Marlon Wayans: Best emotion I can ever have is laughter

By GEORGE DICKIE

Zap2It.com

Q. Your character on NBC’s “Marlon” is described as an immature guy.

A. That’s me (laughs). I live my life pretty naked, man. I’m like a kid, a very free spirit. Anybody that knows me knows that I’m a rascal, I’m probably immature, I’m wise when I want to be but I like to live life with a smile. Carefree – I don’t like to argue. I just like to live, I like to enjoy, I like to travel, I like to smile. I like laughing. Laughing feels good. Best emotion I can ever have is laughter. And so yeah, I’m a little immature and that’s why I tell people all the time – I’m about to be 45 – I feel 19. I have never stopped being 19.

It’s like ... Peter Pan wanting to be a child. I just want to get right past puberty – that fun part of your life, that scary part of your life where you don’t know everything, but you’re willing to fail, but you think you know. And I think that’s why ... new things like piano or trying guitar, I like the feeling of trying something new and sucking at it and then over time getting better. And I think kids have the most fun, and I just want to live free and be free and laugh my way through life and not worry about consequences.

Q. So on set, would you call your TV wife Essence Atkins the adult in the room?

A. Absolutely (laughs). She’s definitely the adult in the room, the adult on the set. She’s the heart of the show. She’s definitely the heart, she’s the pulse of our show and what she feels we all feel. And it makes me attend to it and be responsible and be respectful, and that’s the part where the boy becomes the man dealing with that woman, who he loves.