Essence_USA__February_2018

SCENE : ENTERTAINMENT
CABLE
COMEDY’S NEW ROYALTY
Williams (far left)
and Robinson pose
backstage at Brooklyn’s
Kings Theatre, where
they filmed their HBO
specials last October.
JESSICA WILLIAMS AND PHOEBE ROBINSON’S 2 DOPE QUEENS PODCAST TURNED TV
SPECIAL CROWNS THE NEXT GENERATION OF STORYTELLERS BY DANIELLE KWATENG-CLARK
For Phoebe Robinson, 33, and Jessica Williams, 28,
their paths to cohosting the wildly popular 2 Dope
Queens podcast were atypical. “Growing up I never
wanted to do comedy,” says Cleveland native Robinson, a
former consultant on Comedy Central’s Broad City and staff
writer on MTV’s Girl Code. “I thought I was gonna work in film
and write serious movies that were gonna win Oscars.” Raised
in L.A., Williams began acting at 15 and starred in the shortlived
Nickelodeon series Just for Kicks. “I wasn’t exactly the
aesthetic of the roles made for Black women, where you had
everybody who was beautiful, traditionally thin,” remembers
Williams. “Especially since I’ve been six feet tall since I was 15.”
Things shifted when Williams switched to sketch comedy,
appearing in the Web series UCB Comedy Originals and
CollegeHumor Originals. In 2012 she became the youngest
correspondent in the history of Comedy Central’s The Daily
Show. There she met Robinson, a stand-up comic, who was
brought in for a segment on Black women in the military. The
pair quickly became friends and Robinson invited Williams to
cohost her then live show, Blaria (aka Black Daria), where their
comedic storytelling caught the attention of WNYC Studios. By
that time Blaria had morphed into 2 Dope Queens, another live
monthly showcase for stand-ups—especially those with
“vajeens” and melanin. In 2016 WNYC Studios launched 2 Dope
Queens as a podcast.
The millennials’ conversation-style humor has now garnered
them not one but four HBO specials. “Jess and I really wanted to
keep them like the podcast,” says Robinson. This month 2 Dope
Queens, written by Insecure producer and writer Amy Aniobi,
will air each week starting February 2. The program begins with
quirky banter between Williams and Robinson and then
transitions into routines from three comedians.
“People of color are so different,” says Williams, who starred
in Netflix’s film The Incredible Jessica James. “Now, in Black
narratives, people are asking to be represented as a little bit
more offbeat or queer or just different. There’s room for nuance
in our experience. That’s the point of having awesome and
diverse stand-ups and storytellers.”
COMIC
RELIEF
AFEWOFTHEIRFUNNIESTFRIENDS
In their HBO specials, the hilarious duo share the stage with fellow stars
Stand-up comic Michelle
Buteau brings her own
#BlackGirlMagic.
Scene-stealer Tituss
Burgess’s real-life storytelling
is even more gut-busting.
Bard-loving Uzo
Aduba’s humorous
side shines.
Grace and Frankie’s
Baron Vaughn returns to
his stage roots.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HBO (5)
52 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY 2018
Follow ESSENCE Entertainment Director
Cori Murray on Twitter @CORIMURRAY.