Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar!
The Last Laugh
The Daily Beast
4.6 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2023
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Comedian Amber Ruffin is systematically taking over the entertainment industry. And now she’s bringing her sister Lacey Lamar along for the ride. With two books, and now a new podcast from iHeartMedia and Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network, the pair is busier than ever—even as the Writers Guild strike has shut down much of Hollywood. In this episode, Ruffin talks about the state of late-night TV as a whole (and her eponymous Peacock show specifically) and reflects on the ‘Saturday Night Live’ audition that inadvertently brought a generation of Black female comedians together and led Seth Meyers to hire her as the first Black woman to write for a network late-night show. The sisters also reveal how they find humor in “everyday racism” and why they decided to embrace their true, deeply silly selves, on their podcast.
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Follow Amber Ruffin on Twitter @ambermruffin and Instagram @amberruffin
Follow Lacey Lamar on Twitter @LaceyLamar1 and Instagram @laceylamar1
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There really is only one late-night host who could deliver commentary like this. |
| 0:06.0 | Having diverse casts isn't just the right thing to do. It's also good for business. |
| 0:10.8 | One study showed that employing multiple black actors in the principal cast |
| 0:14.1 | achieves significantly higher domestic box office revenues. And I know that that sounds a little |
| 0:19.5 | confusing because they did not just say that white people don't want to see diverse movies? Well, here's the thing. And I know that that sounds a little confusing, because did not just say that white |
| 0:21.6 | people don't want to see diverse movies? Well, here's the thing, and I know this is going to be |
| 0:25.4 | hard for some people to hear, but white people aren't the only people. So even if white people |
| 0:31.4 | might be less excited about a movie, people of color turn out and more than make up for it. So |
| 0:37.4 | those white executives are going to have to catch up, and we're going to have to start promoting people of color turn out and more than make up for it. So those white executives are going to have to catch up |
| 0:39.9 | and we're going to have to start promoting people of color. |
| 0:42.2 | Not because they're woke, a word you totally ruined, |
| 0:45.0 | but because people want to see shows like Squid Game |
| 0:49.0 | or a Black Lady Sketch Show or The Amber Ruffin Show. |
| 0:52.9 | Thank you. Black Lady Sketch Show or The Amber Ruffin Show. |
| 1:00.7 | This is the Last Laugh. |
| 1:08.9 | I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and that was Amber Ruffin talking about the right-wing freak out over a black aerial in The Little Mermaid. |
| 1:15.1 | That clip is from The Amber Ruffin Show, which until recently was streaming weekly on Peacock. |
| 1:20.7 | But even before the writer's strike caused all of late night to go dark, Amber's show was canceled in favor of occasional one-off specials for NBC's streaming service, which have yet |
| 1:26.6 | to materialize. But that doesn't mean she hasn't |
| 1:29.7 | been busy. Along with her sister, Lacey Lamar, who joins her on this episode, Amber has now |
| 1:35.7 | written two books about their real life, and often hilarious, experiences with racism, |
| 1:41.9 | and launched a new podcast called The Amber and Lacey, Lacey and Amber |
... |
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