Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykesis an American comedian, writer, actress and voice artist. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America. She is also known for her role as Barb Baran on CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine and for appearances on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth7 March 1964
CityPortsmouth, VA
CountryUnited States of America
I'm shy. I am. I mean, if I get around, you know, in a room of a bunch of people especially I - you know, I don't know or - it takes me a while to warm up. I'm - and the real me, I'm not as witty as, you know, as the comic Wanda. The comic, she's had time to work on some things.
I really can't pinpoint the one moment when I said I want to be a comic.
It's not until you develop your own voice, your own persona onstage that you become your own comic, who you really are.
If I did a talk show, this would allow me to speak on what's happening at that moment. I can be current, and I get to flex my stand-up muscle but stay at home without doing the traveling.
Sometimes black people really want to hold onto our oppression - 'This is ours! This belongs to us.' You can't just talk about equality for somebody else. Let's pass it on. Let's pass it on to somebody else. At the end of the day, it is all about inequality.
Back then, I was doing more of my impression of what a comic is supposed to do.
We have to get out there and touch the people and let them know that you are thinking about them and to try and lift their spirits and get awareness out there to the rest of the country.
But I understand that relationship; I understand how the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship has so many conflicts because it's so forced.
Monster-in-Law, I'm not going to say anything bad about that girl. Everybody picks on her. And she doesn't deserve it.
Also, Def Jam came along, and everybody was doing it without really practicing or trying to be better comics, just trying to get on TV.
When I'm not on T.V. or working on a movie, I'm on the road doing stand-up. That's my roots.
I'll never forget the first time my family came to see me do stand-up, ... It was an awful bombing. It was like a damn terrorist attack. I was onstage in Washington, D.C., and the audience was talking. Some of them even turned their backs to me. I was paralyzed. I couldn't even move. I just kept talking until I heard my mother yell out, 'Wanda! Get off the stage!'
I know it sounds like the party line, but I just love doing this show, ... Larry is just an odd man, and in such an inappropriate way. He's funny. He's a genius, and he's so lovable. It's a treat to show up at work and yell at him.
I don't know if it's a woman's tone of voice or training. Maybe guys are like, When I go home, I have to hear it. Right now I'm at work.