Contemporary Authors

• You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain Plume (New York, NY), 2016

1. You can't touch my hair : and other things I still have to explain LCCN 2016018322 Type of material Book Personal name Robinson, Phoebe author. Main title You can't touch my hair : and other things I still have to explain / Phoebe Robinson. Published/Produced New York, New York : Plume Book, [2016] Description 285 pages ; 21 cm ISBN 9780143129202 (trade pbk.) CALL NUMBER PN2287.R715 A3 2016 Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms

• IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4662098/

  Phoebe Robinson is a writer and actress, known for White Guy Talk Show (2015), Still Standing with Ray Wagner (2011) and I Love Dick (2016).

• Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Robinson

  Phoebe Robinson
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Phoebe Robinson
  Phoebe Robinson 2016.jpg
  Robinson at the 2016 Texas Book Festival
  Born September 28, 1984 (age 32)
  Medium Stand-up, television, podcast
  Nationality United States
  Genres Race, gender, popular culture
  Website phoeberobinson.com
  Phoebe Robinson is an American comedian, writer, and actress based in New York City.

  Contents [hide]
  1 Early life
  2 Biography
  3 References
  4 External links
  Early life[edit]
  Robinson grew up in Bedford Heights and Solon, Ohio. She attended high school at Gilmour Academy. In 2002, Robinson went to college at Pratt Institute in New York City where she studied screenwriting.[1]

  Biography[edit]
  Robinson was a staff writer for MTV's Girl Code and a consultant on Season Three of Broad City. She is a regular contributor to Glamour, and has been published in the New York Times, Bitch, Vanity Fair, and many other venues. Her blog, Blaria (named for "Black Daria"), has been featured in the Huffington Post,[2] and Robinson has regularly performed a live version, Blaria Live, in Brooklyn and Washington D.C.[3] With Jessica Williams, she is the creator and cohost of the 2 Dope Queens podcast, and she created and starred in Refinery29's web series Woke Bae.[4]

  She has made numerous television appearances, including on NBC's Last Comic Standing, the Today show, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Last Call with Carson Daly, Comedy Central's Broad City, @midnight, and The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, FX's Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, VH1's Big Morning Buzz Live, and others. She has been named by Vulture, Essence, Esquire, Flavorwire, Brooklyn Magazine, and SF Sketchfest as a comedian to watch.[2][5][6][7][8][9][10]

  Her solo podcast, Sooo Many White Guys, premiered on July 12, 2016, and will continue through the summer. As a response to the predominance of white males in comedy, the podcast features women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. Ilana Glazer of Broad City serves as an executive producer.[11][12]

  Her book "You Can't Touch My Hair (And Other Things I Still Have to Explain)" debuted on October 4, 2016 [13]

  Robinson lives and performs in Brooklyn, New York.[14]

  References[edit]
  Jump up ^ McIntyre, Michael. "Comedian Phoebe Robinson, Northeast Ohio native, gets her big chance on late-night TV Thursday". cleveland.com. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  ^ Jump up to: a b "25 Female Comedians Everyone Should Know". Flavorwire. February 18, 2014.
  Jump up ^ "'Daily Show' star Jessica Williams and 'Blaria' creator Phoebe Robinson bring Brooklyn to D.C.'s Bentzen Ball". The Washington Post. October 1, 2015.
  Jump up ^ "About". Phoebe Robinson.
  Jump up ^ "Phoebe Robinson". SF Sketchfest.
  Jump up ^ Finley, Taryn (September 28, 2015). "Jessica Williams And Phoebe Robinson Want Comedy To Stop Ignoring Black Women". The Huffington Post.
  Jump up ^ "The 50 Comedians You Should Know in 2015". Vulture. March 30, 2015.
  Jump up ^ "Jessica Williams, Phoebe Robinson Debut New Podcast, '2 Dope Queens'". Essence. April 6, 2016.
  Jump up ^ "The Greatest Jokes Ever Told". Esquire. May 28, 2015.
  Jump up ^ "The 50 Funniest People in Brooklyn". Brooklyn Magazine. May 25, 2016.
  Jump up ^ "Let's Intro This Bad Boy". WNYC.
  Jump up ^ "Phoebe Robinson's New Podcast 'Sooo Many White Guys' Will Be Your New Summer Obsession". Bustle.
  Jump up ^ You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson | PenguinRandomHouse.com.
  Jump up ^ "About Blaria". Blaria.
  External links[edit]
  Official website

• Author Homepage - http://www.phoeberobinson.com

  PHOEBE ROBINSON is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress whom Vulture.com, Essence, and Esquire have named one of the top comedians to watch. She has appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Call with Carson Daly; TBS's Conan, Comedy Central’s Broad City, and @midnight with Chris Hardwick; as well recently landing a recurring role on the new Jill Soloway show for Amazon I Love Dick.

  Robinson’s writing has been featured in The Village Voice, NY Mag, and on Glamour.com, TheDailyBeast.com, VanityFair.com, Vulture.com, and NYTimes.com. She was also a staff writer on MTV’s hit talking head show, Girl Code, as well as a consultant on season three of Broad City.

  Most recently, she created and starred in Refinery29’s web series Woke Bae and, alongside Jessica Williams, formerly of The Daily Show, she is the creator and costar of the hit WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens as well as the host of the critically-acclaimed WNYC podcast Sooo Many White Guys. Robinson is the author of the New York Times best selling book, You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain, a collection of essays about race, gender, and pop culture. Robinson lives and performs stand-up in Brooklyn, NY, and is busy planning her upcoming nuptials to Michael Fassbender.

• BuzzFeed - https://www.buzzfeed.com/alannabennett/the-world-better-get-ready-for-phoebe-robinson?utm_term=.wfA991bWR#.exmJJEmze

  The World Better Get Ready For Phoebe Robinson
  One of comedy’s dopest queens has been working the circuit for years. But with a new book and a role on a highly anticipated TV show, this may finally be the moment Robinson and those who love her have been waiting for.

  Alanna Bennett
  Alanna Bennett
  BuzzFeed News Reporter
  posted on Oct. 12, 2016, at 3:13 p.m.
  TweetTumblr
  “This is a woman on the verge, is she not?” Janet Mock asked rhetorically this past June, gesturing to the woman seated across from her rocking a black jumpsuit and a blonde sew-in. “She’s gonna be, like, Amy Schumer levels of ‘please get away.’ We’re gonna be tired of you in a year and a half. So just get ready for the backlash, boo, it’s coming.” Mock was talking about and also to Phoebe Robinson, the comic who was supposed to be interviewing Mock that day at WNYC’s Werk It festival. But it was hard not to notice Robinson, who is certainly poised for something, with two podcasts, a book, a web series, and an upcoming Amazon series. For Robinson, it’s the what and the when and the how that’s still undetermined — and her deft navigation of those questions is proving the most interesting part of it all to watch.
  “I feel like I’m kind of the Peggy Olson,” Robinson said, staring at her menu amid the dimly lit gilt-leather-and-chrome vibes of Brooklyn’s Bar Tano in August. About a month had passed since Mock evoked the beleaguered but massively successful specter of Amy Schumer. “I’m very much career girl right now,” Robinson said.
  She was running late for a taping of one of her podcasts, 2 Dope Queens, which she co-hosts with her close friend, former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams. After the waitress boxed up her salad, Robinson was out the door like a shot, speed-walking into the evening summer sun of Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood. She pointed herself toward The Bell House for the live comedy show, a Black Lives Matter bracelet dangling from her wrist as she got her bearings. Things are pretty busy for Robinson lately. “When it rains, it pours,” she said.
  “I want to have an empire.”
  That rain has taken many forms. There are the two podcasts, of course. The aforementioned 2 Dope Queens functions as equal parts comedy showcase and platform for the compelling relationship of the two incisive women at its center. But there’s also Sooo Many White Guys, which takes on a talk show format and features Robinson discussing representation, sex, and dreams with guests like Gina Rodriguez, Nia Long, Roxane Gay, and the aforementioned Mock. There’s the book, You Can’t Touch My Hair (and Other Things I Still Have to Explain), which just came out. Oh, and there’s the web series, Woke Bae, put out by Refinery29’s RIOT channel and coming back later this year. And the part in Jill Soloway’s new Amazon show, I Love Dick, alongside Kevin Bacon and Kathryn Hahn, which just got picked up to series.
  All of these projects have positioned Robinson as comedy’s enlightened older sister who’s still got game. You know, the one you can pregame with in the living room while talking about Lenny Kravitz’s peen, but who’s also there for you when a cab driver says something racist and you need someone to read him to filth. 2 Dope Queens exists and thrives because of the personalities at its center; people not only show up for Williams and Robinson, they clamor for them. “She’s really goofy and loose and absurd and human,” Soloway said. “Her comedy comes from a place of reality, like the best friend who just tells the truth. She never pushes, she just is.”
  Soloway cast Robinson after hearing her name praised over and over again by other young writers and listening to 2 Dope Queens. “I just worshipped both of them,” she gushed about Robinson and Williams. That, in turn, got her into Robinson’s standup. After reading You Can’t Touch My Hair, it was “obvious [Robinson] was about to be a huge part of this burgeoning feminist content revolution,” Soloway figured. So it’s no wonder Robinson seemed the happy sort of exhausted over that August dinner — that very particular brand of distracted when you’re certain in the back of your mind that you’re late for something, somewhere.

  Phoebe Robinson poses for a portrait on Oct. 3, 2016. Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  “I want to have an empire,” Robinson said. “I like being in front of the camera, performing — but I would like to get to a place where I’m also executive producing and bringing other people along. People of all different walks of life, highlighting their voices. I feel like the only way the energy is going to change is if we bring people along. And you have to help change it. You can’t wait for the gatekeepers to change it because they’re not, really.”
  Though she may not be one of those gatekeepers yet, that’s a walk Robinson is already walking. With verve. As a comedy showcase, 2 Dope Queens has one of the most inclusive lineups out there. Robinson and her manager, Chenoa Estrada, do most of the booking. They look for “people who aren’t assholes,” as Robinson put it, and for people who represent as many different points of view as they can get. The show is better for it. “There’s a part of me that says you really shouldn’t even have to try that hard [to be inclusive],” Robinson said. “Just open your eyes and pay attention to the people around. Just don’t be lazy. People only want to stay in their inner circle.” Sooo Many White Guys literally exists because, well, there’s a glut of Caucasian men out there getting the chance to speak their truths and Robinson decided to carve out a space that’s explicitly not for them.

  Robinson’s book is seen backstage at a performance of 2 Dope Queens. Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  Robinson, who turned 32 in late September, has been carving out that space for a while now. Originally from the Cleveland suburb of Bedford Heights, she moved to Brooklyn at 17 to attend the Pratt Institute and study screenwriting. “I thought I was going to be a serious screenwriter and produce serious films,” she said. “It was going to be American Beauty and very important work.” But she also joined her school’s improv team, and you know how the rest goes: After graduation, Robinson took a receptionist job at New Line Cinema, but comedy remained in the periphery. There were the improv classes at the iconic comedy playground Upright Citizens Brigade, which marks the résumés of so many big names in comedy today. There were also the stand-up classes at the famed Times Square comedy club Carolines. At first Robinson didn’t think she’d be into stand-up at all, but it was there that she fell in love with it almost immediately. “That really changed my life completely,” she said.
  She started a blog, Blaria (like Black Daria), which mused on race, gender, pop culture, and all the intersections therein. It was also popular enough to lead to a live show of the same name with Williams — and was eventually renamed 2 Dope Queens when it became a podcast for WNYC. She’s written sketches for MTV; she’s appeared on various late-night shows; and of course, there was the stint on Last Comic Standing, an experience Robinson gloriously drags in her book: “It reeked of mean-spiritedness and racism (accidental or intentional, I’ll never know) and signaled to me that speaking up to a white person who just told me I was coming off ‘too smart’ and was therefore ‘unlikable’ was not going to end well.”
  For those immersed in the New York comedy world, Robinson has been a recognizable name and face for years. She’s been making the rounds, a warm, soft-spoken but passionate presence in any room. She inhabits a life and style she likes to refer to as “if Solange were a Maxxinista.”
  “I’m fabulous on a budget,” she said, gesturing to the purple-and-blue casual printed dress she was sporting with white tennis shoes. She also speaks frequently about a childhood spent mentally immersed in the pop culture she dreamed of creating. “I was never super popular, you know, always going over to a friend’s house, doing a ton of school activities,” she said. “I was just watching a lot of TV.”

  Phoebe Robinson poses for a portrait on Oct. 3, 2016. Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  Robinson’s been making good use of her knowledge for a long time since. She’s no newbie — but she’s not a household name yet, either. But in 2016, is that what one even sees when squinting into the future? “I think at the end of the day, you have to decide what you want,” Robinson said, leaning forward in her chair toward the end of dinner at Bar Tano. “Do you want to be famous? Do you want to be rich? Do you want to have a career? Those are three very different things.” But Robinson is about option 3. “I think if you want a big career, you have to be more strategic about stuff. I thought about: If I do this kind of project, is this going to set me on the path where I’m doing other things that I don’t want to do? Can I put myself in a position where I don’t have to do that work, and can do the things that I really do want to do?”
  These are particularly complicated questions for a woman of color, specifically, and a black woman at that, who assuredly and proudly built intersectionality into her work from the ground up. Robinson quit her day job in 2013 to pursue comedy full-time, writing freelance and doing TV recaps for sites like Vulture to subsidize her income. That allowed her just enough financial freedom to say no when she was sent out to audition for roles that didn’t mesh with her values. “I’ve been auditioning on and off for four years, and I’d say maybe once or twice I’ve auditioned for a role where [my character] had a personal life, or was considered worthy of being a love interest,” she said. The rest were the dreaded stereotypical roles Hollywood often assigns black women: “sassy” assistants, “sassy” best friends, the secretaries who are smarter than everybody at the company but put up with a lower position ~just because~. And so, instead of accepting a part she found substandard, Robinson kept working on other aspects of her career.
  “I’m in a place where I can be like, ‘This is not feminist to me and I don’t want to be a part of it.’”
  “I’m in a place where I don’t make my living acting in other people’s stuff, so I can be like, ‘This is gross. This is not feminist to me and I don’t want to be a part of it,’” Robinson said. “And I think what a lot of people forget when they hear women say things like this is that this is not just one role; this is a lot of the stuff that we’re offered. It’s like with catcalling — it’s not just one guy doing it one time, it’s days and weeks and months of this.”
  Being particular about her choices has also helped Robinson keep herself centered in pursuit of a career in Hollywood — an industry notorious for repeatedly forgetting that women of color, you know, exist. “I had to put myself in a position where I could [say no], so I’m not feeling like this industry is a terrible place and I’ll never find my place in it.”

  Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson perform in New York, Sept. 28, 2016. Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  Robinson stands as a testament to the idea of hard work and talent building up over the years, eventually leading to a break in the trees. It’s a rewarding narrative, both for Robinson and the people watching and rooting for her. Robinson is not waiting around for anyone — she’s been working toward her creative goals for the better part of 15 years. And though she might not have an image as recognizable as the Schumers or the Feys or the Kalings of the world (yet), she’s getting somewhere meaningful in her own time. Robinson told Fresh Off the Boat star Constance Wu in a September episode of SMWG, “This year is finally the first year that I’m not worried every single month that I’m not going to be able to make rent and pay utilities.” That’s not a milestone to sniff at.
  At the Sept. 27 2 Dope Queens show, which doubled as a celebration of Robinson’s 32nd birthday, she rocked a pink Missoni-esque Forever 21 skirt and a crop top that read “Black & Proud.” “I’m only 32,” Robinson told the festive crowd sporting tiny sparkly Party City hats, “but I feel like I’m acting like a divorcée of 47.”
  “You’re in your Under the Tuscan Sun phase,” Williams added.
  The topics of conversation that night were pretty indicative of what you get out of a 2 Dope Queens show — and Robinson’s sensibility in general. They discussed, for example, the moment during the presidential debates in which Hillary Clinton claimed that Donald Trump will blame her for “everything that’s ever happened.” Trump responded, “Why not?” Onstage at 2 Many White Guys, Robinson chimed in with a “You might as well be named Todd. That is such a Todd response.” Later, one bit between her and Williams moved swiftly from fashion week through a casual mention of reparations, and into Williams pulling an alarmingly ripped personal trainer named Jesse onto
  the stage who proceeded to give Williams’ work wife a birthday lap dance to U2’s “Mysterious Ways.”

  Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  Backstage, a giant bulbous cake sprouting fondant chest hair and bearing the words “DAD BOD 2016” waited to be carried out by Robinson’s colleagues and friends. On the walls were printed-out examples of real-life dads showing off their bods: Hugh Jackman, Colin Farrell, President Barack Obama, Channing Tatum, Seth Rogen stepping out of the sea with a bandana around his neck. There was also a not-dad, in the form of Jon Hamm, standing defiantly shirtless and childless.
  Scurrying back and forth between the greenroom and her role onstage throughout the night, Robinson took what moments she could with the people who’d come to work with and/or celebrate with her, stand-spooning a friend who was picking at the combination pizza and vegetable spread and getting updates from each of the comedians in the show’s lineup that night on their lives, loves, and careers. It was her night — a send-up to both the very fact of her birth and to the fact that her first book was set to hit shelves the next week. After the celebration ended and the cake had been mercilessly dismembered, Robinson was scheduled to fly out to LA to meet up with her parents — and to be a guest on Conan. Thirty-one’s been pretty good to her.
  There’s a long way to go before she’s the Beyoncé of comedy or has headline clickability as inescapable as Schumer’s, but Robinson’s hardly slouching. Her connection with her audience feels easy, natural, and consistent, but it takes a lot of invisible work. At the end of every 2 Dope Queens live taping, for example, comes “pickups,” a technical segment in which the producers need to record bits of silence and laughter from the audience to fill in the show during the editing process. It has the ability to be extraordinarily artificial and strained, a reminder that shows don’t just spring into effervescent existence with no effort. At the late August taping, though, Robinson played through it with a bit casting herself as a DJ. She mimed and danced jigs around the stage whenever the audience didn’t get it right, turning what could be a slog into a game and a treat that only those who saw the show live would get to see.
  It’s that unseen work — along with the undercurrent of luck that’s always at play in success stories — that’s really defining which comedians break through the din. “Technology is making it that if you build your own audience that network will come to you,” Robinson said. “We really live in a world where you have to do a lot of the work yourself first before people will be interested in you, especially if you’re not a straight cis white guy.”

  Phoebe Robinson backstage during a 2 Dope Queens show, Sept. 28, 2016 in New York. Gretchen Robinette for BuzzFeed News
  According to Soloway, the empire Robinson dreams of is a viable option. “Her timing, her way of seeing, her brutal honesty — the more filmmakers, showrunners, and artists who get to know about her voice, the better,” the Emmy-winning showrunner said. “And I’m sure she’s going to be that showrunner-artist person within seconds.”
  For now, Robinson has her foundation — and it’s a solid one. Besides, her point still stands: If you build it, and you build it good, they may come. “There aren’t just three channels anymore, and a lot of it’s niche audiences. You can capitalize on that; a lot of people can.”
  In the Season 1 finale of Sooo Many White Guys, comedian Mike Birbiglia — the show’s first token white guy — talked with Robinson about our national obsession with massive mainstream discovery. “I feel like we have this misunderstanding in America. We’re fed the idea that success is exposure, or visibility,” he said. “But success, I think, is connecting with people.”
  What Phoebe Robinson is doing is not new. Pick a few of the millions of plucky women of color out there in the world and you’ll recognize the pathos, the humor, the intelligence, the frustrations, the joy. But it feels fresh in her hands — and sometimes that’s what matters, especially when it’s backed with the work ethic to sell it and the talent to make it sing. Robinson’s endgame may still be up in the air, but her mission statement is clear: Watch this space — there’s more to come. ●
  CORRECTION
  Robinson’s tennis shoes were from Aldo. A previous version of this piece incorrectly stated she was wearing Keds. Thanks to this very fashion-forward reader for pointing that out. Oct. 14, 2016, at 4:27 p.m.

• Penguin RandomHouse - http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2104965/phoebe-robinson

  Phoebe Robinson
  P R
  Photo: © Mindy Tucker
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  PHOEBE ROBINSON is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress whom Vulture.com, Essence, andEsquire have named one of the top comedians to watch. She has appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Call with Carson Daly; Comedy Central’s Broad City, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and @midnight with Chris Hardwick; as well as the new Jill Soloway pilot for AmazonI Love Dick. Robinson’s writing has been featured in The Village Voice and on Glamour.com, TheDailyBeast.com, VanityFair.com, Vulture.com, and NYTimes.com. She was also a staff writer on MTV’s hit talking head show, Girl Code, as well as a consultant on season three of Broad City. Most recently, she created and starred in Refinery29’s web series Woke Bae and, alongside Jessica Williams of The Daily Show, she is the creator and costar of the hit WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens as well as the host of the new WNYC podcast Sooo Many White Guys. Robinson lives and performs stand-up in Brooklyn, NY, and you can read her weekly musings about race, gender, and pop culture on her blog, Blaria.com (aka Black Daria).

  SEE LESS

• WNYC - http://www.wnyc.org/people/phoebe-robinson/

  Phoebe Robinson
  Co-Host, 2 Dope Queens | Host, Sooo Many White Guys
  Enlarge
  (Mindy Tucker)
  Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who has been named by Vulture, Essence, and Esquire Magazine as one of the top comedians to watch. She has appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Call with Carson Daly, Comedy Central’s Broad City, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and @midnight. She was also a writer on MTV’s hit talking head show Girl Code and is currently a writer for Vulture.com and VanityFair.com. Most recently, she consulted on Season 3 of Broad City and is working on her first book of essays You Can’t Touch My Hair for Plume publishing, which will be released in Fall 2016.

  Shows:

  2 Dope Queens
  Sooo Many White Guys
  Phoebe Robinson appears in the following:

  #27 Carrie Brownstein's First Date
  Tuesday, April 11, 2017
  Carrie Brownstein tells the tale of her first date (and how it turned her gay). Plus, Pete Holmes and Solomon Georgio.

• Jet Magazine - https://www.jetmag.com/life/phoebe-robinson-talks-interracial-dating/

  PHOEBE ROBINSON TALKS INTERRACIAL DATING
  L'OREAL THOMPSON PAYTON April 1, 2015

  When I first started dating my now husband, a few family members and friends were surprised to find out he was Black.

  You see, I’ve always had a soft spot for White boys. My first crush was Michael Bolton (don’t judge). Justin Timberlake is my “bae” (he just doesn’t know it yet, sorry Jessica!). And my first boyfriend was White.

  Having experienced an interracial relationship firsthand, I literally laughed out loud when I saw Upworthy’s latest original video, “Mostly True with Phoebe Robinson.”

  “This video and the jokes in it were based on a conversation with my boyfriend Jon, who comes from a big Italian family and I was going to meet his parents (AND all his family) at a wedding, so I was definitely nervous,” explains the comedian, who is also known as the Black Daria, or “Blaria,” for short. “And my nervousness prompted that question.”

  While being part of an interracial relationship is just like any other relationship (for the most part), it can be on the receiving end of ignorant comments/questions or flat-out racism.

  “I think the craziest thing is that people will sometimes yell stuff at us while we’re walking down the street. Like, ‘Hey, why aren’t you dating an African prince?’ Uh, cuz I live in Park Slope, dude,” she says. “Other bad thing is that I used to live off the Church Avenue stop in Brooklyn and people used to write in the subway that the neighborhood wasn’t for White people and that they need to leave. That was definitely awkward.”

  So what’s a gal to when she finds herself madly in love with someone from a different race?

  “Have fun with your differences and welcome them. Know that outside people are going to judge your relationship and you just have to have the resolve to handle it,” advises Phoebe. “Be ready and willing to talk openly about race and willing to learn about each other’s cultures. Sure, it may be awkward at times, but it’s worth it, especially if you love the person.”

  And last, but certainly not least, don’t worry about the haters.

  “Ignore people who will be like, ‘Have kids because they will be gorgeous,’” she says. “They’re not in charge of your lady bits. Have kids when you’re ready AND not because they will be beautiful.”

  Preach on, sister!

  To watch more Upworthy originals, click HERE and follow Phoebe on Twitter@PRobinsonComedy.

  About L’Oreal Thompson Payton

  LTP-200x300

  A Charm City girl in the Windy City, L’Oreal Thompson Payton is a professional storyteller with a penchant for people and a passion for purple. When she’s not busy writing, L’Oreal enjoys reading, dancing and devouring delicious cupcakes. Follow L’Oreal on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and visit her blog at LTintheCity.com.

• In Style - http://www.instyle.com/reviews-coverage/books/phoebe-robinson-you-cant-touch-my-hair-interview

  2 Dope Queens’ Phoebe Robinson on Her New Book, Her Podcast Empire, and the Best Advice She’s Ever Received
  2 Dope Queens' Phoebe Robinson on Her New Book, Her Podcast Empire, and the Best Advice She's Ever Received
  DAVID CORTES
  8 SHARES
  OCTOBER 4, 2016 @ 3:00 PM
  BY: LEIGH BELZ RAY
  This past April, WNYC studios premiered 2 Dope Queens, a comedy podcast starring Phoebe Robinson, a writer/comedian/actress, and Jessica Williams, an actress/The Daily Show correspondent. The two friends had been running 2 Dope Queens as a successful regular stand-up show at Brooklyn's Union Hall before they were tapped to bring it to WNYC for worldwide broadcast. Within the first week of the podcast's debut, it hit #1 on iTunes and has continued to gain momentum over sixteen episodes (the second season just premiered last month). This summer, Robinson branched out to a second podcast, So Many White Guys, which was a 10-episode series featuring a conversation between Robinson and a non-white or non-male guest*. (*Save for the 10th episode of the first season, which had comedian and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia on to discuss "maleness and whiteness.")

  But though So Many White Guys is currently on hiatus, you can read more of Robinson's thoughts on race, gender, pop culture, and more in her excellent first book of essays, You Can't Touch My Hair (And Other Things I Still Have to Explain) ($11; amazon.com), out now. The beauty of Robinson's writing—and point of view in both her podcasts—is that it's honest and unapologetic. But it's also really funny. Not many people can pull off that balance.

  Robinson came to the InStyle offices last week to talk about her book, her shows, and her very favorite band.

  YQY*! (*That's Yas Queen Yas, for non-podcast listeners)

  You put yourself out there between your two podcasts and your book. Is it weird when strangers talk to you as if they know you?
  I don’t get recognized a whole lot but it’s starting to ramp up a little bit. It’s always weird when I’m on the street and someone’s like, "Hey, Phoeb," so then I have that second where I’m like, "Do I know this person?" or is this someone who listens to the podcast and I haven’t met them before. So that’s been kind of weird, but for the most part, everyone has been great and wonderful. I’m not like Beyoncé. I don’t need security to take me to Cuba or whatever. So it can be weird sometimes, but I think people get that that is my podcast and I’m mostly that, but there are other layers to me that aren’t shown on the podcast.

  What was the timeline—when did you start the book in relation to the two podcasts?
  I got my agent November 2014 and then I sold the proposal January 2015. We started taping 2 Dope Queens in September of last year. Then I did final pass of the book June of this year. So it was a decent process. At times it was definitely tough, but it was so much fun. It’s always been my dream ever since I started my blog (Blaria.com) four years ago to be in this position where I have a book out and my face is all over it. I feel like people don’t remember authors, so you just have to have your face out there—unless you’re Ta-Nehisi Coates and people just see your face everywhere.

  Courtesy
  Since you’ve been talking about dating and race and feminism so much in the past year on both podcasts, did you keep going back to the book with new ideas?
  Yeah, I missed two or three writing deadlines which I heard that happens with authors. It’s really hard to turn a book in on time. But you get to a point where you can’t add anything new, you can only edit down. I wanted to write something about police brutality and they were like, "This idea is great, but we can't add it to the book now because of scheduling." So that’s really the only time I wish I could’ve added something to it. But I think the book touches on so many different things and I feel like it captures who I was at 30 and 31. It feels like a little time capsule. Then when I write my next book, it’ll be where I am at when I’m 35.

  Have friends and family read it yet?
  No one in my family has it yet. I’m like "You guys can get it when you order on Amazon!" But my parents are so cute. They were like, "We ordered a bunch of copies and we are going to give them to the local library." But one of my close friends Allison read the book. She’s white, from Texas, and she said that she didn’t realize a lot of things about race, so it was a good eye-opening book for her. But yeah, I haven’t shown it to that many people yet because I just want to wait until Oct. 4 when everyone can read it. I really hope that it resonates with people and they feel like they are hanging out with a friend. And I hope it makes them laugh. I’ve read the book like six times so it’s hard for me to be objective about it.

  In one of the early chapters of the book you talk about how the way you choose to do your hair affects how you're treated by people ...
  Yeah, black hair is really divisive in this country. I don’t think people realize how much pressure black women face to have their hair tell the world who they are where it’s like, "I’m safe" or "I’m professional." Black women aren’t just spending money on hair because we’re frivolous. There’s a lot more that goes into it and I don’t think people realize that. It’s hard because if you have an afro, people will react to that. If you straighten your hair, some people will think you don’t love yourself, which isn’t true. There is so much outside opinion about women’s hair in general, whether you’re black or white. And when you’re black, it’s even tougher.

  What is your writing process like?
  When I was writing the book, I was at my most disciplined. I broke up with my ex in the middle of writing it. So I moved into my own 2-bedroom apartment and turned one room into an office and I was very good about waking up, turning off wifi, putting my cell phone in another room, and just writing. That was really good. Now that I'm out of the book writing process, I really want to get back into stand-up writing. I want to write four really new solid jokes a week. My jokes seem to be getting longer now, so it feels like that’s a good amount per week. I know there are some people who write everyday, like Jerry Seinfield. I can't do that. It’s too much for me, but it works for him.

  Pop culture is a huge part of your writing and your comedy. And there's sometimes a small generational divide on 2 Dope Queens between you and Jessica Williams, who's a few years younger than you. You're an unabashed U2 fan and she just doesn't get it.
  Jess recently watched a documentary that had The Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page and she said, "You know, I was wrong. The Edge is kind of cute" and I was like, "I know." I know it’s kind of dorky, but I love U2. They make good music. I’ve seen them four times. I want to see them more. I just like big concert shows where everyone knows all of the music, and all of the lyrics, singing together, it really feels like the world is not a dumpster fire. They're really good at doing anthem-type songs and I like that they are philanthropic, which is great because they don’t have to be. They could be just super rich and only care about that but they give back. They work with other artists like Alicia Keys and Beyoncé who want to do more than just get rich. So I like that aspect of them and I like that they are invested in politics … I really like the band. They make me happy. They seem like cool dudes and I hope that they will want to hang out with me one day and I’ll probably cry if they do want to hang out with me.

  Have any of your pop culture obsessions reached out to you, after hearing about your admiration on either podcast?
  Probably one of the coolest things was when St. Vincent tweeted something like "One of my favorite parts about Tuesday mornings is waking up to a new 2 Dope Queens episode." And I was like, "What?!" She’s really great. Now we follow each other on Twitter. We found out we share the same birthday. So I’m like, we’re meant to know each other. It really feels cool to have awesome artistic women who really like the show a lot. I think the St. Vincent one was crazy because I remember going to go see her when she was performing at Prospect Park and I’ve been such a fan of hers. It’s always that extra level when a rock star likes you; it’s cool.

  Are comedians or actors or musicians offering themselves up as guests for either podcast now that they've both done so well?
  Yeah, I think it’s easier now. Jess and I want to celebrate women, people of color, people of the LGBTQ community. I think that resonates with a lot of comics who feel like there are a lot of opportunities they may not be picked for because they aren’t a white guy. And with 2 Dope Queens, they can come on and show everyone how amazing they are. So I think with the second season, it was easier because the first season, people were a little scared like oh, a stand-up show is going to be taped and that’s a lot of pressure. So as we were doing the first season, we were kind of loosening up with authors like Lindy West and storytellers on. So I think now with people like Jon Stewart, they don’t feel like I have to do a spotless 15 minutes of comedy. I can hang out with them and have a conversation with them or tell a funny story or read something. So I think people are realizing that it’s a safe space and not this crazy high-pressure situation to have the funniest set of your life which I think is nice. So we want to have RuPaul on. We’re obsessed with her. We have a running list like Sarah Silverman. Alec Baldwin. Jon Hamm ... there’s so many people we’re just like, "Please do the show and we’ll just hang out and be ridiculous. It’ll be the funnest night ever."

  You launched a second podcast, So Many White Guys, this summer. How did that that start?
  I did a stand-up show in L.A. for a Comedy Festival called So Many White Guys. So I did two of those shows with ten female comedians. There are all of these amazing, talented, funny women that should be on TV shows and movies, and booked at clubs more because clubs are notorious for not booking as many female stand-up comics. So that show ended up being a lot of fun and I thought maybe that could translate to an interview show because there are so many people I’m fascinated by, like Lizzo and Janet Mock and Roxanne Gay. That, to me, was like, this could be a great way to have conversations with people who I think are amazing and geniuses and everyone should worship them the way that I do.

  So Ilana [Glazer, of Broad City, who is executive producer and a guest of the podcast] and I, and the producers, sat down to figure out the format, really polish it, and then we're going about booking like crazy. The ten episodes that we did were all with people who we love. And WYNC were so good about being accommodating and they found it in their budget to make this show work. And they put me with producers that are amazing and diverse. I love my producer, Joanna. She’s amazing. Behind the scenes, it was an all-female-produced podcast, which is also the case for 2 Dope Queens as well.

  You've been busy the past few years—what are your next few months like with the book release?
  October, I’ll mostly be on the book tour. Then, I’ll be back here to do some 2 Dope Queens shows. We’re definitely doing one but we might try to squeeze in two more while I’m in town because Jess’s movie is wrapping this month. So it’s been a crazy time for us trying to meet up and do all of the episodes. Then I’ll be working on a project that I really can't talk about. So that’ll be through the rest of the year. For January, I’m not sure. I want to do a one week vacation somewhere. But I’ve also been thinking about writing and directing a short film, which I’ve never done before. But I don’t think I would be in it. I just want to showcase other talent and just learn how to do more behind the scene stuff. I feel like I’ve gotten really good with behind-the-scene stuff with podcasting and listen to roughs cuts, and listen to what works and what doesn’t, so I really want to do that with film—and eventually have my own TV show.

  What's the best advice you've ever been given?
  It came from John Hodgman. He’s such a delight. I met him maybe three years ago. We did this birthday show in Boston. I was the only woman on the lineup with all these heavy hitters. I was really intimidated and nervous. After the show, they were all like, "Let’s go hang out in the hotel lobby," and I felt really uncomfortable. I get really nervous being around successful people. I’m always in awe of people and I get anxious. They were all just sitting and hanging out. I was like, "I think I’m just going to go upstairs." And then John Hodgman came over and was like, "Hey. What’s up? How’s it going? What’s your deal?" and I was like what do you mean? And he’s like, "What do you want to do?"

  I never had a super established comic like that just befriend me that way. He gave me great career advice. I was telling him I wanted to write a book and do a solo show and all of these other things and that I’m not like the stand-up comedian that wants to do four shows a night. That’s just not how I’m built. He was like, "Yeah, don’t let everyone else define who you should be." Whatever career you want to have, have that. He said, "You’re talented, so just do the things that interest you and if other people don’t get it, they don’t need to because it’s not their lives. You define what you want." So now I go through my career saying, I want to do a podcast? I’m doing a podcast. If I want to write a book? Great. I want to do more stand-up? Awesome. Acting stuff? Great. And no one gets to have an opinion about it.

• Refinery 29 - http://www.refinery29.com/2016/10/124962/phoebe-robinson-book-you-cant-touch-my-hair

  Phoebe Robinson On Her Book & Why You Can't Touch Her Hair
  ARIANNA DAVIS
  OCTOBER 4, 2016, 12:30 PM

  PHOTO: COURTESY OF BLUE RIDER PRESS AND PLUME.
  Do you know what it feels like to have someone, be it a friend or a complete stranger, look at your hair with a mix between shock and wonder — and then ask if they can touch it? To be fetishized and treated like an exotic creature is an uncomfortable and often demeaning situation, one that I've experienced many times throughout my life. As has comedian and writer Phoebe Robinson: The title of her new book, You Can't Touch My Hair, is inspired by the book's first essay about the perception of Black women as it relates to their hair.

  "With Black hair, there's a whole community of shared experience that many outside of the Black community do not understand," she writes in the book. "It's because black women know that the quality of their life and how others will treat them is riding on the presentation of their hair."

  In addition to her reflections on Black hair and beauty, Robinson's debut collection covers everything from the time she was ignored by a cashier at a Michael's craft store (because of her race) to a poignant letter to her two-year-old biracial niece Olivia, all with a touch of wit and levity. I also particularly enjoyed the plethora of references to '90s pop-culture from a fellow '80s baby.

  I chatted with the comedian — who, on top of myriad other gigs, hosts Refinery29's Riot Woke Bae series and co-hosts the podcast 2 Dope Queens with her work-wife Jessica Williams — about her creative process, her status as a Solange stan, and the real reason it's problematic to ask someone to touch their hair.

  So let’s start from the beginning. You're primarily a stand-up comedian: What was the creative process like to writing a book of essays?
  “It was a little hectic because I was doing 2 Dope Queens, working on stand-up stuff, and traveling. So literally some days I only had a few hours blocked off to write, and then there were a lot of days where I was just lying around and spending a couple of hours writing. It’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done creatively... I wanted the overall tone to be similar to my blog, [Blaria, aka Black Daria], but also elevated. I didn’t want it to feel like, Oh I could have just written this on the internet. I definitely wanted it to feel like it had more weight to it. Race, identity, and pop culture are the three things I talk about the most, so for me it felt like just putting that into a book form.”
  “
  DON’T BE LAZY. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. AS A BLACK PERSON, I’M NOT HERE TO BE AN ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR YOU.
  PHOEBE ROBINSON
  ”
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  Coincidentally, considering your book's title, Solange just released her new album A Seat At The Table, an ode to Black people featuring an amazing song called "Don't Touch My Hair." How did you feel when you learned that, and how does the song relate to your book?
  "I mean, if Solange releasing this song a few days before my book You Can't Touch My Hair comes out isn't a sign from the universe that her and I should be besties, then I don't know what is. In all seriousness, though, I love this song. The lyrics are so spot on: 'They don't understand / What it means to me / Where we choose to go / Where we've been.'

  "That literally sums up every Black woman's experience! And the fact that a complete stranger — [including] a white woman in the hotel I was staying at last night — walked up to me and petted my hair, without asking, of course, and when I asked her if I knew her, she said she did it because she thinks I'm pretty...shows that this song is as timely as ever. There is a total disregard for Black women's agency and our ownership over our own bodies. Hopefully, together, Solange and I can educate the world."

  Who was your intended audience with this book? As a brown woman, I often felt like you were talking to me. But there were also times where I felt like you were helping non-people of color to understand our experiences.
  “I really wanted it be for everyone. I know that sounds a little cliché, but I feel like even though there are things that I talk about that are specifically related to the Black experience, or specifically the female experience, I wanted it to be a book that anyone could come into and go on a fun ride and feel like maybe they learned something — or maybe they'll identify with something that they hadn’t thought they identified with before."

  PHOTO: COURTESY OF BLUE RIDER PRESS AND PLUME.
  Not touching a Black woman's hair might seem like common sense to Black folks. But a non-person of color really just might not know any better. When it comes to dialogues about race, what's your advice on how people can educate themselves?
  “I think its fine to be curious — just make sure you’re not fetishizing someone. And if someone is telling you about an experience that is different than anything you have experienced, just believe them. Don’t say ‘Well I don’t think that’s true,’ or ‘I don’t know about that.’ Sometimes I feel like people just need to educate themselves: You can read, there's the internet, and so many other resources that are not, like, ‘Ok, I’m gonna have my one gay friend, he’s going to teach me things, I have my one female friend who’s going to teach me everything.’ Don’t be lazy. Do your own research. As a Black person, I’m not here to be an encyclopedia for you. But I think there is a way to have a conversation between two people where they are are just sharing information."

  There's one hilarious essay in particular where you talk about the ways you've been treated as a Black person in the world of comedy. You list examples of casting calls for people of color that were clearly not written by minorities. Do you think the entertainment industry has gotten better or worse since you first started?
  “Change is glacial. I think things are definitely getting better. There are shows like Transparent and Atlanta and Insecure, and those are shows that might not have existed on TV 20 years ago. But I think things will change even more once there are people of color and women and gay executives calling the shots. Once one person is in charge, then they can bring along their friend, and that friend brings along another person, and that’s how we’ll see change that will stay long-term.”

  You Can't Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson was released on October 4 by Plume.

• Vice - https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/two-glasses-of-sangria-with-comedian-phoebe-robinson-v23n6

  Two Glasses of Sangria with Comedian Phoebe Robinson
  VS
  MORGAN JERKINS
  Apr 12 2017, 3:29pm

  The cohost of the new podcast '2 Dope Queens' is having a moment.

  Photo by Elizabeth Renstrom

  This story appeared in the September issue of VICE magazine. Click HERE to subscribe.

  In the past few years, podcasts have crept back into the mainstream and captivated listeners—there have been crime-driven broadcasts, such as Serial, or advice series, such as Death, Sex & Money. Personally, I got into them by listening to The Read, a show on which two black hosts discuss hip-hop and popular culture using irreverent banter and black vernacular. Since then, I've only listened to podcasts that featured hosts of color. They're the perfect antidotes when I'm working a long day, or I need to pass the time when there's no one around. I love the parlance, inside jokes, and rawness that these hosts deliver, and Phoebe Robinson, one of the hosts of 2 Dope Queens, is no different. Whenever I listen to that podcast, I imagine I'm in someone's living room, drinking sangria with Robinson and her co-host, the former Daily Show senior correspondent Jessica Williams. I wanted to interview Robinson for this profile at Corner Social, my favorite haunt in Harlem, but plans changed because she didn't have much time. Once we linked up, I could see why: Robinson is having a moment.

  The 2 Dope Queens podcast was born of "Blaria LIVE!," Robinson and Williams's monthly Brooklyn-based stand-up performance, named for Robinson's reputation as being like a "black Daria." The shows—a mix of storytelling, traditional stand-up, and candid conversations with a diverse range of other comedians—address everything from when the hosts lost their virginities ("I was trying to give it away. It was like a Bed, Bath, & Beyond coupon," Robinson told the audience), to their Backstreet Boys preferences ("I was into Kevin. You know, the oldest- looking one? I was like, He looks like he pays his child support on time!"). I consider myself a bit boy-crazy, so I was drawn to how open Robinson was when talking about her dating experiences and the rest of her personal life with rapid-fire wit and ease.

  I arrived for our interview at L'Express, a French bistro located in Gramercy, about ten minutes early, and I needed every minute to prepare. I wasn't necessarily nervous, but the amount of perspiration I had accumulated during my trip downtown made it seem otherwise. It was 78 degrees, incredibly humid, and I was worried that my sweat stains and glossy face would read as unprofessional. While I wiped my body with paper towels in the bathroom, I thought about all the questions that I'd like to ask. I hadn't prepared a strict script, because I assumed that since we are both black women who love versatile hairstyles, we would have enough in common that the conversation would go smoothly—and luckily, I was right.

  Robinson was already sitting in the far back corner of the bistro with three of her female colleagues at WNYC, the broadcaster that backs 2 Dope Queens as well as Robinson's new solo talk-show-format podcast, Sooo Many White Guys, which premiered in July. SMWG is executive produced by Ilana Glazer, a Comedy Central fixture and star of Broad City, for which Robinson used to be a consultant. When I found her she was fresh-faced and lovely, sidestepping a professional handshake for a warm hug. She sported a sew-in with blond highlights and was rocking a hilarious shirt that said, Dorothy in the streets/Blanche in the sheets—homage to The Golden Girls. I settled in at another table and waited for her to finish the potatoes she'd been eating and say goodbye to her colleagues. She left their table, brought her near-empty glass of rosé sangria over to where I sat, and said, "Are you going to order the rosé sangria? I think you should. It's delicious." How did she know that sangria was my favorite drink? I was hesitant to order any alcohol during our interview, because I'm a lightweight and I had nothing in my stomach but popcorn and strawberries. But I honored her request (along with an order of roasted half-chicken and fries to ward off tipsiness).

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  She's a workaholic who has built her profession around finding what she enjoys and figuring out how to market it. And it's working.

  These days, there is a proliferation of people of color on podcasts, such as Crissle and Kid Fury of The Read or Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton of Another Round , but white men still dominate the medium, and that's something that Robinson is adamant on changing. Between 2 Dope Queens and SMWG, she gets to enjoy making that difference. "I've been doing stand-up stuff for the past eight years, and it feels really cool to be like, Oh, finally I'm getting used to the career that I've envisioned," she told me. "I'm soaking it all in."

  I first came across Robinson through 2 Dope Queens. Besides her talent for playing off Williams's topic of choice—a skill they both acquired through years spent in improvisational troupes—I admired her absolute candor, especially in regard to sexual positions and the perils of dating through Tinder. She told me the dating landscape has changed so much since the beginning of the four-year-long relationship she'd recently ended, and she admitted that discussing it publicly with a friend in an honest and funny way has been cathartic for her. SMWG is a bit different but still provides catharsis. On the show, she interviews other artistic women of color, such as Janet Mock and Nia Long, and with those conversations, she's hoping that she can help to dismantle the idea that black women can't simply be actors or comedians like anyone else. "I'm asked, 'What's it like to be a woman in comedy or a black person in comedy?' I don't want to validate that stupid-ass question. People get so hung on gender, sexuality, and race, and they don't see you as a creative as they might, say, Jerry Seinfeld." It's the kind of project that, in addition to adding one fewer "white guy" voice, she hopes will allow people to see that marginalized celebrities are human and do not have to be relegated to only discussing their otherness.

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  Growing up in the 90s, Robinson saw firsthand how women of color were able to tell their own stories, and she believes that the kind of creative autonomy embodied by TV shows of that era, such as Living Single, is becoming in vogue once again. "One time, I had someone come up to me after a show and she was teary-eyed, and she thanked me for showcasing black-woman representation," Robinson told me. "We're making people feel less alone. That's awesome." It's one of the memorable moments of Robinson's life that she doesn't take for granted.

  As we drank, she confessed to being obsessed with Orange Is the New Black and the Hamilton soundtrack, but she also said she's a workaholic who has built her profession around finding what she enjoys and figuring out how to market it. And it's working. In addition to her two podcasts, Robinson wrote for MTV's Girl Code and currently contributes to Vulture.com and VanityFair.com, where she writes about some of TV's juiciest dramas. Her debut essay collection, You Can't Touch My Hair, will be published by Plume next month. In short: She is a Jill of all trades. When asked about how hair relates to her identity and presentation, Robinson cheerfully relayed that her hairstyles are just as flexible as her creative endeavors. "Right now I have a sew-in, before I had red twists, and then I'm gonna go back to an Afro after this." The subject of hair ignites a passion that dates back to her Blaria blog. In 2012, she posted about the significance of Olympian Gabby Douglas's hair, in which she wrote, "Okay, black women are not to wear their hair natural AND if a black woman chooses to straighten her hair, let's still attack her if her straight hair isn't looking perfect. Enough is enough!" And even now, on the 2 Dope Queens podcast, Robinson and Williams constantly discuss black people's hair.

  ADVERTISEMENT

  Periodically, Robinson checked her watch, and I was certain that I was going over time and she would have to hustle to another commitment. I asked her if I was keeping her from something. "No, I'm just checking to see if I got any water on my watch," she warmly assured me. "You're fine."

  She is a Renaissance woman, able to fold popular culture into works that carry a serious message, the way Roxane Gay did when writing about rape culture and abuse by picking apart pop songs and pop stars in the best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist. This balance between the serious and not so serious, the highbrow and the accessible, strengthens her art. In a few years, Robinson said she imagines herself writing a novel or perhaps another essay collection. She's looking at trying her hand at on-screen work after filming a pilot, too. Whatever happens, Robinson is not planning to slow down anytime soon. She'll only be saying "no" to the opportunities that don't excite her: "At first, I was auditioning for everything like sassy assistant and funny black friend to white ladies. Now I'm like, 'I'm gonna pass on that.'"

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  This story appeared in the September issue of VICE magazine.

4/12/17, 3)18 PM
Print Marked Items
Humorous reflections on fame and fortune
Linda M. Castellitto
BookPage.
(Nov. 2016): p29. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 BookPage http://bookpage.com/
Full Text:
Curious about what it's like to be a child actor, a standup comedian, a podcast star or some combination of the above (and beyond)? You're in luck: These memoirs offer a fascinating peek behind the curtain of fame.
In Scrappy Little Nobody (Touchstone, $26.99, 304 pages, ISBN 9781501117206), Anna Kendrick chronicles her journey from auditioning for roles at age 5 to being a Tony-nominated singer (High Society) and Oscar-nominated actress (Up in the Air). "[Performing is all I've cared about since the first time I can remember caring about anything," she writes. While Kendrick shares self-deprecating and I'm-just-like-you sentiments in her memoir, she also expresses pride in her uncommon career, noting that theater work "gave me a basic work ethic that I may not have gotten if I started in film and television. I worked six days a week, eight shows a week. ... I was held accountable for my work." A heavy load for sure, but Kendrick persevered, getting more and more high-profile roles (The Twilight Saga, Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect) along the way. Plenty of revela- tions about the non-magical side of moviemaking and an irreverent Reading Group Guide round out this entertaining, appealing first book.
COMEDY OF THE MIND
On a recent talk show appearance, Norm Macdonald said his book, Based on a True Story (Spiegel & Grau, $28, 256 pages, ISBN 9780812993622), is 50 percent true and 70 percent made-up. That feels about right; this elliptical memoir loops its way through Macdonald's life so far, bringing the reader along on a hallucinatory road trip filled with strange characters who may or may not be real people. When he's being more straightforward, Macdonald shares stories both funny and poignant from his formative years in rural Canada and details his experiences competing on "Star Search" and being the new kid on "Saturday Night Live." At book's beginning, he says standup comics are "never in one place long enough to experience anything but the shabbiest of love." But at book's end, he writes, "I've been lucky. If I had to sum up my whole life, I guess those are the words I would choose, all right." Both feel like moments of honesty shoring up a performance-art-esque tale.
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SIMPLE REQUESTS
After reading You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain (Plume, $16, 320 pages, ISBN 9780143129202), readers will want to be Phoebe Robinson's friend. But they better not try to make her TBF (The Black Friend), "a singular dash of pepper in a bowl of grits." Witty, truth-telling commentary abounds here, and it's delightful. Robinson wasn't always this confident; she uses her childhood relationship with her hair as a metaphor for her growing awareness of the assumptions projected onto black people--women in particular--based on their hairstyles: "'[H]ire-ability,' acceptance, and attractiveness are all on the line when someone wears his or her hair naturally? That's a lot of weight to assign to a physical attribute." Indeed. She now has a thriving career in stand-up, as well as acting, and writing for the New York Times, Glamour and "Broad City"--and she wears her hair however she wants. Chapters like "Dear Future Female President: My List of Demands" and "People, Places, and Things That Need to Do Better" are funny and on-target, while personal stories in "Uppity" and "The Angry Black Woman Myth" illustrate how systemic racism has affected the way she communicates every single day. It's exhausting, yes, but Robinson is hopeful: "We all have some growing to do. So let's try and get better together. Cool?"
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] READING AMY
Amy Schumer is a household name, thanks to her hilarious, award-winning TV series, "Inside Amy Schumer"; her worldwide comedy tours; and the movie Trainwreck, which she wrote and starred in. In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo (Gallery, $28, 336 pages, ISBN 9781501139888), Schumer says, "I wanted to share these stories from my life as a daughter, sister, friend, comedian, actor, girlfriend, one-night stand, employee, employer, lover, fighter, hater, pasta eater, and wine drinker." And that she does, in a book that's a mix of funny, smart, straightforward, raunchy and sweet.
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A more serious side of Schumer emerges here, as well. When she explores the ways her parents' tumultuous marriage and an abusive dating relationship have affected her, she plumbs her pain to share what she's learned and demonstrates that she's a survivor in more ways than one. The tattoo story is in there, too, as well as a strong stance for gun control, a stand against body-shaming and ultimately a case for being OK with imperfection: "My vulnerability is my ultimate strength," she pro- claims. With this book, she proves that writing is a close second.
TALL AND HANDSOME
Joel McHale hit his head a lot as a kid. Did this lead to his becoming a comedian and actor ("Community," "The Great Indoors," Ted), host of E! Network's "The Soup" and a relentless commercial pitch-man? In Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be (Putnam, $27, 320 pages, ISBN 9780399575372), McHale hints at a link between his multiple head injuries and his fearless quest for attention, performance and money. McHale's fondness for dark, somewhat disturbing humor will be familiar to fans and makes for an entertaining through-line in the book, which begins at childhood--well, before childhood, really (see the detailed and discomfiting "Mama-and-Papa-Sutra"). He was born in Rome, Italy, grew up in Seattle and takes us up to now, with a variety of weird and wacky pit stops along the way--a Mr. McHale's wild ride, if you will. Said pit stops include "Midbook Reading-Retention Puzzles," an infographic called "How to Survive a Chevy Chase Attack" and a response to rumors about hair implants (yep, he got 'em--twice). Insider info ranges from celebrity quirks to career strategies to details on the free stuff you get once you're wealthy and don't really need it. This is an edgy, entertaining memoir/self- help combo from a sharp, successful showbiz guy.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Castellitto, Linda M. "Humorous reflections on fame and fortune." BookPage, Nov. 2016, p. 29. PowerSearch,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469503120&it=r&asid=f4e36940398ec3865e358047e5d8b117 Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469503120
.
about:blank Page 3 of 7
4/12/17, 3)18 PM
You Can't Touch My Hair
Kim Hubbard
People.
86.16 (Oct. 17, 2016): p42. From Book Review Index Plus.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hubbard, Kim. "You Can't Touch My Hair." People, 17 Oct. 2016, p. 42. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466903999&it=r&asid=3902cb15dfeff04cd9293ed6ab2f4e1f. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A466903999
about:blank Page 4 of 7
4/12/17, 3)18 PM
You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain
Annie Bostrom
Booklist.
113.4 (Oct. 15, 2016): p10. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain. By Phoebe Robinson. Oct. 2016. 320p. Plume, paper, $16 (9780143129202). 791.
Robinson dates "basic Chris Pine-looking dudes," goes to Billy Joel concerts, knows which member of U2 she would sleep with first (because shed sleep with all of them), but don't think for a second she's anything but her authentic self, a "blackity black black lady, with no diet version of me available." Known for podcasts 2 Dope Queens and Sooo Many White Dudes, she writes, acts, and does stand-up, too, and has lots to say about doing these things while being black and female. Riffy and plumb full of pop-culture references, LOL-worthy invented shorthand, and hilariously long-winded similes and metaphors, Robinson's nimble essay collection starts with her hair: how it has defined her and other people of color for ages, and also how you seriously can't touch it (ever). Robinson pays homage to the women who taught her to embrace her uniqueness and goes deep on racism encountered in her career and in media and society at-large. Skewering and laugh-out-loud funny, this collection will, thankfully, bring Robinson's voice to an even larger audience.--Annie Bostrom
Bostrom, Annie
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bostrom, Annie. "You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain." Booklist, 15 Oct. 2016, p. 10.
PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468771185&it=r&asid=9b6c0fa998aa02cbbaa3548a12ba692a. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468771185
about:blank Page 5 of 7
4/12/17, 3)18 PM
Robinson, Phoebe. You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain
Stephanie Sendaula
Library Journal.
141.15 (Sept. 15, 2016): p84. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Robinson, Phoebe. You Cant Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain. Plume. Oct. 2016.320p. ISBN 9780143129202. pap. $16; ebk. ISBN 9780143129219. HUMOR
Blending memoir and social commentary, this debut book by comedian, writer, and actress Robinson (cohost of the podcast 2 Dope Queens) reflects on pop culture and modern black womanhood. From the hot combs of her childhood to the transition to natural hair after high school, Robinson candidly shares her hair journey and reminds black women that our hair determines how well be treated. Robinson discusses icons of black hair (Grace Jones, Lisa Bonet, and Lupita Nyongo, among others) and the greatest TV moment for black women thus far: Viola Davis removing her wig on How To Get Away With Murder. Refusing to believe in the idea of guilty pleasures, the author relays her love of U2, fan fiction, and WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) while explaining that blackness is not a monolith. "For people of color, having a strong sense of self often feels like a Sisyphean task every single day." To aid in self-care, she presents practical advice on how to avoid being "The Black Friend" and how not to internalize sexism and racism. Later chapters offer a critique of Hollywood casting calls and boast the benefits of online shopping. VERDICT A thought-provoking collection of essays that will find a welcome home among black women and general readers who appreciate the humor in everyday situations. [See "Editors Fall Picks, LJ 9/1/16, p. 29.]--Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Sendaula, Stephanie. "Robinson, Phoebe. You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain."
Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 84. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463632521&it=r&asid=758d6d5503d2200fbe956b8732319dbe. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A463632521
about:blank Page 6 of 7
4/12/17, 3)18 PM
You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain
Publishers Weekly.
263.30 (July 25, 2016): p60. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain Phoebe Robinson. Plume, $16 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-14-312920-2
Robinson, a stand-up comedian and host of the WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens, brings a funny and original voice to her debut book of essays, combining personal experience with social commentary on race, gender, and pop culture. Moving, poignant, witty, and funny, Robinson takes on America's "tumultuous" relationship with African-American hair, providing a history of black hair on the stage and screen as well as her own relationship with her hair (she didn't go natural until after she finished high school). In other essays, she rants about the way the NFL treats women, discusses the demands she'd make on the first female U.S. president, and explains how to avoid being the token black friend. Robinson reveals how she uses her humor to survive the indignities that go along with being black in America, such as being followed around while shopping in stores or being called "uppity" for expressing her wishes to a white director. This is a promising debut by a talented, genuinely funny writer. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain." Publishers Weekly, 25 July 2016, p. 60.
PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460285525&it=r&asid=9400ef7afc6896efbbba5e2da648e022. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A460285525
about:blank Page 7 of 7

Castellitto, Linda M. "Humorous reflections on fame and fortune." BookPage, Nov. 2016, p. 29. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469503120&it=r. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. Hubbard, Kim. "You Can't Touch My Hair." People, 17 Oct. 2016, p. 42. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA466903999&it=r. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. Bostrom, Annie. "You Can't Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain." Booklist, 15 Oct. 2016, p. 10. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468771185&it=r. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. Sendaula, Stephanie. "Robinson, Phoebe. You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have To Explain." Library Journal, 15 Sept. 2016, p. 84. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA463632521&it=r. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017. "You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain." Publishers Weekly, 25 July 2016, p. 60. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA460285525&it=r. Accessed 12 Apr. 2017.

• NPR
  http://www.npr.org/2016/10/02/496060677/no-you-cant-touch-my-hair-and-other-lessons-from-comic-phoebe-robinson
  Word count: 1327

  No, 'You Can't Touch My Hair' And Other Lessons From Comic Phoebe Robinson

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  October 2, 20168:34 AM ET
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  Enlarge this image
  Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comic, writer and actor. She is the creator and co-host of the podcast 2 Dope Queens and the host of the podcast Sooo Many White Guys.
  Mindy Tucker/Penguin Random House
  You know who's not worried about Resting Bitch Face?

  Vladimir Putin, that's who.

  "He's, like, not concerned with that, which is so freeing," Phoebe Robinson tells NPR's Rachel Martin.

  As a black woman, Robinson doesn't have the same luxury.

  "There's this whole notion of 'black women are angry' or 'black women are sassy' or, like, 'have bad attitudes,'" she says. "And so you always want to be in space where — at least I was for a while — where I was like: I want to be likable. I don't want people to think that I have resting bitch face or whatever."

  Robinson's new book — about being black and female in America — is called You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain.

  "Black hair seems to raise a lot of nonblack people's blood pressure," she writes. "I've seen the gamut of emotion on people's faces — awe, confusion, stress, anger, joy, amazement, suspicion, envy, attraction, you name it — because we, and I'm using the royal we, as in society, have never figured out how to have a healthy, functional relationship with black hair."

  Robinson, host of the Sooo Many White Guys podcast and co-host of 2 Dope Queens, talks with Martin about writing, comedy, speaking her mind — and why she'd like to date Michael Fassbender ... or Michael B. Jordan. One of the two.

  Interview Highlights
  You Can't Touch My Hair
  You Can't Touch My Hair
  And Other Things I Still Have to Explain
  by Phoebe Robinson

  Paperback, 285 pages purchase

  On how she didn't expect to become a comedian

  I was a funny kid growing up, and I did improv in college and went to Pratt Institute, but I did it very informally. It was just me and some of my friends goofing around on campus. ... I never really thought of comedy as a career. My goal was, when I moved to New York, I was going to write serious films. I'm a huge movie buff and so I was like, I'm going to write my American Beauty. I'm going to write something earth shattering. ... and I'm going to marry Robert DeNiro. ... That was the plan.

  On how she's been writing ever since she was a kid

  As a kid I used to always write these stories ... some of them were really cute, some of them were kind of crazy. I have this one book that I wrote as a kid — I had a giant crush on my gym teacher ... and so I like wrote this story about how I'm a princess and a scientist and all these things, and my brother gets kidnapped and my gym teacher is like, this prince from this other town. ... [He] saves the day and the last page, I got married to the gym teacher and we're just like chilling in bed, looking through a magazine. ... I won an award for that which is — the 90s were wild — because someone should have been like, hey, what's going on here? But everyone was like: 'Great narrative, this is awesome.'

  On an experience she had as the only black student in a writing class

  This one girl in my class, she's very sweet but she just recently discovered that she was a lesbian — which I was like: Yes, it's amazing that you found yourself. So, she wrote this play that ... I think it was coming from a good place, it really was, but she wrote this play about slavery. ...

  Basically the slave had the chance to get her freedom, but she turned it down to stay being a slave at that plantation or whatever because her and the slave master's daughter were like having an affair. ...

  I kind of had to speak up and be like, you know, I don't think any slave would be like: 'Hard pass on freedom, I'm going to keep picking cotton so I can hook up with this chick twice a week.'
  Phoebe Robinson
  I kind of had to speak up and be like, you know, I don't think any slave would be like: "Hard pass on freedom, I'm going to keep picking cotton so I can hook up with this chick twice a week." ...

  It was tough because I was the only black person in the room so everyone was looking at me as soon as it was a slavery thing. ... You're under so much pressure to kind of be the representative of your culture. I think anyone who's not a cis straight white dude is expected to be like the representative. And so it was just a very tense moment and me even just chiming in ... was taken as me being a bully and being mean, and she got upset and she started to tear up, so then it was like: Great, I made a white girl cry, so now I'm a monster. ...

  If you want to write a story about slavery, by all means, do it. But it has to come from a place that's respecting the past and respecting the people in it. So, after that happened I felt really bad, but then I got to a place where I just told myself: I can't not speak up or stand up for myself because I'm afraid that people are not going to like me because I'm a black woman who has an opinion.

  On thigh gap

  I wish I talked more about body stuff in here — maybe in the next book — but I talk about thigh gap where women are judged based on the spacing between their thighs. ... I'm 170, my thighs rub together, and that's totally fine. But you see these gossip mags where they will just circle a spot on a woman's body and be like: What do you guys think of that? And you're like what?! What?! There are things like that where I go: This is insane that women are made to feel like failures all the time.

  On whether a female president would change the way women are viewed

  I think that will go a long way in changing the way that people view women because you have people saying: Well, Hillary doesn't look presidential, which just means she has a vagina. That's why she doesn't look presidential. And so I think having a woman who looks like her — she looks her age, she's not trying to wear skin tight dresses, she's just being herself — I think that will go a long way for even just girls growing up seeing a woman in a position ... of power.

  On her "personal passion project": dating Michael Fassbender

  I know he's in a relationship, but I'm like, listen Michael, I don't have an Oscar — that is correct. I am not famous. I don't have a stylist. But what I do have is a great personality and I have a Walgreens card, so I mean, we can get discount shaving cream all. the. time.

  Michael B. Jordan, I'm here for you, too. Michael Fassbender is not the only Michael I'm after. This is an equal opportunity Michael situation.

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• Mother Jones
  http://www.motherjones.com/media/2016/10/phoebe-robinson-you-cant-touch-my-hair-book-comedy
  Word count: 1207

  Keep Your Mitts Off Comic Phoebe Robinson's Hair
  But make sure to pick up her debut book.

  GRACE WILSONOCT. 7, 2016 6:00 AM

  Mindy Tucker
  Phoebe Robinson is no stranger to unsolicited opinions about her hair. When she sported dreadlocks, she was once told, "You know, you would be so pretty if your hair was straight." Or some people would ask if they could touch her hair after their paws had already landed on her head. All of which helped prompt the comic and podcaster to pen her debut book, You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, a collection of personal essays and jokes on race and gender, out this week.

  You might already know Robinson as one half of the hit podcast 2 Dope Queens, or perhaps you've heard her show Sooo Many White Guys. With intimacy and plenty of laughs, she uses her new book as another venue to divulge what she puts up with as a 31-year-old black female comedian in New York. There are the microaggressions, like coded language ("uppity" takes the gold medal at her "Coded Language Olympics"), and then there are more blatant offenses, like being followed by clerks in most stores she enters. Not even electing the nation's first black president could bridge the racial chasms that still permeate her life. "Evolution is slow, glacial even, and it cannot occur without people doing difficult and painful work," Robinson writes. "That doesn't sound like a whole heck of a lot of fun, which is precisely why it hasn't happened yet."

  Courtesy of Penguin Random House
  But Robinson isn't here to yell at anyone; in fact, by sharing her less sublime experiences with her signature blend of honesty and humor we're used to from 2 Dope Queens (which she hosts with Jessica Williams of Daily Show fame), she offers amusing insights that don't come off as heavy-handed.

  Part of the allure is Robinson's obsession with pop culture. As the only female black student in her graduating class at a private high school, television, film, and music often filled a void many of her friends could not. The pop culture references Robinson infuses into every page—almost every paragraph—are impressive. Never did I anticipate reading a writer compare her own vagina to Edie Bouvier Beale's eccentric vine-covered mansion in the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, but I certainly laughed out loud when I did.

  Whether Robinson is ranking the members of U2 by whom she'd most like to sleep with, or orchestrating the importance of black hair in one's identity through a chronological timeline of musicians from the last six decades, she keenly uses her love of American culture to make compelling points—or sometimes, just to make the reader laugh.

  I caught up with Robinson to talk white dudes, dealing with haters, and upcoming projects.

  Mother Jones: I have to ask: What are the chances Solange Knowles would drop a new song called "Don't Touch My Hair" the same week you release a book called You Can't Touch My Hair? Are you two secretly best friends?

  Phoebe Robinson: Ugh, I wiiiish. It does feel like they are companion pieces!

  MJ: Can you explain why black hair, especially for women, is such a vitally important part of identity and why you feel it plays such a role in people's perception of you?

  "You can be curious about something and not touch it."
  PR: Historically, black hair has just been controversial; there's been this notion if you wear your hair a particular way, it's not appropriate. In the book, I talk about my hair journey, and how I got to a place of self-acceptance, and enjoying it and loving it, and I think that's a universal thing for a lot of black women. That felt like something worth talking about.

  MJ: How would you explain to people who want to touch black hair why it's not appropriate?

  PR: I think people just don't respect women's bodies in general, the bodies of women of color in general. There's a notion of, "Oh, you're just being sensitive." I think that can be frustrating. People are like, "Well, I'm just curious about it, why is that a bad thing?" Well you can be curious about something and not touch it. Hopefully one day, people will one day learn to not do it.

  MJ: I know you talk about coded language and microaggressions a lot in the book—and in some of those instances you explain that the only way to handle them in the moment is to grin and bear it. How else do you deal with these?

  PR: Usually, I band with my girlfriends, but sometimes it's humor. I'll ask my friends, 'Am I being extra sensitive?' Or I'll vent about it on Facebook. But I remember: Just because I get treated poorly, that's not a reflection of me—that's a reflection of that person.

  MJ: Do you remember any instances in particular when someone said something offensive to you and you let it go, but you regretted it later?

  PR: I try not to think of things in term of regret. You just react to the situation based on who you were at that time. If someone's been kind of crappy to me and I haven't said anything about it, that might suck in the moment, but I don't look back and think, "I wish I had done this." I think, "All right, that sucks," but I try and learn from it for the next time.

  MJ: What do you want black women to take away from your book, and what do you want white guys to take away from a book full of experiences they have possibly never even imagined?

  PR: I didn't think about writing it in terms of separating it by groups and races. I just wanted to write a book that I thought reflected my experience and might be something people could identify with. I hope people feel like they get something out of it, whether they learn something new or they think, "That's a situation I've been in." I wasn't thinking, "Oh, what do I want to teach white guys?"

  MJ: I know you and Jessica Williams talk frequently about dating white guys. Do you ever encounter any who try way too hard to be "woke"?

  PR: I've only had like three boyfriends—but because I work in comedy and went to private school, I've been around white dudes. But no, none have been like, "Oh, I read Malcolm X."

  MJ: You're definitely staying busy these days—you have two podcasts, this book, a YouTube show (Woke Bae), and a blog, Blaria (Black Daria). What's next for you?

  PR: I'm not sure how much I'll be able to keep up with Woke Bae and Blaria, but that's because I'll be a recurring character on this season of Jill Soloway's new series, I Love Dick! So that's exciting.

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