Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykes
Wanda Sykesis an American comedian, writer, actress and voice artist. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America. She is also known for her role as Barb Baran on CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine and for appearances on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComedian
Date of Birth7 March 1964
CityPortsmouth, VA
CountryUnited States of America
Mostly everything gets worse before it gets better.
I love my family but my family - they're the type of people that never let you forget anything you ever did... I was in the first grade Christmas play - I'm playing Mary. Now, during the course of the play, I dropped the baby Jesus... They still talk about this. I go to my family reunion, and one of my cousins just had a baby. So I'm like, 'Oh, that's a cute little baby. Let me hold the baby...' And my aunt runs over, 'Don't you give her that baby! You know she dropped the baby Jesus!'
I was really gifted at being able to construct a joke, but it's like they weren't even memorable, my first jokes, because they were so about nothing.
I sat down and wrote some jokes and went to the talent show, got up on stage, fell in love with it and never turned back.
But I understand that relationship; I understand how the mother-in-law, daughter-in-law relationship has so many conflicts because it's so forced.
I watched a lot of comedy growing up.
If something stinks, I say it stinks. But I try to massage it a little and not be as cutting, come behind it with a joke: Hey, I cut you deep, but now let me put a couple of stitches in you.
I guess because of my act, people think that I say things they want to say, and that they can just come up and say anything to me.
I really can't pinpoint the one moment when I said I want to be a comic.
The first time onstage, a light went on. 'OK, this is my thing. I'm comfortable here. This is my thing.'
I noticed recently, in the last few shows I did, that I'm starting to get people - not a large group, but quite a few people - who come to see me because they love Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I'm always thinking of stuff; I just don't sit down and write it. I come up with material more as I go along; if something funny happens, I'll make a note of it on my phone.
It's hard to get fired from the government. You have to, like, kill people.
In '87, I used to do this awful, awful James Brown impression.