Robin Thede Talks The “Miracle” Of Longevity, Subverting Stereotypes And Working With Colman Domingo On ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’
It’s time to break out the good hair and sip on some celebratory champagne because HBO’s A Black Lady Sketch Show has returned for its fourth season tonight. Keeping in theme with the series’ previous seasons, creator and star Robin Thede, alongside her mainstay cast members Gabrielle Dennis and Skye Townsend, continues to highlight the niche inner workings of the Black American community through absurdist humor and topical commentary. Season 4 ushers in three series newcomers, TikTok personality DaMya Gurley, The Voice star Tamara Jade, actress Angel Laketa Moore along with a special bevy of guest stars including Jackée Harry, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Colman Domingo, who suffers a hilariously awkward interview with fan-favorite character Dr. Hadassah Olayinka Ali-Youngman Pre-PhD.
Here, Thede spoke to Deadline about the importance of creating Black female comedy, collaborating with her new cast and guest stars, and how she manages to maintain the funny.
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DEADLINE: You can’t talk about A Black Lady Sketch Show without acknowledging how each season’s main title sequence changes and occasionally references some aspect of the show. Can you talk to me in general about the theme of this season’s opening?
ROBIN THEDE: No spoilers for season 4’s opening, but just know they’re a way that we pay homage to Black womanhood. In the first season, I really wanted to focus on the magical reality of the show. The puppets were a great way to do that, to show you that we were willing to do things that were out of the normal plane of human reality and that we were willing to play in this three-dimensional magical reality. In season 2, we did A Different World opening credits, obviously a huge homage. Season 3 was a parody of Dynasty meets The Real Housewives and this long text story that kept growing, and this idea that we want you to stop and slow down and pay attention to the show to follow this long loping storyline that in the end was a red herring and meant nothing in a way. But it also shows the show’s evolution, the luxury, and all of those things that our characters had aspired to when they thought before the world had ended. For season 4, people will see the evolution of all three of those in a way that celebrates how we create, and it also has a pop culture reference for those who might get it. It was a fun way to introduce our new cast as well as our OGs.
DEADLINE: Let’s get into that. You have three new cast members in DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore. How did you find them? And more so than that, how does someone even impress you and the team for an audition for A Black Lady Sketch Show?
THEDE: So many women impressed us in the audition process. We’ve only ever done two auditions, one in season 2 and one in season 4. We don’t audition our guest stars. People always go like, “How can I audition?” I’m like, “You can’t. We don’t.” I just call people and give them a job. We saw so many talented Black women that were unbelievable, and I wish I could have hired them all, honestly. But I think for the three who did get cast this year; I’m just laughing because it was DaMya’s birthday on her final callback, and she was like, “Oh, my God! I can’t believe it. I just turned 24!” We were like, “When?” She was like, “Now!” We were like, “What the f**k?”
Angel has been in this business a long time, and we love her. I’ve always been a fan of hers. So, she just came in and blew us away. Tamara Jade came from The Voice and had the most incredible voice of anyone I’ve heard in person. She’s so dope, but she’s also got these comedy chops that are out of this world. So, I think the biggest determining factor for us was to fit within the cast, somebody that didn’t duplicate something we already had. We saw a lot of really incredible people, but Skye (Townsend) or Gabrielle (Dennis) could already do those things. So, we just wanted new skills and things that would complement the existing cast, so that’s how those three made the cut. We were only supposed to bring one new person on, but we brought all three because they were just undeniable.
DEADLINE: You’re a trailblazer who created a sketch comedy comprised of Black women. Did you imagine this longevity when you sat down to work on the show? What has this experience getting to season 4 been like for you?
THEDE: It’s been a dream to have created four seasons of television, a miracle. Nothing stays on for four seasons anymore. As for the future of the show, I want this to be an institution that goes on forever. I don’t want to jinx anything, of course, I don’t have control over whether the show continues or not, but the audience does. If people watch, then we stay on. If there’s a need and want there, and people support it, then we can do it as long as possible. God forbid I die tomorrow; I would hope that this show continues. That’s why it’s not called A Robin Thede Sketch Show; it’s called A Black Lady Sketch Show. So, it’s really important that this institution has a legacy and that we are a place where women come through and play at all levels, whether they’re being discovered or just Angela Bassett coming to play for a day and getting nominated for an Oscar. And in my heart of hearts, I always held hope that we’d be here, you know? If you think, “Oh, well, this will never win,” then you might not.
DEADLINE: I would assume the show is a well-oiled machine now when it comes to producing and writing a new season. But I’m wondering, how do you continue to outdo yourself? How do you continue to elevate the show as it goes along?
THEDE: I think there’s always more funny to be had and more characters that we see in our lives [to emulate]. Even in between seasons, like yesterday, I had a great idea for a sketch. I put it in my notes app, and we’re not in the writer’s room again yet [for season 5], but as we’re just about to launch season 4, so I’ll keep that [idea] in there. Throughout the year, I always have ideas so that way we don’t run out of ideas; then we don’t run out of show.
DEADLINE: What’s currently funny to you right now? Anything you’ve consumed to help you stay relevant?
THEDE: I watch everything. I consume everything from Succession to Swarm and all points in between; I watch it all. I’m a fan of TV. I’ve always been a fan of TV. TV raised me in so many ways; no shade to my parents, but I just love the medium. Something that can come into your home and entertain you is it’s so much more accessible than film. I love movies too, but it’s like to be able to invite people into your home, and when people invite us into their home, that’s a privilege. I just think it’s really cool because you get to reach people where they live, in their pajamas, and spend time with them. You know what I mean?
DEADLINE: The show continues to be a delight for the hyper-specific way you and the team poke fun at or highlight common Black people stereotypes and tropes. When it’s time to pen a new sketch or build a new season, do you ever feel weighed down by that pressure or perhaps liberated by the freedom to subvert these tropes?
THEDE: It’s a subversion of the stereotypes that keeps us excited, you know? It’s not playing the stereotypical sketch or character that people think we’re going to. I think that that’s fun. I love looking at things from a new perspective and trying things on their head. I think the best part of comedy is when you can take something super relatable and present it in a way that feels familiar but new. I think that’s what we try to do certainly with our show.
DEADLINE: As always, you have a plethora of great guest stars. Colman Domingo, though is certainly the highlight of this season. Can you discuss collaborating with these stars and how that Colman Domingo sketch came about?
THEDE: I’m glad you said that because he is literally so good. I’m like, “He needs a guest Emmy.” Tracy Ellis Ross too, and who would have thought that Tank, Jay Ellis and Kel Mitchell would be the Three Wise Men? There’s just so many great surprises, and we break them all. Every one of them gives you something unexpected. Kel Mitchell, this is his second season with us, and I’m just in awe. I’m in awe of how talented he is, and he brings something different every time he shows up. But Tank, who knew the musician, the R&B crooner Tank wanted to be in a sketch? He was like, “No, no, no. I really want to do this.” I’m like, “All right.” Tracy Ellis Ross, I’ve been stalking for years. Her Black-ish schedule was the same time as ours, so it always prevented her. So, this year, we finally got her, and she was well worth the wait. Crazy improviser. So good. So, giving, and Colman Domingo, I agree with you. He is the highlight of this season for me. He’s just impeccable at everything. This will remind people that he came from comedy roots and he was just so game to play. So much of that sketch is not scripted.
DEADLINE: The two of you singing “Wade in the Water” was just hilarious.
THEDE: I don’t know exactly how that happened, but it happened in one take. Most of the jokes in that sketch happened in one take, and he never broke. I broke that entire sketch, but he somehow never did until they called cut, then he would die laughing. I honestly don’t think he ruined a single take. If you watch it back, you can see the shot is on my back while he starts harmonizing, and I start laughing immediately. You can see my back kind of jerks like I’m laughing. But then I get right back into it because that was the only take. It’s that kind of magic you just can’t recreate in a second take. I was like, “Holy, this is so good.” I was filming it with him, and I was like, “This is so good.” It was just one after the other, and he never flinched. I can’t wait for people to see it. It was so much fun.
A Black Lady Sketch Show airs every Friday on HBO and HBO Max.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]
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