Damned Twitter! Found out through fellow Producer Mike Reiss that Marc died last week from CV-19. Life is unfair all to often since Orange Foolius and his legions remain free and not in prison where they belong while a person who made us laugh for 30 years dies.
Marc got his start writing and then performing on In Living Colour, a fantastic skit show despite launching Jim Carrey to stardom, not any of the funnier Wayans but Jamie Foxx is a big star too and I still see David Alan Grier. Then he did a stint writing for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. Well, it was work. Afterwards, he made the jump to the short-lived Eddie Murphy claymation The PJs before joining The Simpsons!
He really came to my attention thanks to the DVD commentaries and I hope this story makes the rounds through his obit: Shortly after the episode “They Saved Lisa’s Brain,” aired, East St. Louis’ government wasn’t thrilled about being the butt of a joke made by then “new guy” Matt Selman (the primary author). I think he dismissed it in front of show runner Mike Scully. So Scully and the veteran producers decided to play a practical joke on Matt by getting Marc to play the mayor of East St. Louis. Getting him to partake was easy since The PJ’s writing staff had a nearby office and I believe Mike Reiss was asked to recruit Marc to keep Matt in the dark since Scully doing it could’ve tipped this off. And so during a writers meeting, Scully made sure Matt was seated closest to the door as Marc burst in to yell about how “his city” was denigrated by the joke despite all the progress East St. Louis had made in recent years. Matt’s position was key too, because he swung around to face “the mayor” not knowing his fellow producers were trying to contain their laughter. Marc gave an incredible performance they say. Matt was on the spot, sputtering and embarrassed. What I would give to be there. I bet was on par with being at Hollywood’s current golden ticket, a Simpsons table read.
Another amusing anecdote about Marc was his impression of Isabel Sandford (aka, Louise “Wheezy” Jefferson) he did for In Living Colour. It was incredibly good since they met later when it was time to record the voice tracks to The Simpsons’ “Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” Isabel started off with, “So you’re the young man who imitated me?” and it probably made Marc blush. She was also allegedly quoted with saying, “Why did you hire me, this guy does it well enough.” However, it was still great to have the real “Wheezy” say the line asking George to please come home at the TV Hall of Fame.
Marc had a great run with The Simpsons, working as a producer for 13 seasons and having 12 episodes to his credit. He even got to provide his voice at least once, being a performer like Dana Gould always helps with SAG-AFTRA rules. Then he joined Bill Burr’s hilarious Netflix show F is For Family a show which is more accurate about the recent past unlike That Seventies Show. I wish he lived to see the upcoming, final season. When I first watched the pilot, I knew F was going to be good as soon as I saw Marc and Mike Price’s names in the opening credits. Thanks for proving my instincts correct Marc (and Mike)!
Lastly, while I was researching some more details regarding Marc, I learned he is Larry Wilmore’s brother. Larry you may recall was a frequent contributor to The Daily Show, had the successor show to The Colbert Report but thankfully Peacock recognized his talent and gave him another shot (well deserved, Larry his strong wit, must be in their DNA). I bring this up as a testimony to Marc’s talent! Often show business is the definition of nepotism as Jim Belushi, Tori Spelling and Meghan McCain prove; you can’t avoid associating their genetics for their “stardom.”
Thank you for everything Marc! You made the world a funnier and happier place with all your contributions. You will be greatly missed by all Simpson fans especially and a comedy geek such as myself.