‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ season 2 to premiere in April; Issa Rae, Gabrielle Union to guest star
The acclaimed series was nominated for three Emmys in 2020
HBO’s hit series A Black Lady Sketch Show is coming back for season two and now has its start date.
Read More: ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ lands second season renewal with HBO
Robin Thede‘s A Black Lady Sketch Show premiered on HBO in Aug. 2019 to rave reviews. From earning three Emmy nominations in its first year and featuring guest spots from acting legends like Angela Bassett (who earned a nod for Best Guest Comedy Actress), the sketch series has been a hit for HBO.
The six-episode season will air on HBO on April 23, and will simultaneously be available to stream on HBO Max.
HBO also released a teaser for the highly anticipated second season. In the clip, Thede looks straight into the camera and cheekily asks the audience, “Oh you thought a pandemic was going to stop me?”
Season 2 boasts an impressive guest list, with plenty of Black A-listers joining the show. Issa Rae, who is also an executive producer, Gabrielle Union, Jesse Williams, Miguel, Skai Jackson, Laz Alonso, Ryan Michelle Bathé, Omarion, and more are also on the list of guests in Season 2.
TheGrio’s Cortney Wills sat down with Thede back when the series premiered in 2019.
She told theGrio at the time, “I try to really focus on creating work that will make people feel seen and feel important and feel joyful even when we’re doing sketches that are thrillers or horror parodies. On A Black Lady Sketch Show, I think there’s always those moments where you’re going to see something and go, ‘She did that for me,’ and that’s what makes me happy.”
She also talked about Black female representation in comedy at the time, and how it influenced her casting process for her own series.
Thede explained, “I think what’s happening with Black women comedy especially right now is so important…It was critical for me in casting this show that we showed size diversity, age diversity, and so many shades of Black women because those doors haven’t traditionally been open.”
Read More: Robin Thede wants Black women to feel seen on ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’
“I definitely have considered what Black women look like as a whole in this industry,” she continued. “I know that for especially darker-skinned women and larger women and older women who who are also Black in this industry, there has absolutely been discrimination and sexism and racism that have kept them from being as great as some of their counterparts. I think it’s really disgusting how Black women have been treated in comedy over the years.”
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