Robin Thede Wants ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ to Run Forever

Robin Thede designed A Black Lady Sketch Show to have no end. “That is my original vision for the show,” she tells TV Insider ahead of the April 14 Season 4 premiere on HBO, “that the show can be an institution and a launching platform for so many talented Black women to come through and to be able to show the world everything they’ve got.”

That talent is on full display in A Black Lady Sketch Show Season 4, which features returning stars Thede, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend. This is the first season without star Ashley Nicole Black, but three new cast members — DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore — join the hilarious crew in her stead.

Thede serves as an executive producer, showrunner, and writer in addition to being a star and creator. “Teamwork is the key” to keeping the magic flowing in their writers’ room and beyond.

“I’m constantly moving. I’m like a shark. If I stop, I’ll die,” she jokes. “But yeah, I have an incredible team. I have an incredible team in front of and behind the camera, in the writers’ room, in the post [production] team, in the crew, in the marketing team — our HBO family is incredible. They came up with this beautiful key art this year. Every part of the process, I’m proud of.”

HBO

This season features actors Thede’s been chomping at the bit to get on the show, such as Tracee Ellis Ross — they’ve “been stalking her for years” — as well as Colman Domingo, and Jackée Harry, who “gets to come back and play a non-227 character, which I’m like, anytime Jackée Harry wants to do anything, she’s welcome.”

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“Tracee Ellis Ross, Kym Whitley, and Debra Wilson — those were three Black women comedians we were desperate [for]. We’ve been hounding,” to get them on, Thede adds. “We were finally able to. They’re also audience favorites that people have been saying year after year after year they wanted to see on show. And we felt the same way. I feel an ultimate accomplishment with them in particular.”

Some of these dream new additions made for some of Thede’s favorite improv partners during filming, besides her mainstay cast (“they’re the best”). Ellis Ross was a treat to work with, as was Domingo, who appears in the “Black Table Talk with Dr. Haddassah” sketch seen in the teaser and trailer. “He definitely was so much fun,” the EP shares.

“We really threw the script out after one pass of doing it as scripted, and we just had so much fun,” she shares. “He was so game. He’s such a giving, giving improviser, and I don’t think people understand how funny he is. He was on a sketch show back in the day; he did The Big Gay Sketch Show. I don’t think people remember that. All they know him for is like Euphoria and heavy stuff. I think he was really, really, really fun to play with because he just got it, and he also didn’t judge anything. So he just really understood his character, understood mine, and understood that neither one was going to win in any of the conversations. So it was really fun.”

HBO

There aren’t any sketches this season that Thede’s been waiting to do. “The funny thing about this show is the audience almost always dictates which sketches are gonna return,” she explains. “They’re like, ‘Please, we have to see another da, da, da.’ After Season 3, they were like, ‘OK, that was great, but where was Black Lady Courtroom? Where were the coral reefs? Where’s Chris?’ The season before, we always had ideas for those, but if they’re not right, we would rather wait a season until we have an idea that really feels right. So I feel really good about having waited to bring those people back and do it the right way.”

Expect more exciting guest stars and continued hilarity from the splendid Black Lady Sketch Show cast when the comedy series returns for Season 4.

A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 4 Premiere, Friday, April 14, 11/10c, HBO