0:09

Welcome to In Her Shoes. I'm Lindsay

0:12

Peeples and I'm Editor-in-Chief of The Cut. On

0:14

this show I get to talk to people that we love

0:16

and admire or some that we just find

0:18

interesting. We'll explore how they

0:20

found their path and what maybe have gotten

0:23

in their way and how they brought others along

0:25

now that they've arrived.

0:30

Robin Thede is uncontestably

0:32

hilarious. And she knows

0:34

it. Robin Thede! Oh

0:37

my god! Listen, I wore my Trump orange.

0:40

We are reclaiming this color! She's

0:42

the friend that's always going to give you a little

0:45

reminder about who you are too. What

0:47

are you talking about? You're the queen

0:49

of all media. And fashion. I

0:52

met Robin many years ago. I believe

0:55

I was at a conference and she was always

0:57

a breath of fresh air and she still is.

0:59

I love talking to her and

1:02

I'm excited to have her on this episode because

1:04

she's incredibly grounded and she isn't

1:06

phased by the industry and always keeps

1:08

it real and that's always hard to find. She

1:11

had a full day of press but she made time to

1:13

stop by our studios so we got a chance

1:15

to catch up and get the details on season

1:17

four of a Black Lady sketch show and

1:20

she gave the absolute best pep talk on Taking

1:22

Up Space. We're good.

1:24

Yeah, we're doing like the daily show tonight.

1:26

I'm doing the view tomorrow. I get to meet

1:28

Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi

1:31

was the first person who congratulated me

1:33

when I became an editor in chief. This is what I'm saying.

1:36

She's amazing. I can't wait. We're

1:38

ready. Sorry. Sorry. I

1:41

just haven't seen her in a while. I know. Not

1:43

since ABF app, right? Yeah. Oh

1:45

my God.

1:46

We're ready. Let's go. on high

1:48

volume, is that okay? Joking.

1:53

Thank you again for doing this. Very excited.

1:56

So The show is called In Her Shoes,

1:58

so we always start by asking

2:00

either what shoes you're wearing today or

2:02

what are your favorite shoes currently? The

2:04

answer is the same. I'm wearing a pair

2:06

of black suede Schutz heels.

2:09

And I'm telling you, they're like midpoint

2:12

luxury because they're not crazy expensive.

2:14

I like this term. I'm gonna use this. Yeah, I'm making

2:16

this up. But they're not crazy expensive,

2:19

but they're also not super cheap. And

2:21

I, for me, dollars

2:23

to fashion, they're the best heel

2:25

to wear when you're walking around a ton because

2:29

Louboutins forget it, I cannot walk in them, they're for pictures

2:31

only. And so these

2:34

are truly

2:34

the greatest heels. I love

2:36

them so much, I have them in a million colors.

2:39

Can I see them? Yes. It's just an

2:41

easy place to let them. Ooh, I love these, yeah. They're very

2:43

chic for listeners who've not seen them. Very chic. They

2:46

have a good high arch, but not so much

2:48

that your foot is like tilting you forward. Yeah,

2:51

heels are an art. I had to get back into it after

2:53

the pandemic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, you

2:55

gotta ease into it. I

2:58

also always like to ask, what would you say that

3:00

it's like walking in your shoes in life right

3:02

now? I think it's busy, but it's

3:04

exciting. We're on the verge of launching

3:06

season four of a Black Lady Sketch

3:08

Show, yay, bam, bam, bam, bam. So

3:11

walking in them is busy,

3:12

the schedule is packed, but it's good, this is

3:14

what I dreamed of. So I would say busy,

3:17

but exciting. So

3:19

I mean, season four, but take me back

3:21

to before you were even, you know,

3:23

obviously running an amazing show

3:26

starring in it as well. What brought

3:28

you into sketch comedy? What made

3:30

you desire to be in it so that way? I

3:32

think as a kid, like I was a latchkey

3:34

kid and so I would come home while my parents, my

3:36

parents were teachers but they would have to stay later and

3:38

I would get home sometimes and sometimes they were there,

3:40

sometimes not. But my routine was

3:43

the same which was that I would come home

3:45

and stare at the television. And I started

3:48

doing

3:48

impressions of Sandra Clark

3:50

on 227 and the news anchors

3:52

and like just random people. And it was

3:55

so fun for me because it was

3:58

how I got to kind of create a little. in my

4:00

head. Like I didn't have a ton of friends. I had a stutter

4:02

growing up and like, me

4:05

and my sisters were the only black kids in our elementary

4:07

school. So it was like, you know, we got all

4:10

the teasing and bullying. So for me

4:12

early on playing different characters

4:15

was really cool. And then once I saw Whoopi

4:17

Goldberg's One Woman Show and Kim Wayne's Unliving Color,

4:21

I saw that black women could actually play characters and make

4:23

that a living. And I was like, what?

4:26

I didn't know that was a job that

4:28

we could do. So that made me really excited and

4:30

then I kind of pursued it from there. I started a sketch

4:32

group called out the box at Northwestern University,

4:35

which is still there 20 years later amazing.

4:38

Yeah, and then I got scouted by second City Which

4:41

is a famous sketch and improv school

4:43

and group and so I went there

4:45

and now I'm on the advisory board Of

4:48

second City, which is crazy. It's like everything beautiful

4:50

full circle. Yes. Yes, it's so dope So

4:53

yeah, then went out to LA and I did a bunch

4:55

of sketch shows. I was a guest start on key and

4:57

peel I was on Chocolate News with David Allen Greer. I

4:59

did Frank Caliendo, had a sketch

5:01

show for a while, for a season.

5:04

And so I did all these sketch shows. I was on Apion

5:06

Crockett's sketch show on Fox, but none of

5:08

them went past season one, except for Campeol,

5:11

obviously. And so by the time I got

5:13

ready to do a Black Lady sketch show, it had

5:15

already been meriting for years. I've been performing

5:17

live with sketch groups for decades. And

5:20

most of them were black women. So I was like, yo,

5:23

these are the funniest women to me. And I really

5:25

want to celebrate that. So yeah,

5:27

that's kind of how it started. So then once my

5:29

late night

5:30

show got canceled, it was the first time I was like available

5:32

in years. So I was like, let's

5:34

do it. Absolutely. What

5:37

would you describe, or what do you remember the most

5:39

about how you felt in those early days of

5:41

your career and just grinding and

5:43

not knowing where it was gonna go? Oh my gosh. I

5:46

mean, there's so much desperation and thirst like

5:48

in those years. Like I was creating for YouTube

5:51

and then Funny or Die and then, you know,

5:53

the platforms kind of grew, but there was no Instagram.

5:55

There was definitely not any TikTok. I

5:57

think there was Vine maybe. We had it for

5:59

the... to

6:00

get into that. So for me, it

6:02

was a lot of live performance. And that's how

6:04

I got really good at improv. So when

6:06

you're in front of audiences, you got to make them laugh. They're

6:08

going to leave. Were you ever nervous doing

6:10

that? No.

6:12

No, I was always happy because playing characters

6:14

and writing, improvising

6:17

is live writing. So

6:19

I loved writing. I loved playing characters.

6:21

So no, it's my happy place. I get

6:23

way more nervous in regular social situations.

6:26

Like if somebody's like, I'm going to a networking event.

6:29

Do you want to go? I'll make

6:31

up any excuse not to go. But

6:33

you can stand on the stage. I mean, I

6:35

can't imagine. Yeah, I know. It's weird.

6:38

It's weird. I think it's just a place where you don't

6:40

have to be yourself. I like myself. But

6:43

when I'm myself in a networking

6:45

thing where I'm trying to sound interesting, it's like,

6:48

I don't know. I find that very awkward. But yeah,

6:50

on stage, you don't have to worry about that because it's not you. Yeah,

6:53

I didn't think about it like that. When

6:56

younger people come up to you or message

6:59

you for advice and they're starting out, what

7:01

do you feel like the big differences are just in

7:03

the hustle or the approach? Oh, I thought you were

7:05

gonna say, what do I tell them? Okay, I love this question

7:08

because I think the difference is

7:10

that

7:12

these poor young folks these

7:14

days, I sound so old, but like

7:16

the 20 year olds, right? They think they have to be

7:18

famous instantly. I was just talking to an artist

7:20

who I'm developing a show with and he

7:22

was like, I just wish I knew you when

7:26

I first started this because he's

7:28

been in the business and really successful for the last

7:30

seven years. He's a musician, but

7:33

he was like, I was 17, you know, or 18,

7:35

and now he's like 21, 22. And

7:39

he's like, I just wish I knew that

7:42

sometimes it takes a long time and that's okay.

7:44

Cause he was like, when I had my first hit song, I was

7:47

so rushed to create another one that

7:50

I

7:50

didn't do a good job, you know? But

7:52

they think that you have

7:55

to be an overnight success. But really overnight

7:57

success comes after many years in the business

7:59

because you're prepared. for the opportunity, right? So

8:01

I think what I tell them, you know,

8:04

is like, don't be so, like, pressed.

8:07

You don't have to be famous tomorrow. And

8:09

famous isn't all it's cracked up to be. Worry

8:11

about being successful. Natasha

8:14

Rothwell, who I love so much, famous comedian,

8:16

she was on White Lotus and obviously Famously Insecure,

8:19

she has a new show coming out too, but she's

8:22

dope. She told me, don't be perfect, be

8:24

prolific. And I love that.

8:26

Love that. I'm like, yes, leave

8:28

a legacy, leave memories, affect

8:30

people, but you don't have to be perfect. And

8:33

so I think that's what they need to, they

8:35

need to figure that out. But I

8:37

think with TikTok and YouTube, they can get so famous

8:39

so fast. And it feels like it's happening

8:41

for everyone. And I'm like, it's not though. Yeah,

8:43

it's not. But also even if it does, that doesn't mean

8:46

it's gonna last. I mean, look at all the Vine stars.

8:48

What are they doing? That didn't transition well

8:50

to other platforms. That last rail. Yeah,

8:53

so, you know, just go, enjoy

8:55

what you do and enjoy every day. Right. So

8:57

I mean, since you had, you know, a lot

8:59

of different jobs, by the time, you know, you

9:01

became, you

9:02

know, the first black woman to ever serve as

9:04

a head writer of a late night series, did you feel equipped?

9:08

Did you feel ready? And how did you navigate

9:10

that? Yeah, I felt ready because I've been a head writer

9:12

in daytime and and I have been working

9:15

for a long time at that point. I think I was in the business 12 years

9:17

at that point. So yeah, I felt ready. I felt

9:20

ready.

9:21

I know I'm supposed to say no, it was overwhelming. I was like,

9:23

no, no, I was good to go. You'll

9:26

find with me, I don't really do humility. We

9:30

need to do a class thing, because I... I don't do it. You know

9:32

why? It's not that I don't feel like I should be sometimes. It's just

9:34

that I didn't work this hard to downplay my success. Mm-hmm.

9:38

And I think that's what... I mean, like, literally, you did it! When

9:40

I came in the room, I was like, you're crushing it. Why is

9:42

she calling me out on this podcast? Yes, I'm calling

9:44

you out. Do not edit this out. I was like,

9:46

ma'am, you are killing it. I'm

9:49

so proud of you. And you were like, no, you're killing

9:51

it.

9:51

And I was like, girl, two things

9:53

can be true. two things can be true! But

9:56

I think we get caught up because you and

9:58

I both work at... and

10:00

it is so hard to be the only or one

10:02

of a few. And you've

10:04

been the only on a bunch of stuff too. And it's like, it's hard when

10:06

you can't look behind you to

10:09

ask the other person for advice because

10:11

there's no one there. So, you know, I think

10:13

that will fool you

10:16

into thinking you have to be humble, right? But

10:19

you don't have to be cocky,

10:22

but I don't think we ever have to be humble. I

10:24

just think it's not an emotion that's built

10:26

for us

10:27

for us to recognize how much

10:29

hard work we've put in. We've gone to school,

10:31

we paid off loans, we've worked under people,

10:34

we've mentored under people, we've worked the long hours when no one

10:36

else would do it. We worked the weekends, we got

10:38

on the flight and missed our girls' bachelorette party.

10:40

We did all these things. I did, in fact. I did too,

10:43

several times. But

10:46

yet still maintaining strong family

10:48

relationships, marriage, dating,

10:50

kids. Wait, do you have kids?

10:53

No. No, not yet, you're married though. No, I'm divorced.

10:56

Well, congratulations. Welcome to the podcast. Yeah.

11:00

Oh, then we need to really go out. But

11:04

this is what I'm saying. Like, I think that there's

11:06

so many times where we

11:08

are asked to be all things, but

11:10

don't give ourselves credit for carrying it off as well

11:12

as we do. Because even the tiniest things

11:15

feel like failures because we are succeeding

11:17

at such a high level. Yeah. And that's not

11:19

fair to us or the women that come behind

11:21

us. This is turning into an Oprah session. It is,

11:23

baby. Baby, live your best life.

11:26

I love this. Yeah. Well,

11:29

I mean, honestly, my next question was going to be how you

11:31

do often talk about that Black

11:33

women need to be better about celebrating our

11:35

accomplishments. How did you

11:37

actually learn to embrace that, though, in practice? Because

11:40

I think in theory, it sounds nice. I know. And

11:42

it's easier said than done. People

11:44

poured into me.

11:46

And I got rid of anybody who did not support

11:48

everything I was doing with a full

11:51

open heart. Oh, cut the rope. I like that. You

11:53

have to. You have to cut those ropes because

11:55

the problem is,

11:58

There are people who will not go with you to the next. And

12:01

that hurts. That's why I took a deep breath. You saw that

12:03

cleansing breath? I was like, oh. Because

12:07

I mourn,

12:08

you know, I mourn people

12:10

who couldn't come with me. And I always

12:13

thought, because I heard that when I would listen to like famous

12:15

people on interviews, I would be like, they just got rich

12:17

and got brand new. But it's not till you

12:19

get on the other side if they are like, oh, I get it. Yeah,

12:21

yeah. There are people that will lament your success

12:24

because they're regretting their failures.

12:27

But your friends have to be as strong as you are,

12:29

if not stronger, and they have to be able to say,

12:31

your success does in no way reflect on

12:34

my position in life. Let

12:36

me be clear, my day ones are still girls I met when I was 17.

12:39

Like, you know, I've had the same friends for the

12:41

better part of 30 years. But I

12:44

just made that sound like I was 47. I'm not, I'm

12:46

very bad at math. I only write jokes.

12:48

But anyway, I've had the same friends for a long time.

12:51

But there are some people who were not close

12:53

friends, mind you, but they were people in the business

12:55

I thought were at least worth keeping in touch

12:57

with, who just don't wish me well.

13:00

And I wish them well. A friend jokes

13:02

with me, cause she says, cause what

13:04

I'll do is, if I know somebody's like,

13:06

talking shit, like behind my back, or

13:09

it's just not happy and it's like telling other people, or just in

13:11

general being nasty, I'll recommend

13:13

them for a job. Oh wow. That's

13:16

very peace, love and light of you. Yeah, well,

13:18

it's, yeah, kind of, but it's

13:20

also shady because I'm like, if

13:22

you get more successful, you won't be

13:24

worried about what I'm doing. And

13:27

so that's literally what I do. My friend

13:29

was like, I've never met somebody who gets people jobs

13:31

because people don't like them. And

13:34

now I have a lot of people who don't like me, and I don't mean don't

13:36

like me, but I know there

13:36

are people that are like, well, why did she

13:39

get that or why is she doing that? So for

13:41

me, I'm like, well then, let's

13:44

get you up here too. Why not?

13:46

Yeah, yeah. No, I like that.

13:48

And it stops. It really does, it really works.

13:51

That's not gonna work every time, but for most of it. That's not

13:53

gonna work every time, but I wish them the best. Well, sometimes they'll sabotage

13:56

the job, But it's sad to me because it's

13:58

the reason I called it Black Ladies Guide to

14:00

or not Robin Thede's sketch show, because

14:03

for me, it's just one of, right? It's

14:06

just one of many that I hope will come along because there's

14:08

room enough for any of us. And I always say this, and

14:10

this is not me being fake humble or

14:13

not me being derogatory towards

14:15

myself, but I feel like there are a million black women who

14:17

could have created this show. I was just the one lucky enough to

14:19

be in the right place at the right time. Who had the experience

14:21

to back it up, right? So I'd been a showrunner

14:24

before I'd started written in my own shows and blah, blah,

14:26

blah, blah, blah. I'd run other people's shows. And

14:29

I'd proven myself in the sketch comedy world time

14:31

and time again. So I think,

14:33

you know, I was the one that was uniquely suited

14:35

to do it. But I definitely won't be the last and

14:37

I'll make sure of that. Yeah.

14:40

Yeah.

14:44

I'm

14:45

Preet Bharara, the former US Attorney

14:48

in Manhattan. My podcast, Stay

14:50

Tuned, is about law, justice,

14:52

and politics. The Manhattan District

14:54

Attorney's case against Donald Trump is one of

14:56

the most consequential legal and political

14:59

stories of our time. So this

15:01

week, I was joined by two top legal experts,

15:04

former US Attorney Joyce Vance and law

15:06

fair editor, Ben Wittes, to analyze

15:08

the charges. While I don't think

15:10

this is a no-brainer case to

15:12

bring, I do think there

15:14

is a fairly

15:15

solid basis for it.

15:18

The potential evidence. I think the

15:20

jury, hearing the evidence, at least

15:23

if Bragg can prove what he's laid out in the statement

15:25

of fact, The evidence will

15:27

be compelling on these charges.

15:29

And where we go from here,

15:31

it's not clear that a conviction on one

15:34

or more of these felony counts would result

15:36

in prison sentence or a substantial prison sentence.

15:39

To listen, just search, stay tuned,

15:41

wherever you get your podcasts. New

15:44

episodes drop every Thursday.

15:47

Stay tuned.

15:50

All right, Naima, I need three

15:52

reasons why people should listen to On with Kara

15:55

Swisher. What have you got? Okay, first, you

15:57

interview smart, powerful people like Hillary Clinton,

15:59

Mark Benioff.

16:00

and Stacey Abrams. Second, you grill

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them harder than most people would dare. And third,

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the podcast will make you think, it'll make you laugh, and it'll make

16:06

you smarter. How's that? That's

16:09

like five things, but good enough. On

16:12

with Kara Swisher, wherever you get your podcasts.

16:29

What does it step by step mean in your life to

16:31

take up space as a black woman? Yeah,

16:34

I think it's about acknowledging those successes, whatever

16:37

they are. Like a friend who

16:39

literally, yes, all my friends are successful before you

16:42

come from me from what I'm about to say. But I had a friend who

16:44

became the CEO of a humongous company,

16:46

first black woman ever, da

16:48

da da da.

16:48

I was like, I am so proud of you. We have

16:51

to go celebrate. She goes, I mean, we don't have to celebrate. It's

16:53

like, not that big of a deal. I said, ma'am, what

16:55

are you doing? Right? Yeah.

16:58

is like,

17:00

it means not living in that space. It

17:02

means embracing it and being like, yes,

17:04

we are absolutely going to celebrate that because

17:07

I'm about to be working 90 hours a week for

17:09

the next three years. You know what I mean? Just

17:11

like taking those moments, I think,

17:13

and having balance. I do definitely

17:16

believe in self-care. You know, I

17:18

try to, for me, self-care is a

17:20

nap and a binge on a Saturday. You know what

17:22

I mean? Like, and that is real.

17:24

And people want to make you feel bad. Like,

17:27

that's lazy, you're not doing nothing today. And I'm like, this

17:30

is productive laziness, honey. I am over

17:32

here recharging. I'm

17:34

living my best life. Like, I love it.

17:36

Also, when you're in a ton of meetings and managing

17:39

things, all of that, you just

17:40

need to not talk for a little. That's

17:42

what people don't understand. I often go on solo vacations.

17:45

Oh, yeah. I love them. I'm

17:48

about to go on one in a few weeks. And it's really

17:50

important. It's really important. People are like, what

17:52

do you do? Aren't you bored? And I'm like, no. No.

17:55

They're like, oh, do you meet up with other people from different

17:57

countries? I'm like, no. I

17:59

mean I I

18:00

will meet people across my travels, but that's

18:02

not the intention. The intention is to

18:04

be quiet and to sit down. Yeah,

18:07

yeah. No, I'm the same. I'm the same.

18:09

I went somewhere and I just brought

18:10

a stack of books. And that's all I

18:12

really want to do. Thank you for reminding me,

18:14

because I need to book one. Amen. Okay,

18:16

so when did you start to feel like that

18:19

you were at a different level in career?

18:21

Or when did you feel like, okay, I've actually

18:24

made it to a point. Probably when Sami Naminations

18:26

started coming, that feels like, oh shit, we're

18:28

on white people level at this point. Ha ha ha

18:31

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

18:33

ha

18:33

ha ha. Cause everything I do is like made

18:36

for black people to buy black people. So it's like,

18:38

you know, it's like, you know, it's

18:40

just like, oh, like people are actually watching

18:42

this and like seeing what it is. And you

18:44

know what's crazy? We premiered the first episode

18:46

at Essence Fest 2019. Oh,

18:49

I remember this. Yes.

18:51

And it was crazy. The

18:54

moment people saw Angela Bassett on screen, they lost

18:56

their mind like it was Beyonce. I was like,

18:58

oh,

18:59

this is gonna be big. Like I

19:01

didn't know we were just making a little sketch. I was really excited.

19:04

But that trailer dropped the same day and it had like 3

19:07

million views in 24 hours. And I was just like,

19:09

holy crap. But it just validated

19:11

for me that we needed this. We

19:14

never had this, ever, in the history

19:16

of sketch comedy. So for

19:19

me, it

19:20

was just like, okay, keep going, keep going. So

19:22

I think that's when I felt like this show really

19:24

made me feel that way. I

19:26

love doing my late night show, but I think, you

19:30

know, I think people don't think they're

19:32

supposed to watch BET or, you

19:34

know, don't know where to find it. I don't know why

19:37

it's like, not hard. I grew up watching BET. Me

19:39

too. BET has employed me for many,

19:41

many years, but I think the rundown

19:43

just didn't, I mean, our ratings were decent,

19:46

but it needed to be head and shoulders above

19:48

like daily show level to just look, that's,

19:50

it's an ad supported channel. They need to make money. I

19:53

get it. But Connie Orlando and

19:55

everybody over there is like lifelong friends. They're

19:57

great. Yeah, and so it just set me up I

20:00

truly believe that when a door closes, another

20:02

one opens. I really do. I really do, not

20:04

to be cliche about it, but that has always happened

20:06

for me.

20:07

The night they should go out canceled, within a week

20:09

I had to hold the rundown. The rundown got canceled

20:12

within less than a year. Sketch

20:14

Show was on the air.

20:16

Within two months it was sold. Oh my

20:18

God, I'm really upset at that. Actually it was already sold truly

20:20

when I was doing the rundown, but then

20:22

I took it to HBO. It was at a different

20:24

place. I took it to HBO.

20:27

So we can make it look better.

20:28

That's fine. We're fans. So

20:31

what is that? What has it

20:33

been like season after season, like in the weeds? What is

20:36

the process like? Oh my God. It's

20:38

a lot. Do not recommend show running

20:40

the show you write and star in. I mean, it's a lot. There's a reason

20:42

why most people don't do it. I

20:44

mean, Kenan Ivory Wayans and a couple of other people

20:46

are the only people that have ever done it. It's just a

20:49

ton because if you think about it, we're shooting like 50 short

20:51

films a year. Right. To make six episodes.

20:54

We were like, why aren't there my episodes? I'm like, do you want me to die?

20:57

It's so

20:58

much content jam-packed, and we have

21:00

to basically reinvent the wheel every day.

21:02

So if you think about it, we're on a different location. Sometimes

21:05

we shoot on sound stages, but a lot of times we're at a different

21:07

location every single day, and you have

21:09

to reinvent the tone, the style, the characters.

21:11

It's amazing what our team does

21:14

day in and day out. So it's

21:16

different from traditional scripted. Scripted's a lot more

21:19

laid back. I think some people dismiss and go, oh,

21:21

it's only sketch, but it's the way we're doing

21:23

it. Now that seems a lot more difficult

21:25

to me. It is. So basically day

21:27

to day, I'm the first person and last person out.

21:29

So I hire all the writers, all my crew. I

21:32

write in the writers room with our writers. I prep

21:34

with my director, my first AD,

21:36

my crew. We prep my production design team. I

21:39

approve every set, every prop, every wardrobe, every

21:41

wig, every everything. Then we go

21:43

and shoot the show for a couple months. And

21:46

I'm memorizing 150 pages of dialogue

21:48

a season and performing a new character

21:50

every day. I'm in two hours of

21:53

hair and makeup, or more if I have to play a man.

21:56

And then in between takes, people are asking me questions.

21:58

Luckily I have. a

22:00

great support team, I mean, everyone from my assistant

22:02

to my head writers. But

22:04

there's some things that, because it's the show

22:06

I created, they only want to come to me for. So

22:09

it's more of a well-oiled machine now, but it's just constant.

22:11

Then I go into post, we edit the show for a couple

22:14

months, then I do press, then it

22:16

premieres, and then we rinse and repeat.

22:18

It's all year long. I can't imagine.

22:20

Yeah. I

22:23

have so many questions about this. She

22:25

said, I feel the weight of that. But

22:29

it's great, I can't do it without the team. Obviously our Emmy award

22:31

winning director, editors, production

22:33

design team, nominated for Emmys, yeah, they're dope.

22:36

I mean, I know you've talked about, you have like a really great team

22:38

behind you, but did you feel like even in selling

22:40

the show or just starting it that you felt

22:42

a pressure of being a black woman or is

22:44

this, will people understand this, will people

22:47

get this? No, I didn't really worry about that. I was just

22:49

excited. And I think because I had done so

22:51

many sketch shows before, I kinda got to see

22:53

the things that did and did not work. Right?

22:56

But I'm also just a fan of sketch. So

22:58

it's like, I've been watching since Benny Hill, Monty

23:01

Python, I mean, I wasn't alive, but like, you

23:03

know, but watching all of that stuff up

23:05

until now, you know, the most recent stuff,

23:08

it's such a fun art and it's

23:10

so hard and I love a challenge. So

23:12

yeah, I don't think I felt pressure

23:15

necessarily,

23:15

especially once it was called a Black

23:17

Lady Sketch Show, not the, because it was just

23:19

called the Untitled Black Lady Sketch Show. And

23:22

then we were like, we gotta come up with a name. And I was like, oh, let's

23:24

just call it a Black Lady Sketch Show, you know? Yeah.

23:27

Because I didn't want people to be surprised when they tuned in.

23:30

I was like, well, I already told you what it is. But

23:32

yeah, I think for me,

23:35

the pressure, nah, I've never really

23:37

felt it. I just believe in it so

23:39

much. And my cast is so good.

23:42

Thank God. They're just so good. I

23:45

mean, look at the talent we've had. No,

23:47

it's incredible. Why would I ever be nervous or

23:50

concerned? Yeah, yeah. I

23:53

mean, all of that, and then you said rinse and repeat.

23:56

How do you though

23:57

come up with all of these characters and just

23:59

the

24:00

creativity behind it. That's easy. My brain

24:02

is like a cartoon on a loop.

24:04

Are you thinking of ideas in your sleep? All the time.

24:07

All the time. Yeah, I wake up

24:09

with ideas. I also have great writers.

24:11

It's not just me. No,

24:14

I just love writing.

24:16

And I love creating characters. And I use

24:18

a lot of real life inspiration, too.

24:20

Dr. Hurdasa is definitely amalgamation

24:23

of a bunch of hotels that I've known for a few

24:25

years. Or maybe

24:27

ones I've dated. It's

24:29

been great. It's just fun. I mean, imagine

24:32

an outlet for all the craziness in your life. That's

24:34

what I have. It's great.

24:36

Just

24:38

give me a snippet of what it is

24:40

like in the writer's room. Like how do things develop?

24:42

Like is it like you're like, I

24:45

went on the date and da da da da. No, so I,

24:47

no, we don't have that kind of time. I

24:49

work my writers to death for 13 weeks and

24:52

they will attest to this, but they're always like, oh my God, we came

24:54

out so much better than we came in. Like it's a boot

24:56

camp. And I warn them of that when I'm

24:58

interviewing. I'm like, do you like to work late

25:00

nights? No, shouldn't work here. Because it's

25:02

only 13 weeks. And really, it's only about 10 weeks

25:05

of writing. The last 13 weeks are like punching

25:07

jokes and doing table

25:07

reads and casting and that kind of stuff. So

25:10

it's just an intense like two and a half months. And,

25:14

but I'm like, you can do anything for 10 weeks. You

25:16

know, like, and so, and I'm not working

25:18

them till two in the morning every night. It's only on nights when we're

25:20

like punching through scripts, but usually they come in at

25:22

like 9, 30, 10 o'clock. And

25:26

we've been virtual the past couple of seasons. We haven't had an

25:28

in-person writers room since season two.

25:30

Oh, I didn't know that. But moving forward, HBO

25:32

willing that we have more seasons will be in person.

25:35

So basically, we come in 930 or so, we start pitching. So

25:39

the writers know they need to come in with a fully developed

25:41

pitch. But it's not always fully

25:43

developed, even my own. I'm like, all right, I have an idea.

25:45

It's like this woman who did this

25:47

thing, but I don't have an ending. And then we'll just workshop

25:50

it. But you have to come in and pitch like,

25:53

okay, Patti LaBelle shows up every time

25:55

you break up with a man and she won't leave until you

25:57

sing on my own with her. It's like great. get

26:00

Ashley Nicole Black who wrote that sketch, go

26:02

write it. But then some need a little

26:04

more work and a little more work shopping and brainstorming.

26:06

I think the thing that we try to do is like, why is this

26:08

sketch on a Black lady sketch show? That

26:10

way it won't feel like somebody will be like, oh, they stole our sketch.

26:13

Because there's been a billion sketches in the history of sketch.

26:15

So we try to say, well, why this show

26:18

and why now? So that's it. They

26:20

just come in and pitch. And then we send them out

26:22

to work on their sketches. And then

26:24

the next day, they

26:26

come in and pitch again. and then they

26:28

get revisions on their one

26:30

from the day before. And then around

26:32

the third or fourth day, we'll have an internal table read,

26:34

and we'll read them all out loud and see what's actually clicking.

26:37

But they do a couple of drafts before that.

26:40

And then we read them out loud, and then we kill 80% of them, and

26:43

then rinse

26:44

and repeat. I mean, it sounds

26:46

fun, but I know it's also challenging It's

26:48

fun, but it's a ton of work. We write hundreds of

26:50

sketches to get to the 30 or 40 there. Plus

26:53

the interstitials, which makes it over 50. Yeah,

26:55

it's crazy.

26:56

Okay, so season four

26:58

airs April 14th. Yes. What

27:01

can we expect? Okay. You

27:03

can expect. So

27:05

much fun. We said we have three new cast members, which I am

27:08

thrilled about. That chick, Angel, on

27:10

IG. Her name is Angel Lakita Moore. Tamara

27:12

Jade was in the top 10 on The Voice, and Demi Girli, who

27:14

was a TikTok star. She is 24 years

27:17

old and truly so funny. Yeah,

27:19

we love it. So I'm really excited about them.

27:22

We have 30 guest stars this season or more. I

27:24

can't even remember. Tracy Ellis Ross, Coleman Domingo,

27:26

Kyla Pratt, Cal Mitchell, Jay

27:28

Ellis, Tink, Kim Whitley, Jack

27:31

A. Harry, I mean there's so, Gina

27:34

Torres, there's so many.

27:36

And so I'm really excited about the

27:38

crop of guest stars. We've been trying to get Tracy forever.

27:42

She's gonna be great. Coleman Domingo, give him an Emmy,

27:44

Tracy Ellis Ross, give her an Emmy, Yvette Nicole Brown, Emmy

27:46

nominee for a Black Lady Sketch Show is coming back

27:48

for courtroom Kiki, Black Lady

27:50

courtroom. I'm so excited. Chris is

27:53

back, Hadassah's back, everybody's back. the coral

27:55

reefs are back. So I'm

27:58

just really excited about everybody's.

28:00

but then you get to meet all these new characters,

28:02

not only from the OG cast, but also from

28:04

our new ladies as well. Okay,

28:06

hard question though. Do you

28:07

have a favorite recurring character?

28:10

Yeah, I mean, so the audience would tell

28:12

me that my favorite character is Dr. Hadassah,

28:14

Oli, and Gali, young and pre-BHD. But

28:19

I actually like playing these like quieter

28:21

characters. This is not a recurring one, but there's

28:23

a new podcaster character

28:25

that I play this year. Okay. It was just very

28:28

serene

28:29

and very quiet. Wow, okay. And

28:33

much different than my cackling loud voice. Which

28:36

is really fun, because I get to play kind of like a smaller,

28:40

but the person opposite me is very, very big.

28:42

So that's fun. But yeah, Hadassah's

28:44

always fun. There's like no research

28:46

or

28:47

anything that has to go along with her. Because

28:49

I can just show up. We shoot the sketches in like two

28:52

hours. Like the black table talk episode

28:54

with Coleman Domingo is just, I mean, at

28:56

one point we did the script and then we just ripped

28:58

it up and did whatever we wanted and that's most

29:00

of what you're gonna see. It's just really fun.

29:03

Our guest stars are so lovely.

29:05

So it's fun to play with them. But yeah, Chris

29:07

is fun, Chris is back, who's kind of

29:10

the fuck boy I play. He's not really a fuck boy, but he's just

29:12

kind of like not the best. He's

29:15

back, he's got a new job. But

29:18

you've never seen him work. I was gonna say, wait,

29:20

wouldn't you? Yeah, he does. And he's

29:22

not really working here either, but you'll see, it's

29:24

very funny. Yeah,

29:27

I don't know that Coral Reef's gang is really

29:29

funny. My character Shenidra just watching Gab

29:31

go absolutely nuts in those

29:33

sketches. Yeah, it's just really fun. I think

29:35

the great thing about season four is it's really broad,

29:37

really physical, very approachable

29:40

from any entry point, even if you've never seen

29:42

the show. You can definitely start at season

29:44

four and not be confused. It

29:46

just helps you if you've seen the other sketches,

29:48

but I think they all live on their own.

29:51

you know, now that season four is coming out,

29:53

are you also already thinking about season

29:55

five, season six, or are you just in the moment?

29:57

Now I'm always, cause I always go, Oh man, we should.

30:00

sketch about blah blah blah and then I make it you know I have my

30:02

notes app where I'm like writing all my like

30:04

ideas so no I just think cuz my

30:06

brain is always constantly thinking of sketches that's

30:08

what I get excited about or you know

30:11

what guest stars that we're gonna be able to get or whatever yeah it's

30:13

just fun it's just a part of my life

30:15

in such a big way but

30:18

yeah oh I'm so excited for

30:20

everybody to see the new cast very excited all

30:23

these guests are sound amazing oh I know I even

30:25

named them all

30:26

I skipped Omarion there's other Omarion.

30:28

Yeah. Yeah.

30:30

Reprising his role as

30:32

a very ridiculous version of himself.

30:35

I love this. I love this. Yeah.

30:38

Okay. So you're also developing a new comedy.

30:40

I am. This video, Disengagement. Tell

30:42

me about this. Do you believe that they bought two shows for me and

30:44

put me in a whole overall deal? I didn't know about this show

30:46

until I started Googling. Well, you wouldn't. It's new.

30:49

No one knows anything. It's

30:51

very early, but it is about a black

30:53

Midwest family whose dysfunction has dysfunction

30:55

because as families the ultimate pyramid scheme. I'm

30:58

very excited to see a very not-cosby

31:00

version of a black family

31:03

with adult children and kind of, you

31:05

know, living in the Midwest, I think is dope because I'm from

31:07

the Midwest. This does not take place in my hometown

31:10

or state, but I think that there's

31:12

like a vibe in Chicago, St. Louis, like

31:14

we just don't really get to see

31:16

that. And we definitely don't get to

31:18

see kind of how

31:19

adult children interact with their parents

31:22

from

31:22

black people. So I really love

31:25

this kind of energy of like Arrested

31:27

Development, Schitt's Creek, but like very

31:29

black. So it'll be interesting.

31:33

I really love developing with HBO. They

31:35

are very creator forward and very much

31:37

like whatever story you wanna

31:39

tell, how do we tell the best version of that? And

31:41

how do we help you do that? They're not like, ah,

31:44

can you do it for this? No amount of money.

31:46

And also putting people we don't want. They're

31:49

not like that at all. They're just, they approach making

31:51

television as an art form. It's

31:53

really cool. Yeah, it's really cool. I'm

31:55

excited about this show. Me too. I

31:58

know, I gotta hurry up. I don't really have to get it.

32:00

Yeah, you do actually. Okay, so

32:02

you were also on Kirk Franklin's Good Words.

32:05

I know. Which I'm jealous that sounds. It

32:07

was really fun. Honestly, besides

32:09

this one, it was one of the best conversations I've ever had.

32:12

You asked me the best question and everybody's asked

32:14

me in a very long time.

32:15

Which was that when young people,

32:16

I thought you were gonna say when young

32:19

people come up to you, what advice

32:21

do you give them? But you said, what

32:23

is the difference? And I think that's real.

32:25

Like that's so deep because there

32:27

is a difference. I always feel the difference

32:29

though, because I feel like, no, I always, I

32:32

similarly get a lot of young people come up to me

32:35

and I'm like, I think you're, the disposition is a

32:37

bit different. And just the- And do they say

32:39

to you, you go, what do you want to do? And they go, I want to do what you

32:41

do. And it's like, you have no idea what it took to

32:43

get here. Right, yeah. But also I think they,

32:45

I can just sense a,

32:48

how you were saying a desperation, like I

32:50

felt like I was always that way where I can just sense

32:52

more so that people are obsessed with being famous.

32:55

And so- Yeah, and that's not it. That's

32:57

not it. The motives are different. The motives are different,

32:59

yeah. Getting money, being famous, all that's

33:02

great. The two always don't go hand in hand. You

33:04

can also be very rich and no one knows your

33:06

face. Yeah, which is honestly the bag.

33:09

Honestly? That's the bag, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

33:11

That's why I wear a beard and stuff. People don't even recognize

33:14

me all the time. The people

33:16

who are low key, successful, honestly,

33:18

a bag. Honestly. All right, so you were saying

33:21

about Kirk Franklin. Yes, Kirk Franklin, good words.

33:23

You talked about the importance of legacy. What

33:25

are your thoughts on legacy? Where are you at? You

33:28

know what? I think Black Lady Sketcho is its own legacy.

33:30

I think it's part of my legacy, but legacy

33:32

is so important because I was saying to

33:35

him, and

33:36

I'll elaborate on it here, I think

33:38

the really important thing is because of that desperation

33:40

when you're young. And it's,

33:42

I get the desperation. It makes sense. You're

33:44

like, I need to make it, and I can't pay my bills,

33:47

so I'm desperate, right? But nobody wants to hire you when

33:49

you're desperate. It wasn't until I relaxed

33:51

into my gifts that

33:54

I was able to embrace myself as a writer,

33:56

as a producer, as a showrunner. And when I

33:58

started doing that, it became about why. how

34:00

can I help all these people along the way? How can I hire

34:02

the people who no one else will hire? How can

34:04

I take the people who are underestimated everywhere else because

34:06

usually the color of their skin? How do I

34:08

take them and show them I'm not going to underestimate

34:11

them and they need to do their best work possible

34:13

here? My crew always says

34:15

this in interviews, they're like, Robin

34:17

expects excellence because she is excellent.

34:21

And

34:23

I say thank you, but also

34:25

I'm excellent because they're excellent. That's

34:27

how I would respond to that. So that is

34:29

legacy to me. Legacy is leaving

34:31

behind people who became better

34:34

because of your involvement in their life. Not

34:36

because you gave them money or

34:38

bought them a house, but because you gave them

34:41

the opportunity to become everything that they were

34:43

meant to be. And more, right? Even

34:45

when they leave a Black Lady Sketch Show, we always say it's

34:47

like alumni, like people in front of Amber behind

34:49

the camera, it's like, oh, I'm an alum of this season, or

34:51

I'm a loved one. Which is really cute. And

34:54

so I think that's what legacy is about.

34:56

Legacy is creating what you leave behind for

34:58

everyone else through the lens of

35:00

having

35:02

them having interacted with you, if that

35:04

makes sense. But it's not about what did I

35:06

accomplish, what accolades did I

35:08

get. It's about what did I leave behind

35:10

and who benefited from that through the work that

35:12

I did. So it's not erasing me from my

35:15

own equation. It's just saying that

35:17

when I became in service of others versus

35:19

just myself,

35:21

everything opened up and everything changed.

35:23

I love that. Thank you so much. This

35:25

is such a fun conversation. It's always fun

35:28

chatting with you though. I know. Listen,

35:30

let me know where the vacation is. I know you said you

35:32

want to go solo, but you know, I will show up

35:34

somewhere for you guys. I

35:37

will let you know because I'm thinking about a couple places. Perfect.

35:40

Well, I'm super proud of you. Congrats on everything.

35:42

Thank you, sweetie. I appreciate it. The cut is lucky to

35:44

have you. Thank

35:46

you. Pay her whatever

35:48

she deserves. Oh my god. Pay

35:51

her. Pay her. Pay her

35:53

producer. Pay the producer,

35:56

pay Lindsay, listen. Whatever

35:58

it is, it's not enough. I

36:01

love that.

36:30

you