History YMMV / InLivingColor

** A basic example of nightmare fuel is a skit involving a skeptical man going to a magic show, the magician giving him the mind of a chicken and [[spoiler: immediately dying of a heart attack. In the present day, the man is now homeless and unable to communicate in anyway with anyone due to behaving and ''speaking'' like a chicken to the point he can't even order food at a restaurant.]] There's a reason why the skit is called [[AndIMustScream "The Vortex of Fear".]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: As hilarious as the "Promise of a Thin Me" video was, it's all the more painful to watch once you learn that Paula Abdul suffered from bulimia around the time it was made.

** Future ''SNL'' cast members Ellen Cleghorne and Molly Shannon appeared as extras in a number of sketches.

** During Season 2, Keenen says of brand new Fly Girl Carla Garrido "She's gonna work out fine". It turns out she was gone from the show after that season ended.
* HilariousInHindsight: Jamie Foxx had plenty of opportunities to impersonate Ray Charles, especially since this was the time when Charles was promoting Diet Pepsi (even though David Alan Grier would usually play Ray Charles, as seen in such sketches as "Ray Charles in Charge" and "Career-Aid"). Foxx would later ''win an Oscar'' for doing the same thing, albeit in [[Film/{{Ray}} more dramatic fare]].

*** In the same sketch, one of the extras is played by Molly Shannon, who would later join the cast of ''SNL''.

** Molly Shannon appeared as an extra in a number of sketches.

* TheWoobie: A few of the characters played by Tommy Davidson end up being this as the resident ButtMonkey. Most noticeably, anytime he had a run-in with Mr. [=McAfee=] or Wanda.

** Meta example: when watching the seasons 1-3 [=DVDs=], the 1981 and 1989 20th Century Fox Television [[FanNickname "Tower of Doom"]] logos are upheld on the most of the episodes. Both are pretty creepy in their own right but the former is worse due to being both videotaped and having to hear that [[HellIsThatNoise squawky horn playing.]]

* MinorityShowGhetto: Thankfully averted; the series was and remains very popular with all audiences with even modern comedians and humorists (like Creator/DougWalker) considering it and the show's featured actors/comics as influences.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: As far as characters and sketches, the "Men on..." sketches are very popular with audiences, including gay men.

* NightmareFuel, PyroManiac, BodyHorror, TooKinkyToTorture, and StuffBlowingUp: Every Fire Marshal Bill sketch has these tropes in abundance.
** A basic example of nightmare fuel is a skit involving a skeptical man going to a magic show, the magician giving him the mind of a chicken and [[spoiler: immediately dying of a heart attack. In the present day, the man is now homeless and unable to communicate in anyway with anyone due to behaving and ''speaking'' like a chicken to the point he can't even order food at a restaurant.]]

** In the "What Happened to Blaine? part 2", you can tell that the cinder block Antoine hits him with is made of Styrofoam (which you can hear as such with the scratchy sound it makes once it falls off of him.)

** Meta example: when watching the seasons 1-3 DVDs, the 1981 and 1989 20th Century Fox Television [[FanNickname "Tower of Doom"]] logos are upheld on the most of the episodes. Both are pretty creepy in their own right but the former is worse due to being both videotaped and having to hear that [[HellIsThatNoise squawky horn playing.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition

** In a skit from the final season with uptight Mr. [=McAfee=], who was hospitalized with his ongoing hemorrhoids problem, Jay Leggett plays a patient who laughs so much at his medical condition, that he suffers a heart attack or stroke and dies. Leggett himself would die from a heart attack twenty years later.

** Jamie Foxx also impersonated Garrett Morris (''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s first token black cast member from the show's first five years) in a fake American Express commercial featuring ChrisRock (played by Shawn Wayans) -- a couple years before Foxx would appear with Garrett Morris on the WB sitcom ''The Jamie Foxx Show''.

* TheWeirdAlEffect: In several instances, particularly with their music video parodies, like Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman" (remade into "My Songs Are Mindless" with Kim Wayans) or Snow's "Informer" (remade into "Imposter" with Creator/JimCarrey.)

** In Snow's "Informer" video spoof, "Imposter", we can see Carrey wearing a button-down shirt with a large question mark on it. [[Film/BatmanForever This won't be the last time we see him sporting a fashion with question marks...]]

** For those who don't know already, there was a time when JimCarrey (who was credited as his real name "James Carrey" for most of his tenure) was the crazy white guy on ''In Living Color'' -- and that Jamie Foxx was on this show from season three to the end.

** Marlon Wayans was also on this show as a feature player, but only for season three.

* ValuesResonance: While many of the segments tend to [[ValuesDissonance invert]] this trope, the topics about race relations (specifically the ones featured in the "Why?" segments, i.e., why do newscasters put accented emphasis on foreign-sounding names of minorities but not Caucasians, why even the simplest of products advertised by minorities have to include rapping, etc.) still have prevalence to this day.

** The Cosby Condom sketch with Jamie Foxx as Bill Cosby. Back then, it was funny because it juxtaposed Cosby's alleged wholesomeness with something that wasn't wholesome (i.e., sex and the fact that condoms were being advertised on TV, which, back then, was considered shocking). These days, with Cosby being accused of drugging and sexually assaulting female celebrities, there is a bitter irony that lingers when watching this parody commercial today.

** In a ''Star Trek'' skit that poked fun at how old the original Star Trek cast was getting, Bones is portrayed as a skeleton. The actor who originally played Bones, [=DeForest=] Kelley, was the first of the original cast to die.

** The season five remix of the first theme isn't bad either (and is probably the only good thing people can say about season five).

** There was a sketch called ''[[Series/TheHollywoodSquares East Hollywood Squares]]'', an urban-ized take on the famous game show, complete with Peter Marshall, even. In 2013, MTV 2 debuted ''Hip-Hop Squares''...an urban-ized take on the famous game show. That version was also hosted by a Peter, Rosenberg.