Comedian Amber Ruffin is systematically taking over the entertainment industry. She is now taking her sister, Lacey Lamar, for a ride, she. With two books and now a new podcast, the two are busier than ever – even as the Writers Guild strike has shut down much of Hollywood.
In this episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Ruffin talks about the state of late night TV as a whole (and the Peacock show that bears his name), and Saturday night live auditions that inadvertently brought together a generation of Black female comedians and led Seth Meyers to hire her as the first Black woman to write for a late-night network show. The sisters also explain how they found humor in “everyday racism” and why they decided to embrace their real, utterly stupid selves on their podcast.
“I guess it’s all about me, but unfortunately, if not,” Ruffin says of his role at the center of the writers’ strike. “The Amber Ruffin Show, streaming services, late night, Broadway and Tonys. So, I’m having fun!”
Just two days after the strike shut down the television until late at night, Ruffin was nominated for her first Tony Award for writing the book for the new musical version of . Some Like It Hot. At first it looked like the award broadcast might need to be removed altogether to appease the guild, but now, with a message of solidarity between screenwriters and playwrights, the show is expected to resume on June 11 (without script).
Ruffin, who is both a late night writer and a Tony nominee, finds himself caught between two worlds.
“I think it’s going to be a long strike,” he predicts. “I also think they acted like they banked thousands of shows but they didn’t. And they act like they can go back to reality shows anytime because they have a lot and they don’t.”
Ruffin says it’s “definitely hard work” trying to figure out how to make a current comedy show work on stream, “but it’s a challenge for people with money, not me. I show up and I make mistakes.
The hardest part, according to Ruffin, is that streaming services don’t share their stats with the people who actually make the shows. “They know exactly how many people are watching but they will never tell you,” he says. And then they use this lack of knowledge to pay authors less. “You used to be able to make money writing a TV show, and you can’t anymore,” Ruffin explains. “It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Still, despite most of Hollywood shutting down, Ruffin and her sister continued to be quite busy with other projects.
They asked Amber to write a book and Amber said, ‘Absolutely not. I don’t want to do that, but my sister has some incredible stories’”, Lamar recalls of their first creative collaboration. You Won’t Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism Released in 2021, then the following year Racist Stories World Record Book, expanded the scope beyond his personal stories.
Lamar worked in a nursing home in Omaha, Nebraska, where the sisters grew up, and spent her days keeping a diary of the various acts of racism she had slyly encountered—just so she had something to show HR if needed. The success of their project together eventually allowed Lamar to quit his day job and focus solely on show business with his sister, including a new podcast called The Amber & Lacey, The Lacey & Amber Show.
“It was great. I have zero complaints. I love it,” Lamar says. “I don’t have to sit in silly meetings. And I no longer have to write something and take it to HR.
Meanwhile, Ruffin’s rise in the late-night comedy world has coincided with the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020. In the days that followed, Meyers opened every episode of his program by asking Ruffin to speak up—and especially without. jokes – about his own experiences with cops who segregated him for being Black.
“When these things happen, I have to be honest, I don’t care what white people have to say,” Ruffin says now. “I love Seth to death but I don’t care what that guy has to say. So when everyone made more room for Black creative on their show, I thought it was great and I bet the result was Ziwe. [Fumudoh] and Sam [Jay] getting late night shows.
Ruffin felt like “the tide has changed” because “when your only option is white men and you see it in the light of 2020, you feel like an idiot.”
Cut to three years later and HBO canceled Pause with Sam JayShow time canceled ziweand Peacock reduced The Amber Ruffin Show to occasional one-off special programs as opposed to a weekly series. When I asked Ruffin what that meant to him, he said, “I think he says we’re in America. Hello, welcome to America.”
Of course, Ruffin’s name was also swirling around as a possible replacement when Trevor resigned as Noah’s host. Daily Show Last time of last year. But like any other female night host before her, Ruffin told me that she hadn’t even gotten a call to guest host the show and that she had “a contract with Universal” that would complicate it—if not entirely impossible. .
“But I love when people say that,” he adds. He was asked whether he wanted Daily Show Ruffin shrugs seriously if he’s offered it. “Is there anything I need? More work!” he jokes. You want a twentieth of my attention? Hire me!”
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