Humor & Life Quote by Keenen Ivory Wayans

Wayans is smuggling a whole philosophy of comedy into a line that sounds like a budgeting tip. "Creativity is the answer" reads like self-help, but the second sentence snaps it into place: he is not praising art in the abstract, he is picking a side in a status war. "Expensive" is shorthand for institutional power: big studios, big effects, big marketing, big gatekeepers. The joke, if you squint, is that money is the least imaginative tool in the room. It buys polish, not point of view.

Coming from a comedian who helped remake sketch and parody for mainstream audiences, the subtext is practical and a little defiant: limitations are not a handicap, they are a forcing function. In comedy, the cheapest move is often the smartest one. A perfect cut, a left-field casting choice, one ruthless premise executed cleanly can out-punch a million-dollar set piece. Wayans is validating the hustler mindset that runs through Black entertainment history in particular: when the industry underfunds you, you learn to outthink it.

The line also quietly reframes "creative" as ethical. An expensive solution can be lazy: drown the problem in resources until it stops being visible. A creative solution implies attention, risk, and specificity - the thing you can only get from people who are actually looking. It's a pitch to younger artists, sure, but it is also a warning to executives: if you have to spend your way to impact, you probably missed the joke.