Comedian Issa Rae Makes Awkward AWESOME

While many comedians used to rely on comedy clubs as their training grounds, the new guard has taken to the Internet, using YouTube and Twitter to craft addictive personas that oftentimes are much more relatable (at least to us) than Peter Griffin on TV. One of our favorites, Issa Rae of Awkward Black Girl fame, manages to deliver award-winning, LOL IRL comedy — she won the 2011 Shorty Award for Best Web Show — while slipping in dialogue regarding sexism, racism, and ageism without batting an eye.

Never before has it been such an awesome time to be a hilarious, awkward, whip-smart woman… and with women like Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, and Lena Dunham at her side, Issa Rae is showing the fuddy duddies what being an opinionated, thinking, slightly dorky woman means. And with a new ABC show in the works, I Hate LA Dudes, Rae's right on the cusp of name-in-lights fame. We sat down together to discuss current projects, gossip about her Fairy Godfather, Pharrell Williams, and why "pretty girls can't be funny."