In a recent interview from her basement
office, out comedian Wanda Sykes suggested President Donald Trump was
to blame for a botched response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sykes, her wife Alex Sykes, and their
two children, Olivia Lou and Lucas Claude, both 10, are sheltering in
place in their California home.
Speaking with The
Hollywood Reporter, Sykes said that she was envious of people
who were bored at home.
“I'm tired. I'm just tired. I don't
know where the day goes,” Sykes said. “I get pissed when I see
these people taking up hobbies and learning another language and
reading books. I'm like, where do you find the time?! (Laughs.) I've
been working from home, so it's a lot of meetings, our writers room
for this Netflix show, The Upshaws, wrapped last Friday,
[April 17,] and then the kids take up so much of your time. And then
it's, 'Oh, I guess we have to eat. Let me open up the cafeteria.' The
majority of my time now is the cafeteria lady, the janitor and the
hall monitor. It's crazy. By the time they go to bed, Alex and I sit
down to watch something and we barely make it through an episode of
anything. We both fall asleep.”
Sykes said that Netflix shut down
within a half-hour of her and Regina Hicks, showrunner on The
Upshaws, discussing their concerns about the pandemic with
executives.
“So, they made the call and they've
been great with the communication and helping out the crew. It's been
really great on that front. But the writers were able to continue to
write, and that was a saving grace because I didn't just sit here all
day and wonder what the death count is and have I washed my hands
enough,” Sykes said.
When asked whether she would talk about
the pandemic when she returns to stand-up, Sykes said she would, but
would have to find “that sweet spot.”
“I'm definitely going to talk about
it when I get back onstage. But I think it's going to be tricky
finding that sweet spot where it's personal yet relatable, but also I
don't want to be this angry comic onstage yelling about Trump,” she
said.
“Look, I knew he was going to be bad
but I never knew he would be this bad. Never. So, I guess it's
finding that area where we can laugh at it without just getting angry
and it's all, 'Fuck him. Fuck him.' It has to be funny. I have to
find the joke in it. And right now, we're too close … too deep into
it to step back to see what's funny about it.”