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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ashley Nicole Black was <a href="https://www.emmys.com/bios/ashley-nicole-black">nominated twice</a> in the variety series writing category at this year's Emmys.</li><li>Black's brand of <keyword id="11940446" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="comedy" source="Orion">comedy</keyword> centers smart, informative, and empathetic humor with plenty of heart.</li><li>She spoke to Insider about her work on "A Black Lady Sketch Show," "<keyword id="11940465" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-amber-ruffin-show" source="Orion">The Amber Ruffin Show</keyword>," and <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/ted-lasso">"Ted Lasso."</a></li></ul>Ashley Nicole Black wasn't allowed to watch <keyword id="11898468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tv" source="Orion">TV</keyword> as a child. So, naturally, because she loves a challenge, she became a force to be reckoned with on our small screens."Literally, TV is my whole life - don't ever tell me I can't do anything," Black said, laughing.The multi-hyphenate performer, writer, and comedian has become a sought-after and vital voice in onscreen comedy today, from her work on "A Black Lady Sketch Show," to late night's "The Amber Ruffin Show," and even joining the writers' room for the second season of "<keyword id="11928269" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ted-lasso" source="Orion">Ted Lasso</keyword>."Nominated twice in the same category (writing for a variety series) at the <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/emmys-2021">2021 Emmy Awards</a>, Black is having quite the year, and her domination in comedy shows no signs of stopping.On the heels of her impressive <a href="https://www.emmys.com/bios/ashley-nicole-black">double-nomination at the Emmys</a>, the comedian spoke to Insider about how she manages to juggle many, often quite different, projects and what's next for her.<h2>Black's particular brand of comedy is all about breaking down real, often complicated issues in a smart, funny, and empathetic way</h2>Black's career is as varied as it is fun to follow.With her characters on "A Black Lady Sketch Show," Black showcases her prowess as a writer/performer, making people laugh with nuanced, knowing, and just-plain-funny sketches in which she tackles a myriad of parts, from spy to grandma to guest at the Last Supper, all the while centering Black women in a way comedy often does not. She also goes the extra mile to make sure her comedy punches up and is smart about assessing what's truly funny in a situation. <div type="image" title="Ashley Nicole Black in a scene from &quot;A Black Lady Sketch Show&quot;" height="1280" width="1706" msid="85611272" hostid="261"></div>"I am really interested in, obviously, making people laugh, but comedy that has a heart," Black told Insider. "I'm not really interested in that sort of, like cynical, sarcastic, or removed brand of humor. I mean, like, I can do that - I don't want people to read an article and be like, 'She said she'd never be sarcastic!'"This sense of comedy is what makes her work on "The Amber Ruffin Show," led by "Late Night with Seth Meyers" alum Amber Ruffin, particularly engaging.A longtime friend of the show's host, Black works extensively on the standout segment "How Did We Get Here?" where Ruffin, with comedy and vulnerability, breaks down a very serious issue in an attempt to bring understanding and greater empathy to the way people view it. "What I like about the segment is that there are a lot of jokes, but we really do take the topic we're talking about very seriously," Black explained. "And we're giving you jokes because it's a heavy topic to talk about; we're giving you jokes to get you through the piece, but we're never making fun of the thing."<div type="image" title="Amber Ruffin" height="666" width="888" msid="85611273" hostid="261"></div>For the writer, this skill is a natural extension of her prior experience."Before I was doing this," Black said, "I was a teacher, so it's kind of my sweet spot - bringing together my ability to do research that I learned in grad school, my ability to teach, and then also the comedy." And Black certainly does teach people with comedy, helping Ruffin, the only Black woman in late-night right now, speak effectively about issues ranging from the importance of Black Lives Matter to the violent history of Anti-Asian sentiment in America."It was really cool to see the audience reaction to the piece we did about the history of violence against Asian Americans, and to see Asian Americans responding and being like, 'Wow, thank you for doing this,'" she said. "Because that is a culture that is used to being made fun of by comedy, more so than comedy being used to tell their story and explain their story, but not make fun of them in any way." Black sees a clear similarity to what they're doing on "A Black Lady Sketch Show" ("presenting a community in a light that maybe you haven't seen before, comedically") even if the means of production are different, "in a narrative way versus in a late night way.""It's like the same project - seeing each other and having empathy for each other, and not making fun of each other - but just in two completely different ways of realizing it," said Black of her work on both her sketch show and Ruffin's show."To me, it's just so much more interesting, and also connected to the real world, when comedy has consequences, you know?"<h2>Black doesn't only work in the realm of late-night talk shows and sketch comedy - she's also a writer on 'Ted Lasso,' arguably the most popular scripted comedy currently on-air</h2>This mentality - of comedy with consequences - also ties into her work on the second season of "Ted Lasso," the empathy-heavy AppleTV+ show about the titular American football coach and his work coaching the AFC Richmond football (soccer, for us Americans) team.The beloved show's heart is full of compassion and kindness, showing a different way to tell comedic stories that doesn't play into the crueler instincts of humanity. People being allowed to feel and express how other's actions affect them earnestly is not often where comedy is found. But, as Black told me, "How you affect people's feelings matters," and that's an idea that is also a central tenet of the "Ted Lasso" writers' room. <div type="image" title="Hannah Waddingham (left) and Ashley Nicole Black (right) pose at the after party for Apple's &quot;Ted Lasso&quot; Season 2" height="1400" width="1866" msid="85611274" hostid="261"></div>Of course, that doesn't mean she wasn't still worried about joining the show in its second season as the sole new writer. But true to the show's form, the team behind the series is just as cheerful and friendly as Lasso himself."I was nervous to go into it because I was the only new writer," Black said. "But I really do think this writers' room is a lot like the locker room on the show, where it was immediately so welcoming. All of those nerves that I had were gone on day one."Spending time with the likes of Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard), Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso), Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent), and co-creator Bill Lawrence, even if only through Zoom, does not seem like a bad way to spend one's pandemic quarantine, and Black agrees."It turned out to be, like, the best possible way to be quarantined - to every day get on Zoom for a few hours with the kindest, funniest, smartest people," Black said. "If you're going to have to join a new show over Zoom during a pandemic, this was the best group of people to have to join because they just welcomed me so quickly."There is, however, one downside to her ever-blossoming career: Black's dog is displeased with how sought-after her owner is now."I have been going back to work more in-person, and that is not her preference," Black said of her pet. "She was just fine with the quarantine situation. She has her little spot that she naps in while I'm on Zoom."It seems like the pup may have to get used to it, though, as Black's career shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. And surely the future of comedy is infinitely better because of it.

Meet 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' star Ashley Nicole Black, the double-nominated Emmy contender taking over TV comedy

<a href="https://www.insider.com/asian-american-pacific-islander-highlighting-heritage-from-here-2021-5"></a><div type="image" title="Jay Leno watches as Jet Li peforms a martial arts demonstration on July 16, 1998." height="1325" width="1766" msid="82943754" hostid="261"></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Critics say late-night TV is driven by ostracizing people of color, especially <keyword id="426188" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Asian-Americans">Asian Americans</keyword>.</li><li>Late-night comedians including Jay Leno used Asians as props, caricatures and punchlines. </li><li>Hollywood is slowly shifting from its traditional model, launching diverse hiring initiatives.</li></ul>In the wake of the <a href="https://www.insider.com/deadly-spa-shootings-in-atlanta-metro-area-2021-3">mass shooting at the Asian-owned spas in Atlanta</a>, the Late Night With Seth Meyers opening looked slightly different. Instead of the usual sarcastic monologue, comedian and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eECOwT1T5M">Late Night writer Karen Chee</a> took a moment to speak on how <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> outlets were sustaining the erasure of Asian-Americans."While the news media has been reporting on the incident, most outlets failed to call it what it is. A hate crime," she said. <a href="https://stopaapihate.org/">According to Stop AAPI Hate</a>, since March 2020, around 3,800 racist incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have been<a href="https://secureservercdn.net/104.238.69.231/a1w.90d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Press-Statement-re_-Bay-Area-Elderly-Incidents-2.9.2021-1.pdf"> reported</a>, with the spread of the coronavirus as a source of the<a href="https://www.insider.com/hate-incidents-against-asian-americans-have-skyrocketed-2021-2"> increase in attacks</a> Following the Atlanta incident, Chee concluded her speech encouraging viewers to read on Asian American history, and at the very least, "call this week's murders what they are, a hate crime." If this were decades ago, not only would comedians like Chee not have the chance to address this issue on a Late Night stage, but they wouldn't even be in the writer's room. Some Asian-American comedians say say the legacy of Late Night television was rooted in a system that enjoyed ostracizing people of color, including how it continued to reduce them as foreign caricatures.<q class="pullquote-quotation">I think Late Night networks and comedians don't take Asian stereotypes seriously because they don't feel like they have to.</q> Alex Song-Xia, comedian"The way that people think of Asian Americans is largely impacted by what they see and how they see us portrayed.," said Guy Aoki, co-founder of<a href="https://manaa.org/"> Media Action Network for Asian Americans </a>(MANAA). "In order to make fun of Asian people, they'll have our actors speak with an accent."Like<a href="http://www.konaomi.com/"> Naomi Ko</a>, some Asian-American comedians grew up having no interest in being part of the Late Night comedy industry for its "white, male, sexist, and racist" blueprint. Critics say, for nearly seven decades, the Late Night television universe was a problematic one. It successfully started with Johnny Carson (1962 - 1982), followed by David Letterman (1982-1993), and then Jay Leno (1992 - 2009).It set the standard for the Late Night hosts to come: Joan Rivers, Arsenio Hall, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, James Corden, and Trevor Noah.Successful Late Night shows like Carson, Leno, and Letterman, were loyal to the formula; a suit, a band, some pop culture news, and some jokes - a simple concept. But, critics have noted they rarely addressed cultural issues and instead relied on using Asian-Americans and people of color as props and really bad punchlines. In 2002, South Korean skater Kim Dong Sung lost the gold medal in the 1500 meter short-track skating competition to Apolo Anton Ohno. On The Tonight Show, Leno <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/01/news/america-on-thin-ice-in-south-korea.html">commented</a>, "He was so mad, he went home and kicked the dog, and then ate him!" He made the same joke ten years later about Kim Jong-un. Although there were anti-racist campaigns against him for years, like MANAA, who continued to call him out, the host was found making similar comments about Koreans eating dogs as recent as<a href="https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/americas-got-talent-asian-advocacy-groups-condemn-jay-leno-nbc-1203435820/"> 2019, on set of America's Got Talent</a>. "I think Late Night networks and comedians don't take Asian stereotypes seriously because they don't feel like they have to," said Chinese Canadian-American comedian, <a href="https://alexsongxia.com/">Alex Song-Xia</a>. "I don't think networks and the entertainment industry at large cared enough about what the Asian American community thought to do anything differently."For decades, Aoki said Leno perpetuated Asian stereotypes with ease, perhaps even with ignorance. In 1998, before Leno's <a href="https://manaa.org/">problematic timeline</a>, the comic had met the rising host at a Dick Clark party in Malibu. He had heard nothing but good things, at first. After thanking Leno for commentary on the OJ Simpson trial that did not ridicule Judge Lance Ito and criminologist Denis Fung for their Asian heritage, Aoki told Insider the late-night host back then responded, "No, there's no reason to do that." "When he started doing these jokes, just two years later, I was really confused. I said, 'wait a minute, I thought he got it.' I thought he didn't need to be told about why this is wrong," Aoki recalled.Progress, and accountability, haven't come with time. <h2>Change comes with time, or does it?</h2>In<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/11/the-banality-of-televised-anti-chinese-racism/281776/"> 2013,</a> Jimmy Kimmel asked a 6-year old boy what the U.S should do about its debt to China as part of a segment. The 6-year-old answered, "Kill everyone in China," which Kimmel replied: "OK, that's an interesting idea."Three years later, SNL <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/9/16/20869194/shane-gillis-fired-snl-racist-remarks">quickly fired</a> Shane Gillis over homophobic statements and racist remarks about Asians in a <a href="https://billypenn.com/2016/05/24/this-philly-comedy-show-tries-for-youtube-comments-irl/">2016 interview</a>. Instead of apologizing, he justified his comments as comedians often do as merely pushing boundaries.Aoki noticed that Late Night hosts suddenly took matters seriously, and doubled down on their jokes when attacks against marginalized communities increased over the past two years.Last march, <a href="https://www.ririnagao.com/">UX writer Riri Nagao</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ririnagao/status/1372535127272792066">quote tweeted </a> a short clip of James Corden talking about the casual racism that harms Asian-American communities. Her tweet read, "As one of the few late-night hosts who actually acknowledged this and took a stand, I respect it. But please also acknowledge that you've demonized staple foods from Asian culture in your "Spill Your Guts" segment, which is also "casual racism.Although Corden was one of the few Late Night hosts to mention the Atlanta spa shootings, let alone how hateful language increases violent crimes. Nagao felt it was also crucial for the host to "acknowledge and apologize for how he has contributed by demonizing foods from Asian cultures simply because they don't fit his culinary preferences."Activists say making Asian-Americans the butt of the joke isn't just hurtful to the community, but it's also harmful to their safety. "When comics make Asian Americans an object of a joke, it dehumanizes us and sends a message to other people that we're not worthy of our lives," said Ko. Accountability has been slow for a Hollywood focused on duck taping an already fractured system, launching hiring programs aimed at recruiting diverse writers for already problematic late-night platforms. While diversity hiring initiatives create more opportunities for racialized communities, Ko explains that usually, diversity hires are funded from different budgets and a separate paycheck - creating a climate reinforces writers of color don't belong. "The whole entire room knows that you're not actual staff, they don't consider you staff, because you're not part of the show's budget," said Ko. Although Diversity departments seem to be one solution to establishing value in diversity hiring, Aoki says, "there's kind of a disconnect in power from the diversity department to the ones who make the decisions on who to hire."According to a <a href="https://www.wga.org/uploadedFiles/who_we_are/HWR16.pdf">2016 study</a> from the Writers Guild of America West, only 2.9% of Asians guild members worked in television than its 86.9% white members. The entrenched lack of diverse voices in the writer's room encourages a competitive environment among people of color, including aspiring Asian-American comedy writers."For a long time, I felt like I had to be in competition with other Asian comedians because comedy has been ruled by white men," stand-up comedian, actor, and writer, <a href="https://www.bryanyang.com/bio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryan Yang</a>, told Insider. "I thought there would only be one spot for an Asian comedian, and I wanted it to be me. It took a long time to decolonize my thinking, accept myself, and accept other Asian artists."Since the start of Donald Trump's presidency, there has been a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2021/05/02/the-story-of-late-night-from-white-men-in-ties-to-more-diverse-hosts-with-points-of-view.html">slow shift in Late Night television</a>, where hosts could not avoid speaking out on political and cultural issues. Silly games and celebrity culture were overshadowed by political commentary, which meant hosts saw the benefits of having a diverse writer's room.Asian-American comedians like Bowen Yang, Karen Chee, Alan Yang and more were finally getting their flowers. <h2>Does the writer's room equal a 'seat at the table?'</h2><div type="image" title="Asian community protests Atlanta shooting" height="1080" width="1920" msid="82943755" hostid="261"></div>Since the start of the Trump era, the murder of George Floyd, and the rise of attacks against Asian Americans, there has been a surge of white apologies, including from <a href="https://www.insider.com/jay-leno-apologizes-for-past-anti-asian-racist-jokes-2021-3">Jay Leno</a>. And some white hosts started embracing their responsibility in the public media, including Seth Meyers, who enlists writers Amber Ruffin and Jenny Hagel to deliver the punchline for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR0I3IRo0o0">Jokes Seth Can't Tell</a>' on account of him being <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2016/07/jokes-seth-cant-tell-is-the-best-new-segment-in-late-night.html">a straight white male</a>." But Asian-American comedians want to see more awareness, along with change in the system where diverse voices are valued and not exploited. For Ko, apologies don't mean anything if it's not followed up with reparations in helping further Asian-American comedians' careers. "If you don't have individuals who are really thinking in a way that makes non-white men feel safe in a room, then it doesn't really change the cycle," she told Insider.Yang argues that "Jay Leno is just one guy" and that changes comes from holding accountable the "people more powerful than him [Leno] got him on the air night after night and gave him a huge platform." "Apologies are great. But the industry as a whole needs to reckon with itself and make foundational changes." Behind the scenes of late-night still looks pretty white. While there is more work to be done in its reparations with the Asian-American community and people of color, some comedians are looking forward to the steps taken to get there. Aoki thinks, "comedians can be funny, but they can also be responsible."

Asian-American comedians are fighting back against late night television that makes their culture the punchline.

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Meet 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' star Ashley Nicole Black, the double-nominated Emmy contender taking over TV comedy

Alicia Lutes

Asian-American comedians are fighting back against late night television that makes their culture the punchline.

Christine Jean-Baptiste

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