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Funny Sykes to sound off on late-night TV
The Associated Press
Wanda Sykes doesn't shy away from controversy, such as the one her comments at the White House correspondents dinner last year.
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Published: November 6, 2009
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Wanda Sykes brings her blunt, outspoken and irreverent humor to late-night television Saturday when her new talk show debuts on Fox at 11 p.m.
The second half of "The Wanda Sykes Show" will be up against a new "Saturday Night Live" hosted by teen singing star Taylor Swift.
But Fox could have a winner here. The 45-year-old comic says her talk show gives her a chance to sound off on current events. Will it be political? You bet.
"I'm your wrap-up of what happened during the week, but from my point of view," she said during a telephone news conference Wednesday.
She says she will open with a monologue, followed by a round-table discussion with fellow comics and guest panelists. Panelists on the premiere include Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24"), Daryl "Chill" Mitchell ("Brothers") and Phil Keoghan ("The Amazing Race").
She compares it to HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" but with sketches. "It won't be as serious, not as confrontational," she says, noting that it's like mingling with opinionated friends.
The monologue will be about what has ticked her off this week. "Like how everyone is picking on the president," she says. "It's been only a year since he's been elected and it seems like the man can't do anything right. Everything he does, people find some fault.
"Bush left a huge mess ... it's like giving him President Barack Obama a spoon and asking him to go fill up the Grand Canyon," she said.
Vodka party
There won't be a house band on the show but there will be a bar. Sykes jokes "the viewers at home will be drinking, so we should all be on the same plane." She will loosen up with vodka and soda.
Sykes replaces the comedy skit show "MADtv," which ran for 14 seasons. And she joins a new late-night talkers who are invading what has been an old white guys club. Comic Mo'Nique has a late show on BET and George Lopez debuts Monday on TBS.
Sykes shoots from the lip and is usually dead-on with her wisecracks. But some conservatives say she crossed the line at the White House correspondents dinner last year when she took a jab at Rush Limbaugh, who has said that he hopes Obama fails.
"You know he hopes America fails," she said. "Well, I hope his kidneys fail."
This brought boos from the audience and a backlash in the conservative media. She later said she might have gone too far, but that it was a joke.
Personality driven
Sykes has been performing and writing comedy since the 1980s. In recent years she has moved up the ladder toward stardom with supporting roles on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine."
She headlines a comedy special airing on HBO this month and made news last year when she came out as a lesbian and married her female partner.
She says she wasn't looking for a talk show when Fox executives approached her about this new venture. Being a black woman hosting a late-night talk show isn't as important as her personality, she says.
"These shows are driven by the hosts," she says. "It's driven more by our personalities, not just the voice of a black woman. Yeah, I'm a black woman, but I don't speak for all black women."
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