Wayans serves up plenty of laughs for Season 2 of ‘Marlon’

One of last summer’s surprise successes, “Marlon” is a throwback sitcom livened up by its rambunctious star, the irrepressible Marlon Wayans of the legendary family of comics.

With older brother Damon coming back for Season 2 on Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” and nephew Damon Wayans Jr. launching his own CBS comedy (“Happy Together”) this fall, the Wayans family has not been this dominant in the medium since the heyday of “In Living Color” nearly 30 years ago.

On “Marlon,” Wayans plays a Peter Pan who’s been kicked out of Never Never Land and is relying on his ex-wife, Ashley (Essence Atkins), and his two children to keep him together. He’s so miserable as a newly single man that he’s always at Ashley’s house, competing with her Cookie Lyon-like best friend, Yvette (Bresha Webb), for her attention. While Wayans’ humor is mostly broad, he reserves a delightful catty streak for his scenes with Webb. “You’re lonelier than the first black Barbie,” he sneers at her.

Thursday’s season premiere episode was not made available for review, but the three half-hour samples on the NBC press site give you an idea of the show’s strength: good-natured silliness shot through with acerbic observations on African-American culture. Wayans is a rubber-faced clown throughout, but in the episode “Wingman” he gives his co-stars plenty of room to strut their stuff.

Here, Marlon volunteers to help his ex get a date at a nightclub, but ends up making her jealous when he hits it off with a pretty young bartender. Atkins shows a deft comic touch as Ashley tries to block Marlon’s moves. As for Marlon and Yvette, they go at each other like two divas in an Aaron Spelling soap. When he gets a load of Yvette’s outfit — a bare-shouldered denim jumpsuit with large silver buttons down the front — he quips, “Looks like you shop at Forever 41.”

The show’s writers haven’t given enough thought about what to do with Stevie (Diallo Riddle), Marlon’s best (and only) friend. A dude of a certain age, he crashes at Marlon’s apartment, waiting for his own life to start, but Stevie seems more like an obligatory sitcom sidekick than a full-fledged character. Still, Wayans manages to fire off one great line when Stevie shows up in the “Wingman” episode in a pressed blue suit: “You look like Dr. Ben Carson’s only black friend.”

“Marlon’s” second season comes in pairs of episodes — maybe the network senses that there’s only so much post-divorce humor to be had from the series. Wayans’ fans will probably savor them. Like the overgrown kid he plays on TV, his charisma is undeniable and his wisecracks usually hit the bullseye, whether he’s poking fun at “Radio,” the feel-good movie starring Cuba Gooding Jr., or Cool Water cologne: “It smells like poor people trying to be rich.”