“But they did such a great job of preparing us. “I was very much taking in way too much toxic information by way of watching the news and all day, so there was this relief and excitement when I got the call,” Dennis recalls. So, I can just tap right into that mindset.”ĭennis adds that knowing that the series would bring audiences joy - and created some joy for the actors making it amid all of the heaviness of the year - helped her get over her fears of going back to set. I was like, ‘This character is not thinking about COVID, she’s just tried to find a man.’ And that is the only thing on her mind. “And we played so many crazy characters this season. And then it’s like, I have to tap into my training and find peace, and be the funniest I can be,” she says. “Every day we would come in and get tested for COVID, and that would give you some reassurance.
CAST OF A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW HOW TO
Learning how to manage the very scary situation of stepping on stage in front of an audience and not knowing what would happen next helped Black prepare for the uncertainty of working mid-pandemic. “This year - this is gonna sound so cheesy - but I was really grateful for my improv training.” “We created this amazing bubble on the set that just felt like so safe, and so fun and so full of love,” Black says. As one of the first productions back, it was a big responsibility, but everyone was dedicated. Like if she’s good, I’m 1,000% good, because there’s way more pressure on her than me.”īut the pressure was on the entire cast to get it right when it came to safety. “The trailer got me so excited,” Dennis says, “and Robin’s excitement is so infectious.
“A little secret,” Thede reveals, “Gabrielle and Ashley have not seen anything.” Thede and the show’s team are still wrapping up post-production on the “dense” six episodes that make up the new season and, while she can hardly contain her excitement for fans to see what they’ve cooked up, her co-stars are even more anxious. “Not that we didn’t have apprehension and fear.
“I said ‘OK, we’re coming back,’ and I explained how we were going to do it, these women said ‘OK, let’s go,’” she recalls. But all credit goes to her cast and crew for staying the course, she says. Pointing to Black and Dennis, Thede adds, “What these women are doing on camera is nothing short of miraculous because it was absolutely during a whole global pandemic - the height of it - and they brought their A-game.”Īll the while, Thede, the writers and producing team were working with COVID compliance experts, figuring out how the show could go on safely. But due to pandemic-forced shifts in the schedule, Season 1 star Quinta Brunson was unable to appear in the new season, so now the cast consists of returning players Thede, Ashley Nicole Black and Gabrielle Dennis, alongside new featured players Laci Mosley and Skye Townsend. Thede always set out to create a bigger and bolder version of the show that boasts all Black women in its core cast and writers’ room, and features two Black women (Lacey Duke and Brittany Scott Smith) directing the six-episode season.
Cast members have included Quinta Brunson and Ashley Nicole Black, and that’s saying nothing of the amazing roster of guest stars (Angela Bassett, Issa Rae, Gabrielle Union … we could go on).“All of that really challenged me as a showrunner,” Thede says, explaining that she’s been working on this season for about 18 months, maybe longer. Then, in 2019, came A Black Lady Sketch Show, of which Thede is the creator and executive producer. In 2015, she became the first Black woman to be head writer for a late-night talk show ( The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore) and then hosted her own late-night show on BET from 2017 to 2018. “I was like, ‘What?!’” She’s since established a successful career in comedy through her work on shows like Key and Peele, Chocolate News, and Real Husbands of Hollywood. “I saw that Black women could be funny and actually make a living,” she tells Cut editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples on this week’s episode of the In Her Shoes podcast. The sense of community she was denied at school she found instead on television, watching Whoopi Goldberg’s one-woman show and In Living Color. As children in Iowa, Thede and her sisters were the only Black kids in their school, leading to much teasing and isolation. Robin Thede has always been funny, and she’s always known it - she was named after Robin Williams, after all. Photo-Illustration: The Cut Photo: Kevin Scanlon
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