- 9 months ago
CELEBRITY CONVERSATIONS: Funny ladies working in front of the camera, and women at studios who work with them, share what it's like to work and thrive, while being funny in Hollywood.
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00:00the room will start filling up very soon but welcome to ladies leading with laughs
00:05we're gonna talk to some women who are making a big statement in the comedy
00:09world and it's gonna be a really fun panel so first I'm gonna bring to the
00:14stage Danielle Pinock give her a big hand and next we have Resha Webb
00:30okay and then we have the hilarious Gina Yashere and you're moderated for this
00:43afternoon Revae Ruff so enjoy the panel ladies and audience don't worry more
00:55people come we'll see you soon hello hello what's up Essence fam how are you
00:59doing just one of y'all doing good okay today we're talking to these ladies who
01:07lead with laughter and everything that they do illustrious careers in comedy as
01:11black women starting off with Gina can you tell us what it's like doing stand-up
01:16versus doing sitcom comedy oh big difference okay stand up unedited uncensored
01:22I do I say exactly what I want and I don't have to cater for any particular
01:30people but right in the sitcom it's basically gets me up to a much larger
01:36audience it's amazing that way but yeah we I'm sneaking in you know the issues I
01:41want to sneak in the type of comedy that I want to do but we have to sugarcoat it in
01:45a way for a broad audience so that's the main difference but I'm still getting as
01:50much of essence in the show as I can and it's doing pretty well regard you know even
01:56though we're doing that which it's doing quite well and people are actually we're
01:59changing hearts and minds in middle America who would have thought that but
02:03that's what we're doing yeah yeah how is it juggling the two doing stand-up you
02:11know when you're not in the sitcom and oh well vice versa juggling is very
02:15difficult because there's not only am I an actor on the show I'm a showrunner of the
02:20show except producer writer producer I want all the checks all the checks
02:27because you know as black women in this industry we don't know if this is our
02:31last job so I'm getting all the money so because of that when I'm in the show I
02:37don't get to do as much stand-up as I want to so you know at the end of the
02:40week I'm so exhausted I don't always get out to do stand-up but I try and keep
02:44myself sharp in the clubs in LA so I'll at least once every couple weeks I'll try
02:48and get out and do shows but now we're on strike I'm on the stand-up like hard
02:53because I'm like well I'm on strike I'm gonna picket line in the week and don't
02:57go do comedy at the weekend so that's what I'm doing now now Bresha can you
03:04give us a little bit about your career trajectory from when you first decided
03:08you wanted to really pursue comedy seriously to now being a star on a big
03:12sitcom yourself oh thank you I guess shout out to Gina you're
03:18one of my favorite comedians you know I dibble and dabble with comedy stand-up
03:25but I remember coming to the clubs and watching you and just really loved your
03:29work for for years I guess going to college graduating I mean I've studied
03:36just like you know we've studied we know we have to be able to do it all you know
03:41theater drama comedy comedy chose me you know I've always been funny naturally but
03:47at the beginning my best friend can attest to this I was always cast in the
03:52same role teenage mother who gets her baby taken away by child protective
03:56services so that was my gig you know my yeah I was crying all the time I was on
04:01ER I was on Grey's Anatomy I was doing drama it's a drama girl and then all of a
04:07sudden love that girl came in my life and they were like oh we don't know what to do with you
04:13we like you maybe you should go for Tatiana Ali's role and I was like no she's a straight
04:19guy I want to go for the ghetto receptionist and that was what really shifted it and when
04:27I really went all the way in and was like I'm just gonna be goofy in here and then that is what
04:33really took it off so love that girl working with Martin Lawrence and met me Bentley Kyle Evans and
04:39all of them they really gave me the comedic bow you know so yeah going into comedy that way and
04:48starting to dibble and dabble with stand-up and and just doing improv on set and also doing you know
04:57impersonations and all that stuff came out of that as well and yeah I just kept doing it now
05:02like you know working consistently on other shows it's just made me more popular and more
05:09ready for the shows that I'm doing now which is Run the World oh good they didn't give you a mic
05:15thank you we're trained but uh yeah so yeah you know Run the World uh is a single cam and I come
05:26from sitcom world you know Marlon and all of that which is great um but single cam is I love it because
05:32you can play with a lot of the nuances that you get from the drama world and you can put the sitcom
05:37stuff in there too but it's just more real and I love that world yeah so that's in a nutshell
05:44excellent answer Danielle same thing um well first of all I'm really geeked to be here because
05:52I came to Essence every year with my mom and we were like we didn't have enough money so we would stay
05:56like an hour away and then like take multiple public transportations to get here so like to be
06:02invited um to be on this panel is quite surreal and also to be with like the two funniest humans
06:07I've ever witnessed there was like a constellation of women that inspired me when I first came out to
06:12LA and y'all are for sure in the stars for me um hashtag booked okay because her stuff her content I mean when I tell you you really paint a very clear picture of how it is being an actress in Los Angeles
06:28um I have to say in terms of my I guess my start in comedy uh I was black Jesus 24 times at church
06:42uh because my mom was like she's funny I think she got some talent but I don't have any money to put in
06:47anything else so we're just gonna do it at church so I started in church um and then uh I got some very
06:54really cool opportunities in college where I ended up off broadway and touring a show um and I did that
07:00kind of work for 17 years in live theater and then one day a tv audition came and my agent was like hey
07:06you should try and I was like oh I don't want my double chin out on screen and he was like no just do it
07:12he's like there's real money you will not be paid in pizza anymore just do the tv thing so I said all right
07:18let's try it and I got out to LA in 2016 I didn't book the job but the casting director was like
07:24you need to move out here and so I was like okay well let's see what happens with this tv thing
07:29my grandmother passed away I got this audition for this is us and on the day of her burial like as they
07:38were laying her in the ground my agent called was like you booked this is us and I was like what
07:43and so like I'm crying and my mom I was like I fucked a job my family was like what kind of job
07:48so we were all celebrating like oh but we should be sad right now but this is so exciting so I feel
07:53like my grandma was like just get me in the ground so I can talk to Jesus so you can get these jobs
07:56but it's been like a really great um time in Los Angeles there's been a lot of ups and downs I would
08:03have to say and I guess I've just gotten my big break with Ghosts which is on CBS
08:09and it's it's been surreal getting that job in the middle of the pandemic because I didn't even
08:16think we were going to go back to work uh so I'm just grateful to God that I get to play this awesome
08:20character Alberta who is this 1920s prohibition era ghost paying homage to all the incredible black
08:25artists that came before me but also I get to be goofy and improv and sing and um I get to utilize
08:32all of my theatrical skills so it's been it's been a blessing yeah great she is amazing I found you
08:39online because what I do I like to creep through Instagram finding other talented black women and
08:44I think I hit up your inbox and just went you're really funny we're going to be friends that's how
08:49I do I just stalk I just stalk black women on Instagram and we and we met we met in the clubs
08:56and we're like I like you I like you too you're great but that's literally that is literally black
09:02women in entertainment I think so many times we get a bad rap of like oh it's so competitive
09:06and it's literally been meetings like this of like I want to be your friend you're funny and like
09:10I think we need to highlight more of that you know what I mean and demystify that for sure yeah
09:16one one of the reasons I guess I'm assuming that you guys are building this sisterhood is because
09:21it's kind of difficult uh breaking into industry comedy in particular because it is so male dominated
09:26what are some of the difficulties you guys had as women and particularly as black women
09:30breaking into the industry and getting to the level that you're all at now oh listen it was for me it
09:35was extremely difficult because I came from England and I came from England as a successful comedian I
09:41was already famous in England so I was like coming out here going well I'm good at what I do so surely
09:46all I have to do is show people what I can do and I will get books and it was not like that I
09:50I struggle to get bookings I'd go to comedy clubs and this is how I got on I'd sit in the back of
09:55comedy clubs and when comedians were late and we know what I'm saying when black comedians were late
10:00I just go um I'm here I can go up and do five minutes while you wait for this person and that's
10:08basically how I got on in the clubs and I wasn't getting specials nobody was offering me specials so
10:13I just was like well I'm going to do my own thing and I basically rented theaters was on the streets
10:19it was you know selling tickets I'd go and do free shows and then I'd stand outside those shows and
10:24give out my flyers and go I'm filming a special and I need people and that's how I basically fill
10:29theaters and then just hired my own film crew and shot my own specials edited it myself and then ended
10:35up selling that to Showtime and selling so you know the three specials that I've had on Netflix two of
10:41them were made by me and basically I was just basically making my own thing because I couldn't get in the door
10:46and even with this sitcom Bob Hart's Abishala that I've got I was it came through Chuck Lorre it took a
10:51white wealthy man to go I want to make it because I was pitching a show the year before I got Bob
10:57Hart's Abishala I went all around all the networks pitching a show based on my Nigerian family nobody
11:03wanted it they were like we really like you you're really funny but we're not sure how this will work
11:08out I'm not and so I didn't get none of it you know it didn't get picked up and then a year later
11:13this successful white sitcom maker in Hollywood goes I want to make a show with Nigerians and all
11:19the networks like well that sounds amazing and basically they found me on Google because at
11:27least yeah at least Chuck at least Chuck I must give it to him as a you know he's a white guy he could
11:32have just gone I can make it I know what black people are I can do this show I don't need black
11:35people to help me make it so at least he said he had the foresight to go you know what I'm a white
11:40Jewish guy I don't know enough about Nigerians let me get someone from the culture to help me
11:46make it and so they got me in and obviously once I slid in there I was like you ain't getting rid of
11:51me I wrote myself into the show got myself promoted I was like you ain't getting rid of me now I'm here
11:58so Nigerian so Nigerian but it has been a struggle it's been a struggle but you know
12:06but once I'm in what I'm doing now is trying to open the doors and get all the rest of us in
12:10so once I got in the show you know I was like we need more black writers because he didn't have black
12:15writers so I didn't want to ups you know I didn't want to push it I didn't want to go you need black
12:19writers because then they get defensive and so what I did was like I'm doing a comedy show in LA
12:23come to my show and then I put all my friends on the show and then they came and they were like oh we
12:29like that lady Gloria she's really funny and I was like well she writes
12:32yeah that's it and that's how I got my friend Gloria in and she's you know she she'd been
12:37struggling to get in the industry and now she's an executive story editor on our show she's been
12:42promoted as the seasons have gone on so I'm just trying to get us all in the door because I know
12:47how hard it is for us I'm gonna stop talking now on to you guys no I mean and that's but that's the
12:51thing they you know they try to say that they that black writers don't exist or right black creatives
12:59aren't you know we're not qualified no you're just not looking for us we're we've been here
13:04so yeah but it is very difficult even to have your own creativity like um authenticity you know just
13:10to keep that you know like I wrote my own one woman show and I just put it on myself produced it
13:16had a whole band I was like I love Tracy um Tracy Ullman and I love Bette Midler and I love Whoopi
13:22Goldberg I I don't see one of me doing that so let me do it myself you know and so I put on a show
13:30all by myself invited my friends invited my team because a lot of people you know like when you're
13:34doing your thing even your team doesn't even know all the gifts that are inside of you because really
13:40when I was doing stand-up it was hard to do because I was doing it by myself you know it's a
13:44it's your own thing you do on the side and you still got to get your auditions you still got to get
13:49stay on time and you still got to do all the other stuff so your stuff on the side you do for you
13:54so this was something I was building on the side and I was like I'm gonna just do it and I'm gonna
13:58invite my team and invite casting directors I know so they can see that I can sing I can do characters
14:04I can do all this crazy shit all of these people live in here and it was great so it was like great
14:12for them to see me and now I'm pursuing that even more so you'll see soon you'll see soon but you know
14:18but it's it's good when you can like take the reins and I take ownership of I love that about
14:23our industry of being black women but it's also what we have to do and I don't like that because I
14:28see how easy it is for some other people yeah yeah and I'll be like so you just told them and they
14:34just let you and they helped you you didn't have to show them and then pay for it all by yourself
14:40and built the whole bus and you're allowed to be mediocre and still successful exactly and you
14:48so yeah I mean it I mean it yes it's a cross to bear but I have you know of course you open the door
14:56so it can be easier for someone else and you know so more people can shine of color and the problem is
15:03the longer it takes you to to make it because you're struggling somewhere when you do though you're
15:08ready you're ready because you're not going to spunk that opportunity yeah so that's the one
15:14positive that if it had been thrown to me when I was 19 I might have blown the opportunity but
15:19because I worked so long and hard to get it once it's here I'm like oh I'm gonna do all the things
15:24and I'm gonna open all doors for other people and we're gonna make work I'm gonna do our own thing
15:27yeah um I have to say I started off in theater um I had this one woman show called body courage which
15:33is what my username people are always like what is that um so I interviewed over 300 people worldwide
15:38about how their body image and how they felt about it and then I would perform as them on stage
15:43and I did that process for six years and so Anna Devere Smith um you may have seen her on the west
15:48wing and things like that that is my mentor so that's the kind of work that I was doing
15:53that's literally for about 18 years documentary theater so when I came to LA and we started doing
16:00TV I was like okay I got somebody here from living single in this audition and some lady that won the
16:06cinnamon challenge on YouTube there is no rhyme or reason to any of this I was like okay cool so I
16:13realized that I may have to pivot because when I got to LA you know in theater you could play I was
16:17playing all these different characters northern Irish priests and south side Chicago little girls and
16:22Mumbai you know Olympian like so I was doing all this stuff and I came here and it was like slave
16:27number three and I was like okay well sure fine fine fine pay homage pay respects but fine um and so I
16:37started me and my best friend Lanisa Renee Frederick we were like you know what we might have to pivot
16:41because any audition I went into was like how many followers do you have I have 50 followers you
16:48know what I mean I take pictures of my cereal you know what I mean like that's what my Instagram
16:52looked like so we were like what excites us and one day we got together we're like you know what
16:58why anytime you go on for a commercial audition for a young mom everybody's either wearing denim
17:03jackets or cardigans I was like what is the deal with that and I was like my mom I mean back in the 90s
17:09she had a little swoop like she was not wearing that but when we hear young mom for commercial
17:13auditions that's what we all go in so we're like let's just make a sketch about it and so we put it on the
17:18internet not thinking anything about it and it went viral so then the second one was what if we were
17:23the only black handmaid in handmaid's tale what would that audition look like so I came in Lanisa
17:30came in in a red shirt and I came in in a full shower cap and I had like this long little red
17:36riding hood thing and that went viral and so we were like maybe we're on to something and it was funny
17:42because I had been working on CBS as a guest star on Young Sheldon for four years and when it was time
17:47to book ghosts they said well is she funny I said but y'all I said y'all but wait they were like yeah
17:55but can can she improvise and so my team was able just to send them all of hashtag booked and my
18:01personal page and they were like wow she really is funny and so that is how I booked that job is from
18:07that and I have to tell you that being online and I have to say Angel is here Angel honestly Angel
18:14really should be up here because Angel not is not only one of the stars of black lady sketch show
18:19period um she is an incredible has a number one song that's out right now have you heard it
18:25she is a social media maven that's her one margarita can we get a chair up here for Angel
18:32Angel no I'm serious no you need to be up here you need to be up here because there there were people
18:38online that I said how am I going to do this Kevin on stage was one of those people Brisha Gina um
18:43Angel for sure you know and so that gave us the confidence to see other people that look like us
18:48being successful not only in the social media realm but also in the tv and film as well so
18:53I have to tell you pivoting into social media has gotten me so many opportunities it's got me seen for
19:00um I'm in a new movie with Eddie Murphy called Candy Cane Lane you know like they were like they
19:05didn't even know what ghost was they just sent the socials and said oh she's funny let's just
19:10book her in the movie and I was like really we could things can happen like that I've been working
19:15for 20 years that's never happened but like social media has gotten the eyes and me the visibility that
19:21I need and it's beautiful when I do interviews and people like oh my god you're the girl from
19:25Instagram like yeah and I also got education yeah you know what I mean I graduated from a school in
19:30England with first distinction honors you know what I mean I've done theater for 17 years
19:34and I'm not embarrassed by social media at all I'm grateful for it I mean also it gives you some
19:38good coins as well too be clear but um I just am really I'm excited that people know me in different
19:44spaces and I think that's the that's the beauty of it all and also to make my own legacy as well too
19:49yeah it's so funny you just don't know where people know you yeah because I have people come up to me
19:54and go who is it I do this thing on like tunes on Tuesday where I play old classic music and I make
19:59people guess what it is and I'm dancing and people come up to me and and I'm thinking where have you
20:05seen me have you seen me on the daily show or Netflix and they're like no just your Instagram
20:10when you're dancing in your house so you never know and it's and and it's putting your stuff out
20:15there you have to put your stuff out there because you don't know where the next opportunity is coming
20:19from this sitcom came from them googling Nigerian female comedian and a set that I did it all of
20:26them networks yeah the year before and nobody wanted it but then I had a set that I'd done in
20:30England and my mom was in the crowd and I and I took spoke to my mother my mom stood up and the
20:35crowd went nuts and that clip went viral and that's the clip that got me a sitcom so you never know where
20:41the opportunities are coming from so you have to just do everything you can you know
20:44absolutely well said for all y'all I just want to ask um with all the work you've done to get
20:51where you are how are the strikes affecting you now I know like you know with writers a little
20:57bit on hold something's happening to the actors soon how is that affecting you all moving forward
21:03into the rest of this year well I mean I think just overall I stand with everything going on okay
21:10I want to be replaced by AI okay and I need my money so strike away yeah I mean we're all striking
21:19I'm in the WGA as a right I'm also in SAG-AFTRA as an actor and the fact is that the that we are the
21:25ones that create the content that buys these billionaires their boats and houses in the Hamptons
21:30you know you've got seven people at the top of the corporate chain earning 700 million dollars
21:37but yet the people that are creating the content that gets them their boats they don't want to pay
21:43us and the thing is what we're asking for is does even account to two percent of their overall profit
21:49it's not like we're being greedy we're asking for less than two percent of their profit so I stand with
21:54my writers I'm on the picket line every day yes it's affecting all of us I'm making no money right now
21:58like I'm supposed to be writing the season five of our show and it's being pushed and who knows
22:03where when it will get made if it gets made if this strike goes on longer but I'm willing to take
22:07that sacrifice to make sure that our our livelihoods are protected because AI is a problem you know it's
22:14I'm not even worried about the AI per se it's the fact that they're going to steal our work feed it
22:19into the sausage machine that is AI which will spit out garbage at the other end and then they'll just
22:26hire one writer this is what they want to punch it up rather than hire people to write properly so this
22:32is the stuff that we're fighting at we're fighting to save the industry save the livelihoods not just
22:37us but the writers coming up behind us because if we don't the only people that will be able to
22:41afford to write and are going to be rich white tech bros and people with trust funds because those are
22:49the only people that will be able to afford to write for no money because they've already got money
22:53and so black people all people of color anybody marginalized will be driven out of this industry and that
23:00will whitewash the stories again because you know what happens as soon as the money starts to dip
23:04women people of color we get knocked out first so that's what we're fighting for
23:09preach Gina that's amazing but also you know just being a creative you know that's why it's so
23:16important to save you know like I you gotta spend money like you ain't got no money you know you gotta
23:21hold it tight because you know you just never know what's around you know I remember in what was that
23:262008 angel wasn't at the writer's strike in 2008 yes and it was horrible you know because a lot of us were
23:34just getting out of college and we were going in and we were we were on er together and we were working
23:40and doing well and we're like well we got our apartments and then it just stopped for like nine months
23:45and it was like what do you do you know so I've always been thinking about that ever since so I don't care
23:51what show I'm on you know I'm always putting money away away away away away away so that's one thing if
24:00you're going to be creative in this industry yeah you might see a beautiful check sometimes you know
24:05but put it away away buy a house buy a house put it away but yeah don't do nothing dumb because you
24:16you being shit like and that's the joy of making it when you're a little bit older yeah okay because
24:20now I'm like okay I need to put this into I literally went around all the white men in the
24:24room and like where's your money where is your money yeah yeah where is your money I'm putting my
24:28money with you and that's what I did yeah and I started investing I didn't know about that stuff
24:33but you have to you have to watch what these people do and do what they do because that's how they
24:38get wealth and build wealth because I want when I die I want to leave wealth for my family so that I
24:43can build generational wealth which we were denied of for so long so now is our chance to build
24:48anyway I'm also I'm also going to say that on on this path is like when you get your big break for
24:54any of the uh future folks out here um that are trying to act on tv and film and things like that
24:59yes it is beautiful you're thriving you're successful but there is a breaking point and the industry will
25:06try you either mentally physically emotionally so while you're on the journey of getting your big
25:13break start doing this research from now start looking up hmm when I become a serious regular
25:18what kind of attorney would I want do you know what kind of publicist would I want do they align
25:23with my vision where do I want to bank do I do is there anybody in my family that got money maybe I
25:29need to talk to them you know what I mean start doing this stuff from now because when that thing
25:33happens it is like whiplash you know you get the thing you book the job and it's like yes and then
25:39it's like now I got to make an escort what is that yeah do you know what I mean okay I'm banking
25:43where I got to open an account where I got to do okay attorney what am I fighting for how long I
25:47need to be on this show you know what I mean start doing this stuff from now and then when the moment
25:53comes when that big break happens you're ready to go yeah that part well thank you ladies so much
26:00for taking the time to speak with us today did you laugh we're wrapping up did you laugh did you
26:05have a good time all seven of you did you as long as everyone laughed and got informed we're happy
26:12so thank you so much thank you thanks for having us
26:15let's say that.
26:20Happy Essence.
26:37Happy Essence.