The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Robin Thede (Live At The 2022 Roots Picnic)

Episode Date: June 22, 2022

The creator and show-runner of A Black Lady Sketch Show discusses her all-Black writer's room, the rising star power of her costars, and who she wants next. As a matter of fact, Questlove helps her make a pitch to a certain Queen of Pop live on stage.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome to Fire Child. I fucked that up totally. What he meant to say was fireside chat. Sirefi chat. That too.

I think that. there's a proper term when you reverse. It's called an adherism. This is already turning into a QLS episode. Rural jury. Yeah. Let's get into it. How's everyone doing out there?

These are things that rappers ask before they start performing. Like, it's Philly in the house? And then it's dead silence. Exactly. All right. Yes, we are introducing. But more importantly,

For the first time in two years. Fuck! We get our theme back. We have not done our theme. Leah, you better get on your shit real fast. Hurry up. The people are waiting with faded breath. Can we bring our special guest out right now?

Let's do it. Hi, everybody. Supraima. Supraima roll call. Suprema, sub, sub, suprema roll call. Suprima. Suprina roll call Suprema

Suh Am I loud? Supercal I can't believe it Yeah I don't have a rhyme Yeah It's time for roll call

Yeah Wait I messed up the rhyme Ah Suprema Suprara Supriva Rocall Suprema

Subima Subrama Rol My name is Sugar Yeah I've missed you all Yeah What I missed the most

Yeah Is this Suprema, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, your turn bill. Okay. Suprema, sub, sub, sub, sub, Suprema, roll call. I'm unpaid bill.

Yeah. Now what to do? Yeah. We in Philly. Yeah. Summer Soul part two. So, Supraima, sub,

Suprima, Role call. Supraima, Supraima, Roleco. My face my ear. Yeah. It's hot as Hades.

Yeah. Somebody tell Robin. Yeah. Black lady. Roll call. Suprema, Suprema Role Call. Suprema Role Call.

Suprema, Suprema Role Call. My name's Ron Needy. No, no. Terrible. I'm not good. Supriam Role Call. So I don't know.

Supriva Role Call. Supriam. Supriam. Supriamma Ro call. Supriva. Supriva Ro call. Supriva, Supriva,

Supriva Role Call. Wow. That wasn't bad. I was supremely unprepared. Please clap. You never let me do it. I didn't know you were going to let me do it today. Well, every, you've done it.

You did it last time. What do I do improv for a living? Yes. Some of us. There you go. Hi, everybody. What's up, Philly? So, ladies and gentlemen,

we are a Quest Love Supreme doing our first show in front of each other in two years almost. You look different. We all look different. Fair. You look for a, Lord winning.

Yes. See that drip? Look at that drip. Look at that earthy drip. That's earthy drip. You look like an Oscar beat you in the face. Wow. In a good way.

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, welcome Team Supreme. All right. Can you pause that? Welcome, Boss. Welcome, Boss. Welcome. Yeah. Yeah, welcome.

Welcome. This is not Rakkim. So anyway, if you're not familiar with the show on our far, right. We have the one and only president of the Sugar Network Sugar Steve. Hey, hey, hey.

Words of wisdom. Fuck, I missed the theme songs. Exactly. And then on our far left, over here on the stage, of course, our organizer, our mother,

our everything. Give it up for Laia, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. Yeah. To my direct left, if you have kids that still watch Sesame Street, this is basically, I mean, you're much more than that. Oh, thanks.

Hamilton, in the heights. That seems like ratherly. No, I mean, you're damn near an egot. You're a got. So are you. Well, no. Y'all are finally even. Let's not fight.

You were first. Anyway, well, combined, we're kind of an egot. We are. Let's take it. Yeah, all right. So, together, we're an egot. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for. Andre Pillisorandau

Yeah This is a long theme line All right the show's over The best part's throughout Mother is Jamaica So quick poll Whose theme song is the best? Yours is actually

I'll take it, done Moving on Of course we have to give a shout out to the heart of this show Which is Fon Ticolo Who is not here Why is he? He's working hard on this little brother documentary child.

He's also afraid of COVID-digolo. That hard. He also hasn't left North Carolina. Well, he's been doing little brother shows now and then, so I think he's ready to get out the house. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our esteemed guests. One of my favorite shows on television. Now, the last time you were on the show, of course, you were promoting your BD

talk show. Right. And now, I think Black Lady Sketch Show is, I'm sorry, of Black Lady Sketch Show is one of my favorite shows of all time. Yes.

Please welcome Robin Thiti. To Questlove Supreme. What up? What up? Robin Thedy. I have no theme song. You couldn't play some Meg or some something? No, I was going to, you know. I was, I was half-ass in it. I'm sorry.

Yeah. And I appreciate. That's what people say about you. You have fast everything. Yeah, I do have fast. You actually flew in just to... Just now. Just to do this. And I'm flying right back out. Yes. Yes. Very busy person. I feel very touched. I did it for you. Thank you. That's good. And y'all, I really did it for y'all. Thank you. Somebody yelled we love you. That's never happened to me. I'm a rock star now. That was me. They might not have been yelling at me, to be fair. Well, you were telling me that

you're going back because you... Yes. It's weird. I guess if you're a showrunner, you don't get a summer because you have to prepare your next. So when do you get time off? I don't. I'm still doing stuff for marketing for season three and promoting for Emmys that we hope to be nominated for. Congratulations for your new season! Thank you.

Yeah. Yeah, we're going right into season four, so I'm so excited. We're going to get started right away. Okay. So as a fan of the show, and I'm glad I caught it. Did everybody just get an amber alert? Hold on. Is that not the craziest shit that ever happened?

That's for Fonte. That was bad shit. Silver Suzuki, right? Huh? Huh? No, okay. Okay, sorry, continue. Wait, what just happened?

So my, everything, everyone just vibrated, correct? And everyone just got an amber alert. And it says, Silver Suzuki, XL7, PA, Be on the lookout. Everybody in this audience just got the same am, why didn't you get it? What's wrong with you? That's what I want to know.

He turned his off. Is it because I have a flip phone? It might be. You that flip phone type. I'm very old school. You are. I was born in the 70s. We know.

It says a lot about you. Early. So this is what I want to know. You know, I started studying. Like when the pandemic started, season one was, you know, where I fell into the rabbit hole. And of course, season two and season three,

I've watched each episode maybe like 10 times each. And there's so many meta, hidden jokes inside of each episode, it's almost like you're seeing it for the first time, blinking, you missed it. Can you walk us through how you get inspiration?

Because I feel like you're covering everything that I've not seen television cover as far as like black comedy is concerned. Yeah, I think, without giving away all the secret sauce, I think for us it was like, we didn't want to give y'all, we were going to have something called a Black Lady

Sketch Show. We wanted to give you layers, we wanted people to feel seen, we wanted to like create something that was cinematically the most beautiful sketch show ever. We wanted to have black women look good and all light. It was just important. So in order

to do that, we wanted to really layer the show. So it wasn't just a funny character. There were also crossover elements between sketches because I knew, have y'all seen season three? Okay, perfect. Perfect. So spoilers for anybody who hasn't, but y'all seemed to be good. So

I knew what was going to happen in the finale. And I knew that the women over these three seasons, it wasn't really the end of the world. It's the end of the world as we all know it because what world would have elected Dr. Hedosor president? Wait, your spoiler alerting from, oh, wait. No, they said they've seen it. You haven't seen the finale.

Okay, it got quick. Oh, I didn't see the finale finale. No, I'm sorry. Yes! Oh, you're wrong. All of Rob and Thees fans are in this audience. Every single one of them. Yes, we're all my people.

Listen, here's the thing, and I admitted this in the book. I have... Thanks, Mom. Let's just say that out to the Nightly Show. Oh, yes, yes. I thought that was my mind. Some people have been watching my career for a while. No, I was saying that whenever I watch any series, especially in streaming,

it's something about the penultimate episode, in the final episode. I won't watch it until I know that season four is ready. Okay, so anyway. That's so dumb. Thank you, oh, Robin. I've been waiting for that much. moment. Go ahead. Do you're going to get it spoiled. I'm so sorry. But I knew that the world was going to be, the end of the world storyline was going to be wrapped up. So we could kind of start something new

in season four. So the layers without getting into the spoilers are really important to me because I wanted the characters to start to meet. As you saw happen in the finale, I won't tell you who. But they all start to meet. The world starts to kind of fold in on itself to create new possibilities for these women now that they're evolved. So there's that story with in a story, but then the sketches, you start to realize if you look in the background, it's like, oh, that Patty LaBelle poster from On My Own Season 1 is in a sketch, season 3 is in What If I'm 3 in Season 3 and like stuff is like starting to, characters are starting to meet, things are starting to happen.

So I knew if we could do that, we could create this Black Lady multiverse with these characters that you guys have come to know. Yes, Black Lady Multiverse. Fuck yes, so I'm black lady multiverse. And so I'm excited for you guys to see now what can happen with them because you know that any of them can interact. Like, Dr. Hadassah can meet, you know, the Coral Reeves. Like, Chris can meet Trinity or whatever, right?

So it's exciting. Just asking for a friend, what's the sign for Black Lady Multiverse? There it is. It's Black Lady. Yeah. Okay, sorry. Wait, can I? Wait, can you do that one more time?

Go ahead. Black Lady Multiverse. I love that. That was amazing. Moving on. The signers at the Roots Picnics have always been legendary. Can I ask you? You?

Always. A dude that was on Tarek's set, he's like almost trending on Twitter. Yeah. More than the roots. Because when you put your body in it, it's next level. But let me ask this general black ladies' guest show question, because I always wanted to know this as a watcher. How much are the ladies that we see that are a part of the show involved in the writing?

And if they're not, like how much say, how does that go? How does that labor work? I know there are other people we don't see in the background. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the ladies that we do see are Emmy nominated writers? Yes. Yeah, so Ashley Nicole Black wrote on seasons one and two. She's amazing.

She's so sick. But that's it. That's the only person who's written besides me. So Gab, Quinta, Sky, Lacey, none of them wrote. But that's not to take away from their creative collaborations on the show. I was going to say the improv must be crazy, though. No, no. The improv is crazy.

They also bring the looks, how they want their characters to look. They design that piece by piece with all of our. black lady glam department. So no. We love Gab. Gabs are people. She's from Philly, ain't she? I thought she was from Philly.

No. Oh shit. Sometimes you get it wrong. I like to claim people. I like to. You said D.C.? Ohio and D.C. Yeah, she kind of lived all over.

My other hometown. Why am I telling all her business? That's all right. So what happened was when she was little? It's like watching tennis. I know. So if I were betting men, when I go tonight to watch the finale,

which I will. Which I've spoiled, yes. I'm assuming that Quinta makes a return to the show, correct? I didn't say that. I'm assuming though, right? Why would you assume that? Because he's wearing bow hair.

Oh, my mirror. I don't know. Does she make a return to the show? Are we going to tell him? They're not going to tell them. They're not going to tell you shit. Because Questlove is, Questlove Supreme is the only podcast

in which everyone actually hates the host. So true. And loves the ghost. That's not true. How happy are we for Quinta? This woman is killing it. Oh, we proud. Oh, no, Philly is proud because she reps very hard.

She's the best. She's the best. When are we changing this show to Robin Thidi Supreme? Now? I got enough. I got enough to do. He's got enough to do. It's fine.

So, yeah, so that's what I want to know as far as the crafting. Does it start with like out of a dream like, oh, we should do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like when you did the hair sketch that was the cold open for season three. The product purge, yes. So is there just a. sort of a think board I'm going on like peeking in the SNL like they'll have topics

Our show is very interesting So we only have like seven writers And they write everything So they come in they come in with a pitch That has a beginning middle twist and end Like they come in with their raw Their own concepts Because it was really important to me that this

It's not a Robin Thidi sketch show It's a black lady sketch show So it's really important that we have different points of view So no they come in and that was actually Akila Green who wrote that, who's incredible. She works on Black Monday and a bunch of other shows. She actually wrote that in season two,

but we couldn't shoot it until season three because we couldn't have 100 women running down the street during COVID. So, yeah, she just came in and pitched. She was like, what if, like, the movie The Purge, black women had 15 minutes to return all their unused hair products and get a full refund? Yo, that was great.

Like, how chaotic would that be? I was like, yes, go write that. But yeah, I gotta give the writers credit. I write a lot of the sketches too, but it is collaborative. Sometimes they'll be like, okay, I have an idea. It's like Romeo and Juliet, but we're not sure what to do with it. I'm like, okay, Ben, let's put that together with the Stan culture sketch and do it in an ambit pentameter and then you get Roman Jalissa, you know, so we, it's very collaborative too.

Now working at 30 Rock, I often meet writers who at SNL getting their feelings if their sketch doesn't make it to the show. So how, are you also, do you have to play the bad guy at the show as the leader of the show and? Yeah, sometimes, but I think we all kind of know which sketches are rising to the top.

So we'll do like internal table reads and perform it and, you know, critique it. But I think it's pretty clear by the time we go to our shooting script what's going to work. But no, they don't get their feelings hurt because everybody gets sketches on because we have so

few writers, everybody gets sketches on. Do y'all ever get pushed back from HBO? Like, is there ever been a, ever? A subject that was taboo or? No, a taboo. No, it's HBO. You can do anything. Yeah, but you're the first.

Can you? But can you? Because you're the first black ladies sketch show. What's that? Ask Lovecraft Country. Okay, well, I don't know. Real talk. No mess.

I don't know about that. It got 19 nominations. I know. Right, but it wasn't. Because he didn't want to continue the person that did it. I don't know. Robin don't want to be on that side of HBO. I don't want to get involved.

I love that show. Yeah, I think for us, no, we really don't get any pushback. I think it's just like the funniest stuff rises to the top and they just say, you know, be true to the show. But we really don't get a lot of pushback. There's no real taboo subjects. They've never said, oh, don't do that. What's the sketches that y'all have had problems getting through

because y'all just been dying? I just need to know. Like, have y'all ever been dying laughing so hard? It has been hard to get through it. Oh, when we're performing? Oh, my God. And my mom, I'm going to take it back to the courtroom, but I feel like that was hard. Black Lady courtroom, well, Issa's very easy to break.

So. Yeah, I mess with her really bad whenever she's in a sketch. She's like, why are you always with me in every sketch that I do? And I'm like, I don't know. But I know. It's because I want to mess with her. It looks like you're challenging her. Are you trying to hold face?

It looks like you're holding face. And you're like, bitch, how long you can hold your face. Every sketch, not just Issa, all of our cast. My job is to make them break, but they're so good, they don't. The Last Supper and the resurrection, like those discipleette sketches are really hard to get through. Anything with, like, Gabrielle as the head of the coral reefs, Elisa, is hard to get through. A lot of them are really hard to get through, to be honest. Especially this season, the improv is crazy.

Like, the outtakes are so much longer. We have so much stuff we couldn't even show you guys because we have a time limit. Like, there's so many jokes that the world will never see. I have a dream world where, like, Larry David does a guest spot on the Black Lady sketch show, and it's like Battle of the Improv. That's your dream world? That's one of, I have a lot of dream worlds. They're about 20,000.

Can you guys tell her why that would be impossible? Because it's a Black Lady Sketch show. Is there no white people on the Black Lady Sketch show? Never not one. Oh, okay, I'm cool with that. Not even in the background. My bad. Not even in the end.

I'm literally very much. Not even on the art on the walls. I love that. Larry David is part of the reality where. Correct. where black women I love Larry David play all of the characters

in multitudes I have to start back at season one never even in a picture on a wall oh my God is that what freedom looks like that's what the finale is saying like when you live in this well whatever you have to watch a finale

but when you live in this world and you get involved to your eyes then you get to enter into this world where we are free of the gaze of anyone else and to me that's Mecca that's heaven that's so yeah

Because isn't that amazing? And it's not at the exclusion. I got lost for a second. I'm sorry. Well, I know. It's not at the exclusion of anyone else. It's just at the celebration of us. I'm like, if I have a chance to create something on HBO, like, let me create this dream scenario.

I think it frees up the comedy, too, right? Because I don't want to do a Karen sketch or a microaggression sketch. Like, I don't want to do that. I'm not saying they don't have value. I've not heard the word. No, we don't do that. Wow. Now I've got to rewatch it again.

Because you got to cast her. Well, because I don't want to re-traumatize us. I want you to have 30 minutes of joy. Like, I want you to... Oh, my God, joy. So, no white Jewish guys at all ever? None, I'm sorry. They probably pay a bill or something.

But not even, like, the biggest white Jewish guy, Larry David. Nope, not even him. No, sorry. So we're... I know that for a lot of sketch comedians, their mecca is Second City or, like, in Chicago. Upright citizens. Yeah, upright.

Was it? UCB. UCB. If you are black, like, is there, what's the version of that? No. No, there's not. It's now my show. But no, I think, because I did Second City and I owe, and I've done some shows at UCB, but no, they're not.

I actually just joined the advisory board for Second City because I think we need to do better, and we need to invite us in legitimately, not us in to be tokens in a class. We need to legitimately have experiences that are authentic and that teach us how to hone our comedy, not how to do somebody else's comedy, how to do ours. So, yeah, no, I think we're going to try some things to help out the school that raised me. And, you know, I think we got a long way to go,

but we're definitely working at it. I'm impressive. I might join that. Because, you know, like, I live in a world where everyone's always improvving, and, like, with music, I can handle it. But with words, I can't handle it. And I feel like the person that's at on a, you know, double dutching that can't get inside the rope, like, I'm constantly like.

Well, you saw me the moment music was playing. I floundered. I couldn't even rhyme with my own last name. But I think, yeah, I think. So the answer is always yes. Yes, and. It's yes and. No buts.

No but. But you know what's interesting, but we don't, it's not that hard. It's not like an improv school on our set. It's like, we just trying to make a fun. funny as show. So wherever we go, we'll just follow. Like, you know, Gabrielle, in those, in the resurrection sketch, especially, but the last supper, just because I mentioned that, when she comes in the scene as Mary, we know she's just going to be chaos. So she plays Mary Magdalene, and we've made her this, like, mean girl to these other women who aren't invited

to any of the disciple events. And she is, she's just so, we know when she comes in, it's just going to be a mess. She's going to do what's scripted, but everything else. is going to go out of the window. So we just follow each other really well. I think for us, it's not necessarily yes-in, but it's just follow where they take you. And anybody can move the story along as long as we all go together.

So I think that's what you see on the screen, especially in season three. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment.

And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by.

Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco,

joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider,

you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. How many people have reached out to you about like getting on the show or like I know that you added Sky to the kid.

The cast or celebrity guests? Oh, not even a celebrity guest. I just mean, like, for the cast. Do regular people, because I want to know my way of doing it, because I'd just be stalking you every six months. So go ahead. Tell me how they be doing it. Well, you know what's funny for the core cast?

Because we really don't. Are you showing thigh right now? I don't know what the fuck just happened. I'm like a one day. There's a whole boom. That's not her skin. These men. No, for the core cast, we don't really change it that much.

I mean, we add takeaway every season one or two, maybe I guess. but people don't really approach me for that. They tag me mostly in like people's TikToks. But I'm like, here's the thing. If you can't do a hundred impressions and characters, like, I don't know what to tell you. A hundred? Yeah, we've all, in three seasons,

those of us who have been there since day one, have played over 100 characters in 18 episodes. So it's like, if you don't have that kind of depth and range, then people don't really, it's way more celebrities pitching than people trying to be regulars in the cast. It's a hard job. It's a hard job.

You know, other sketch shows have big, big cast, but, like, we're a small, scrappy show. We play all the characters. No, believe it or not, I think a lot of people watch it with Gabrielle and was, like, did not know she had all that depth for her. Who knew? We were all, like, wait, from, like, the game, like, she's killing it. And the old spice, she's killed an old spice.

She's so good. Yeah, even though those commercials, I was like, wait, who's this person? No, y'all sleeping on Gabrielle. It was beautiful. I mean, y'all not sleeping, but the people listening to the podcast, y'all sleeping on Gabrielle. She's so versatile. she's so incredible.

People like, oh, I just knew her on the game, and I didn't like her. And it's like, okay. But this woman, so I met her. She actually beat me out for a sketch show on Showtime that Damon Waynes was doing back in the day. This was like 15 years ago. And I remember being at the audition, we were like the last two. And she got it.

And I heard her in the room, and I was like, shit, she needs to get that. She's really good. So, no, I used to watch her doing stand-up back in the day. I used to watch her doing sketch. Like, she can mimic. any singer, and because we can't afford to do that a lot on the show, she doesn't really get to use it, but I'm going to try to do it more next season. But she can mimic any singer living or gone.

We should have her on. We should have her on. We should have her on. We should have her on the air. She should have her. She has an ear for musical mime, which is incredible. And then she's just got a ton of characters. You throw anything her way.

She's like, I'll figure it out. She played a character named Steve in this sketch called Escro Download, like this dude that just like, like, had an accent, but it was every accent. She wasn't supposed to play that character. It was supposed to be a guest star. And we table read it, and she just started doing this character, and I was like, well, that's you now.

Like, it's just, she just like, we'll grab these roles. We never intended to be as funny. You know, we wanted them to be funny, but the way she takes it to the end degree is just crazy. They all do that, though. Sky's really coming into her own. Ashley's a fucking genius. Ashley, and

what's the character at first season? Trinity? No. Black woman. Who? The black woman. Who? The black woman superhero or the... Trinity. I want Trinity have a series. The world's most...

Yes. The world's best spy. She's called the invisible spy because she's just like a plus-sized black woman who's not wearing makeup so no one acknowledges her. I mean, that's a statement and a half.

You know. Talk about the development of that character. So she actually brought that to us first season. She was like, yo, I think my superpower is being like a plus-sized black woman

who just blends in because nobody even notices I'm there. So she's like, I want to make that the world's the CIA's best spy. And I was like, that's fucking genius. So I mean, that's just what she does, though. She just comes up with sketches so easy. She also came in the room and goes, what did Patty LaBelle

every time you get broken up with makes you sing on my own until you like, she won't leave until you sing on my own. I was like, yeah, what about that? Go write it. Why not? She came up with Black Lady Courtroom. She's amazing. Wow.

Yeah, she wrote the first one. I wrote the second one, but yeah, like, those ladies, the writers are so good. Like, I think a lot of people think the magic just happens on set, but those scripts are incredible. Whatever it is, it looks like y'all coming together like Voltron. That's what I think is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So is there, for you, a dream sketch that you're waiting, like, either for production cost or whatever, like, will you get close to ever executing that dream sketch? Yes. Yes, I will. And that's all he can say?

No, I'm going to tell you what it is. All right, tell me. Because I'm campaigning this season to get Janet Jackson on the show. Ooh. You came to the right place. Come on to me. I know. Come on a mirror.

I was like, take on the phone. The bat fold. So I want to, I need y'all. Can you picture in 30 seconds? This is the best shit ever. Get Ms. Janet on the goddamn. Don't do it. Don't do it.

Robin. Don't do it. Robin. It's now and never. Robin. It's now and never. It's now and never. You got it.

Come on a mirror. is now and never. You said you wanted it, you put it out there. Don't put, see y'all lesson. Put stuff in the atmosphere. Listen, listen. I'm going to videotape you. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, that's fine. Or are you going to FaceTime? He did this against Steve Martin. I don't want to put it on the spot, but I will send this to a right now. Can I be in the background or what's going on here? You've got to cheer at the end of this. Be the uncomfortable white guy in the background. Go.

Hang on. All right, Jan, I'm not putting you on the spot, but this is a pitch. Janet Jackson. It's Robin Thetie from a Black Lady Sketch Show. You are cordially invited. to season four to star the most epic sketch we've ever done and the world wants to see it. We love you and we want to see it, right?

We'll take care of you. We got you, Janet. Come see us. Okay, all right. I'm gonna send that to her and then I'll... Yo, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. Right? She'll be like, I wanna play Dr. Hadassah.

I'll be like, fine, I'll coach you on the voice. He literally just said that shit. I think that's actually doable. It's doable. You got it. Oscar, son. I think she would have hit her before the Oscar. I know, I just said you would have hit her before the aisle.

There's three people in the world. You're either give her, a taker, or a connector. Yeah. I'm a connector. You're a connector. I'm a connector. Oh, nice to meet you. I'm a connector.

That's why you're here. All of us are connected. The only time you guys have ever gotten along ever in history of this entire shit. I've taken some shit. Oh, really? But you've always been paid on time, right? I'm a connected. I'm a connector.

Yeah, but. Thank you. I think that, um... That was awesome. That's, like, now I really want to make that happen. It's going to happen, Robin. I know, I feel it. We're going to manifest that.

Manifest. Absolutely. I kind of want to get to... Because I think she's hilarious. I think she's such a phenomenal actress. I think she's so funny. You know, the reason why Angela Bassett did the show is she said, I did it

because you asked and no one thinks I'm funny. And she got nominated for an Emmy for Bad Bidge Support Group. Like, she's so dope. Like, and she's so dope. so supportive. She was actually the first guest star we booked. We hadn't been on the air. No one knew what the show was. She was like, yo, I like your late night show and I want to do it.

No one thinks that can be funny. She never, I mean, think about it. These black women that have been on the show and the black men that have been on the show. None of them have been. None of them have ever. And this is no shade to SNL. It's just like, we just didn't have an outlet for us, you know, that was dedicated to us. So that's what I want to try to provide. Oh, we got time, Robin. Let's say questions from the audience. Oh, that would be so fun.

I mean, whatever you say, Amir. I feel like they have some. Oh my god, can we do it? I'll come out. Greg, I'm not coming to you. No, who got a question? Oh, okay. That's my mind.

We should go in the audience. Yeah, all right. You don't have to go. Wait, are you about to jump in the audience? I like doing this stuff. You can't, how are you gonna get down there? Just throw a mic. Not y'all yelling jump.

Whoa! She could that with me. Oh my God. Wait, time out. I'm a radio girl. I'm a Philly radio girl. Do what we do to touch me. All right.

So you got, come here, boo. You got a question. Make sure you introduce yourself to everybody. Hello guys. I am Elizabeth. I'm from Philly. Yes, we love Philly. I have a question for you, Robin.

Could we extend this to possibly a movie, a Black Lady movie? Ooh! I mean, Bob's Burger's got one. Why are you, Bobby King? Why are you so mad at Bob's Burr? I mean, I'm... Are you going to stage-dive? We just started watching Bob's Burgers.

It's been on 10 years. I don't know. Is that something y'all would watch? Yes. Sure, why not? I don't know when I'm going to have time to do it, but why not? Why not? All right. I love that idea. Hey, y'all. I'm India. I'm from Texas. Hello.

Hey, so my question is, with the show being so amazing, do you ever have a writer's block or have you ever had a sketch come out where it took so long to produce that you had to prolong it to another season? Real-life questions, I see. No, we had some sketches. We couldn't make. in COVID because they had like kids or like a bunch of extras or whatever but no we never had to postpone it to another season for any other reason do I ever have writers block no I always I'm always thinking of sketches my mind just kind of works that way so then you don't smoke or drink you don't smoke

or drink I don't drink okay uh you're a writer too yeah yeah I mean look writers block can happen there's some people that don't believe in it but sometimes you just don't feel like doing the shit or you just can't get an idea you know what you got to do just write a bunch of bullshit and some of it'll be good. Yeah, just keep typing. Or take a nap. How many drafts do you go to before? A lot.

The sketches go through a lot of drafts, sometimes 10, 12 drafts, for sure. And then we continue to punch on set and then we improvise and then we edit different. So it's always, yeah. So have you ever had a moment where you are reading one of your things and you know it's not working and it's dead silent in the room? Oh, God, yes. They try to force laughter. But then that becomes funny? No, no.

they will not laugh at me. If my shit is whack, they'll be like, dead silent. One of the writers, season two, said, I was like, why ain't y'all laughing? I'm killing it. And this is how Keisha got the joke. Keisha, the bad stand-up comedian. That's how she happened because that was me in the room.

Really? I wanted to know. That was me, like, pitching bad sketches and jokes. Because I'm just a pitch machine. Like, I'm one of those people that's just like, rat-a-tat-tat. Like, you're just going to get 100 ideas. And they're allowed to be honest with you. Yes. Without fear. Oh, no.

You say yes, it's obvious. But I know people with egos where you have to laugh at the boss's jokes when they're not funny. Don't do that shit. Wait, laugh at the boss's jokes. I never heard of that. I was about to say that don't happen here. You know people with egos? What? No, you can't have an ego

because the audience isn't going to give a shit the shit's not funny. P.S. what did Janet Jackson say? All right, we got another question. Thank you. Thank you for your question. Yes. No, no, no. See the numbers. Oh, oh. I'm such a freak. All right. My name is Rao. from Virginia. My question is very simple.

I love the credits, the opening credits that y'all do. Can you explain that? Because I feel like they change every episode and told the shit. But I could be high and missing shit. I don't know. I know. I know. I know. I'm be pausing the shit. You know what I mean? Because they look like it'd be long in the motherfucker. So like, I'm sorry, I got open. My point is,

like, could you talk about that to me? Because I thought like the layers and shit, like, trite and gum and shit. Now, you told me this season to look for and I, I did and I couldn't find, I was like, I must be an idiot because I don't see a difference in,

like, how obvious are the... Wait till you see the finale. Well, it's the text. So this year's opening credits, the opening sequence is exactly the same except for the text on the screen. And it tells a separate story. But that story, I'll tell you, Mr. Virginia,

is a bit of a red herring. It's supposed to throw you off the trail of who's actually mine. controlling them by sending you down this other rabbit hole. But it all dovetails into this idea that these black women are creating these characters in this universe and it's giving you long story for each of the... I can't believe you haven't noticed it because I know you've seen one through five. I literally...

In six, you'll be able to see... You have to pause it. It was also kind of a... It was also a fun thing. Yeah, for the audience, I wanted you to have to pause it to read the ongoing story. As long as fuck. As long as fuck. Why would you do that?

to us. Because I think it's hilarious and because I think that I want y'all to have to be so engaged because people like, people be like, oh wow, that sketch went by so fast. And I'm like, I want you to have to actively like have to pause and like really digest it. And I want you to get in the vibe of doing that for the sketches because they'll be so much more rich if you do that. Is there an Easter egg from one, two, or three that is so deep and funny that no one has come back to you yet with I see you get there? I mean, there's shit that you would really have to pause it to see in this sketch

called It's getting heist in here. It's a museum, a high sketch, kind of like Ocean's Eleven. Yes, I love that one. In the cases, it's a Rihanna fashion exhibit, and there's a Rihanna Diamond, but all the fashion in the cases that they go by are our interstitial outfits from last year. And

there are the Last Supper outfits also in one of the cases. So it's like showing you that this world is also starting to dovetail. But the biggest one is Millstone Coffee. So if you look, Millstone Coffee was the corporation that, plug your ears,

that Dr. Hadassah secretly owned and used to fund her mind control of the women. Okay, you're done. I actually did that too. Wow. So you'll see Millstone, Bad Mitch Support Group starts with Angela Bassett pouring a cup of Millstone Coffee.

Like, you see it, Trinity kicked Nicole Byer into a case of Millstone Boxes. The no makeup sketch is at Millstone. She's just like, how can I brew up an answer for you? She's literally selling Millstone coffee. So Millstone has been there since episode one, and it culminates as kind of the evil nefarious corporation in the end of season three. One more question.

All right, I'll make it good, y'all. My name's Brie Daddy. I'm coming all away from Miami. And the reason, but I'm from fucking Philly. So shout out Philly. All right. As an Afro-Latina woman, black representation is so important. but we all know how it is.

It can be hard to represent ourselves as black woman, black man, non-binary, whatever your choice is. How do you get past, how do you get past imposter syndrome? That is not where I expected that question to go. That was a curveball. Dipping of deep.

I was like, oh, deep. I've never had imposter syndrome. I don't even understand it, honestly. I just kind of have reckless confidence in everything I do. Like, it's just going to be great. So that's just real. I got to hang with you,

I don't. I'm never like, should I be doing this? What I will tell you is I do know that there are people just as funny and funnier than me who could have had this opportunity so I don't want to fuck it up because I want to keep the door open for all of us to be able to do it. That's why I called a Black Lady Sketch Show, not the, because I can't represent us all and I want us to be one of many, right? I wanted Amber Ruffin to go get her late night show Z way to do what she's doing all the Sam Jay. All these black women be doing this. And I think that we We've helped in that. I'm not taking responsibility for their success, but I'm just saying, like, us being

there season after season is showing the world how funny we can be the funniest women in the world to me are black women. And you know, on the show, it's so important to us that our Afro-Latina sisters, Gina Torres, Marlonegra, like all these Afro Latinos on the show, Reagan Gomez, like, it's important that they're there. It's important that our trans sisters are there. It's important. Like, it's really important to me because we're not the same.

We're so different. And we have so, and this season. coming up, it's really going to explore a lot of that in a way we haven't had a chance to. So I'm really excited about that because we're so rich. We're so, you know, diverse amongst ourselves. Speaking of seasons, I know this is a very, like, BBC Network thing. This whole, like, one season is only four episodes thing. We have six. Thank you very much.

Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. Like, why, where is the traditional, who decides what an arc is for the season as far as the volume is concerned? Or is it just enough? The number of episodes? Yes. Oh, that's determined by HBO. I don't have any say about that. But what I will say is people, I know that the episodes go by fast.

Y'all tell me this all the time. But if you think about it, we're doing like 50 short films. Like it really is denser than most. I know that doesn't help because the show goes by fast. But we're on location. We don't shoot on a stage. We got new characters. We're like reinventing a sitcom every day, twice a day sometimes.

So it's just, it takes a while. Like, I work on the show 365 days a year. People think I'm, like, you know, just doing six episodes in, like, three weeks. No, we shoot for three months. We write for three months. We prep. I post for three months. Like, you know, it takes a long time to make the show.

So any more episodes, you wouldn't have any time for yourself. Yeah. But I don't anyway, so that's fine. But are you afraid to take a break? Because what I did learn with the pandemic. Getting real here. No, no, I'm not trying to get deep. But I'm just saying what I learned in the pandemic is

when you have silence and like the sound of what we're hearing right now, that's where ideals really come. And that's where the ideas flow in and inspiration. So for you, if this is all year round where you have to now spend the summer months thinking, thinking, crafting and building and building, and then shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting, and then promoting, promoting, promoting, promoting, promoting, promoting, and all that. When I'm never out of ideas. I don't know. I'm never out.

But do you take time out just to have nothing happen in a day? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I'll definitely, like, you know, have three or four days, like a Memorial Day weekend or something like that and go somewhere or just chill out. But that doesn't really help me. I know what you mean, but that doesn't, I'm not one of those people.

I work really weird. Like, the more should I have going on, the more creative I am. And I'm not going to say that the pandemic, I wasn't creative, but I don't like sitting still. I'm not really that person. So, I mean, you know, for me playing dozens of characters in a season is like, great, that's the status quo.

Like, I can't imagine being on one show playing one character. I would be so bored. So for me, you know what? Also, you know this. Like, this is like my seventh sketch show that I've been on. So it's like I did shows with David Allen Greer and Jamie Fox and Apion Crockett and everybody. And so for me, it was like, I got to watch all of them have shows that happen really fast and didn't get second seasons. And I was like, okay, I want to take all those letters.

and make this love letter to black women and like make it really funny and like make history. And I just don't take it for granted. So taking a break as far as like the show, like maybe not doing it one year or whatever, I've thought about it because sleep is good. But I feel like people need it. Like especially in the pandemic, like people need it. And I think that's important and that's like an honor. We do, but we don't never want you to put us before your own self.

No, but it's not though. No, sacrifice your life for us. No. No, here's the thing. I'm very rich, so it's fine. Oh, okay. This is the very last question then. All right.

Thank you. Sonia from Cleveland, Ohio. Two-part question. First, have you thought about a tour around the country where you can expose new black female talent? Second, what's the advice for young people who are trying to get in this work? Yes, I have thought about a tour. I wanted to take my cast around.

They're just so insanely busy. They go too immediately to other shows when they're not shooting this one. But in terms of showcasing. like unknown talent. That's, I mean, that would be dope. I mean, we try to get, every year we try to get folks from like everything from Angela Bassett to folks from TikTok and YouTube and you'll see them on the show. Like, you may not recognize some of them, but if they're your favorites, you will. And then, um, I just ran into Duran, Bernard who was performing on the other stage and he was so dope. Yeah, we got him in a sketch this year and like people you wouldn't expect to

seeing sketches. I think that's really fun. But yeah, I mean, a tour would be great. I don't know when I would do it. But I would find time. We could do it on the weekends. But, um, yeah, maybe but also what advice do I have my thing is don't think you're better than any job like especially for young people there's a thing that's happening now that I'm seeing where like people would be like okay cool I want to come in as the the CEO of the company or I want to come in like and have an overall deal at a studio and it's like we haven't done anything yet like go be a a PA you know go be a production assistant go be a writer's assistant don't think you're better than those things you know and just work your way up I'm

show runner, right? So that means I run the whole show. I manage a multi-million dollar budgets and on any show that I run and I also write and I act and all this stuff. So it's a lot of hats to wear. But the only reason I was prepared to do that is because I had 20 years in the business doing every job on so many different shows. So I don't know if y'all know a lot about where I came from, but like I was writing for Mike Epps and Chris Rock and Kevin Hart and all these comedians. Like I would be on the road with comedians. Then I started writing for award shows and writing like the monologues and the sketches and the jokes. Then I got,

then I started staffing in rooms as those comedians started selling shows. Then I, you know, worked my way up to being head writer on the nightly show. We should remind people, Robin, that that story is actually in the QLS classic of Robin Pee. It is. Also, the puppeteer version as well when you talked about being a puppeteer.

Yes. But I say all that to say, not to run down the resume, but just to say, like, I've been here a long time and some people just got to know me yesterday, you know? And I'm grateful for that. I'm never better than somebody just now saying, there's probably people standing here who are like, who is this woman talking?

You know, but now you might go Google. So, oh, I thought they were saying us. We don't know you. They're waving to you. Yeah, that's my cousin. We got to close, but I got one more question. Speaking of you writing for other comedians, will you ever, or is it even a bucket list of yours

to try stand up once? Because that's the thing I was shocked at. I know because you have never, you told me you never done stand-up. And you yell at me because you're like your literal late night show was you standing up telling jokes. So I guess I did do stand-up.

No, I mean, look, I wrote for, literally name your favorite comedian, I wrote jokes for them. So, you know, being on the road and watching them do what they do. Do you still feed them now? Like, I got a good idea for you. Why don't you? Sometimes. Okay.

Sometimes. But like, I'll reach out to them. Because it's just that community. Like when Wanda was host in the Oscars, I was like, yo, you did some jokes. She was like, hit me, you know? And I didn't because I'm a bad friend. But I just got caught up doing shit and then I forgot.

But no, it's that kind of community, though. Or if they call me, like, I'm there. If Rock calls me, if Wanda calls me, whoever, I'm there. But will I ever do stand-up? I don't think so for the same reasons that like a lot of older comedians don't really do stand-up anymore. I think it's like you got to go out and fail for a year doing that material.

And because I never put my 10 years in, right? Now is a good time to start. No, it's not a good time to start. They don't even want that. A 30 second. No, no. 10 seconds stand up. Give us a tight three, Robin, Steve.

You see what he did there, Robin? No, I will not be swayed. No, that's right. This is why I play the bad comedian. Like, I know where my strengths lie. I know I'm good at impressions and characters. Like, I'm not good at just standing up and being myself. Maybe that's imposter syndrome for the lady that, I don't know.

No, I just knowing I don't like it. I tried it twice and I almost beat on myself. I think you should go to your uncomfortable zone. But for what? Most standups are doing it so they can get a TV show. I have had multiple television shows. I got it's multiple. It's retroactive.

It's retroactive. You got to do the TV shows before you do the standup and the standoff before you do the TV shows. It would be hustling backwards, wouldn't it? I don't know. I mean, one day I'll go. You should do what you want to do. Yeah, I have no desire, right?

I mean. Oh, yeah. I'm not doing a toxic male. You know why? I didn't think you were. Males explaining. No, you know why, too? Because it's a very solitary life, and it's a very solitary pursuit.

And I like doing things with other people, and I like supporting us, and I like showcasing us. And I feel like stand-up would just be showcasing me, which I don't think. Okay. I'll take that. Wait, before you wrap it up, can I... I got to ask you a question, boss. Wait, before you wrap it up. Because we don't get moments with Questlove at the Roots Picnic, Robin.

You don't know this. But this is the only time that he actually leaves. like, Aryan, this is really stuff. So can you give us any insight on today, what you're looking forward to, how was last night? Like, tell us something. This is the return of the Roos picnic in three years. Yes, it is.

You know, for me, there's a biggest story because the one thing we didn't talk about yesterday was, yesterday was our 30th, the Roots as you know it, was our 30th anniversary. Yes. Oh, my God, happy anniversary. Oh, man. So for me to see, you know,

two friends from high school bus on the corner of South Street. Yeah. And you tell me 30 years from this date, you're going to hit over 60,000 people in the backyard of the borough that you grew up in. I mean, I came here 30 years ago to see Invoke and Arrested Development, and now it's like, this is my home. So, you know, for me, it was a dream. It was a dream playing with Mary as well.

She definitely gave us feedback. She wants to make that happen again. Every time somebody does the Roots Pignette, Usher did the same thing, right? Every time they perform with the Roots Robin, they always be like, so what else we're doing, Vegas? Yeah, well, no band is going to compare, obviously. Thank you. By the way, can you text Mary J. Blige while you're at it also since you said that?

She would be good. You want her on the show? I want them all on the show. Yeah. We're going to get you on in season before. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Questlove Supreme. Unpaid Bill, Laiio. Thank you all for listening.

This is Robin Thidi. Thank you very much. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of the rich picnic. Please be safe. Love One Another. Quest Love Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio.

For more podcasts from IHart Radio, visit the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. That's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford show

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The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits, teams look for, to the biggest mistakes

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