(upbeat music)
Please welcome Robin Thede.
(audience applause)
Hey!
Hey, Wendy!
Hi, my love.
So good to see you.
You look beautiful.
You look amazing.
Thank you.
(audience cheers)
Hey! Hi, everybody!
I love you as a blonde.
I love it.
I love blonde, too.
Look, I gave you 30 inches today.
Love, love, in love.
Now, put your feet on those feet
and give us shoe cam, please.
Shoe cam.
Model, twirl.
A little Alexander Wang situation.
Yes.
Yes.
You know when shoes are so new
you just slip on the ground,
they're not even like roughed up yet?
No, I get the rubber bottoms immediately 'cause--
I should've.
Yeah, well.
Next time.
Your eyes, oh my gosh.
I got lucky.
Look at pools.
Oh, is this my camera?
Which one?
Eye cam, please.
(audience applause)
They are Vanessa Williams blue.
Right, right.
Right.
They change, sometimes they're green
and sometimes they're blue.
So, you play with them?
What, contacts?
No, I wish.
I need regular contacts 'cause I can't see anything.
The back row, I can't see you.
You're probably lovely.
I need to get regular contacts, but never colored contacts.
I got lucky, I didn't need them.
Yeah, they're very 1990s.
(laughs)
So, Robin's making history, everybody,
she's got this all black female cast and writing team.
(audience applause)
Which is big.
It's a big deal.
It's a big deal, it's never been done.
We've never had a,
you know, it's been, it's been, I don't know, 15, 20 years
since Chapelle's show and even longer since In Living Color.
We haven't had a show like this for black folks
in a really long time.
It's spunky.
Yeah, yeah, so it's all black women.
Me, Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis,
and Ashley Nicole Black make up the core cast
and then we have dozens of guest stars.
Honey, you saw Angela Bassett, (mumbles),
Laverne Cox.
(audience applause)
We got Patti LaBelle, we got Amber Riley,
we got David Alan Grier, we got everybody in this show.
Well, who are you most excited to work with?
Angela Bassett is the queen, right?
(audience applause)
When she came on set,
first of all, I couldn't believe she agreed to do the show.
I was like--
She's fun.
Thank you.
And so is her husband.
That's a good couple.
It is, it is.
So, she came on set and I was like, okay,
well, she has to be in this, you know,
bad bitch support group,
so I was like, okay, what does she,
is she gonna wear a bodycon?
We need her to dress kinda stank
and she was so ready to play!
She was like, gimme the tight dress!
I was like, okay!
And she has the body to pull it off.
So--
I saw her on Kelly and Ryan the other day
and I was just a friend in my head.
I mean, she's friend to the couch,
but I'm too scared to get too close.
Really? Why?
Just 'cause of the glow? It's just too much?
Yes, I don't want to disappoint. You know?
Well, you won't disappoint!
What do you mean?
Oh, please.
No, no, she's so nice.
You know, you've talked to her before.
I know! Only on the couch.
Yeah, well, she was very kind and she was very game.
And I was like, is she gonna curse?
And she was fine cursing.
Right? Wow!
That's the mark of somebody who's willing to play.
Like, are you willing to just be out there?
She was, she's so fantastic.
Well, so, Issa Rae, everybody.
Yes!
Is she your friend in real life?
Yes, we've been friends for years.
When I was the head writer
at the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,
she came and did a panel with us
and we started becoming friends then,
because I was a fan of hers
from the Awkward Black Girl series.
So, when my late night show got canceled last summer
just after I saw you last--
What had happened was...
What had happened was BET was like, no more.
And, but, it was good, because when that happened--
Did you cry?
No, because you know what happened?
The news came out, five minutes later, Issa Rae called me
and said, let's go, let's do something together.
(audience clapping)
And Issa was already with HBO?
Yeah.
She walked you, she shared her joy,
walked you into a meeting talk.
That's right, that's right.
So, she says, I have this production deal at HBO.
You already know the executives over there.
And I said, yeah, I do, but I've never sold anything to HBO.
She said, let's go together.
We went to a dinner, I pitched the show,
which I had already been taking around town
other places anyway,
but when we got in that HBO meeting, it was like undeniable
and they bought it straight to series, six episodes.
No pilot, they didn't read a script,
they said, just take the money and make the show.
(audience clapping)
Which is crazy!
And that never happens on HBO, that never happens on HBO.
Or anywhere.
Or anywhere.
Yeah.
But, yeah, it's one of the fastest shows
that HBO has had put together in a long time.
Yeah.
So, now you've got your thing,
do you have love?
(sighs)
I need it.
(audience awes)
I don't have it!
It's sad, yes.
Aw for me, please.
(audience laughs)
You guys, who should I date?
Just yell out a name!
He said, him!
(laughter)
I'm not mad, I'm not mad.
You don't have a job,
you're at a talk show in the middle of the day.
No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding, I'm sure you do.
What is your name?
(mouths name)
Nice to meet you, I'm Robin.
Look, we're in love.
He's cute.
(audience clapping)
He's cute, look, he's cute.
I have a picture of you with a new friendy of mine.
Who?
Deon Cole, you know him.
Oh, I know him! I love him!
There, we are.
Aren't we cute?
So, yes!
We're cute.
Would you date him?
No--
Like, do you find him sexually attractive?
Oh, I think he's beautiful,
but we've been friends, you know,
you're just friends for so long with somebody?
Yes.
It's also hard for me to date comedians.
Yes.
Because they always try to out-funny me
and then, they lose.
(audience laughs)
So, it's hard.
What's your type?
I just, breathing.
That's what I say.
Yeah, just, like, nice.
I like people that are nice.
What my girlfriend said I have to do
is I have to start approaching dudes more.
Like, cause they said--
You don't?
I don't, I don't.
So, they were like, okay, you're on TV, you're successful,
so you have to approach the dudes.
You just have to walk up to a dude
and say, hey, I'm Robin, I want to get to know you.
I agree with your friend.
Yeah, so I tried that.
Guys don't approach aggressive women.
That's true, they don't.
We have to approach them.
That's true, I tried it
and this man said, I'm sorry, I'm married and to a man.
(laughing)
So, that was not successful.
The one time.
(laughing)
I have to get better at it!
I'm gonna keep trying.
First, you have to look for the ring, okay?
Oh, yeah.
It starts with that.
It's true.
Then, get your contacts and get your eyes together
and look for the ring.
Okay. Play up the eyes, look for the ring, got it.
No, no, see with the eyes.
Oh, see with the eyes.
You said you can't see.
Oh, right. You're right.
I can see up close, I have to get really close though.
Robin, how many fingers do I have up?
I have no idea.
Exactly.
So, Robin is a fan of 227.
Oh, my god.
Remember that show?
Huge!
Okay.
Huge, huge fan!
Now, because you can, like, remake stuff,
because you have that power now.
Yes.
Is this one of your remakes possibly?
Yes, so, on the show, you will see a tribute to 227.
I play Jackee's character, Sandra Clark.
(audience clapping and whooping)
Sandra!
Yeah!
So, I get my little uh, baby!
I get my little bit of that.
There I am!
I can't, I mean.
Look at that!
(audience cheering and clapping)
That is so good!
I can't tell the difference between.
What fun!
It's so, it's so fun and you'll see.
That's a good one.
We do something really wild with it
and with the blessing of the original cast
and it's really, really exciting.
Just one of those things that no other show
is gonna let me do, so I'm so excited.
I've never seen those side-by-side, I'm so excited.
But, the cool thing about it is I used to do
this live show called 227: The Lost Episodes,
where we would improvise old--
Wow, you really are a fan!
Oh no, I'm a super fan!
I did it for two years at Second City in LA.
So, I'm excited to bring it to TV.
(audience clapping)
'Cause that was a great show
and it was an unproblematic show.
That show doesn't have anybody on it who's now in trouble
or any of that.
Like, it's just a, you can watch it today,
there's no problem watching it.
They don't have any bad.
You're a whole lot of fun.
So, Robin recently celebrated her birthday.
I did!
Yes.
And, Robin, Robin, I have a birthday message gift for you.
Oh, my gosh!
Okay, take a look.
Hey! This is Jackee!
Hey, hey, hey!
Win this pimp!
(laughs)
Happy birthday, Robin!
Congratulations on your show on HBO!
(kissing noise)
(audience cheering)
Robin, you're delightful and good luck with everything.
Thank you so much!
Her new show, Robin, is called a Black Lady Sketch Show
premieres Friday night at 11:00 on HBO.
(upbeat music)
