Lena Waithe (Encore)
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Support for NPR and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities, and the planet flourish. More information is available at hewlett.org. Hey, it's Rachel. This week, we're going way back into the wildcard archives to bring you one of my favorite episodes with Lena Waithe. Lena was one of the first guests that I wanted to bring on when we launched the show. She is a creative powerhouse who doesn't just have big ambitions. She's got massive amounts of talent and curiosity and compassion. I loved talking with Lena Waithe, and I hope you enjoy listening to the conversation. What makes you irrationally defensive?
Irrationally defensive? Oh my gosh. I'm Rachel Martin, and this is Wildcard, the game where cards control the conversation. Each week, my guest answers questions about their life, questions pulled from a deck of cards. They're allowed to skip one question and to flip one back on me. My guest this week is actress and producer Lena Waithe.
What inspired Lena Waithe to pursue a career in entertainment?
It's my least favorite thing is getting something wrong. And that can be in many ways, you know, it'd be a relationship, you know, some trivia, you know what I mean? I love that those are in the same breath. Yeah. Lena Waithe knows what she wants. And what she wants is for people to look outside of their own lives to try and understand other people and the choices that they make. Lena Waithe's TV shows and films are these powerful little empathy engines. Lena became the first black woman ever to win an Emmy for comedy writing on the show Master of None. She's also the creator of the comedy series Boomerang in 20s. She wrote the film Queen and Slim and was the producer on the movie Dear White People.
But for me, Lena's real triumph is The Chi. The show takes place where Waithe grew up on the south side of Chicago. It's about black people living at the margins of society with little to no room for error. It's also about family and loyalty and joy. And I love this show because every character is given their full humanity. You cannot put anyone in a tidy column of good or bad or say, this person is worthy of respect and this person's not. People are complicated, beautiful, and they are broken. And Lena Waithe doesn't want you to look away because if you do, you're going to miss the truth that she's putting out into the world, which is that judging people is harder when you start to understand them.
Lena Waithe, welcome to Wildcard. Oh, wow. Thank you so much for that. That means so much to me. Every word you said really permeated my heart. So thank you very much. Thank you. Sometimes I make these big statements about artists. I'm like, God, I hope they feel that way about their work. But for me, it's like a through line through all the stuff that you do. It feels like there is a purpose in what you're doing to make other people understand how other people live. Yeah, I think what writing has taught me is that I cannot judge anyone because I can't judge these characters. So who am I to not judge characters but then walk through the world and judge people? And so it's a writer's job to witness humanity.
I'm still a human being. I don't love every person. I don't get along with every person. But I have to step back and try to understand why a person is who they are and why they are the way they are. Yeah. So I owe you a huge debt of gratitude, not just because you made great stuff that I got to watch, but hello, A Different World. So this was like my big excuse for me to go back and watch old reruns of A Different World. That's my favorite thing to do. All the young people, they're like, what even is that? Oh, my gosh. Okay, so for those who don't know, we should just say A Different World was this Cosby Show spinoff from the 1980s. I was obsessed with it growing up. It was so awesome. Yes. And you were too because you named your production company after the school that the show was centered on.
It was this fictional college called Hillman University.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:11
2
What inspired Lena Waithe to pursue a career in entertainment?
1:11–6:21
3
How did Lena Waithe make history at the Emmy Awards?
6:21–6:56
4
What themes does Lena explore in her show 'The Chi'?
6:56–8:35
5
How does Lena Waithe view the complexity of human nature?
8:35–28:21
6
What lessons does Lena Waithe draw from 'The Wizard of Oz'?
28:21–29:15