On the Set of ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’: How Robin Thede and Co. Manufactured a Well-Oiled Laugh Machine
variety.comA Black Lady Sketch Show” creator and star Robin Thede is working with the show’s editors to put the finishing touches on Season 4 of the half-hour HBO comedy. “First season,” she tells Variety, “I was like, I want every third line to be a joke.
Second season, every other line. Now, literally every line is a joke, even the setups to the punchlines. It’s crazy.” With sketches that riff on relatable themes — like hair woes, ashy skin and the politics of the Black church — “A Black Lady Sketch Show” frames the world from a Black woman’s point of view.
Even when the subject matter has nothing to do with Blackness, the show’s existence is impactful, a sentiment Whoopi Goldberg underlined during a recent episode of “The View.” “You have invited an entire room of Black women to write comedy.
This is unheard of,” Goldberg told Thede, who’d been inspired to pursue a career in comedy after watching Goldberg perform in the 1980s. “There are not rooms full of white women writing comedy.
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