Wayne Brady: The Family Remix premieres on Freeform Wednesday, July 24 at 10pm EST.
Source: Courtesy / Disney
‘Wayne Brady: The Family Remix’ Explores The Private Life Of The Comedian
The show follows comedian, host, singer and producer Wayne Brady and the rest of his “Core Four,” both his biological family — his daughter Maile, as well as her mother, his ex-wife Mandie Taketa, who also happens to be his business partner, along with her life partner Jason Fordham.
In the premiere episode we meet Wayne as he’s grappling with his decision to go public about identifying as pansexual. Wayne seeks the opinion of his trusted friends and has the utmost support of his family. In an interview with BOSSIP, Wayne, Maile, Mandie and Jason opened up about why everyone needs and deserves support and the importance of being able to ask for help when you need it.
“Until this show and these things that happened in life you were looking at normally the primary breadwinner and person that carries a village on his back a lot of the time to the world,” Wayne Brady told BOSSIP. “What they don’t see, is I would fall down on my face and not be able to do what I do for the people I love if I didn’t have the support, because it was drilled into my head as a child, as a young Black male, ‘Go out there, work your hardest!’ That’s my value. So that’s the only way that I could show up in life is working myself to the bone to my detriment, because that’s all that I have to give. Until I met this woman, Mandie, who showed me that family and love looks like this. Then we had this amazing daughter and then this other incredible Black man entered our life. So you’re coming to the part in my journey where I would gladly take all the support I can because I spent 50 years on my hands and knees with the weight of the world on my back.”
Source: Kevin Estrada / Disney
As the trailer shows, Wayne Brady speaks openly about his mental health struggles on the show and ultimately he says that’s what he’s most proud of about the series.
“I didn’t want it to sound sad clownish because I think that’s a trope as well,” Wayne Brady told BOSSIP. “Just to be a human and show up and to be an adult, to show up, especially if you’ve got a family and when your job happens to be, ‘Hey everybody! I’m going to elicit this this response in you –’ whew! That’s a lot. So the fact that we can show that there is a life behind that face. Which I think a lot of folks that watch this and a lot of people think, ‘Ohh Wayne is…’ Whatever you think I am, he’s that guy, well he’s also a guy that that has sh***y days.”
Source: John Fleenor / Disney
In addition to watching Wayne navigate multiple personal and career concerns, we also get an opportunity to see Mandie at work and Maile traveling and making strides toward her own future as an entertainer.
“I think it’s really important the message that we’re sending,” Maile Brady told BOSSIP. “Also for people to see a family that looks like ours support each other and this very healthy ecosystem that we’ve created amongst the four of us.”
Source: Matt Sayles / Disney
We also loved getting to watch Mandie and Jason, who are also raising a toddler son. As the TikToks in the trailer prove, the ‘Core Four’ are a talented bunch.
“Over the 15 years this show intersected where Wayne was sort of the focal point and we were supporting him,” Fordham explained. “But in other times you know that that lens has shifted, to where I’m being supported or Mandie is being supported or Maile is being supported, so you get the slice of life and you get to see the structure that supports itself. Maybe in Season 2 the line shifts to someone else but you’re going to see the same energy and enthusiasm and love for each other.”
“No one should go through hard times alone,” Mandie Taketa agreed. “You can’t have people in your circle in your family that aren’t willing to pick you up off the ground even when their back hurts. That’s what I’m most thankful for and I tell you Wayne has been that person for me.”
Source: Matt Sayles / Disney
One of the things we love most about The Family Remix is that it offers a positive portrayal of a multicultural family — something we will never get enough of on television. The show also offers the opportunity to show people of color having the kinds of conversations that almost never happen on camera.
“We want to change the ways that people of color, especially us Black people talk about each other, talk about mental health, talk about the things that we need,” Wayne Brady told BOSSIP. “I could have never asked for help a couple years ago. Never. That’s a real conversation.”
Wayne Brady: The Family Remix airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Freeform with episodes streaming the next day on Hulu.