Ashley Nicole Black From "Full Frontal" On Comedy, Improv, and Bridging Political Divides

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2017

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ashley Nicole Black (@ashleyn1cole) gave up pursuing a PHD to make it in comedy. This year she won an Emmy for her work on "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee." She talked to Sam about Savage Garden, why the Chicago comedy scene is great for aspiring comics and tough for people of color, developing her own comedy style, landing a job on "Full Frontal" and making the transition from writer to correspondent, and why she says improv could help people bridge political divides. Email the show at [email protected] or tweet @NPRItsBeenAMin with your feedback. Follow Sam on Twitter @samsanders and producers Brent Baughman @brentbaughman and Anjuli Sastry @AnjuliSastry.

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 2014, we all heard this.
0:01.9	The United States of America is changing its relationship with the people of Cuba.
0:05.6	But Cubans heard something else.
0:07.0	A closing door, an end to their special status, and the race was on.
0:12.6	How a 90-mile journey by sea became a 3000-mile trip by land.
0:16.2	Find Radean Wulente on the NPR-1 app or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:25.8	Hey, y'all. From NPR, I'm Sam Sanders. It's been a minute.
0:28.4	It's Tuesday, which means it's time for a deep dive.
0:31.6	Today, we're talking with comedy writer Action Nicole Black.
0:35.0	She covers it all.
0:36.0	Race and comedy, improv in the Midwest,
0:38.8	scandal the TV show Savage Garden the Band.
0:42.0	I promise there's a reason for that last one.
0:44.2	Anyway, Ashley and I talked about how she left a PhD program at Northwestern
0:48.7	to pursue improv.
0:50.8	Yeah, you heard that right.
0:51.8	A PhD led Ashley to improv.
0:54.2	It took years of working away and applying to various gigs,
0:57.9	but Ashley finally made it as a writer on a little TBS show called Full Frontal with Samantha B.
1:03.8	Samantha saw some star quality in Ashley,
1:05.9	and she made her a correspondent on the show last year.
1:09.5	She won in the outstanding writing category for a variety special.
	...

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