When Colman Domingo guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live and welcomed Marlon Wayans to the couch, it didn’t take long for the conversation to land on the one thing they have very much in common: they both played Joe Jackson.
The exchange that followed was exactly what you’d expect when two of the most talented and naturally funny men in Hollywood realize they’ve occupied the same role in two very different films.
Domingo played Joe Jackson in the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, spending two and a half hours in prosthetics to bring the Jackson patriarch to life. Wayans played him in his own project, and by his own admission, the process looked a little different.
Marlon Wayans and Colman Domingo couldn’t stop laughing while talking about both playing Joe Jackson, with Marlon in Scary Movie 6 and Colman in Michael 😭💀
— Killa 🌺 (@KillaKreww) July 22, 2026
Marlon also gave Colman his flowers, saying his performance was incredible and that he deserves an Oscar nomination 👏 pic.twitter.com/BpGzM0zHOq
“About seven minutes,” Wayans said of his makeup time. “That was a homie-the-clown makeup kit right there. Just pop on the nose and give me the jerry curl.”
But Wayans had a defense ready. “I played money Joe Jackson,” he said. “That’s when he got the curl. That’s when he laid back on anybody’s couch.” Anyone who grew up in a Black household in the era of the Jheri curl immediately understood.
Beyond the jokes, the conversation turned genuinely warm when Wayans spoke about what the Jackson family means to him personally and what Domingo’s film meant to him as a viewer. “I love the Jackson family. I was so happy to see Michael,” Wayans said. “And what a wonderful performance, as always, with you.” He saved particular praise for Jaafar Jackson. “If that boy don’t get nominated for an Oscar, man.”
He also talked about the parallel between the Jackson family and his own. “If it wasn’t for the Jacksons, I don’t think there would be the Wayans, because that family taught my family to dream, to work together.” He also shouted out other iconic large families who built legacies together: the DeBargs and the Osmonds.
Check out the full interview.
