Transcript of Wanda Sykes Returns

Hi, my name is Wanda Sykes, and I feel... Indifferent about being Conan O'Brien's friend.

Fall is here, hear the yell, back to school, ring the bell, brand new shoes, walking blues, climb the fence, books and pens.

I can tell that we are going to be friends.

I can Hello and welcome to Konan O'Brien Needs a friend, joined by My Good Friends, and I can put that in quotation marks.

Oh, come on. I'm sorry, your employees. Sona Mouvsessing, good to see you, Sona. Good to see you, too. You would be David Hopping, I believe. I am, yeah.

That's correct.

Thanks for being here, David. Sitting in for Matt Gourley on paternity leave. Sona, I'm told that you had an exciting moment recently. You went to- Exciting moment. You went to Disneyland, yes?

Can I say I have been to Disneyland so many times. I've never seen anyone dressed up like Gepetto walking around. You do this bit about my dad.

Your dad has a big mustache, and he looks- It's a normal mustache. He's a white-haired gentleman with a white mustache. He always has reminded me a little bit of Geppetto, and I used do a long rift about how he carved your brother. We had some good times, meaning I was laughing and you were staring at me. Yes. But I had a good time, and that's called it.

You also got into like, Oh, Danny, my real boy.

You're going to be my real boy.

You're short It's threatening it now.

Danny wanted to be a real boy.

Yeah.

Danny wanted to be a real boy. Yeah, he carved a puppet, and Danny wanted to be a real boy, and he was swallowed by a whale. Okay. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. But you had this moment. You sent me this picture that blew my mind, you went to Disneyland. Tell the tale. Tell the tale.

Well, Jepeto is just walking around.

I don't know. And you've never seen a Gepetto before. I've never seen a Gepetto walking around. Because it's not a character. There's Goofy. Oh, there's Goofy. Oh, there's Mickey. Oh, there are some of the princesses from some of the newer movies. Yes. Iconic figures. Gepetto. I know. Gepetto is a tradesman. Gepetto is a He's a woodworker. I know. He's got a... I've never seen a Gepetto. Do you see Gepetto much? I actually haven't. David, you go- I live there. I live there. David practically lives at Disneyland. You never see Gepetto. You're walking and you run smack into Gepetto. Yes. You know, what do you have to do?

So I immediately, shockingly, there was no line to go meet Gepetto.

No one wanted to hang out with The old Italian man who is a day laborer. I know.

I'm like, Anna and Ilsa are walking around, Moana is walking around, and then they have Gepetto, and no one cares about it.

No, of course. No one. When he walks into the park, they put him out when they want to get people out. When it's time to close the park, they say, Release Gepetto. He says, I'm making the puppet. I'm making the puppet. People just go streaming out of the park. Yeah, they do. Then, Wow, we closed right at 6: 00. Closed early, yeah.

I ran right up to him, and I never- And he's never had anyone do that.

Was he curious as to why you were happy to see him?

No, I think I was like, Chepetto, and nobody else was saying that. Then I went up to him and I asked if I could take a picture, and I put my arm in. I interlocked my arm around him.

You're so happy in this picture? I'm so happy.

This is the worst thing that I did. I sent it to you and a few other people.

You said, This is me hanging with my dad at Disneyland. I was so delighted because it proved to me that my Riff is actually a pretty good one. This is what your dad looks like to me. I'm telling you, it does. It does.

This is what your dad looks like to me. This is not what my dad looks like.

He looks a lot like that guy. He just doesn't have the glasses on the tip of his nose. But that's what your dad looks like to me.

Well, and then also- Because my eyes turn everyone into a cartoon character.

That's what your dad looks like to We cut him out of this picture, but Mikey ran in with me, even though Mikey had absolutely no idea who this was.

Probably frightened. He just saw a big, fuzzy man.

Well, he just saw this big- Frightened. Well, Gepetto, look, look at that guy. That's not something The kid goes, Yay.

He just thought it was his grandpa.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

I know. He's a guy who's probably being driven out of business. Oh, no. Yeah, because they're making Puppets in China now that are much cheaper. So Gepetto is a beleagered figure now.

And the tariffs are making his material really expensive.

Tariffs are totally fucking over Gepetto. And Gepetto is like, What did I do? This isn't good. And then he goes to the store and there's tons of cheap puppets flooding the market that are from other countries.

Anyway, I hate- You hate what?

Don't hate your father.

No, I love my dad. Don't ever hate your father. I love your father.

Why did you say you hate your father?

I said I hate it I play into your bits. As soon as I sent that text, I was like, Why am I calling my dad, Gepetto?

You threw your dad under the bus. I did.

I'm sorry to gill.

Well, I win because here's how I win. I got to see you link arms with Gepetto and call him your dad, and you feel badly about it. And your son is scared. I win on every level, every single level.

Well, congratulations.

Yep. Oh, my God.

And if anyone wants to see that picture, you can go to Team Coco podcast on Instagram, and it'll be there for everyone to see.

Yeah. That should be your Christmas card next year. It really should.

No boys. It's just me and Gepetto from Disneyland.

All right. Well, very excited today. My guest today is an Emmy award-winning comedian actor and writer who stars in the new movie Undercard. She's an absolute legend. Wanda Sykes. Welcome.

But even the universe didn't want me to make it here today because my car broke down. As I was leaving, it wouldn't start. So the universe was saying, Don't do this. Why are you going? Come on, man. Why even the radio came on and music was jamming? It was like, Isn't this cool? Just sitting in your driveway, listen to some Shade. Why are we leaving?

So Your car has- Then the sun broke through the clouds.

It's like, Man, you're right.

Wow, your car has a self-esteem function. Yeah. Do not lower yourself.

She would rather sit in the car than be here. Yeah.

Okay. Well, I want to say you killed me a couple of weeks ago. I don't know when this comes out, but you were on the Golden Globes, and you destroyed me. You were so funny on the Golden Globes. Thank you. You're just there, and you're accepting an award for, I believe it was Ricky Gervais. Right.

I was presenting for Best Comedy Special. Yes.

You said afterwards, Ricky won, and you had to accept on his behalf. You said, I accept on behalf of God and the trans community.

I thank God. I thank God.

Thank God. Did you ever hear from Ricky?

I have not. I've not heard from Ricky.

That was just fantastic. But you always are, you're just- But I would hope Ricky, he got a laugh out of him, knowing him.

I don't know him, but knowing his work, I'm sure he got a good laugh out of it.

He'd have been happy with that. Or not. We'll never know. But it's a real gift to just be able to always be yourself. When you get up, you're always Wanda Sykes 100%. I mean, anytime I've seen you in your career, your comedic voice is so sharp and so you, and no one else can do that. I'm thinking, when you were first getting up doing stand-up comedy, did you have access to that? It took me a while to figure out how to be this Konan guy up there. I'm wondering what early you would have been like, because I know you were getting up there in the probably '86, '87, around then.

'87. I think we all start out doing Seinfell. You know what I'm saying? It's like observational comedy. That's what I was doing. It was all about just writing jokes that I thought, Hey, isn't it funny when this happens? But it was never about me or into my persona. It was just what's on paper, the jokes, that's it. It was later in life, I guess, when you get confidence and Also, when I was going through a divorce, that's when it was like, Fuck it. Then it was more me that came out. I was like, Oh, this is who I'm going to be. This is who I am. Also, It's easier to just always be yourself. In a way, you could say that I'm lazy, really. I don't really, right?

I'm not- That's the moral here, I think.

Really, I'm lazy. Tony, let's think about it.

But that's where really we're great Where that stuff comes from.

Yeah, why give you something else? When I was like, I'm just doing me. I'm just going to do me.

But it is funny how I know me early on. I was always echoing what I had grown up watching and what I love. And so there'd be times where I'm not me yet. I'm all the things that I really loved. And then it takes a while. All that stuff just gets shed, and eventually it gets melted down, and eventually you start to come out. But it's a process, and that's where it just really helps to get time.

Did you have your comedy outfit, your comedy uniform? I have to have this because I'm funny wearing this. I wear hats. I put a hat on and I thought, This is funny. This is good. Because if I bomb, I can blame it on the hat. Sure. This hat's not funny.

If you were about to go on and you- What was I thinking? If you were about to go on and you couldn't find the funny hat, you'd be like, I can't go out there. I can't go on.

Keith Robinson cursed me out. He just ripped me apart because when I moved away from hats, then I needed a sweater. I needed like a... Not a Cosby sweater, but people will go, Oh, that's a nice sweater. Keith and I, we were in Philadelphia. I was going to go to the Funny Bone, and I didn't have my sweater because we went to the movies, and then I thought we would go back and get my sweater to go to the club. He's like, No, we're going to direct it in the club. I said, I can't go to club. I don't have a sweater. He's like, What do you mean? I said, I need my sweater. He's like, You look fine. I said, No, I got to get my comedy sweater. When I said that, he just ripped me apart. He was like, I'm not going back. He took me to the club, and I had to go on without the sweater, without the hat. I did okay. That's when I was like, Okay, I don't need these things.

Did you have that? You know what? I think my version of that was my hair. I think that the reason I was always When I found out in my teams that my hair was springy and I could have this big shelf hanging out over the front, and I started combing it up like that and rockabilly and just But also part game show host. I think a lot of that was, Don't look at me, look at this. Do you know what I mean? It was my hat came with me, my comedy hat. You look at some of the early late night shows, and there are ones where this thing is coming out like three feet, and it's going way up in the air. You're thinking, people at home must have just been saying, What is wrong with him?

He looks like a fool. Your hair's in everybody's shot. Yeah, exactly. Every time I turned around the guest, Mr..

T would get hit in the face. It's just so funny how everybody that's this self-hating thing, which is very natural, but we don't think we're good enough, especially when you're starting out and you think I need all this extra stuff to be able to go up there. And then later on, now I've been going to these different clubs to try out Oscar material, and I don't even know what I'm wearing. I'm just wearing a T-shirt sometimes. I'm not fixing my hair. I'm not doing anything because It took me decades to say, Okay, I'll just be me. But it took a long, long time. Yeah.

But here's the other thing, because I do the same thing. If I'm working out material, I'm working on my next special, and at the Brea Improf, I'm going to go just like this because I don't want the audience to have expectations. If I put on something nice, then they're going to be like, Oh, we're getting a real show. But if I just come like this, No, I got a notepad. I just walked off the street.

That's why I'm doing the-Yeah, I'm just-I'm going to host the Oscars in a slanket. In the breaks, I just lie down. I never knew this. I was thinking about you yesterday and today and doing my research. That's scary. That makes me a very uncomfortable. That's why your car wouldn't start.

That makes me very uncomfortable right now.

Thinking about you and where do you live?

I prefer, you know. Where do you live? When they said, Hey, Wanda's here out in the parking lot. Then you started thinking about me. I don't like that.

No, I'm good about this stuff. Okay. But your dad was an army colonel. Yes. You grew up in mama bank or so you grew up in strict family.

Not necessarily.

That would be the cliché, I guess, is that they'd be strict people. I grew up in a strict family. My dad was an academic and scientist My mom's a lawyer, and strict in the sense that one of us going into comedy wasn't maybe their first choice. But beautiful, lovely people, but real good Catholic, church people. So I'm just curious if you had that experience.

They were Black people in the South. So there was always some type of structure. They were strict, but we had fun. My dad was serious about his job, but when he got home, he'd take his uniform off, and he was dead. And also my dad hustled, man. He had side jobs jobs and everything. That's how I fell in love with bowling, I guess, because he would, on weekends, clean the lanes. It was strict from looking on the outside, but inside. They were just, like you said, a lot of values, church, all of that. No, someone saying, Hey, I'm going to go do comedy. The question was, What was that college I What was that about? Why did we do that? Yeah, that's natural. Then my mother, I talked to her yesterday. It was so funny. She said, I don't understand. When you went in college, why didn't you just take performing arts? Why didn't you go in? I'm like, Oh, so now you're putting it back on me. It's still going back to college. I wasted college.

What did you study?

Marketing. I was like, I didn't know what I wanted I do. But I was like, no science? Yeah, marketing. That's me. That's it.

Then you worked for the NESA for a bit. That's really funny. Okay, here's my question. Because a lot of us, before we get out in front of people and start trying to be funny, we have these jobs where you're funny at work. Were you funny at the NESA?

I was funny at the NESA. I was I was funny at the end of the day. I killed.

Think of the huge security breaches. It's a great sentence. Think of the terrorists that weren't caught because you were busy joking around.

Yeah.

You're funny at work, and did you have people around you saying, Hey, you got to get up there. You got to go.

I did. I did. But I was serious about the job, but we have a good time. But But I also knew it got to a point where I was like, I can't do this. This is not going to be my life. Because you would see the people who was on their way out to that retirement thing. And one dude, he would just look at the stocks. That's all all day. And I was like, Saving America, aren't we staying? Here we go. Saving America. That's right.

So what was your big break? You're doing comedy, and then you did a... Was it a contest you entered, or was it the Coors Light?

Coors Light Super Talent Showcase. Yeah. Showcase, their radio station in DC, sponsoring it. I was like, Let me write some jokes and go audition for this thing.

You're still at the NSA at this point?

Oh, yeah, I'm still at the NSA. Yeah.

You go up, you do this, you enter. How did it feel? Did it feel right away?

It did. It felt right. Oh, wow. Okay. These people, you get that first laugh and it's like, Oh, okay. This works. I didn't win, but I was really happy with the way it went. It felt like I belong here. Andy Evans, he was the emcee, and he was like, Where did you come from? I haven't seen you in the comedy clubs or anything. I was like, Yeah, I don't have a mentor at a comedy club. He was like, Okay. He just became my mentor. He would show me around comedy clubs and would work with me on material and stuff. So, yeah, everything just felt right.

And then I know that you- Then I bombed silly the next time. Which is classic.

Like bomb. Which is classic. People turned their chairs around. Oh, my God.

And they were bolted to the floor.

Yeah, exactly.

It was like, I got to get up. You can just get up and turn around. No, no.

No, no, no, no. Pam, you could just leave. No, I got to make a real statement.

When did you start opening for Chris Rock? Is that right? You do it for a while, and then was that a bit of a level up for you? Yes.

By that time, I left the NESA and was living in Jersey, I guess, to be closer to New York. I opened for Chris Rock when he was... What he was about to do? Bring the pain. That was a big come up for me, I guess, because he remembered me when he got his talk show. Chris Chris Rock show. Yeah, and asked me to submit some writing samples.

Yeah, so you were a writer on the Chris Rock Show, which was great. Then you guys win the Emmy, which is still very bitter for me. I'm sure. Because I know we were nominated. And then Chris gets up and says, Well, I think Konan should have got this, and I wanted to stand up and say, Then why can't I have it? Oh, my God.

When Chris said that, we all went, Shut up, Chris.

Shut up, Chris. But if... Yeah, you can't be bitter when the Chris Rock show wins. You just can't be. It was so great. And so I...

That must have- Not if you want to win that NAACP Image Award, you can't. That would slip right through your fingers, too, didn't it, Tony?

I was so close, but I stood up in the audience and I said, Why? Why? And then I think I said on camera, When will the white man get a break? Oh, no. Which was a mistake. Remember that? Then you were like, Conan. I'm like, You're right.

You shouldn't have done that. That was a bad idea.

It's been thousands of years. When is it our turn? Oh, wow. But anyway, you People are now looking. Did I really say that? No. What did you learn working in a writer's room?

Ai, I can make it look like you did.

Do it, do it, do it. When did you... Because I always think, I don't know if you had the same experience, but once I got into a writer's room, I felt like I had been fish that had been flopping around in the desert for the first 20 something years of my life, and then someone put me into a pond. That's what it felt like to me. Did you feel that way about being in a writer's room?

You know what? I was the only female writer, and the guys that I was with, they were so supportive. Yeah, so I just felt like I was at home. Actually, was a really big help because I would write things, and they were just these long monologs. Louis CK, he was on the show, and he looked at my stuff. He was, Why do you have a lot of jokes? And he knew me from stand-up. He said, Instead of writing these long rants, he said, Look at the newspaper and just Write a joke on an article. That's all. He said, This is what this is. He says, And then if you got a sketch bit, do that. Okay, great. And then every week, I was just getting jokes in. You show up and you think, Oh, I'm writing for Chris Rock, so I need to write this big long monolog. You don't think that it's just a throw away joke.

I need to write this thing that goes on for a couple of pages.

Then once I got it, I'm like, Okay, I can follow directions. I got it.

Yeah. What's a real discipline, too, because on Saturday Night Live, they used to say, We do all our weird sketches in the week. Then on Saturday, they would say, Come in in the morning and write weekend update jokes. Just to to implement whatever Herb Sargent and whoever was at the update desk was doing at the time. It was Dennis Miller, I think. You'd sit there and you'd just be going through the news, and I started to learn, Right, this is something I hadn't really done before, but I see there's a game to this, and you just got to try and figure it out. But it was a great discipline. You do that, and then what happens After you're done with the Chris Rock show, what was the next step?

Steve Martin had a show, The Downer channel. I had a meeting with him, and I'm like, It's Steve Martin. I'm going to do it. When he pitched me the idea of the show, I was like, Oh, God, this is awful. This is going to be awful. I don't even know if I'm right for this. I'm like, But it's Steve Martin. I was like, Yes. We did The Downer channel. Then from there, I forgot what happened after that.

You lost the whole 15 years. It says here you were in a coma for a while.

I think I worked on I think I worked on my hour. That's what it is. I went back to stand up and I was working on my hour. That's when I think tongue untied probably came out.

That process of getting an hour, I don't think people realize because now the way entertainment works, streaming, the minute someone has an hour, sometimes even before they really have an hour.

Before they have an hour.

Before they have an hour, when they have 20 minutes, they need to come out with their hour special. The minute it comes people can say, That was great. Where's the next one? It used to be, if you think about the history of this whole thing, people would develop Vodvil. They'd develop their hour and do it for 40 years.

Forty years, yes.

Now it's That was great. It's like a band that has their first album, and it's everything they've been playing all those years. People are like, That's fantastic. We need the next album in six months. Yeah, exactly. They're like, Huh? I can't. That's a huge achievement to get that first hour.

Yeah. I take at least three years. I think three years is the shortest time that I've turned around and then another hour. I usually take at least four or five years. You know it, a tour with it. You know when it's special. I mean, there's hours and then it's special. I remember when I shot my first hour, the advice Chris Rock gave me. He said, make sure it's special. Don't go up there and do a set, do a special. I'm like, okay, all right. Then thinking about it, I was like, Okay, now I get what he was saying because you can watch some stuff and you go, okay, that was an hour.

Yeah.

It was an hour.

You legally met the requirement.

Yes, exactly. Great job. It clocked in.

Here is your certificate. Yeah.

You have had this really great career where I stand up to your first love Until now. Until now.

Until terrific. Things have gone great. What are you talking about?

Until I got here. Oh, this. Oh.

Look, present dip. Accepted.

This is a low point.

This is a low point.

I got to bounce back from this.

When people do the podcast, I can see them often texting their agent while I'm talking to them. It's usually what happened or we need to talk.

It's time for a comeback special.

Everyone does their comeback special after the Konan podcast.

About that dancing with the stars.

Curb your enthusiasm. Obviously, you have such a strong, undeniably unique comedic voice. I can tell you with Larry is just... If someone, long before you did it, if someone had just said Wanda and Larry, I'd have been like, Oh, yeah, that has to happen. Is that how you felt when that came about?

I'm a big fan of the show. I knew that one of the producers on the show, and she said, We got to get you on there. I'm like, Okay, I would love to. I said, But look, I can't audition. I said, I'm horrible in the audition process. I said, It'll just kill me if I'm just not funny in front of Larry David. I can't. So please don't put me through that. I said, I'm just going to be a fan of the show. She's like, Okay, all right. And then she said, Hey, we're shooting around the corner from you. Why don't you come over to this car dealership because we're shooting here, and Larry just wants to say hi. I said, Oh, I get to meet him? She said, Yeah, I'm okay. So I walk in and there's a Larry, and Larry goes, Hey, Wanda, I know that touche I was like, What the fuck did you just say? I said, Why would you say that? We just got into it. He goes, You got the job. I'm like, What? She tricked me into auditioning.

Did he say we were rolling? Hey, by the way, we were rolling. What is so funny, that's hilarious, but also when you hang with Larry, you're in the show, he is that guy, and you can be with him just hanging out at a party, and he'll come in with plate of food, and you're talking to people and you're like, Don't you hate it when people interrupt you with a plate of food? You're like, You're doing a bit. You're doing a bit. You say, No, I'm just saying. You're like, There's no camera here. But it's delightful because you get to be, if In his life, you're on that show in some way. Okay.

Yeah.

That's how it feels like. But yeah, you were just perfect. Yeah.

I enjoyed it, but I don't like being around him, though. Honestly.

No Nobody does.

Right?

Nobody does.

He likes making you feel uncomfortable. At lunch, I'm walking in and I see him coming and I'm like, Oh, shit. I don't want to sit with him. I don't want to eat with Larry. He always has to eat alone. I don't want to eat with him. I go sit over with the grips. I'm like, I'm not. No.

No, we should make it clear, no one wants to hang out with him. He's always alone. Okay. He's always alone. All right. Because I think he loves to be annoying. He just loves to. I mean, he loves that, hitting that frequency. He's so good at it.

He's the best. The best at it.

I want to talk about your personal life for a second because I find it interesting. I know you talked somewhere about how you thought coming out was important. It helped you get up in front of people and you felt like be more honest or before you had been holding back a little bit. Is that the case? Yeah.

Before, I knew that I had this secret or whatever. I had to have somewhat of a protection up. It's just sitting there in the back of your brain. It's like, I don't want to push too much because somebody might yell out, You're a lesbian, or, Hey, you're gay. It's like, Okay, let me just at arm's distance, let me protect myself. But once I came out, it was like, Windows down, roof back. Let's go. I just felt just liberated that there was nothing that I had to hide.

It's like you were carrying something, you put it down. Or it's like a version of the funny hat or the sweater. It's just like, No, this is me.

There's nothing you can say now that would hurt me or whatever.

People shout that at me a lot. A lot?

You're a lesbian.

You're a lesbian.

It's usually just Sona.

It's usually Sona. Sona follows me in the clubs.

Well, maybe you shouldn't have gotten a tattoo.

I know I've met your wife. She's French.

Yes, she is.

Is there a culture clash there? Because with the French, your wife, she's from this very different situation. How does it manifest itself in your relationship?

I mean, everything. Even from just food alone, you There's no snacking. Yes, snacks. They don't do that. I got to sneak and get my snacks. I would go in the car, eat a couple of chips. When I come in the house, she was like, Is that... I smell... Is that chips?

Is she smoking? I'm sorry. I thought you did.

She doesn't smoke. It's just how I see her. I see her. It's just how I see her.

She has an invisible space cigarette.

Yeah.

That is fantastic.

Yeah, it's the three meals, but they're great meals because it comes with wine and champagne. There's a little pre-meal, pre-snack before the meal.

Maybe if you had wine with your potato chips, she would be okay with it.

We've done that with champagne. You're there with your Pringles? She's like, time for your Apero. There's a little some pistachios, maybe a little saucisson and some champagne. I said, Oh, I can get down with this. Now we're talking. Then you have your lunch, and then you get to do that again for dinner. You get to have a little pre-game for the dinner.

They know a thing or two in France about how to live that we haven't figured out.

Right. We were in Mexico, and she wanted to buy these bowls. She was just going back and forth with the guy. She also speaks Spanish. She was going back and forth with a guy. The bowl guy was like 700, and she was like, no, four. The guy was like, all right, four. He asked her where she was from. She said, Oh, that Belgium. She said she's from Belgium. So we get outside and I'm like, Why did you tell that man, you're from Belgium? She's like, Well, I didn't want the French to look bad? Why didn't want anyone to think badly of the French. I'm like, That's the shit French people do. That's exactly what French people would I'm not going to take responsibility for that. No.

Now, you've got teenagers, twin teenagers. Do they think you're funny? Will they give it up? My kids are very wary of giving it up for me, and I get it. They're very happy to put me down, and rightfully so. They do it.

They love doing it. Olivia was about two years ago, Mother's Day. She gave me a Pet Rock.

I haven't heard of those. I think those were big in 1976, the Pet Rock.

Yeah. You could decorate it. You could put the googly eyes on it and little crazy hair on it. She was like, Isn't that great? I was like, My mother would have thrown this at me if I had given her a rock. I said, You are a very blessed little girl right now. But she thought it was funny to do that. It's that type of thing where they know what I do and they know that people know me. To them, they feel like it's their job just to bring you down a little bit, just to chop you down a little bit. I get it. They did come to a show this summer. I did a little European tour, and they came to the show in Paris, and they were the first two backstage, and they were like, Mom, that was so cool. That was great. Oh, good. Wow. They enjoyed the show.

Yeah.

Mom at Home, no, I'm not funny. They don't give it up at all.

It's better that way. I think so, too. Wouldn't it be creepy if they're like, You're just so funny? Yeah.

What? Yeah. I know it would be. No, I'm not. Yeah. It was so funny. Lucas went through a little phase when he was maybe 10 because we'd be out in the streets and some people were like, Hey, Wanda. Wanda Sykes, what's up? And they would go, Why are people young? I said, I don't know. Maybe that's somebody I went to school with or whatever. That would try to downplay it. Lucas went through this phase for three months. Whenever I walked in the house, he would go, Wanda Sykes. I was Get it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Make some noise.

He just said, That's how people do it. So you said, why on the sides?

That would be creepy. Yeah. Let's talk about the movie because this is... I was saying your stand-up is your... It feels like that's your lifeblood, but you're a good actor. You are a very good actor. And this opportunity to do this film, how did it come about? Undercard.

Tamika Miller, the director and co-writer of the script, she reached out to me and she's like, Look, I have this project. It's for you. I wrote it with you in mind. I would love to send you the materials. I'm like, Okay, all right. I read the script and looked at the materials. I was like, Oh. I said, This is good. I called her. I said, So Queen Latifa said no, right? She's like, No, I'm telling you, I had you in mind for this. I was like, I don't know if I can pull it off. I said, I've never done a drama. She's like, believe me, I think... Just trust me, you can do this. We met and went through the script. I was like, Okay. She She just had so much faith that I could do it. I'm like, Well, I'm going to prove her wrong. Really?

You have faith in me, huh? Well, watch this. I'll show you. Yeah, but you do a very good job. And your character, whose name is No Mercy, that's her nickname, you have this world weariness that seems real. You're dealing with a lot. Your character is dealing with a lot, and you're getting evicted, and you're going through some intense stuff, and you're going through intense stuff with your son, and you aren't putting any comedy air quotes around it at all. Do you know what I mean? Which I think is that's another scary thing to do. But you did it really well. I don't know, what is it like for you to sit and watch yourself in this situation where you are so not going for laughs? Did that feel scary at all to you?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I know. After a take, she would say, Okay. I was like, Are you sure? She was like, Yeah, I got it. I'm like, Yeah, but is there something else that you need? She's like, Wanda, I got it. Come on, let's move on. But for me to go back and watch, I couldn't go watch the takes. I'm glad she didn't say, You want to see it? I didn't see it until it was completed. Then my notes, a lot of my notes were more about we were just moving the story along.

It's so interesting because you go along in a situation where you know when something's working because you hear this very specific sound But then you're in a situation where that is not the goal anymore. I mean, in the limited experience I've had doing any acting, it's been, well, where's the laugh? You're like, there isn't one. You're a moron. You're a moron. There's And you really need to shed all of that, put it away, because that is not the point of what we're doing anymore. And it has nothing to do with that world. And so that's always a new level of terror, because especially when you're trying these things and you're not 25, you're like, okay, I've done some standup, and now I'm going to try this. It's just a whole... You've been relying on a certain rhythm for a really long time, and now it's this. I don't know. I found it terrifying anytime I've had to be in that situation.

Yeah, it is. But I knew I couldn't do it. As I Wanda, you cannot do the wink at the camera. You can't.

Just one.

You have to lock it. It's the only way this thing is going to work. The crew, everyone who worked on that film, you could see them rooting for me.

That's nice.

The cast, everyone. After that first day, they was like, Oh, this bitch can act. Okay, come on, you all. Let's move faster. Hey, come on. We don't see bullshit. Come on, everybody, come on, come on, come on. I mean, everyone. That's great. I mean, everyone just like, Oh, shit. All right. We might have something here. Let's go.

Are you interested in doing more? That's always the question you'll be getting a lot Just the acting, just film acting, doing this?

It's going to be project by project based on that. I'm not looking for another dramatic role. I like making people laugh. I'm one of them. Yeah. Yeah. Comedy is my... That's my love. That's what I'm looking for next.

Wanda, congrats. You're getting great reviews. Undercard is in theaters now. I want you to come back soon because I I love talking to you. You're hilarious, and I know you to be a really great person. It's always a delight to hang with you.

Thank you, Colin.

I love you, too. I hope now you're no longer indifferent.

Well, I love you, but we'll see.

All right, now, David, you very kindly last night drove me out to Covina. I am trying out some material, and I went to the Chatterbox, which is a terrific comedy club that Laura Kilmartin told me about out in Covina. You said, Hey, I'll give you a lift, very kindly. You and I were driving, and I tried to play my tunes through your car.

Yeah, you said you wanted to be the DJ.

I wanted to be the DJ. You said, Well, just use my phone because it's already hooked up. So I got a brief glimpse.

It was the biggest regret of my life.

I got a brief glimpse because I see all of my... I have my DJ list, and it's all rockabilly songs, and then the clash, and then it's all this different stuff, stuff from the '90s, but it's pretty fast rock and jet-fueled rock and roll, percussive. And then you said, Just use my your phone, and you hand me your phone. Why I did this? I don't know. I could see your Spotify. What did I see? The first thing I saw.

First thing, I hand him the phone and I just hear, Oh, my God.

Oh, no. What was the very first thing?

It was a Hilary Duff playlist. Then I recently went to the Pantages to see The Notebook, the Musical, so I was listening to it. I did, too.

The very first thing I saw was The Notebook, and then seven songs from The Notebook.

Then That's a great soundtrack.

It is.

It is a great soundtrack. I'm not aware. What are the songs? Is Notebook a song? No. Notebook. I fill you with my thoughts, you're a notebook. Nixon was a crook, you were a notebook. Okay, so what?

It's based on the movie. It's not a musical about a notebook. It's based on the movie.

It's a beautiful musical.

It's like a picture if you and Ryan Reynolds were singing in that bit you did with him for the Where I made out with Ryan Reynolds?

Yeah. Well, listen, that was the first thing I saw. Then there's a lot of Hilary Duff, who I think is lovely. I love Hilary Duff. Who doesn't? She's the best. Then I started flipping through. You just had a- Well, I'm going to see the Backstreet Boys next week, so I had them on there, too.

All right.

No, it was fascinating. A quick glimpse into how we're different. A little bit. Just a little bit. Just a little bit.

Just a little bit. A little bit.

No, I wasn't. I wasn't. I don't judge. I'm not a judge.

Oh, you're not judging. Who are you talking to? I'm sorry. Let's take a poll. Who thinks Konan judges?

I am not a guy who judges. I don't see how we're different. I only see how we're the same.

Who is this guy?

This is the guy I wish I was. Is it the guy I- I don't judge. No, it's not.

I hate this guy.

No. Yeah. I was... How long... I mean, what else would I have found if we had gone through? Seriously, let's talk about what else I would have found if I'd kept scrolling.

Oh, God. Well, you would have found some audiobooks. I'm listening to one called You'll Never Know. I think you'd like it. What's that about? It's like a murder mystery kidnapping book. It's really good. Okay. You would have found some... Any music that a 15-year-old girl listens to. Like a carry on your world. Some Sabrina Carpenter.

I get the most excited text from you the other night because you got last minute tickets to go see Hilary Duff, and you lost your mind, which was very sweet. I like that.

Dare I say it was the greatest night of my life?

But you You've seen me perform.

Oh, dare I say it was the greatest night of my life.

That's quite a dare you just took.

It was in the same venue I've seen you perform at the Wiltern.

Oh, she did a show at the Wiltern? Yeah. You said you saw her and then it was transcendent.

It was like the crowd was incredible. She was amazing. She did all the throwbacks and some new ones from the unreleased album that you guys are all excited for.

We should get her in here. I act like I could just summon her. No, this isn't one of those things where I... That's so sad. David just looked like I've arranged to have her here. David, who do you think I am?

Aren't you the Oprah of Comedy?

No, I'm really not. That's so funny. You looked for a second like, Oh, my God. Well, David, guess what? We have a surprise for you. Oh, my God. I can have a publicist try to get her on the podcast, and she'll probably say no. No, love to have her here, but she was a big part of your growing up.

Everything, yeah. All her music, movies.

What was the show she was on?

Lizzie McGuire. Lizzie McGuire. They were supposed to bring it back, and then it didn't happen. We're all devastated. The Lizzie McGuire movie, a classic. She was also in Agent Cody Banks. Agent Cody Banks, which you've watched.

How do you know Agent Cody Banks?

How did you know that? I was a big investor. Oh, okay. All right. Put everything I had into it. Did okay. No, I don't even know why I know that. I just remembered her being in that movie.

We were traveling somewhere and it was on.

Oh, I think I watched it. It's one of those movies where I watched some of it over someone's shoulder on a plane without sound. So creepy. That's a weird thing to say. Everyone does that. To just look at someone watches... You're on an airplane flight, and someone usually on the other aisle, one or two rows up, is watching a movie, and you're too lazy, that being me, to like, I'm supposed to go find which movie I'm going to watch. But I just start looking over someone's shoulder, and they're usually about a third of the way in, and I just start watching it without sound and trying to figure out what's going on. No one else has done this here? I've done it. Eduardo, have you done it? I don't I've definitely peaked over to see what people are watching.

I've peaked over, but I'm not full on watching it.

No, I'll watch it because you try and figure out what's going on. Okay, I see. Cody's got to get his way out of that volcano. Oh, look, there's Hillary Duff. She must be the love interest. I don't know. You just watch those things. I've watched many movies like that.

It's also way better than what happened to you on a plane where someone was watching you and saw you on the plane.

I've had that. I've had that experience where someone was watching a monolog of mine and looking over. If the joke was good, they would turn and give me a thumbs up. I can't hear it because they've got their headphones on. Oh, God. They were watching my monolog. This is a bunch of years ago, and they were watching. It was when they have this TV. So they're watching the show that was dropping right then that I had taped a few hours before. And this person kept... They would turn around, and I can just see me making stupid gestures and looking like a fool. And then you can tell my rhythm. And then I hit the punchline and the person turned to me on the first one and gave me a thumbs up. I'm like, Oh, well, that's good. And then I saw them. I was trying to wrap my brain because just a few hours later, what was the second joke? Was the second joke any good? And then I had a bad feeling. I can see. I know my timing, and I see that I finished that joke, and the person turns to me and did the eh gesture.

I'm like, Are we going to do this the whole flight? Good one, not so good one. Anyway, so I had that experience. But I really do like watching someone else's movie and trying to figure it out.

My last flight, so no, get this. I was watching Heated Rivalry, but I'm on a flight, so I sat with my phone like this, covering everything.

Blanket over you and no pants on.

Wait, so you're basically watching... Is it porn?

It's not porn. No. Stop taking away from the show. I'm not trying to- It's tender and it's sweet. No, but there's nudity.

The first two episodes especially has nudity.

The first two episodes are like, real fun. There's buts. Well, we talked about it.

Yeah, we talked about that. I think everyone's talking about heated rivalry now. They don't need any help from us anymore. I think we got them safely launched. You did it all? We did anyway.

But it isn't a movie you can comfortably watch or a show you can comfortably watch on an airplane.

Yeah.

Same thing happened to me. I'm watching the show Industry, which I love right now. It's all going fine. It's about finance, but sometimes there's some sex scenes, and there is all of a sudden a reveal where she's wearing a huge strap on. I I jumped forward in my seat to block, but the people next to me saw what I was watching.

Yeah, they probably just thought, Suspitions confirmed. Del Cripo in seat 7D.

It's way better than the time where the Dark Knight rises had just come out. It was that time where it was on planes, but you couldn't watch it anywhere else. It was out of the theaters but wasn't on streaming. I just really spent, I'm not kidding, probably an hour and a half just watching the Bane scenes because it's just over and over. Then I realized what I was doing and I looked over and the woman next to me was horrified, trying not to look at me. I realized, Oh, yeah, I've just been watching Bane for an hour. Why were you just watching the Bane scene? It's cool, man. Bane's cool.

Wait, what? Bane's cool. You would just finish it and then just rewind to that?

Yeah, because yeah, exactly.

We just forward it to Bane scenes. I was molded in the dark.

What?

You just forward it to the scenes with Bane?

Yeah, those are cool scenes. Bane's cool. Come on, guys. I'm not the only guy who thinks Bane's cool in here.

Not at all.

All right, well, I think we're out of The wrap light is on.

Let that linger. That is weird.

Okay, so…

Wow, I completely derailed that.

No, that's okay. We could cut… I'm sorry. No. We can cut. I'm sorry. No, we can't cut that. I thought we were all sharing scenes.

We can't ever cut that.

I thought we were sharing stuff with us on planes.

When I rewatched Heated Rivalry, I forward to the sex scene like a normal person. But I just didn't know people forwarded it to all Bane scenes in in the Dark Knight Rides.

Not everybody. Bleg. All right. Listen, I'm proud of everyone here. I don't even know why I said that. Oh, this is just a segment, right? Yeah. Okay, so there's no fun thing at the end where I go, Our next guest.

No, you just say bye.

I so don't know what happens on this thing anymore. That's okay. Listen. I'll help you.

You're doing your best.

You know what? You should be proud of your setlist of music. Thank you. You know what I mean? It's yours. It means something to you. It It means nothing to me. No. I judge you for it, negatively.

You're welcome for driving you to Covina last night.

It's just literally a few streets away from my home. Peace out. Two o'clock.

Conan O'Brien needs a friend. With Conan O'Brien, Sonam of Cessian, and Matt Gourley. Produced by me, Matt Gourley. Executive produced by Adam Sacks, Jeff Ross, and nick Liao. Theme song by the White Stripes. Incidental music by Jimmy Vivino. Take it away, Jimmy. Our supervising producer is Aaron Blair, and our associate talent producer is Jennifer Samples. Engineering and mixing by Eduardo Perez and Brenda Burns. Additional production support by Mars Melnick. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, and Brit Kohn. You can rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts, and you might find your review read on a future episode. Got a question for Konan? Call the Team Coco Hotline at 669-587-2847 and leave a message. It too could be featured on a future episode. You can also get three free months of SiriusXm when you sign up at siriusxm. Com/konan. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to konanobrian. Coman O'Brien Needs a Friend wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.