All in enjoyable for comic Marlon Wayans at Hanover Theatre

Laughter has a outstanding potential to heal, and Worcester will get an evening stuffed with the most effective medication when comedian, actor, director and author Marlon Wayans involves The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts March 19.

“The world needs laughter and I’m trying to give it to them one laugh at a time,” Wayans mentioned. “People just want to laugh. That’s all. We pack the house, we have a good time. Even if the house ain’t packed, it feels like it’s packed.”

Wayans, crisscrossing the nation on his Wild Child stand-up tour, mentioned for him, humor has at all times been the reply, whether or not he’s the one making the joke or the butt of the joke.

“Nobody is immune to jokes. Nobody is safe, and you’re not supposed to be,” Wayans mentioned. “We’re all supposed to laugh at ourselves, because when you can learn to laugh at life? Life is hard enough.”

‘We’re very passionate and loud and worry nothing’

Though Wayans has by no means carried out in Worcester earlier than, he has performed to energetic crowds in Massachusetts all through his profession, and he recalled one explicit night time in Boston the place he had an particularly enthusiastic viewers.

“It was only a 2,000-seat or 1,500-seat (theater), but the way they were laughing, it felt like a 5,000-seater,” Wayans mentioned. “I grew up in New York, so we’ve been longtime sports rivals, but we’re the same people, New Yorkers and Massachusetts. We’re very passionate and loud and fear nothing.”

Even worry itself isn’t secure from a Wayans joke, as anybody who’s ever watched the horror parody “Scary Movie” movies is aware of.

Wayans and his brother Shawn wrote and starred within the first “Scary Movie,” directed by their brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, in 2000. The sixth movie within the sequence, which introduced the three brothers collectively as artistic companions once more, will arrive in theaters June 5.

Wayans mentioned the most recent “Scary Movie” is, like his 2024 hit comedy particular “Good Grief,” a part of the journey of grieving the lack of his mother and father, significantly his father, who died in 2023.

“The idea started for me when my father was sick in the hospital and said he thought me and my brothers should work together again. I said, ‘I can’t do that. They’re crazy.’ He said, ‘I think you guys should work together again.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Pop. It’s kind of hard.’ He said, ‘For me.’ I looked at my dad and I looked at his face and I said, ‘OK, for you.’”

‘All of it comes from a spot that I do know’

The trailer for “Scary Movie 6” got here out on March 2 and racked up tons of of tens of millions of views inside its first few days on YouTube, and combined in with the parodies of latest horror hits (“M3gan,” “Sinners,” “Longlegs”) are just a few jokes reflecting the social problems with the 2020s.

At one level, authentic “Scary Movie” leads Cindy and Brenda reunite however hesitate to go in for a hug, as Cindy says, “I’m a Republican now, so I’m supposed to be racist.” Brenda’s response: “I think all white people are racist anyway, come here!”

“With social media and less comedy, the new generation isn’t understanding satire and how to do things without kid gloves,” Wayans mentioned. “Just because you say certain jokes, it doesn’t mean you’re trying to tear somebody down. You’re observing and maybe even building them up.”

In one other scene, authentic “Scary Movie” slasher Ghostface stabs a commuter on the New York subway, and when a bystander exclaims, “He stabbed her!” the sufferer shouts again, “My pronouns are they/them. He stabbed them!”

Wayans mentioned he ran that second joke by his oldest child, Kai, who’s transgender and makes use of each “they” and “he” pronouns.

“It’s not like I’m grandfathered in, but I’ve always been an advocate for not just my child, but for people and their freedom. Me and my brothers never try to punch down. We try to break through. My child said, ‘Dad, you’re good. Everybody knows you’re a supporter,’” Wayans mentioned. “All of it comes from a place that I know, so I can service it and not do it in an offensive way.”

Wayans additionally mentioned he’s engaged on one other comedy particular that may deal with their father-and-child relationship all through Kai’s transition.

In normal, he mentioned, his humor comes from his potential to giggle at himself — and your potential, because the listener, to giggle at your self.

“For me, I talk about me. I always talk about me. I find when you talk about you, it’s relatable to everybody,” Wayans mentioned. “I don’t need to search pop culture or politics or hot-button topics. I can find the humor in my everyday life and worst-case situations, and I think that’s the most important thing you can do because it’s therapeutic for you as a human.”

Marlon Wayans stay

When: 7:30 p.m. March 19

Where: The Hanover Theatre, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester

How a lot: $42 to $82. thehanovertheatre.org.