CallWanda Sykes"woke" all you want, as she sees it as a compliment. In recent years, comedy has come under more scrutiny, and comics like Dave Chappelle have come under great fire for some of their stand-up material. Conversely, Sykes has also come back toNetflixwith an all-new comedy special that’s a lot different from the specials put on the streamer by Chappelle. In a new interview withVariety, Sykes spoke about the special, dubbedI’m an Entertainer, and mentioned how happy she was to bring some comedy to Netflix that comes from another viewpoint.
As Sykes said of having her special balance things out
“I don’t know about balancing it out, because I think what he said was so hurtful and damaging to the trans community. So yeah, the scale is still tipped, I will say, in their favor. But I know I wanted to say something, because so much has been said on that platform. I definitely want to say something on the other side of it.”
Sykes also addressed the rise of “woke comedy,” and that had her sharing her thoughts on that term. While a lot of people use the word “woke” negatively, Sykes says that she sees it as a good thing, so she’s always happy to hear someone refer to her that way, regardless of their intentions. She points to some of the comedy legends from years past as people who’d also be considered “woke” by those saying the same about her.
“It’s pretty funny. If you want to give me the label of a ‘woke comic,’ that’s fine. That’s great. What makes me laugh is that they say that like it’s an insult: ‘Oh, they’re woke.‘Thank you!Yeah, I read some stuff from time to time. Yeah, I know a few things. It’s not an insult at all. I mean, George Carlin, he was woke. Richard Pryor, woke. Bill Hicks, woke. It’s almost like they’re angry that we’re evolving. It’s sad, really.”
Related:Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar on ‘Woke’ Culture: ‘We’re Equal Opportunity Offenders’
Wanda Sykes Says People Are Evolving
Sykes went on to detail what it’s like to work on her comedy in a way that would make it potentially less offensive to a particular group of people. She explained one example of a joke she had that addressed the laws concerning children struggling with gender identity, and while she had good intentions, she didn’t want to come across the wrong way. That had her stepping back and thinking of another approach to the joke that felt better.
“In the trans area, I had to step some things back that might be misconstrued as me making fun, instead of trying to help. It was more about the laws making it a crime for parents to help their children who were having gender identity issues. I said to myself, ‘You don’t know what the f*** you’re talking about — shut up and let’s just talk about the bathrooms.’ And the audience, they did laugh. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Why are y’all laughing? What are you laughing about?’ So yeah, I’m quick to get rid of something if it doesn’t feel right.”
