Wanda Sykes on standup, her government career and Chris Rock

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Comedian Wanda Sykes was unnecessarily apologetic. She was running late because a previous interview had lasted longer than expected.The Emmy-winning entertainer has become one of the country's premier comedians, and that has placed a lot of demands on her time.She's co-starring in the CBS sitcom "The New Adventures of Old Christine" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Seinfeld" fame. It resumes shooting in August.She has appeared in more than a dozen movies, including "Evan Almighty," "Monster-in-Law" and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," and has been heard in such animated features as "Barnyard" and "Over the Hedge."The Portsmouth, Va., native spent five years writing and acting on HBO's "The Chris Rock Show." She was nominated as a performer and writer for three Emmys and won as a writer in 1999.In 2001, she won the American Comedy Award for Outstanding Female Standup Comic.During a telephone interview from Los Angeles last week, Sykes talked about her career.Q: When do you find time to do standup with all of the other things going on in your life?A: When I'm not on TV or working on a movie, I'm on the road doing standup. That's my roots. I started as a standup comic. I still love doing it, still find it the most challenging. I love it, so I still work on it.Q: Is it true your father was a colonel in the Army and your mother a banker? That doesn't sound like a background for a comedian.A: I guess I was always a fan. I always loved comedians. I loved the variety shows -- "Laugh-In," "Flip Wilson Show," "Carol Burnett Show," the Smothers brothers. I was just always a fan of those shows. I was funny around my family. My family, they're pretty funny, too. After college I tried to work for the government for a while. I just got bored silly. I knew there was something else I was supposed to do, so I just chased my dream. Lucky for me it worked out.Q: Before you became a comedian, did you tell jokes, or were you just in funny situations?A: A little of both. I did a lot of observations. I did have a way of how I could tell a sentence or phrase something and make something funny. So when I started out writing jokes, it came natural. I have a knack for it.Q: What part of the government did you work for?A: The National Security Agency.Q: Doesn't sound like fertile ground for comedy.A: There was not a lot of funny stuff going on over there. A lot of funny business, but not a lot of funny stuff.Q: When did you start doing standup?A: Started doing standup in October '87. I started working for the NSA in July '87. So yeah, after a few months there, yeah, I said I'm going to go onstage and tell jokes.Q: What was your degree in?A: Marketing.Q: Again, not a fertile ground for comedy.A: You cannot connect the dots. Trust me.Q: Did you find out right away you had the knack?A: Oh yes. The first time onstage a light went on. "OK, this is my thing. I'm comfortable here. This is my thing." The second time onstage blew everything out of the water. I bombed. It was ridiculous. It was a bad show. But it did give me the sense, "OK, this is not going to be easy." It gave me a sense of how much I wanted to do it. After being humiliated onstage, especially in front of my family, I was determined to stick with it.Q: How did you hone your craft?A: You start off as a student. You study other comics. Read the books and all. And that's why when most comics start out they end up doing an impersonation of what a comedian is, I guess. It's not until you develop your own voice, your own persona onstage that you become your own comic, who you really are. But we first start off doing the same jokes or the same style of jokes.Q: Who did you try to emulate?A: Richard Pryor was the greatest. George Carlin. I admired Moms Mabley; she was a big influence. But I would never try to do them, their material or try to be like them. But they were definite influences.Q: Did you find your voice quickly?A: You have to work at it and want it bad enough to where you'll take some chances and try new material and live on the edge a little bit. That's what I did. I kept writing and getting onstage. The more you do it, the more confidence you have, and the more confidence you have, the more comfortable you are and the more you open up.Q: How long did it take you to quit the day job?A: I left the NSA in '92, so it was five or six years.Q: When did you connect with Chris Rock?A: I hooked up with Chris in '94, '95. I met him in New York and opened for him at a club. When he got his HBO talk show, I got the opportunity to submit material to be a writer on the show.Q: What was he like to work with?A: Challenging. It was an amazing experience. I learned a lot. Not only did we write our own material, but shot it and edited it. Loads and loads of information and experience I got out of that. Everything I got after the Chris Rock show was based on starting there. I walked away with great confidence after being on that show.(jerry(at)lasvegassun.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)