Robin Thede on ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’

Episode notes

(Photo: Tina Thorpe / HBO)

The comedian on the latest season of HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show

Robin Thede keeps busy.

One of her earliest gigs was as head writer on Queen Latifah’s daytime talk show. Robin’s a Second City alum, and former host of the BET show The Rundown. As an actor she’s appeared on Key & Peele, Insecure and Central Park.

In 2015, she was the first ever Black woman to be a head writer on a late night talk show: The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

These days, Robin is the showrunner, creator and star of the Emmy-winning series A Black Lady Sketch Show. The show just wrapped up its third season on HBO. Like the title suggests – A Black Lady Sketch Show is a sketch show created by and starring Black women.

What makes the program so unique and rich is its specificity: Robin and her co-stars cover church politics, family reunion line dancing and hair-care specific weather forecasts.

We chat with Robin about the latest season of HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show and her time as head writer on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Plus, we get into her childhood. Robin grew up in a mostly white, suburban part of Iowa. She’ll talk about the challenges that being biracial presented and why she identifies as Black today.

In this episode...

Jesse Thorn

Host

Kevin Ferguson

Senior Producer

Jesus Ambrosio

Producer

Richard Robey

Maximum Fun Producer

Daniel Huecias

Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Daniel Arón Speer

Video Editor

Guests

Robin Thede

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

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