ByJason P. Frank,
a Vulture writer covering comedy, theater, and music
Photo: Getty Images for VOX Media
Robin Thede does a lot of things: She’s a writer, she’s an actress, she’s a show creator. One thing she doesn’t do? Boring straight men. During the panel “Robin Thede Tells Us How to Write Comedy Gooder” at Vulture Fest 2023, Thede provided critiques for three sketch performances from the Pack Theater, and the through-line was that Thede fervently believes that everybody should get jokes. Even the foils — the performers traditionally known as “straight men,” who exist to set up jokes but don’t always get laughs themselves.
“You get jokes even as the straight person, because you’re a sketch performer,” Thede said. “Your job is to make people laugh. I don’t believe that straight men should ever not have jokes.” In Thede’s mind, that’s part of what made her show, Black Lady Sketch Show, so special. “On my show, we don’t believe in straight men,” she told one group. “Even the straight men are ridiculously that.” Thede gave the example of her sketch “What Up I’m Three.” “The reason why I couldn’t do that sketch for the first couple of seasons was because I could not figure out who the characters were around her, and it could not just be about her,” Thede said of the sketch. “So once we figured out the games for the other characters, that became important.”
“The moms and Gabrielle’s characters are just as funny,” she explained. “My character is not the only funny one. That’s what makes it so funny.” Ultimately, it came down to advice that she got from Marlon Wayans: “You’re only as funny as the people around you.”
This post has been updated with a new headline and additional context.
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