Iowa native shows resilience of black women on 'A Black Lady Sketch Show'

In the new HBO comedy series "A Black Lady Sketch Show," creator/writer/star Robin Thede, an Iowa native, is surrounded by a core cast of comedy performers — Ashley Nicole Black, Gabrielle Dennis and Quinta Brunson.

There were several conversations about the name, but there was never any question as to what Thede wanted the series to be.

"We just wanted to show that black women can be more than one thing and that we can be dozens and dozens and limitless numbers of things," Thede said at the TV Critics Association summer press tour. "It's just that we have so many rich ideas and we work in so many different genres in this show. It's like 40-some odd individual short films.

"There's horror. There's action thrillers. There's musicals. The variety of sketches and characters that we're playing, the core cast of four players [portrays] over a hundred original characters in six episodes. That's crazy."

The show, which debuted Friday, uses various genres to examine social norms, anxiety, religion, sex, dating and relationships. The six episodes feature five or six sketches, showcasing the comedic talents of the cast plus a long list of guest stars that include Angela Bassett (in the series opener), David Alan Grier, Yvette Nicole Brown and Garrett Morris.

The long list of well-known guest stars was easy to put together. Bassett was excited about being able to do a different kind of role, and Grier knew as soon as he heard about the series that he wanted to be a part of the program.

Tying the sketches together is a running story line about the last four women on Earth following a major apocalypse. The device was needed to illustrate — as Thede puts it — that "black women are very resilient" and to separate the sketches because HBO doesn't have commercial breaks.

"That was just something fun we wanted to do to create heightened versions of the core cast, so people can get to know us outside of our character makeup because sometimes we're not that recognizable. And to, also, really give a nod to black womanhood and cultural conversations that we have in a heightened comedic form."

Thede studied at the Second City Theater in Chicago after college. She was head writer and a performer on "The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore" and "The Nightly Show," and was on the writing staff for "Late Night With Seth Meyers" and "The Queen Latifah Show." Most recently she was writer and host of "The Rundown With Robin Thede."

Being her own boss means she doesn't have to deal with the trials of working for others.