Wayans Bros Episode: Pops' Secret

"The Wayans Bros" was a television series that aired on the WB network from early 1995 until the spring of 1999. The show centered around brothers Shawn and Marlon (who are also real life brothers), who share an apartment in New York City. "Pops" is their "pop," but his nickname is "Pops" to everybody, and he owns a diner on the ground floor of a New York City office building. Shawn owns a newsstand in the lobby of the same building, Marlon works for him, and Dee is the building security guard, whose main station is in the lobby. This particular episode first aired in February 1997 and the basic story is, Pops starts going out in the evenings and Shawn and Marlon think he's cheating on their mother. As I recall, we never actually saw Shawn's and Marlon's mother in any episode of the series, although she was often mentioned. 

While he was always good, this episode was a great performance by actor/comedian John Witherspoon, who died in October 2019, age 77. His real family name was Weatherspoon.

Episode Cast:

Marlon Wayans as Marlon Williams

Shawn Wayans as Shawn Williams

John Witherspoon as Pops Williams

Anna Marie Horsford as Dee

Iona Morris as Carmella

 

The storyline of this episode starts with the wedding anniversary of Shawn's and Marlon's parents just a few days off. Pops closes the diner early to go to what he says is a dentist appointment. The thing is, Pops is dressed in a nice suit and he has doused himself in some men's cologne, cheap men's cologne, but men's cologne nonetheless. Dee tells Shawn and Marlon that she thinks Pops is having an affair with another woman. The brothers' mother calls and says that Pops told her he's working late. Hmmmm? The next day Pops leaves the diner again dressed in another nice suit. The guys ask him if he's got another dentist appointment, to which Pops answers that he does, and that there's going to be "a little drillin,' " which Shawn and Marlon are sure they know exactly what kind of "drillin' " Pops means. So the guys follow Pops to a fancy hotel, where an attractive woman named Carmella meets Pops in the lobby. Pops and Carmella hug and give each other a kiss, and Carmella suggests they get a drink first, to which Pops replies, "I've been known to perform better after a little taste." Shawn and Marlon are stunned. The brothers decide to confront their father.

 

Carmella is drinking some coffee in the diner the next morning, and we learn that she has been giving Pops dance lessons, and Pops intends to take his wife ballroom dancing for their anniversary. Carmella leaves and Shawn and Marlon come into the diner and tell Pops they know what he's been doing and that they followed him and saw him with Carmella. It's a great scene, full of laughs, because the brothers think they know what has been happening, and Pops replies to them with answers that seem to fit their ideas, but the answers are really about the true situation, not the scenario assumed by the brothers. So, instead of the reaction they expect from their father, he tells them he's relieved they know, because it's tough to keep a secret like that. When Shawn asks how he could lie to their mother the way he has, Pops tells them he knows he shouldn't have lied, but that he did it to help his marriage. Shawn naturally questions how Carmella is going to help their parent's marriage, and Pops says, "You know, I've been kinda rusty lately." hahaha  He goes on to say that Carmella is helping him, so he can keep up with "your Mama." hahaha When Shawn asks how Pops thinks their mother will feel if she finds out, he tells them she won't care, because "half the fun is switching partners." hahahaha  Pops goes on to say that he and his wife were quite the swingers years before, and that his wife was really good, better at it than he was, and that he used "to sit back and watch the guys line to take a whirl at her." hahahahaha He follows that with, "You know, your Mama could take 2 or 3 at one time." hahahahaha The brothers are really upset and Shawn says, "That's sick," which brings Pops to say, "Nonsense, it's good healthy fun!" hahahaha  He says further that that's why he's taking lessons, because he used to practice in front of the mirror, but that he hates paying for it. hahaha  When Shawn challenges him about stopping, Pops insists he's not going to stop. Shawn and Marlon tell Dee the gist of what they believe the situation to be and Dee suggests that they talk with Carmella, and they agree. 

 

The brothers go to the hotel where they saw their father and Carmella together. Carmella comes in and sits down in the lobby to wait for Pops. The brothers go to her and toss around a lot of accusations, before they really identify themselves as Pops' sons. The insults are so bad, Carmella begins to walk out just as Pops is entering the lobby. Carmella leaves and Pops asks his sons what they did. After Shawn and Marlon tell their father that they know he is having an affair with Carmella, Pops tells them he hasn't been cheating on their mother, and that he has been taking ballroom dance lessons from Carmella to surprise their mother on their anniversary. The brothers are more than a little skeptical, so Pops proceeds to demonstrate his new dance skills in a hilarious dance scene with Marlon. When the dance is over, Shawn apologizes to his father and tells him their mother will love the surprise.         

 

 

 Photo is of the 2017 Warner Home Entertainment Wayans Bros. Third Season DVD set

WORD HISTORY:

Coffin/Coffer-The origin of these closely related words is unknown, but they go back to transliterated Ancient Greek "kophinos," which meant "basket." Latin borrowed the word as "cophinus," with the same meaning, but also "hamper" (that is, "basket with a lid"), and this passed to Latin-based Old French as "cofin" (yes, one 'f'), "seemingly" via Occitan, a Latin-based language of the western Mediterranean region, which includes parts of modern Spain, France, Monaco and Italy. The Old French term meant "basket, hamper," and then also "box," which then led to the additional meaning "sarcophagus." English borrowed the word in the early 1300s, originally with the meaning "box for money, gold, jewelry," and the "sarcophagus" meaning didn't become the main meaning in English until the early part of the 1500s. "Coffer" has the same history until it developed in Old French, as "cofre," with the meaning, "chest or box used to store valuable items," and this later led to the meaning, usually in the plural form "coffers" of, "the treasury or financial resources of a government, company or person." English borrowed the word as "cofre" in the mid 1200s.