A tribe was waiting for Amanda Seales when she plunged into the stand-up comedy community.
“When I came into stand-up,” she said, “I found a certain safe space of intellectualism, of camaraderie, of excellence that really has always been natural to me, but always felt foreign in the other spaces I’ve been in.”
The actress, in town for a Tuesday date with her live show, is most recently known for embodying the truth-telling, shade-throwing role of “Tiffany” on HBO’s “Insecure.” She also has hip-hop roots, once living a life as an MTV VJ and another, although brief one, as half of the singing duo Floetry. But as the culture and the music began to change, hip-hop “didn’t feel like home anymore.”
She pursued other interests — podcast hosting, writing, producing, higher learning (she earned a Master’s in African-American studies from Columbia University in 2005), guest lecturing — but one thing remained the same: black culture being at the root of her work.
So when Seales created “Smart, Funny, and Black,” a comedy game show she hosts discussing all things black culture, she found the sweet spot for her interests to dwell together.
We chatted with Seales about the comedy game show’s stop in Chicago, blending current events with humor, and “Insecure” season three.
The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Q: You do a great job of melding hot takes with a witty, conscious humor that is relatable. How did you get to that intersection?
A: I come from an academic background, and I have a genuine interest in social change. Comedy has allowed me to fuse those interests and my knowledge base in a way that serves as “edutainment,” you know, “educational entertainment.” I look to icons like George Carlin, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor on how to present these concepts of social change and subversiveness to an audience in a way that’s palatable.
Q: Talk about how you implement that into “Smart, Funny and Black.”
A: “Smart, Funny and Black” is about celebrating, critiquing and learning about black culture, black history and the black experience. I created the show because I felt like there had been an influx of negative imagery and conversation about black people and black culture, especially under this current administration. I created this show to provide a safe space where folks could be a part of conversation that challenged those paradigms. The show is 1,000 percent about speaking to social change. I am a strong believer in W.E.B Du Bois’ words that everything black people do is political.
Q: The tagline of the show is “by any joke necessary,” playing on Malcolm X’s 1964 speech about racial equity. What do you mean by that in your context?
A: That speaks to the fact that I’m not going to hold telling a joke simply because it might hurt someone’s feelings. Comedians are in a unique position right now to be truth-tellers — we’ve always been looked to as that. That’s why I take being a comedian so seriously.
Q: How would you describe the show?
A: It’s a world I created where we can talk freely, laugh freely, and live freely while we discuss black culture, black history and the black experience against the juxtaposition of oppression. When it boils down to it, it’s this world I like to think of as an HBCU-Ivy League-Hogwarts. And the common room is like the “Rap City” basement.
Q: What can we expect at the Chicago show?
A: It’s going to be super dope. We have Luuvie, the Cool Kids, and just a great roster of folks who are going to be doing their thing. This is our biggest venue on the tour, so it really says a lot when you’re able to sellout this size of a venue with this type of content.
Q: What’s it been like for you navigating Hollywood as a Black woman during this ‘Me Too’ era?
A: It’s been about committing to not feeling tempted to bite my tongue or diminish my voice for the purposes of not having the ‘angry black woman’ tag on me. You really get taught that if you want to make it, then you have to let people try you and take it to the chin; that that’s how you play the game. I just don’t adhere to that. I think black women have been taught to do that with everybody in our space, whether it’s personal or professional. At the end of the day, you should not have to give up pieces of yourself in order to move into the direction of spaces that are positive for you.
Q: Let’s talk about Insecure season three coming on Aug. 12th. The show does a magnificent job of illustrating variance among black millennial women, from character, to careers, to choice in men. What’s it been like to play Tiffany, a black woman so different than you?
A: In the beginning she was presented as this very bougie, high-sadity, vapid and detached character, and I think that was really rooted in the fact that she was light skin. I don’t adhere to that at all. She has become more like me over the seasons just because she has gotten more grounded, and we’re going to get a chance to see more of her growth this season.
Q: I know everyone is itching to see how this baby situation will pan out.
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A: I cannot speak to that, but you definitely will get to see some good stuff, I will tell you that.
“Smart, Funny and Black” will perform two shows at Thalia Hall on Aug. 7th at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Twitter @christenadot_