BWW Interviews: Wanda Sykes Talks 'Hannigan', Marriage and More!

Comedian Wanda Sykes is bringing her tour to the Providence Performing Arts Center, for one night only, on March 17, 2011.

Ms. Sykes has won four Emmy awards for her writing and performing.  She has been a series regular on Curb Your Enthusiasm and The New Adventures of Old Christine.  In 2005, Sykes played opposite Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez in the feature film Monster-in-Law.

In 2008, Ms. Sykes came out as a married lesbian during a national day of protest against California’s Proposition 8.  In May 2009, Sykes was the featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.  She was the first African American woman and the first openly LGBT person in that role.

I’ma Be Me, Ms. Sykes’ 2009 HBO Comedy special, has recently been released on DVD.

When we spoke, Ms. Sykes was just coming off of another career first.
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Randy Rice:  Tell me about your recent gig in Media, PA.

Wanda Sykes:  I was playing Miss Hannigan in Annie.  It was like the best of both worlds for me.  My first love is doing live comedy, doing stand-up.  I also enjoy doing TV, where I get to work with a cast, so this was great.  I had the immediate reaction of the audience and energy of doing a live show, working without a net. It was a lot of fun.

RR:  How different is it for you to perform other writer’s material instead of working with material you helped create?

WS:  It was challenging, but it helps with my performance and acting. But, you know, it was Miss Hannigan.  It is pretty straightforward:  She is drunk, mean and horny.  It was fun to use the [playwright’s] words, but give it my own take, my attitude on it.

RR:  How did you deal with singing live?

WS:  Oh, good lord! That really worked my nerves.  I think the last week I was looser and able to have more fun with it. [Singing live] was the most intimidating part for me.  I started to get into it, at the end.  ‘Easy Street’ was o.k., because I was out there with the cast, but on ‘Little Girls’, I was out there by myself.  Towards the end, I was o.k., but I really had fun with ‘Easy Street’.

RR:  Adding yet another aspect, how do you think of your career?  As a writer, performer, actor, comedian?

WS: Stand-up.  That’s me.  It is my first love. I think that being a good stand up is what got me everything else.  It is what I love to do and I am looking forward to getting out touring and doing live shows.

RR:  Can we talk about the anti-Prop 8 rally in Las Vegas in Novermber, 2008?

WS:  Oh, sure.

RR:  Did is seem strange to you to come out so publicly as a married lesbian?

WS:  No.  It was very organic.  I was playing at Planet Hollywood.  November 15th was the National Day of Protest against Prop 8.  I knew that I was going to a rally, [no matter where I was].  There was a group of us that went to the rally.  Word got around that I was in the crowd and they asked me to come up and say a few words.

    I went up and [the organizers] said “Thank you for being here.  Thank you for supporting us.”  I said that I was not there only to support them, I was there to support all of us.  [Before the rally] I was not hiding who I was.  Everyone who knew me knew that I was a lesbian; that I had just gotten married.

RR:  Any second thoughts about coming out?

WS:  Oh God no. None. Not at all.

RR:  A few months later, in May 2009 you performed for President Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner.  Did you know who would be President when they asked you to host?

WS: (laughs) Oh yes. Definitely. 

RR:  I wonder if the election had turned out differently, how would you think you would have dealt with being asked to perform for President McCain?

WS: I doubt I would have been asked.

RR:  I do too, but stranger things have happened in Washington.

WS: I seriously doubt I would have been offered.  I don’t know if I would have accepted.  I mean, I would hate to say that I wouldn’t have accepted, because it is the President and I do respect the office.  It would have been hard because I can’t do something and bite my tongue, but I can’t go up and be disrespectful.  I don’t know.  I probably would have declined [the offer].

RR:  Your weekly talk show ran on Fox for one season.  Any plans to do something similar?

WS:  Not that I know of. No one has contacted me about it. (laughs)

RR:  Last year you had an HBO special I’ma Be Me, which is now out on DVD.  I am wondering if your upcoming show in Providence will be based on that special.

WS:  There will definitely be new stuff and some of the same topics that I talked about in I’ma Be Me, but new material.  The kids are older and have there own little personalities, so the subjects may be the same, but there will be a new take on it.

RR:  How has being a wife and mother changed your act; how you see things?

WS: Being a wife and mother, now it is more what I don’t see.  I used to be all over the news, watching all of the Sunday morning news programs. I knew exactly what was going on.  Now I turn on the TV and am like “What the hell is going on over in Egypt?”.  I don’t have the time to read as much.  You check out for a day or two and the world changes.

  I never understood why people watched senseless reality television.  How could people watch that? Now, I am running around all day and sometimes I just want to check out and watch [something like] “Locked Up Abroad”.  I’m tired.  Sometimes, I just want to watch stuff that makes me feel better.

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Wanda Sykes will perform at the Providence Performing Arts Center on March 17, 2010.  Tickets prices range from $28 - $53 and can be purchased online at www.ppacri.org, by phone at (401) 421-2787, or at the PPAC Box Office, which is located at 220 Weybosset St., Providence, RI.

Photo: Wanda Sykes as Miss Hannigan and Tori Heinlein as Annie; Media Theatre

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