NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - The Drink with Kate Snow: Amber Ruffin

Episode Date: March 5, 2023

Amber Ruffin went from doing local theater in Omaha to hosting “The Amber Ruffin Show” on Peacock. She tells NBC News’ Kate Snow about a special word of encouragement she received, writing for Broadway and dreaming big.

Hi, everyone. This is Kate Snow. So happy to share a great conversation I had with comedian Amber Ruffin over a margarita for my series, The Drink. It's always about how people got to the top of their field. Amber tells me how she went from doing local theater in Omaha, Nebraska, to getting her own late night show on Peacock called The Amber Ruffin Show. We talked also about how she's written for Broadway successfully. And wait until you hear how a special word of encouragement from someone really kept her going and got her on track. You can hear a lot more stories of success from top artists, entrepreneurs, and visionaries. You can find it all at NBCNews.com slash The Drink. People love to ask, when did you know you were going to do Late Night?

And the answer is never. I never thought that I was ever going to do any late night. Amber Ruffin, what's your drink? You know it's a margarita. I can't help it. You love margaritas with salt. You drink them on your show. And now, here's Amber Ruffin! I can't help it. You love margaritas with salt. You drink them on your show. And now, here's Amber Ruffin! Let me try. Try it. You're going to like him. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

The pop song Barbie Girl recently turned 25 years old. And then Leonardo DiCaprio took it off his playlist. You're the host of the Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock. You're a comedian. You write for Seth Meyers. Did I get all that right? Yeah. How did you get here? Improvising. That's the short answer. Improvising.

Yeah. Improvising your way to this point in your life. Yeah. I love that. All right, cheers to that. Yeah. Improvising your way to this point in your life. Yeah. I love that. All right, cheers to that. Cheers. We're at Sean's in Manhattan. Very nice bar.

Thank you. I did what I could. Okay, you start out in Omaha. That's right. One of five, right? I'm the youngest of five. Yeah. We grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, which sounds bad, but it is bad. I like Omaha.

No, I'm just kidding. But it is bad. Omaha is fine. It's perfectly fine. It's fine. Mm-hmm. And at the same time, my sister and I wrote a New York Times bestseller called You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, Crazy Stories About Racism. And all those stories take place in Omaha, Nebraska. Yeah, I got that. And you even say in the book, Omaha's not the most racist place, but it's not the least racist place. It certainly is not, yeah. When did you start doing local theater?

The second I got out of high school, I started doing local theater. And it was fantastic. So then I just started really giving it a shot. And once I found improv, I realized, oh, I might not be the best singer or actor, but when it comes to sitting down and writing a sketch, and when it comes to performing comedy, I can do it. Improv sounds terrifying to me. There's no rules.

There's no rules. There's no script. You just have to wing it. Yeah. You love that. There's no rules. There's nothing you can get wrong. It's impossible to do a bad job.

So you do... Please have a sip. Yes. I love that you're using the straws, too. The little stirrers. I'm a lady, Kate Snow. You have one after every show, right? Or at the end?

Yes, just one. Just one. No. After every episode of The Amber Upper Show, you know, I say goodbye and I'm holding my margarita and I drink it. And then we go backstage and Jimmy brings out a giant tray of margaritas. And then we all have margaritas for at least an hour and a half. That's fantastic.

How do you make the leap to Second City? How does that happen? And did it take years? When I was in Omaha, we started an improv group and we went to Chicago, because Chicago was, and kind of is, the mecca

of improv. So we went there for the Chicago Improv Festival and kind of this the Mecca of improv so we went there for the Chicago Improv Festival and one of those teachers said if you move here you'll have a full-time job within a year being an actor and a writer and I thought I have to try that sounds like a major pivot like a major moment in your life and it's so funny because if I had left class a little earlier, if I had missed that day, if she had just not thought to say that to me, I do not think I would have done all the things I did. But when she was like, you can do it, I was like, okay. I find like everybody that we talk to on The Drink, there's somebody, right?

Or more than one person who helped kind of push and, like, get you there. Yeah, depending on who you are, like, I don't know that I got a ton of encouragement all the time. So that little bit of encouragement, I rang dry. I held on to that, and I replayed it a ton in my mind. People love to ask, when did you know you were going to do late night? And the answer is never. I never thought

that I was ever going to do any late night. In fact, I auditioned for SNL. You didn't get it. So it came down to LaKendra Tooks, who got a writing job from it. Leslie Jones, who wasn't hired straight to acting, got a writing job from it. And then Sashir Zameda, who became, who was hired. And me. It was down to the four of us. So not only did I not get it, I was the only one to not get it. Amber, and you're laughing, but like in that moment? It was so sad. get it I was the only one to not get it I remember when I didn't get it because

I thought for sure I had it I thought for sure and I was like I've been doing this for years years and years and Exactly this job. Exactly writing jokes. Exactly, you know, doing bits with kids. It was my full-time job. So I thought, I have this. So when I lost, I couldn't believe it. It was the saddest thing. I mean, you're crying, you're super disappointed.

But then you hear, there's a silver lining yeah i hear i am does seth call you yes seth mildred myers himself he i am nannying a baby i'm holding the baby and then my phone rings and i'm trying to get him off the phone because i think he's calling to say, I'm so sorry you didn't get SNL because I know Seth from Boom Chicago. Right. But then he offered me a job and he was like, can you get here? To write for him. To write for me? Because I'm going to take over Late Night?

I was like, yes, absolutely. Sign me up. I'll be there in one minute. Yeah. There's not a whole lot of black women writing for Late Night. When I got hired to Late Night with Seth Meyers, I was the only black writer that I knew of. You took it and ran with that writing job, right?

You were doing all kinds of segments. Then COVID hits, and you start coming out and talking about tough stuff. Yeah. Protesters marched again to spur a national dialogue about George Floyd, about racism and about law enforcement. I have a thousand stories like this. The cops have pulled a gun on me. The cops have followed me to my own home. And every black person I know has a few stories like that.

You know what? I'm just going to tell stories about the times when I thought the cops were going to murder me. Because there's plenty. When I'm looking at a cop and he's looking at me and he's livid and I'm just trying to get him to not murder me. I was like, I don't think people know that that's a thing. Ooh, baby. Yeah. That is very a thing.

I had written a few musicals while I was in L.A., and they were very fun, and I loved doing it. And then I was asked to co-write the musical Some Like It Hot, which is open. On Broadway. Literally on Broadway. Like three blocks that way. Yeah. It's unbelievable.

That really, I mean, it all came out of left field, but that I thought. Also, I have to stop underestimating myself. I really do. There you go. It's criminal at this point. Also, I have to stop underestimating myself. I really do. There you go. It's criminal at this point. No, but it's amazing how many successful people feel that same, I mean, frankly, I feel that way. Like, oh, I can't, no, I can't do that. And then, yeah, you underestimate yourself.

No one's dreaming big enough, in my opinion. I mean, I'm certainly not. Yay, everybody! Welcome! You launched your show during COVID. We launched our show during COVID, and it was the most fun. I just, and luckily, I hadn't done a show before, so I wasn't like, oh no, I miss my audience. I have never had an audience. But now you have an audience in season three. Now we have an audience. Has that changed everything for you?

100%. It's a different show with an audience. Like, you can be so nitpicky if you don't have an audience, you know, and you go, I can do that line better. Let me read. But there's none of that. If you have an audience, you keep it moving. You know, your theater self kicks in.

And when they laugh, that must feel so good. Yes. It feels good, but also, it's never enough. Looking like a true comedian. Can we do a lightning round? Yes. Okay. If you weren't a comedian, what would you be doing?

I would have applied myself to musical theater and I'd be in the chorus. Weirdest thing about you? Really good at braiding hair. What's next? Oh, okay. What is next is, more musicals?

A movie? More musicals? Maybe more musicals. I don't know. A movie? Maybe I'm already signed up? More musicals. Maybe more musicals. I don't know. A movie? Maybe I'm already signed up for more musicals. Who knows? I don't know. Cheers to that.

Cheers! Yay! Yay! Thank you for the margarita. You have a long way to go, Kate Snow. A long way to go. I'll use the straws.