Wanda Sykes on 2024, Chappelle, ‘Curb’ and More

The Last Laugh

The Daily Beast

Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Interviews, Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Tv, Movies, Film

4.6 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2024

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s been more than three decades since Wanda Sykes first stepped onto the stand-up stage. And sometimes, it feels like she’s just now getting her due. This past year, the legendary comedian received her first-ever Grammy nomination for her latest Netflix special ‘I’m an Entertainer,’ which also landed nods at the Emmys and Golden Globes. The hard-hitting hour takes on many of the most divisive topics of the year without pandering to either side or ever punching down. “It’s just noise. And I like to try to cut through that,” she says of the way her comedy reacts to the broader political conversation. In this episode, Sykes takes on everything from the problem with Dave Chappelle’s anti-trans jokes to why she was shocked Will Smith didn’t get dragged out of the Oscars for slapping her friend Chris Rock to what Joe Biden has to do to win back Black men in 2024 to how she thinks about her place in the comedy pantheon and a lot more.

This episode was originally published on December 20th, 2023.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Last Laugh.
0:07.0	I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and today we are kicking off Pride Month by revisiting one of my favorite conversations we've ever had on this show with the legend herself, Wanda Sykes.
0:19.6	Wanda is one of those guests who I had been trying to get on this podcast
0:23.0	since we first launched the show in 2019.
0:26.1	So it was a very big deal for me when she agreed to come on the show last December
0:30.3	to cap off a year in which she was nominated for a Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe Award
0:35.7	for her most recent Netflix special, I'm an
0:38.4	entertainer.
0:39.9	Sure, she ended up losing those awards to Dave Chappelle, Carol Burnett, and Mickey Jervais,
0:45.0	respectively, but even she would probably acknowledge that one of those was justified.
0:50.8	And now, Wanda is about to premiere a new documentary on Netflix called Outstanding a Comedy Revolution,
0:57.9	which tracks the history of LGBTQ plus comedy and features so many comedians who have appeared on this show,
1:05.5	including Margaret Cho, Tignitaro, Fortune Themster, May Martin, River Butcher, and more.
1:11.4	The documentary, on which Wanda appears and serves as executive producer,
1:15.6	premieres on Netflix, June 18th.
1:18.4	Wanda and I had a really great talk about how she used her special to counter Chappelle's
1:23.4	anti-trans comedy, co-hosting the Oscars the year Will Smith slapped her friend Chris Rock,
1:29.1	working with Larry David on Kirby Enthusiasm, and so much more.
1:33.6	So if you missed it the first time around or just want to hear it again, I hope you enjoy
1:37.8	our conversation.
1:39.3	We have a lot of fun new episodes of this podcast coming up, including an interview that my Daily Beast
1:45.9	Buddy Allegra Frank is doing next week with a comedian we both love very much, so stay tuned for
	...

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