On Wild Card, well-known guests answer the kinds of questions we often think about but don’t talk about. Comedian Wanda Sykes talks about why it took her decades of work to feel like she had the career she wanted.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Every week, a guest draws a card from NPR’s Wild Card deck and answers a big question about their life. Comedian Wanda Sykes is on the road again for her new tour. It’s called “Please & Thank You.” She told my colleague Rachel Martin why she loves to perform in front of an audience.
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WANDA SYKES: There’s so much going on that I know people – yeah, they need to hear what I have to say or – and I know that sounds, like, very, like, self-absorbed, but you know what? Yeah, they do.
SUMMERS: Wanda Sykes has had a life defined by one act of courage after another, from quitting her job to pursue comedy, to getting divorced and coming out as gay, to surviving breast cancer. On this week’s episode of Wild Card with Rachel Martin, she talked about how each chapter of her life has made her stand up stronger.
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RACHEL MARTIN: When did it feel like the career you wanted was in reach?
SYKES: I’m going to say after the “I’ma Be Me” special. So that was 2009.
MARTIN: And why did that feel pivotal? What changed after that?
SYKES: It was, like, elevated. You know, I felt like I moved up, and the comedy was stronger. I was very open, talking about, you know, being out and…
MARTIN: Yeah.
SYKES: …And married and kids. But I also talked about, you know, what was happening in politics and all. So to me, it just – it felt – it was very liberating for me to just be that open…
MARTIN: Yeah.
SYKES: …On stage.
MARTIN: Be yourself.
SYKES: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: So that’s a couple decades of not really feeling like you’d made it.
SYKES: Well, I wouldn’t – I shouldn’t say like I hadn’t made it because I think I – yeah, I had a TV show.
MARTIN: It’s a different question. You’re right. It’s a different question.
SYKES: Yeah, I had a TV show.
MARTIN: Feeling like you’re making it…
SYKES: I had stuff. Yeah.
MARTIN: …In the career you wanted. Yeah.
SYKES: Right.
MARTIN: You’re right.
SYKES: This was the career I wanted, yeah.
MARTIN: Yeah. So you had been super successful, but it is different to get what you want.
SYKES: Right.
MARTIN: Like, the career that you wanted, sounds like, was to be able to be your whole self on stage. And there’s an element of vulnerability in that, too, and you got to be at a certain point, a certain age. Was that part of it, too?
SYKES: That – totally it. Yeah…
MARTIN: Yeah.
SYKES: …That’s it. And that, hey, if there’s not another TV show, you know, your own show sitcom or whatever that comes along, I’m OK with it. I – because I like where I am right now on this stage. And if I just continue to tour and do this, I’m fortunate. I’m happy.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SYKES: You know? So it was at that moment, at that special, where I felt that.
MARTIN: The year you’ve identified, 2009, in that special – that was, like, not that long after you did come out publicly.
SYKES: Right.
MARTIN: So was there any part of you that had wished maybe you had kind of ripped that Band-Aid off earlier in terms of, like, some big public acknowledgment?
SYKES: No. I believe things happen…
MARTIN: …When they happen.
SYKES: …In time, when they’re supposed to happen.
MARTIN: Yeah.
SYKES: I probably wasn’t ready. You know, I probably wasn’t ready to handle if whatever backlash would – you know, that would have happened. But when I did it was when I was ready.
SUMMERS: You can watch that full conversation by following Wild Card with Rachel Martin on YouTube. Wanda Sykes is on the road for her new “Please & Thank You” tour now.
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