John Witherspoon Movies

From his memorable performances as the dog-catching dad in the hit Friday trilogy to his recurring role as "Pops" in The Wayans Brothers, comedian John Witherspoon has kept movie and television viewers in stitches for years. Now, the pop-culture icon who spawned such catchphrases as "Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!" and "You Got to Coordinate!" is bringing his act to the stage and nothing is off limits in this release of a 2007 performance that highlights why David Letterman once called Witherspoon "the funniest man alive." ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Popular Adult Swim show on Cartoon Network! Based on Aaron McGruder's comic strip which was distributed in 350 newspapers nationwide. Granddad sneaks the boys into the movies to be cheap. Sarah's obsession with Usher after meeting him threatens her relationship with Tom. Riley and Granddad refuse to talk with cops about two local thieves, even after Granddad's car is stolen. Stinkmeaner's spirit possesses Tom and he tries to get revenge on Granddad. Riley joins the basketball team, and the boys fight over who will be boss while Granddad's on vacation.

Comedian and Hollywood Shuffle-director Robert Townsend serves up another batch of satirical sketches in this fourth volume in the Robert Townsend: Partners in Crime series. Along with humorous vignettes featuring the likes of Damon Wayans, Reynaldo Rey, and John Witherspoon, the program includes a musical performance by rapper MC Hammer. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Season four of The Wayans Bros. ended with aspiring actor Marlon Williams (Marlon Wayans) landing a regular role on the network sitcom "Everybody Loves Everybody," and Shawn Williams (Shawn Wayans) finding himself without a means of support when his newsstand burns to the ground. Thus, season five finds the brothers' "roles" hilariously reversed: Marlon is now the responsible breadwinner, and Shawn is the wheeler-dealer -- serving as Marlon's agent, and taking a 50 percent cut of his brother's earnings! Most of the season's episodes are built around the brothers' misadventures in show business. In one episode, Marlon is aghast to learn that his TV role may require him to kiss another guy; in another, Shawn attempts to rescue Marlon from the influence of a drug-abusing fellow actor; and in still another, Marlon becomes so popular that he is kidnapped by a female fan -- and when Shawn tries to save him, he gets snatched himself! Elsewhere, the brothers' restauranteur dad, Pops (John Witherspoon), runs for city council, and the stars' real-life sister Kim Wayans makes a return appearance as Marlon and Shawn's country cousin Sheila. Other guest stars appearing in the fifth and final season of The Wayans Bros. include Missy Elliott and Paula Abdul. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A theme of racial harmony underlies this comedy-drama. The couple Joe (Ernie Hudson) and Annabelle Lee (Pam Grier) learn the baby they are adopting is not black but Chinese. As Julian Lee (Dante Basco), reaches teen-hood, his father dies and the adopted boy moves with his mom to Atlanta. Here he hopes to make friends with the local teens, who are somewhat perplexed by the Asian-American's hip-hop slang and high scores when he grabs the basketball. Julian intervenes when his younger brother Perry (Rashaan Nall) falls in with local gangsta Frog (Tone Loc) and his group. Meanwhile, in a parallel plot, similar problems surface for clueless foreign-exchange student May-Ling (Margaret Cho). She's baffled to find herself living with a black family, a situation leading to inventive cross-cultural comedy. The film's soundtrack combines hip-hop, funk, and Asian instrumentals. Shown at the 1997 Hamptons Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Premiering January 11, 1995, the WB sitcom The Wayans Bros. actually stars only two members of that large and apparently ever-expanding family of African-American entertainers. Fresh from their In Living Color success, siblings Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans (who also co-created this series) star as Shawn and Marlon Williams, polar-opposite brothers sharing the same New York brownstone. Shawn was the "serious" brother, who during the first season held down a solid job with an overnight delivery service and was diligently saving up enough money to marry Lisa Saunders (Lela Rochon), daughter of a prominent doctor. In contrast, Marlon lived to have fun, only occasionally showing up for his job as kitchen help at Pops' Place, a restaurant owned by the brothers' dad, John "Pops" Williams (John Witherspoon), a former boxer and R&B singer. Also working at Pops' during season one were counter girl Lupe (Joanna Sanchez) and cook Benny (Benny Quan). Losing his job and his girlfriend at the outset of season two, Shawn set up a newsstand in the lobby of the Niedermayer Building, which also housed his dad's restaurant. The building's main security guard had been diminutive Lou Malino (Jill Tasker) during the first season; she was replaced by Anna Maria Horsford as the corpulent Dee Baxter. Also added to the cast in season two was Paula Jai Parker as Monique Lattimore, a wealthy young lady who took a job in a nearby card shop when she lost her fortune -- and who during her single season on the series provided a verbal combatant for Shawn and an "unattainable dream" for the moonstruck Marlon. In season three, Ja'net DuBois joined the cast as the Williams boys' feisty Grandmother Ellington, who briefly moved in with the brothers. Weaving in and out the proceedings were a pair of shady street characters, White Mike (Mitch Mullany) and T.C. (Phill Lewis). In season four, Marlon launched an acting career and Shawn lost his newsstand to a fire. Come the next season, the brothers' "roles" had reversed: Marlon was now the responsible breadwinner, holding down steady employment as a regular on the TV sitcom "Everybody Loves Everybody," while Shawn was the wheeler-dealer, serving as Shawn's agent -- and skimming 50 percent off the top of each paycheck! The Wayans Bros. proved to be one of the fledgling WB's most popular early offerings, and went on to even greater success in off-net reruns after its September 9, 1999, cancellation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first season of The Wayans Bros. finds siblings Shawn and Marlon Williams (Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans) sharing the same NYC brownstone, with serious Shawn bringing in most of the money while merry-making Marlon is either goofing off or promoting some wild get-rich-quick scheme. Shawn hopes to earn enough money at his delivery job to wed Lisa Saunders (Lela Rochon), daughter of a high-profile doctor. Marlon meanwhile holds a temporary job as kitchen help at Pops' Place, the restaurant owned by the brothers' dad, John "Pops" Williams (John Witherspoon). The restaurant is housed in the huge Neidermayer Building, where pint-sized Lou Malino (Jill Tasker) is security guard. Marlon's co-workers are short-order cook Benny (Benny Quan) and counter girl Lupe (Joanna Sanchez). This season's episodes find Shawn getting sucked into Marlon's various "can't miss" business ventures, such as promoting a grooming product called Goop-Hair-It-Is (which unfortunately sets fire to the scalp!), a cab service catering to black people called Afro Pick-You-Up, and a children's-entertainment service which nearly gets Marlon and Shawn killed by a fearsome "Barney" knockoff named Brazilla. In other adventures, Marlon tries to become a male model, Pops gets locked out of the house when he stands up to his formidable wife, the brothers end up in the slammer for nonpayment of several parking tickets, and future series regular Paula Jai Parker shows up in a different role than Monique Lattimore -- specifically, the girlfriend of a particularly fiendish gangster. Among the iconic African-American guest stars appearing in The Wayans Bros.' inaugural season are Garrett Morris, Sherman Hemsley, Richard Roundtree, and Gary Coleman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Actor, director, writer, and producer Robert Townsend presents this second volume of his classic HBO variety show Robert Townsend: Partners in Crime. Originally aired in 1991, the show helped launch the careers of comedians Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. This collection of comedy sketches features his Western parody "How the West Was Won" and his soap-opera parody "The Bold, the Black, and the Beautiful." Also stars Sinbad, David Allen Grier, John Witherspoon, and Paul Mooney. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

After an excruciatingly humiliating in-flight experience that culminated in a messy breakup and the untimely death of a dog, Nashawn Wade (Kevin Hart) sues the airline for all it's worth. This turns out to be a more than profitable move on his part; the lawsuit brings him a settlement in the hefty amount of 600 million dollars. Eager to prevent his experience from happening to another -- and perfectly willing to reap the financial benefits of the cash cow he believes his plan to be -- Nashawn decides to launch NWA, an all African American airline complete with sensuous stewardesses, an onboard dance club, and a bathroom attendant. Far be it from giving "flying the friendly skies" a new meaning, however, chaos ensues in the form of a white family with the unfortunate last name of Hunkee. The Hunkee patriarch (as played by Tom Arnold) and his antics prevent the flight from going as smoothly as intended. The feature debut of music video director Jessy Tererro, urban comedy regulars Snoop Dogg and Method Man co-star. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Yet another recurring character from Saturday Night Live makes the jump to the big screen in this comedy. Leon Phelps (Tim Meadows) is the host of a radio call-in show in which he dispenses advice on the fine art of seduction, for which he seems to have quite a talent -- rather surprising, seeing that he's usually broke, nearly everything he says sounds crass and obvious, and he possesses a fashion sense that would have been gauche in the mid-1970s but seems just plain freakish today. After finally going too far during a broadcast, Leon is fired, but he receives a note from one of his former flames who wants him to come back to her -- and is willing to support him in high style. This sounds just fine with Leon, except she hasn't signed her name, and now Leon has to backtrack through his numerous conquests of the past and figure out who wants him to work his love magic. Meanwhile, a group of husbands who've been cuckolded by Leon, led by Barney (Lee Evans) and Lance (Will Ferrell), are hot on his trail, eager to get revenge. The Ladies' Man also stars Tiffani Thiessen and Karyn Parsons as two of the ladies in Leon's life and Billy Dee Williams as the ultra-smooth proprietor of Lester's Straight-Up Lounge. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Recording star and rapper Master P is the executive producer, screenwriter, and co-star (with A.J. Johnson of The Players Club) of this comedy about two South Central Los Angeles scam artists operating a business in a vacant lot. Working out of their van, Black (Master P) and Blue (Johnson) deal in TV sets and boomboxes, but when a driver mistakenly drops off a cell phone shipment, Black and Blue are ready to dial "C" for cash, bringing in both a local hacker (Anthony Boswell) and sexy Sweet Lorraine (Gretchen Palmer). Business is on the upswing, but then a hood (Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.) has a deal go sour and blames Black and Blue. A phone security man (Frantz Turner) and the FBI are also closing in. Rapper Ice Cube does a cameo. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The trajectories of two opposing romantic relationships are fodder for this African-American screwball comedy from co-writer, star, and director Rusty Cundieff. Montel (Cundieff) and Clyde (Joe Torry) stars as friends who couldn't be less alike. An introverted photographer, Montel wants to meet the one right girl for him and settle down to build a family, while Clyde is a flamboyant womanizer just out for a good time. At a party, they meet Adina (Paula Jai Parker), a sexy golddigger seeking a wealthy husband with robotic determination, and her shy law clerk friend Brandy (Tisha Campbell). The couples pair off in predictable combinations, but while the brief encounter between Clyde and Adina quickly implodes when she discovers that Clyde's success is an act and his Porsche is borrowed, the relationship between Montel and Brandy blooms into a true romance. Eventually, they decide to marry, leaving Clyde and Adina to reunite in a selfish scheme to break their best friends up using whatever treacherous means they can employ. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide