Wanda Sykes Shares her Conflicted Feelings and Craziness About Comedy Today
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Wanda Sykes recently started doing stand-up again post-COVID and shared how things have changed being back on the road in a new interview. Sykes recently performed for Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration, part of the Netflix Is a Joke Fest.
What’s it been like being back out on the road?
I do make jokes about being in quarantine. It’d be weird not to when I haven’t seen my audience in over two years. But there’s so much craziness going on now that a pandemic that shut us down is not the biggest story happening in this country. We’re about to lose our democracy. It’s just nonsense after nonsense. But people want to laugh.
Yet, as a woman, a Black woman and a queer person, there’s a lot to be angry about right now. How do you negotiate the need for laughs with the subjects that matter to you?
I’m still trying to find that line of how much they want to laugh at what’s going on or if they want to hear about more personal stuff and not try to think about this crazy-ass time. My rule is, and pretty much always has been, “If I don’t have a funny joke for it, I’m not going to bring it up.” I don’t want to waste time ranting … which would be easy to do because there’s so much shit to rant about right now. I mean, abortion rights! The list is endless.
There’s been a lot of talk about safety onstage since Dave Chappelle was bum-rushed at the Hollywood Bowl. What’s your take?
It’s scary. I have a security guy, and he’s super thorough. But I really love my fans and my audience. They’re respectful. If someone heckles, which is rare, the audience usually takes care of it for me. I was at one show in Orlando, and some guy wasn’t happy with my Republican jokes. He was like, “This blows! Let’s talk about something else!” I just said, “Hey, I’m sorry that you’re a Republican. Sucks being you.” But the audience was like, “Get the fuck out!” (Laughs.)
