Amber Ruffin Talks ‘The Wiz’ Revival, Writing for ‘Late Night,’ and Representation in Comedy

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Amber Ruffin is a comedy phenom. She’s spent a decade writing and performing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and hosted her own show, “The Amber Ruffin Show.” She’s a co-author of bestselling books with her sister Lacey Lamar, with whom she co-hosts a podcast, The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show. The Emmy and Tony nominee is now focused on a new project: writing the book for the revival of the beloved 1975 musical, “The Wiz.”

She joins host Kai Wright for an honest reflection on the art of “translating funny” for different audiences and different formats. She and Kai roast, joke and reflect on the cultural and personal significance of “The Wiz,” her journey coming up as a Black female comedian, and the importance of seeing diverse representations of Black people in comedy (including Black people being silly).

We also want to hear about your own relationship with “The Wiz” — whether it’s the stage version or the movie, or if you’ve been fortunate enough to catch the revival. Do you have a memory associated with “The Wiz”? Do you have a favorite number or version of a song? Leave us a voicemail about it at 844-745-8255. You can also record a voice memo and email it to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What is your connection to the whiz? I love the original whiz with
0:05.6	Diana Ross with Stephanie Mills. I had to come. I actually watched the whiz before
0:10.5	I watched the Wizard of Oz so when I found out about the Wizard of Oz,
0:15.0	I was more shocked that there was a lot of white people in it.
0:17.0	It was a tradition in my family to watch it just about every year.
0:20.0	I remember seeing it as a kid and everybody and my family really loved it.
0:23.4	This was the one that speaks to me as a female,
0:26.2	just someone who wants to believe in themselves.
0:28.3	It's very encouraging, uplifting.
0:29.7	I think it was in sixth grade,
0:31.3	got terrified by that little subway scene.
0:33.3	And ever since I've been kind of obsessed with, we watch like every year as a family.
0:36.4	When I was younger, I had an opportunity to go see Stephanie Mills play Dorothy a couple of times.
0:40.8	I was very blessed and fortunate to see it as a young child. So this brings back a lot of times. I was very blessed and fortunate to see it as a young child so
0:43.8	this brings back a lot of nostalgia for me but if you haven't seen this you are
0:47.3	truly doing yourself a disservice is for everybody. body. It's notes from America. I'm Kay Wright. Welcome to the show.
1:09.8	It's notes from America. I'm Kay Wright.
1:12.0	Welcome to the show.
1:14.0	Amber Ruffin is a busy person.
1:17.0	She is perhaps best known for her main gig as a writer and cast member on Late Night with Seth Myers, where she's been part of the
1:24.2	creative force behind that show for a decade. But she's also written two
1:29.1	best-selling books, hosted her own late night show for three seasons and co-wrote the book for the
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.