This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley and my guest today is Veteran Comedian Wanda Sykes.

She has a new comedy special on Netflix titled, I'm an Entertainer, where she takes on everything

from raising teenagers with her French wife to the dilemmas of living in a hypercharged political

climate. I'm an entertainer follows Wanda Sykes' 2019 Emmy-nominated Netflix comedy special,

not normal. Sykes got her first big break opening for Chris Rock in the 90s, and since then,

she's been nominated for 14 prime time Emmys with the win for outstanding writing for a variety

or music or program for her work on the Chris Rock show. Sykes has starred in dozens of television

shows and films, including Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blackish, and Mel Brooks'

History of the World Part 2. Some of her films include Puditang, Monster in Law, and Ugly Dolls.

Sykes currently stars in and is the executive producer of the Netflix show The Upshaws.

And last year, Sykes co-hosted the Academy Awards with Regina Hall and Amy Schumer.

And this year, she guest hosted Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Sykes' new Netflix special,

I'm an Entertainer, debuts this week, and Wanda Sykes, welcome to Fresh Air again.

Why thank you. Nice to be here. What are Puditang just never goes away, huh?

Right. And you know, you always have to say Puditang. You gotta do a little exit.

That's why it always ends up in my intro, because people just like saying Puditang.

Well, we're in an interesting time right now, because I know production for The Upshaws has been

canceled for now or postponed for now because we are on a very long hiatus.

Yes, because of the writer's guild of America, Labor Union Strike. I saw your tweet where you posted

a photo of yourself from the last writer's strike. I think it was 2007. And your caption said,

here we go again. Yeah. Yeah. I know the industry has changed somewhat since 2007, but what are your

biggest concerns right now for the writers and for the industry? Basically, the survival of our

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