A Black Lady Sketch Show Is Proof That Black Women Are The Funniest People — Period

A Black Lady Sketch Show is back, and although the show has three Emmy wins, 13 coveted nominations, and a massive following, Robin Thede isn’t concerned with awards or accolades for season 4. Thede prides herself on creating a show that will genuinely make the audience laugh. “I just want people to come, give funny Black women their due, and enjoy it.” Thede tells Unbothered over the phone from Los Angeles. “I want you to watch it, laugh, feel so much joy, and feel like those 30 minutes were an escape from whatever you might have going on.” 

The six-episode season premiered Friday (April 14th) on HBO. Guest starring renowned actresses such as Tracee Ellis Ross, Kym Whitley, and 227 alum Jackée Harry. Along with comedian Kel Mitchell, singer Tank, and former Insecure star Jay Ellis. 

Thede, the show's creator, star, producer, and showrunner is elated about this season's guests, but she also has three new cast members whom the audience will grow to love: DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore are heating things up in episode 1. “They have jumped feet first into the show. It's great because they've seen three seasons of it. But what they bring this season is bigger than ever,” says Thede.

Thede is known for shattering glass ceilings. She became the first Black woman to be head writer of a late-night show with The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. The comedian also hosted her late-night talk show, The Rundown with Robin Thede, and has written for many other shows and decorated comedians. She also made it her business to have a writer's room full of Black women since season one of A Black Lady Sketch Show.  Here, Thede talks about the inspiration behind season 4, why Black women are the funniest people she knows, and what it’s like to work with the best, brightest – and Blackest – talent in TV.

We're excited about people the audience has already seen and about working with the actors we’ve been trying to get over the years. This season we have Tracee Ellis Ross, Colman Domingo, Kym Whitley, and Debra Wilson, and then, of course, our favorites are back, such as Yvette Nicole Brown, Kel Mitchell, and Jackée Harry. We also have three new cast members, DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore. They're just unbelievable. They have seamlessly just jumped in feet first into the show. It's great because they've seen three seasons of it. But what they bring this season is bigger than ever. I think what we're focused on is just being characters you can take with you. We're only on six episodes a year, and we want those episodes to stretch throughout the year. We want to have the audience revisit their favorite sketches, remember all the funny lines, and say them to their friends and all that good stuff.

The same place we always pull from. Black women are the funniest women in my life, forever. So, everybody from your mom and your auntie to your best friends. We draw inspiration from the people we hope the audience is watching [the show] with. So that you can be like, “Oh, that's you, or No, that’s you!” And then, of course, there are just crazy, absurd situations. Obviously, I don't know any church Deacons who were dunking babies like the NBA slam dunk contest [laughs]. But you know, I think that's all rooted in church culture meets sports culture that we pull from, which is our community.

I don't have any agenda about topics. We just really make what's funny. I don't have a theme. I'm not trying to teach people about anything. I just want people to come, give funny Black women their due, and enjoy it. I want you to watch it, laugh, feel so much joy, and feel like those 30 minutes were an escape from whatever you might have going on. I think that’s so important.

Yes! We’ve been a room full of Black women from day one. Others can be more intentional by opening their eyes. We’re out here. We’ve been here. We’ve been great! It's genuinely baffling to me when people say, “We just can't find good writers of color.” It makes no sense. I tell them they need to find better friends because we are out here. I’ve been out here for many, many years, and I couldn’t get a job as a writer. I think people just work in limited circles, and the key to my whole career was surrounding myself with people who are smarter and better than me. And I do that by getting out there and seeing comedy shows, talking to writers, and not relying on agents and managers but getting to know talented people who haven’t had a chance yet. 

Amber Singletary, who had never written on anything, was doing stand-up in Baltimore and met one of our writers at A Black Lady Sketch Show. The writer encouraged Amber to submit, and she got hired immediately. She had never written anything in her life, and she's incredible! So, many of us out here are better than our resumes, but people don't take chances on us like they do other people. I've never been afraid to do that. I will always give someone a chance if they deserve it.

The show has 13 Emmy nominations and three wins at this point. And our guest stars are often nominated for an Emmy. So, it's exciting for them to do a hilarious show at this high level on HBO. They only have to come for a day, and of course, not everyone's going to get nominated for an Emmy. But they also do it because it's fun and they want to work with us. Many of them don't even get asked to do stuff like this, especially the serious drama actors. So, they get a kick out of it. Also, the writing is incredible. So when they get the scripts, they are really thrilled about it. We're not writing a character for a specific person, necessarily. We just write a character who's dynamic and interesting to play, and the Actor in them says, “Oh, I want to do this. This writing is really good.”

It's not about winning Emmys. It's about competing with ourselves. So, I think we're only in competition with our last season. And every season gets better than the last. But in season 4, the groundswell around it is just wild. It feels like season one again. And that's because we're coming out of the pandemic, have a new cast, and have these amazing guest stars. We've always made a quality show. But for this season in particular, I am energized by the content, the actors, the writers, the crew, and also the audience. The audience is just really vibing with it. It's really fun to watch. I can't wait until the premiere on Friday. It's always fun to live tweet with the audience and hear their real-time feedback.

I didn't create A Black Lady Sketch Show right when I got to L.A. I went through seven other canceled sketch shows I was writing on and performing on. And I got to learn from those geniuses. David Alan Grier, Afion Crockett, Jamie Foxx, and all these amazing comedians. And then, I wrote for many comedians such as Chris Rock, Anthony Anderson, Mike Epps, Wayne Brady, and Samuel L. Jackson. I've written for everyone. So I spent a lot of time learning the craft from the greats and offering them something in return. 

I could never have made this show if I hadn't been in the business since 2002. I just wasn't ready. Some people get ready faster than others. For me, it took a long time [laughs]. It's rare to be the showrunner, writer, and star of a show. But I wouldn't have been able to do that without the other people who guided me along the way.

It's imperative to network laterally—network with your peers. Don't try to meet Oprah. You don't have anything to offer Oprah at the beginning of your career. That's no shade. You just need to get a lot more stuff under your belt before you meet the people. If you’re all starting at the same level, one of you will make it, and then you can open the door for the rest. Issa Rae, Justin Simien, Lena Waithe, and I are all creators of the same class. Quinta Brunson, Ashley Nicole Black, and the rest of us have all been hustling and making shows for this era. But when we were all starting, none of us had anything. So I think people are scared to network across, but the thing is, you get to learn so much from those experiences. 

So much of the industry is gatekept from us. We just don't know the ins and outs of everything. So once one of the people in the friend group makes it, you can ask questions to get insight that other people are just not going to give you, and you can start to stair-step your way up. 

I also think that young people should not be in such a rush to be famous, so quickly, or to be famous at all. To be honest, I'm so happy with the platform that we created. It just happens to also keep me in front of the television camera. But the legacy of A Black Lady Sketch Show will live far beyond me. I created a Sketch group at Northwestern University, where I went to school, called Out Da Box, with a friend of mine back in college, and it's still there. There are a lot of people that have no idea that that's my show. It's been going on for 20-plus years, but it lives beyond me, and the tradition has lived on for all of this time. And that's what I hope for the sketch show. It's not the “Robin Thede Sketch Show.” It's A Black Lady Sketch Show. I'm really proud of the institution it's become and the people that get to use it as a platform for all the talent they already have. There are so many talented people. I just wanted to create that platform and leave the door open. 

So young people can't be so stressed about getting famous or rich quickly. It seems like everybody is, but nobody is, and the people that are [famous] don't even have the money you think, and fame is fleeting. So you just have to network laterally with the people working as hard as you are. They may not have made it yet, but they're hustling like you are. Find people with a better or similar work ethic. Find people smarter than you and aspire to be prolific, not perfect. That's something Natasha Rothwell told me, and I think that's great. Just be patient, and enjoy the day-to-day.