A Black Lady Sketch Show's Robin Thede spills the tea in exclusive first look at season 3

Remember comedy? Vaguely, I know. The world's a dark place and humor's hard to come by, based solely on what passes for a joke these days. My kingdom for a punchline! But just when we needed it most, of the TV's most consistently funny shows is on its way back to schtick it where it hurts.

Since premiering in 2019, A Black Lady Sketch Show has offered up a hilarious grab bag of what star, creator, and No. 1 hype-woman Robin Thede calls "specifically cast but universally funny" sketch comedy. And while a lot of the chuckles are derived from universal situations, its place as a beacon of Black, and specifically Black woman joy, sets it apart. Maybe not everyone's going to get a 227 ("Maaaaaaaaary") reference, or a Basic Ball ("Oh, she is serving you a whole nap!"), but the specificity of the humor is not lost on an audience who regularly slides into Thede's mentions to tell her to "quit bulls---ting" and get back to making new episodes.

After snatching an Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming last season, A Black Lady Sketch Show is returning to HBO for its third season on April 8. In addition to the core cast of Thede, Gabrielle Dennis, Ashley Nicole Black, and Skye Townsend, this season will feature more than 40 celebrity guest stars, including Ava DuVernay, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Raven-Symoné, Wanda Sykes, David Alan Grier, Kyla Pratt, Jemele Hill, Holly Robinson Peete, and many many more.

EW spoke with Thede about what to expect from season 3, Angela Bassett's bad bitchery, being funny when the world's on fire, and if she'll ever want to stop making A Black Lady Sketch Show.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I love, love, LOVE A Black Lady Sketch Show and I'm so excited it's coming back! What can you tell me about the new season?

I'm really excited because audiences are going to be on the edge of their seats … I hope! Because this season — in an EW exclusive! — we will find out who or what was responsible for the end of the world and what the fate of the women will be. The other seasons it's always kind of been left open-ended; we know that someone was at the door in season 1, and it ended up being kind of a dream within a dream, Inception sort of moment for my character, and then at the end of season 2 we saw on the computer screen that someone was watching us in the warehouse.

We also saw, which I'll point out — it's not new information but I don't think that people caught it — is that in one of the later episodes in season 2, the women are in like a communications room trying to figure out if there's anybody else out in the world, and they look at a dot of where they are in the map. But before they zoom out on the map, you can tell where the four of them are. If you notice, and you might not have, but I will tell you: They were under the White House ... that has something to do with what we'll see. But that's one of the little easter egg moments that I don't think a lot of people caught. That is like a HUGE piece of information that you can't appreciate right now!

It would be worth rewatching season 1 and 2 to follow not only the interstitial storyline about the women first in the house then in the warehouse, but also during the sketches. You'll start to see in this season a lot of the same … you'll start to see some patterns amongst the sketches and the interstitials that will all culminate in the finale of season 3.

Ah, I've always wondered why you chose to have that overarching storyline with the women trapped in the bunker. So it's all going to make sense by the end of season 3?

Yes, this is not Lost. We're not going to leave you confused — no shade to Lost, it'll be very clear what has been going on for three seasons. In my vision for the show, you know, I want to make this show forever. This certainly isn't an ending or anything, it's just an answer to take us to the next level. There's definitely a little more concrete information that viewers will get this season. Basically, if I were to write the headline it would be like "Season three: You WILL get answers." [Laughs]

They're going to shock you. You really have to watch all six episodes to understand what's been happening for the past three seasons. Which I think is really cool and something more layered and interesting than any other sketch show on television. There's a lot of thought and I've been laying easter eggs and seeding things since "Bad Bitch Support Group" in season 1.

YAAAAAS! Angela Bassett!

Yeeeaaah, exactly! So you can go back and watch and see some of those connections.

Speaking of "Bad Bitch Support Group" and Angela Bassett, you always have the best guest stars. Can you tell me if there's anyone coming through this season?

Yes! Okay … we're back to like 50 guest stars in six episodes … huge guest stars. Huge!

Fifty?! Did you say 50? Five-zero?

Yeah, 50! Five-zero. [Robin later clarified that it's closer to 40, four-zero.] It's packed. There are almost 20 in the first episode alone. Some of them go by quicker than others. You gotta keep your eyes peeled. [Laughs] I know, it's star studded!

HBO sent some photos from the new season, can you walk me through those?

Yes! You're the first person to see them! This is a very big deal! We've never done this, we've never released photos early. Nothing comes out before the trailer. The other thing I can confirm based on the photos is the cast. We know that Skye Townsend was up to series regular, that already came out, but I can confirm with you, exclusively, that me, Gabrielle Dennis, Ashley Nicole Black, and Skye Townsend are the four core cast members this season.

Okay, let's see, I'm seeing a Hidden Figures moment … looks like you're in the bunker …

I'm not going to confirm or deny what the pictures are, but sure, make your guesses! I think speculation is funnier than confirmation in these early stages. Oh, there's a picture of me with the red hair, I'm clearly the devil, in case you didn't notice. I can confirm that — in life and in that picture.

I will say, this season is bigger and better than ever. The COVID restrictions were lifted a little bit. Like last season we couldn't have hundreds of background in a sketch or like kids or animals. Season 2 was great — five Emmy nominations, one win, hello!

Hello.

Hello! But I will say season 3, we were able to push it even bigger and even better. And I think people are going to see something that's even more cinematic, they're going to see a show that just feels epic. Like every episode feels so ... epic. The first sketch alone people are going to be like, "Ooooooh, okay! Got it. That's what they're doing." Just like stunts and choreography, just bigger. The central tenet of this show is Black women joy. And being able to show that, even when we're playing murderers or criminals or whatever, that there's always this inherent through-line of joy.

I think for us, we just want to do that in even bigger and better ways. We want to blow people's minds in terms of what sketch can look like. I think they're going to see that in season 3. Guest stars everywhere, in the most unexpected places, bigger set pieces, over-the-top characters. The stuff you're going to see from Ashley and Gabrielle and Skye this season — and me, I'm okay — are just … they're so comfortable in the skin of these characters. We're so gelled as a cast, the chemistry is off the charts, the writing is unbelievable.

We have a whole crop of new writers. We only had one returning writer, Shenovia Large from season 2, so we brought in a bunch of new voices to come play this season in the writer's room. And a fantastic new director, Bridget Murphy Stokes, who's amazing — this Black woman who's been doing everything from docs to kids TV, but was our single director this year. She directed everything and just killed it. It's a really cool opportunity to kind of flex our muscles visually, but in turn, amp up the funny so there are no pauses. We want you laughing so hard that you miss jokes.

There are a ton of recurring characters that people are going to be excited to see. Not only from season 2, but also ones you haven't seen since season 1. And of course, everybody's faves are coming back. But then there's a bunch of new faves that I think people are going to really enjoy. Some of the themes that we touch on this season get into more kind of layered issues that I think are universal. I always talk about this show as being specifically cast but universally funny. I think there are things that people can relate to, like struggles at your job, but in a way that is more nuanced and that's a little more unexpected.

And the twists this season are huge. Like you're never going to see where the sketches are going. And with the celebrities that pop up out of the blue. I think one of the cool things that we do really well is the celebrities surprise you but they don't take you out of the sketch. We make sure that they feel native to the sketch. It's not like, "Oh, why is Angela Bassett in 'Bad Bitch Support Group'?" No, of course Angela Bassett is leading the bad bitch support group. [Laughs] She's the baddest bitch! That was the name of the episode: "Angela Bassett Is the Baddest Bitch." You know?

In that way, we're just leaning into that even more. I think we really know the show, and the audience has been so incredible and has shown us what they want, in terms of how they respond to certain things, and we're listening to that. We do this for our audience, to feel seen. Whether you're a Black woman or you're just somebody who really enjoys comedy. We want people to feel like they're tapped in and we're tapped in to what they're looking for. I think, as usual, you're going to get a gorgeous, hilarious show, but this season is truly much bigger than anything we've done.

I mean, I believe it. You're hyping it up. I'm ready!

Yeah, and you know I wouldn't bulls---. Like, I'm not going to say all this and then it's whack! It's so good. I'm really excited.

I wanted to touch back down on "Black woman joy." The world is — how do I put this, a flaming pile of garbage — do you find it harder to be funny, to find that joy, in this kind of climate?

Well, we don't really make fun of anything. Our show doesn't really punch down. If we did do that, I think it would be harder. No, it's not harder for me because comedy is my escape. When I can laugh and create characters — and I get to do it with some of my best friends in the whole world? It's just joy. It's a joy to go to work. I am so happy to see them. We've literally never had a fight. Never even a weird moment. The four of us — all the women who've come through the show, Quinta [Brunson], Laci [Mosely], all of us — no one has ever had a moment of weirdness or, like, "Ugh, I don't get along with so-and-so." What you see onscreen is truly a product of the close-knit relationships we have with our cast, our crew, our writers, our producers, our network.

It really is lightning in a bottle. I've never experienced anything like it and I can't take all the credit for it, but that was my intention. It's just good people making good content. For me, it's not hard to be funny because I get to do it in a dream scenario. But I also know that while we get to come to work and play, the world is hurting. But, without sounding cheesy, that's what keeps us motivated. We know people need the show. And you know how we know? Because people are in my mentions everyday like, "Sis, quit bulls---ting, where's the show?"

We know it's only six episodes a year but it's jam-packed. This season is denser this year. There's more sketches per minute than we've had in any other season, but it's still six episodes ... so the internet will curse me out about that, but they can take that up with HBO. I look at Black Lady Sketch Show as an event that happens every year and you get these six episodes of just pure joy then you get to spend the rest of the year revisiting sketches and waiting for the new stuff. But you get to share it with your friends. You get to click on the no-makeup sketch, or the courtroom kiki sketch, the 227 sketch when you're having a bad day, and you can just watch it again and go, "Yeah, that was great! I got to laugh and not think about the bad stuff in the world." Because we can't take that away. But we can give you a moment to not think about it and that's our goal.

So for me, no, it's not hard to be funny because I know how much it's needed. I've been given a gift that I'd be selfish to not use. It's the only thing that really keeps me sane — and we don't do political humor. If I was still in late night, then my answer would be totally different. You're never going to hear political jokes on the show, only because we make the show months and months out before it airs. It just wouldn't be timely. It's not that it's not important, but I think our political act is existing in this format ... this traditionally white, male sketch comedy format. I think that's our political act above anything else.

Absolutely. Now, you said you would do this show forever, which I hope you will, but is there a number of seasons you have in mind? Is there a limit …

Listen, I told HBO, I'll say this publicly, you can print this: I told HBO I will make this show till they don't let me anymore. [Laughs] I will make it forever. If SNL can be on the air for 500 years, why can't we? I think it's necessary, I think it's a format that will keep living on despite who works on it. It's already established. It doesn't matter if we get a new cast or we get new writers, or whatever — the format's there. I think that's the legacy of it ... it's starting to be built. I think that's critical. HBO has been such a great partner in that. I love making this show. I know that sounds really cheesy, but this really is the thing I dreamt about for 20 years-plus. I really love making it, it's so much fun, it's so silly. The level of improv this year, oh my god, is insane. We reformatted the outtakes, also, so that you see them sooner. They used to come after the credits roll, and now they come a little sooner in a different kind of format. And there's more outtakes this season. So you'll get more outtakes, you'll get more sketches, and just more, more, more.

More, more, more. More wigs, more celebrities, more everything.

More wigs, honey! More celebrities, yaaaaaas! Oh, the wigs, honey, the wiiiiigs!

The wigs are why I tune in.

It's worth watching for that alone.

A Black Lady Sketch Show returns for its third season April 8 at 11 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

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