Wanda Sykes takes the late night challenge
2009 has been a big year for late night talk shows. Jimmy Fallon took over for Conan O’Brien, who took over for Jay Leno, who has moved into prime time with shaky ratings and big questions about that show’s future. So what better time for an openly gay black woman to venture into the fray, right?
Last Saturday, Fox premiered The Wanda Sykes Show, a weekly talk show with the popular comedian. To kick off the show, Sykes talked with reporters about the group of white men she’s joining, how the ’gay thing’ will fit into the show and why people need to back off on President Obama. The bulk of late night hosts are white men (though George Lopez also launched a talk show this week) so how does Sykes feel about joining the club as a minority?
"I believe all these shows are driven by the host. So Letterman is the only one who could do the David Letterman Show. That goes for all of us. Yes, George [Lopez] is a minority and so am I, but it’s basically not what you’re getting from a minority, it’s us. George has been at this for 20 plus years and so have I. We’re seasoned comedians and I think that’s what we’re going to bring to it. Dave Letterman, he brings his I’m-from-Indiana point of view... I think that’s where it is, it’s host driven, so it’s going to be more our personality and not just, "Oh, here’s, now you’re finally going to get the voice of a black woman." I mean, yes, I’m a black woman, but I don’t speak for all black women.
Let’s blame Bush
Not wanting to sound too serious, however, Sykes added there may be someone to blame for the lack of minorities in the talk show business. "I would love to blame Bush. Yes, let’s stick that on him. Let’s blame Bush."
While it’s difficult to not compare Sykes’s show with the other gay woman on the talk show circuit (Ellen Degeneres) with Sykes, is she planning on sharing as much of her personal life as Ellen does? "Whenever there’s an opportunity and it’s funny then, yes, I’ll definitely talk about my personal life," she said. "My last standup special for HBO, I think I put it all out there. If I don’t talk about it, it’s because I don’t have a joke for it yet. If it’s due to be funny, you’ll hear it."
Asked about the Maine elections last week and the fact that gay civil rights was shot down by voters and Sykes expressed, "It’s very disappointing. I know exactly how the community is feeling right now especially in Maine. It’s just sad when someone’s civil rights can be put up to a vote. That just should never happen. The constitution declares a separation between church and state. And I think that’s what it’s going to come down to and what we need to uphold and when that happens I think there will be equality for everybody." Story continued on the following page.
Watch Wanda Sykes talk about gay marriage.
