Now Playing
Anne Marie FoxRobin Thede is the creative mind behind one of HBO’s highly anticipated sketch comedy series this summer, A Black Lady Sketch Show.
The series, which stars Quinta Brunson, Ashley Nicole Black and Gabrielle Dennis– as well as long list of celebrity guests, came together after Insecure creator Issa Rae called Thede about doing a project together. Thede tells ABC Radio that the hope for her show was to not only create something original, but to fill a void in network television.
“There has never been a sketch comedy show with all black women– starring, written by, created by, directed by, black women,” Thede says. “And, the crazy thing is we love sketch comedy. Black people love sketch comedy: In Living Color, Chappelle’s Show. We love these sorts of sketch projects.”
“And yet, black women have never taken the front seat in any of those projects,” she continues. “They’d been great. Kim Wayans, who doesn’t love her? You know what I mean? Like, there’s so many great women who came through In Living Color and other shows, but they’ve never been the stars, like solely.”
Now that her vision and hard work will officially pay off tonight, Thede is relieved and excited for the world to finally get a taste of what they’ve been missing.
“This was a project,” she admits. “When the trailer dropped, people told me, ‘This wasn’t a show I knew I needed, but now I can’t live without it.’ And they haven’t even seen it yet. Which is exciting for me because that’s the whole point: to show the world the hole that existed.”
A Black Lady Sketch Show premieres tonight at 11 p.m. ET on HBO.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
