Hollywood Shuffle

Co-writer (with Keenen Ivory Wayans), director, producer, star and self-financier Robert Townsend opens his famous independent feature, rehearsing in the bathroom, Craigus R. Johnson his little brother, Starletta DuPois his mother, Helen Martin his grandmother, Brad Sanders as “Batty,” in Hollywood Shuffle, 1987.

Another of the more famous digressions, director, co-writer, star and producer Robert Townsend as Bobby, fantasizing as he awaits word on his audition, with Jimmy Woodard as pal Tyrone, imagines himself hosting a knock-off Siskel & Ebert show, with still more not-usually appropriate language, in Hollywood Shuffle, 1987.

After a couple of introductory vignettes and with spicy language, writer-director Robert Townsend appears in the fantasy sequence, confirming that he’s imagining all this while waiting at a Hollywood audition, Grand L. Bush as both “Mandingo” and “Ricky Taylor,” also Tony Edwards, in Hollywood Shuffle, 1987.

At a Hollywood casting call, with plenty of improper language, writer, director, producer and star Robert Townsend as Bobby introduces many from his de facto company, Eugene Robert Glazer, Lisa Mende and Dom Irrera the director, agent and writer, Verda Bridges, Bobby McGee and Rusty Cundeiff among the actors, in Hollywood Shuffle, 1987.