Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson's unfiltered comedy podcast will be your new favorite
Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson are the kind of best friends everyone wants.
The comedy duo are on the brink of releasing their new comedy podcast, 2 Dope Queens. They're chatting away at a press roundtable after being introduced by Dean Cappello, the chief content officer for WNYC studios, which is producing the podcast.
Williams, who's also a correspondent for the Daily Show, is wearing a beaded black bustier and gold skirt, and is complimenting how Robinson looks in her low-cut red dress.
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"You have very nice, high-fashion breasts," Williams says.
"They're couture tits," Robinson, a writer and comedian, quips. "Sorry, Dean -- that's not how you wanted to start."
It won't be the last time Robinson apologizes to the boss.
That little back and forth is just a taste of what 2 Dope Queens offers. The podcast is a recording of the eponymous comedy show they do twice a month in Brooklyn, an unrehearsed performance where the pair riff about their lives, swapping stories about racist cab drivers, hair, politics and more.
There are also storytelling and standup segments featuring their friends, like Naomi Ekperigin and Michelle Buteau. Highlighting diverse voices is essential, they stress -- and doing it here will hopefully have an effect on the mainstream comedy landscape, which is largely white and male.
"You’re going to see very distinct and diverse voices that people aren’t paying attention to..."
"You’re going to see very distinct and diverse voices that people aren’t paying attention to for no other reason than that they’re lazy," Robinson says.
They want to "represent like the full scope" of the New York comedy scene, she later adds.
The podcast is also an opportunity to bust stereotypes about people of color, particularly black women, says Williams.
"We’re awkward and weird and funny and sometimes sad and sometimes happy," she says. "We have this whole range."
2 Dope Queens is the natural next step for these best friends, who have been doing their live show for about two years. They met at The Daily Show: Williams was working on a segment about black hair in the military, and Robinson was one of the actors in the bit. They hit it off and soon began working together on Robinson's live show Blaria (i.e. "Black Daria," as in the MTV character).
“You know when you go on an awesome first date and you’re like ‘we’re gonna f*ck tonight’? It was like that, minus the sex part," Robinson says. "I’m so sorry, Dean!"
Seemingly nothing is off-limits for the pair. Once a topic is brought up, they're off, going on endless tangents about having Michael Fassbender's babies, Alec Baldwin's soothing voice, classic '90s television, Shonda Rhimes and why Magic Mike XXL is really a feminist film. That rapid fire pop culture affinity, coupled with a willingness to talk about universal topics like sex and dating, appeals to a "multicultural" live audience. ("Different chocolates and vanillas," Williams jokes.)
But the show will also be a valuable resource for young people of color searching for representation.
The show is going to be a valuable resource for young people of color searching for representation.
That isn't lost on the two, who are eager to dole out advice for up-and-coming comics. Dealing with "how difficult it was in the day to day to be a young black woman" helped shape Williams' comedic sensibility.
"The things that bother me and the things that in my day-to-day affect me is where good art and good material comes from," she says. "Embrace that sort of messiness."
You have to stay confident and true to your story, because "the higher you get up, the more white people you’re going to see," she adds. You have to know that your story deserves to be heard.
Robinson is similarly resolute, brushing off criticism that gets lobbed her way.
"I've been told sometimes I’m, like, ‘too black’ or ‘too female,'" she says. "You just have to be like 'Whatever dude -- I’m just the right amount of me.'"
You can listen to the first episode of 2 Dope Queens below. The show's first season is 12 episodes and will air weekly.
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Yohana Desta was the senior film reporter for Mashable. She is a Northern Virginia native and an American University grad. She enjoys carefully curating her Instagram account and can often be found reading books, going to concerts, watching movies and learning way too much about pop culture.
