity. That’s what I wanna see more of.
Equally important, I almost use the word hope because I don’t necessarily believe in like no trauma. I don’t believe that, but I do believe that the flip side of that coin is hope, and that is something that black people also have. There’d be no way we’d be able to be in this moment and still here if we did not have hope. So I just want projects, more projects that reflect that diversity of experience for black people. And then of course, starting to see and seeing more types of black people and black experiences that we have not seen or that have been minimized and decentered, wanting to see that more as well.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Well, thank you so much for joining us and I’m curious, where can folks watch A Different World and when does it come out?
FELICIA PRIDE: Yes, it comes out this year on Netflix.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Amazing.
FELICIA PRIDE: Thank you so much for having me. This was fun.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Thank you again to Keenen Ivory Wayans and Felicia Pride for joining us this episode to not only talk about their projects, but help us more critically frame our nostalgia when we look back at 90s comedies like In Living Color, or A Different World. So many black comedians in the nineties paved the way for the comedy we see today.
And when it comes to sketch comedy in particular, shows like Key and Peele on Comedy Central, Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO, even Mad TV which aired a few years after In Living Color on Fox, seemed to be drawing from the DNA of In Living Color. It’s a series that pushed the boundaries of politeness and propriety to make us rethink cultural norms. And for at least the first few seasons, Fox let its creatives take big swings; and sure, maybe they might miss, but at least they got the chance to take the swing; and when they hit, when Damon Wayans touches David Allen Grier’s thigh at just the right moment, for example, it’s undeniable, even to an executive that didn’t quite see the vision at first.
I’m so grateful we got to talk to both our guests today, creatives who are still working in TV and film, to honor the legacy of black led comedy on television while shaping how it looks moving forward.
This episode gets two snaps and a twirl from me. But before we let you go, uh, we’ve got one very important matter of business. Because the Peabodys are decided unanimously, every episode will bring you the quote that we chose unanimously as our most disruptive moment.
KEENEN IVORY WAYANS: Anybody can be good in 60 seconds. 60 minutes, that’s hard.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Next time on We Disrupt This Broadcast, we’re talking to the minds behind Jury Duty Corporate Retreat. The Amazon Prime series is part sitcom, part reality TV show, and 100% mind blowing television. So make sure to catch our conversation with co-creator Lee Eisenberg and executive producer Nicholas Hatton on our next episode.
LEE EISENBERG: From the moment we pitched the show, we always called Ronald and Anthony, you know, whoever it was we always called them the hero. And so, you know, it was very important to us that we were never punching down, that the joke was never at their expense. It’s a sitcom where it happens to be that the main character, in fact a real person, but we never wanted it to be at their expense. You always knew that protecting the hero was the most important part of the job.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: We Disrupt This Broadcast is a Peabody and Center for Media and Social Impact production hosted by me, Gabe González, with on air contributions from Caty Borum and Jeffrey Jones. The show is brought to you by executive producers, Caty Borum and Jeffrey Jones. Managing producer Jordana Jason. Writers: Sasha Stewart, Jordana Jason, Bethany Hall, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, and myself, Gabe González. Consulting producers Jennifer Keishin Armstrong and Bethany Hall. Researcher, Riley McLaughlin. Graphic designer: Olivia Klaus. Operations producer: Varsha Ramani. The marketing and communications team: Christine Drayer and Tunishia Singleton. From PRX: the team is Terrence Bernardo, Jennie Cataldo, Edwin Ochoa and Amber Walker. The executive producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales.