Laughing Through Life with Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar

Hello Sunshine, Hey besties.

Today on the bright Side, We've got a pair of best selling authors and hosts, the trail blazing and downright hilarious rough and sisters Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. It's Thursday, June twenty seventh.

I'm Simone Boyce, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine.

Okay, Danielle, we have some really exciting news to share with our bright Side besties.

Yes, we are so excited to announce the return of shine Away, connected by AT and T.

Listen y'all if you don't know, shine Away is an unforgettable weekend event that brings together the Hello Sunshine community with two days of programming and inspiring activations aimed at empowering women to reclaim their joy, connect with their passions, and just transform their lives. And this year, I hear it's going to be bigger and better than ever.

Transformative is the word. I felt so connected when I was there last year. It was one of my favorite days of the year, and it just feels really motivating. You walk away having met these ambitious, curious, thoughtful.

Just like minded women. It was so fun.

So here are the details, y'all. This year's event will take place in Los Angeles on October fifth and six at NYA Studios and Reese Witherspoon. Our Boss Lady is going to be kicking off the program for fans come hang out with us.

We cannot wait.

Tickets are available now at Hello, Dash Sunshine dot com slash shine away. All Right, today feels like a day that's going to be full of laughter and sisterly love.

Oh you just wait, Danielle. Our guests are New York Times bestselling authors and sisters Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. They're critically acclaimed books entitled You'll Never Believe What Happened To Lacey, Crazy Stories about Racism and the World Record Book of Racist Stories. They make readers cry, laugh and then cry laughing.

That's the best type of laughter when it's uncontrollable.

Mm hm. That's my favorite too. And here's the thing.

I mean, they grew up together, so they're sisters, and they decided to compile all the stories that they collected from their childhood into adolescence, into adulthood and put them into these books. So they're sharing the outrageous things that they've experienced growing up in Nebraska as smart black women, but they're adding so much humor and heart to all of it. They're so brilliant, both individually and as a duo.

You know, I remember in twenty fourteen when Amber was hired by Late Night with Seth Myers, making her the first black woman ever to be a writer on a late night network show. It's wild because twenty fourteen was not that long ago, but I do think it's really cool that she made history. And you know, I missed this conversation because I was out with food poisoning. I had one too many burritos at the airport. I think it was a little risky.

Girl. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. It was hard. We've got to watch out for those airport burritos. It was really terrible.

But I've followed Amber's career for the last few years, and I was really a fan of her late night show on Peacock. She was a writer on it, and of course the host of The Amber Ruffin Show. And she also just wrote on the revised book for the new Broadway adaptation of The Whiz. And what I'm really excited about today is that we get to know her and her sister together because they were born in Omaha,

What do you think?

Yeah, She's totally giving responsible older sister energy.

Well, I love that because I love getting to know talented siblings. What I didn't know is that Amber grew up doing theater, and her improv and her comedy talents took her to Chicago, Amsterdam, and La all places where she honed her craft. And now Lacy and Amber are making waves together with their comedy pop culture podcasts, The Amber and Lacey Lacey and Amber Show. I'm really bummed I miss this one, simone, but I am excited to hear your interview with them.

Oh, we missed you so much, Danielle. It's so cool to see all these powerful sister duos teaming up. You know, we had Regina and Reina King on the show, now Amber and Lacey. It's just good vibes all around, and so much talent girl power for real. Yes, Well, I'm so pumped to share this conversation with you and all of our bright Side besties. Prepare yourself because there will be laughs. And now my conversation with Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. Amber and Lacey, welcome to the bright Side.

Yay, thank you. We're happy to be here.

So, Amber, I am currently in New York right now and I just drove by the Marquis Theater where The Whiz is back on Broadway, and you actually wrote for this latest adaptation. Congratulations. What does it mean to you to lend your voice to such an iconic.

Growing up, I absolutely adored The Wiz, and I feel like the Wiz did for me what it did for a lot of people was it made it seem possible to become a performer and to have your story told and you know, honored and enjoyed by the masses. So when I was tasked with rewriting The Wiz, I just wanted to make sure to do that for the next generation.

What's your earliest memory of The Whiz.

My earliest memory of The Whiz is like it has always existed, So I just feel like it is everywhere all the time, like the news. You know, like you don't remember the first time time you saw the news.

It just you always were rare that it existed.

Yeah, and that's like the whiz, It's just always always around.

How about for you, Lacey?

We used to reenact scenes from it and Amber probably doesn't remember, but remember the scary scene from the movie where it was like little dude and we still like be in the basement and like chase each other, doing that to terrify us.

So was this kind of what it meant to be a rough in sister? Were you both super imaginative growing up?

Reenactments all the time, singing, making up songs. We sang everything like Mom, what's for dinner? And then she'd singing back. Yeah, we were over the time.

Did you did you drive your parents crazy? I mean, where they like stop with the singing and the performances or did they embrace it?

They were used to it. My parents will even join in and they'll join into this day. I love it.

Well, you channeled all of that imaginative little girl energy into this incredible career now as adults and sisters. I mean you have written two best selling books together, you have a podcast, your two books, You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey and the world record Book of Racist Stories. I mean, you tackle so many outrageous experiences with heart and humor. Take me into that shift when you went from sisters to creative partners.

The shift was pretty painful, and thank you for asking Lacey's a monster to work with the truth, it was like, you can't eat yet, we need more chapters.

Put that hamburger down. That's not true. We only always ate and don't forget we had a couple of drinks. That's true.

Well yeah, it was literally nothing.

I don't know. I feel like, yeah, we just realized every time we hang.

Out the people would pay us for this, and then it was just figuring out what to get people to pay as saying out because we're going to be talking about Lacey's racist stories.

We're going to be talking about her and it's going to be funny, so we might as well write it down.

Lacey, we were wondering if you could tell us about the time that you got mistaken for whoop be Goldberg.

Oh yes, okay, okay, So I was on vacation in Colorado and I was up in the mountains and we were stopping by these little trinket shops.

They got a million different little trinket shops.

And I walk into this trinket shop and the lady yells whoop bee, and I yelled back whoop bee because I'm just like, hey, I just thought that's how she.

Was greeting people.

And she comes up to me, and then the another lady comes out the back and they're like, oh my god, thank you for.

Coming into this store.

And I'm like you're welcome, and they're like you can, you know, have whatever you want and I was like, oh okay, grab t shirts, trinkets, necklaces and stuff.

And I was like thank you.

And then after a while when they were talking to me, they're like, oh my god, we love you on this, this this, And I was like, they think I'm would be Goldberg and listen, did that correct them?

When we talk about reparations? This is what this is what we're talking about. There was no way I was not going to tell them. Plus it would have made them feel sad they got to meet with Goldbert. This still doesn't that's true.

I'm ruining that day. Do you still have the shirts? My mom does, and she hated them. They weren't the best.

Listen, this was hey, the price was right, The price was the price was right. All right, We got to take a quick break, but we'll be right back with Amber and Lacey. Stick with us, yell, and we're back with Amber and Lacey. What I love about your work together is that it's so subversive because I think a lot of people who let's say, are not minorities, non POC, they look at racist experiences that we all have and think that we all have to carry it with a

I think that that's the way our family is. If someone falls down, there is a song instantly written and we're gonna laugh.

Yeah. We like to laugh all the time.

And in telling stories, even though they're really painful, there's always.

A little giggle at the end. We're like yeah, but then this happened.

But also like little racist things can't be painful forever, Like you really got if you want to make a sting. Ah, I mean, at this point, we've really got to be doing some crazy stuff.

Yeah. But also in this book, the joke is the racist.

It's how stupid and ignorant and ridiculous they are. And it's people think like we're making fun of racism, like oh, slaves are funny. That's not what we're doing. We're saying this person did this and they're a complete idiot, and they thought that that was okay to do and what I do. One of the things that I really loved about writing the book is I did not think this was going to happen. But people contacted me and they were like, oh my god, I do that. I do

Snuck in a little lesson. While you were giggling. You were like, huh, oh I do that, Yeah, you do you do it all the time. Yeah, is there a story that people come up to you and talk to you about the most when I'm in Omaha.

It is the art teacher story, because that art teacher was very well known, and it will be other old white teachers that come up and go, was it blah blah blah, And I'm like, yep, you know it was. You know what I'm talking about, Like that is to me, that's crazy. But I've had a lot or all of these students like, oh my god, was that so and so?

Yeah, I had her in the fourth grade. She was terrible.

So I'm like, yeah, for any of our listeners, we call them our brightside besties who haven't heard that story, would you tell us the art teacher story?

I will, and it's this one is not a funny one, and not every story in the book is funny.

But I was a renowned artist in the fifth grade. I was amazing. My artwork was great. It's really true.

I had a life size drawing of leif Ericson that won an award.

She's quite old. First me a leaf man.

We said, whole nother story, leaf and lacy, and it was hung in the front of the classroom. My teacher loved it so much that she permanently hung it. So the day our new art teacher started missus stinky pants, She's like writing some stuff on the board and then she's like, what's this? And I raised my hand and I'm like, I drew that and won an award and it's Leif Erickson. And she took it off the wall and ripped it in half and said, no, you didn't your parents did this?

Okay? And I walked home.

Which was only a block away. We are right down the street from our elementary school. My mother was watching Young and the Restless, and I was like, our teacher ritten she came up there and then ripped her a new one. Never never said that one for me and that teacher. People are like, oh, is that really racism?

She was racist. She had proven herself to be racist several times.

She was a teacher that told me, you know what, slavery wasn't about racism.

It's about pure pressure. So if you had a.

Slave and then you saw your neighbors had, well you'd want to get a slave too.

Okay, and listen, stick to art.

You didn't need to tell a three lessons failed its.

Street street teachers for that were good, but there's an end to the story.

Okay, let me hear the end. So that's the beginning of Middle Amber. Tell theia at the end. So Lacey used to work at an old resentment home.

So they wheel this lady in and I'm like, man, she looks really familiar. And I'm sitting across from her, and I'm like, did you what did you do for a living? And she's naming all this stuff but art teacher, And finally I go, did you use me art teacher? The law?

And she's like yes, And I all came flooding back.

And this woman had no visitors, no family, no friends.

Yeah, at the end of her life. Wow, this is so poetic. Just had a miserable, liable life.

To the point where I was checking on her all I felt sorry for this woman. Nothing now, no one ever came, no one not just not a nice woman.

I'm curious how, I mean, you've collected all of these experiences growing up in Nebraska and you've put them into these best selling books. I'm curious, like how growing up in this environment shaped your views on the world.

Both of you probably made us quite skeptical, But I don't know, growing up in a place where we were discriminated against so thoroughly, probably made us more insistent on our greatness, more consistent of our greatest because honestly, like you could have like Lacey, you could be the best artist in the school, and this lady will rip up your painting. So you have to like triple down on who you are. And I think we do have a healthy helping of that.

You must have had parents who reinforced that. Definitely.

My mom's like, you're the best, You're the cutest, your hair is cute, your everything's cute.

We thought we were unstoppable.

She did say, you're the smartest in your class, and anyone who thinks they are is mistaken.

She said that to all.

Of us Amber growing up, What kind of possibilities did you see in comedy?

None? Growing up as a zero possibilities and comedy none not one. Everything I certainly wasn't like one day, I'm gonna make it, absolutely not. I always thought that I would be delivering the mail and in community theater shows.

And I also was like, these.

White people aren't going to let me do these shows, but maybe I can have a small part in some of them. And as a child, that's one hundred percent I thought would happen to me. I certainly didn't think I would leave Omaha at all, And then I didn't think i'd have any type of like special good job.

I was stunned when I came across this amber fact that you became the first black woman to write for a network late night show in twenty fourteen.

Yeah.

I still can't even wrap my head around that fact. How do you process that now a decade later?

If you have ever seen a late night so pretty obvious that's the case. It's not exactly a bastion of diversity.

No, So when I found that out, I didn't think anyone would care because to me, it had been extremely obvious and like, it is really sad, and it's really shocking because.

There are no people funnier than black women. They don't exist.

Find a black lady librarian, she will have you rolling. You can't find anyone funnier. So to me, it's quite perplexing.

So what do you think needs to happen in order for these statistics to change?

Society has to move to a point where they can accept, you know, writing from black women. You know, I think when people receive anything from a black woman and they know that's where it came from.

Then they're like yuck.

Also, we have been exposed to one another's experiences, so not us them, but them us.

That comedy is quite segregated, and so just.

How we are funny is so different that you know, usually the head of a show is white, and they can't deliver those jokes. You know, they can't. They can't honor the structure of your comedy. They simply can't. It would sound crazy coming out of their mouths. So you either have to shift and become less funny or they have to shift and appropriate. So there are a million reasons why, but it boils down to discrimination.

Okay, it's time for another short break, but don't go anywhere because we've got more laughs plus a little game after the break. All Right, we're back with dynamic duo Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. Lacy, you are in your New York era now, girl, but back when you're a Nebraska era you are a really important figure in your community. I mean, you were helping immigrants find jobs, working with younger folks. Are you continuing that work in New York or are you an Amber just going to be taking

Amber and I are working on some projects together. We are. Can I talk about the dating? Nope?

Okay, so no, I can't talk about that, but we are working on some projects.

You can talk about that secret.

Oh okay, sorry, we're working on a project about Okay, Lacey and how horrible it is to date her.

That was hard, guys, and that's racism. Want to know that's racism?

No?

We are.

I So on our podcast, The Amber and Lacey Lacy and Amber Show, we have a segment called slide out of Lacey's d MS where I just read message.

So slide out, not slide in.

It's not dates, it's not relationships. It is a one time deal where someone sends me a message and that's going to turn into something. It's going to turn into something. And I will give you an example of one. One is hello, would you like to have dinner sometime? And he sent me a picture of him standing in a freshly dug grave with a shovel.

These are the types. Get them now?

Are they all that horrifying? Absolutely not? Are they hilarious? Absolutely that the messages that I have gotten.

Of I simultaneously have chills and want to throw up at the same time. There's like a lot of bodily reactions that want to happen. It's giving saltburn. It's definitely giving saltburn energy.

Ton't finish it. Don't tell me anything else. I did not finish saltburn, but I will find well.

Spoiler alert, there's a grave and romance. I'm sorry. I feel like I owe you an apology, even though it wasn't me. I just want to apologize for that happening to you.

Wait look at it. Let me look at you. Wait, it's a beautiful looking man.

It's been great having you guys on the show. We gotta go, No, I'm kidding, g Yeah, all right. We have a quick little we have a quick little game that I'd love to play with you too before we go. So it's no secret this is a family affair. Clearly the funny bone runs in the rough and family DNA. So we're gonna put your sister knowledge to the test in a little game that we like to call sister superlatives.

We want honesty. Okay, we got it. I got it. I'm gonna win.

So first up, when you were younger, who was most likely to get in trouble?

Me? Amber Lacy does not get in trouble. She'll tattle on you in all tell on everybody, everybody's mom. Wow, you are snitching.

What are you doing over there? Right now? Look at it? Look at me? Stop? I got in trouble.

Wow.

Okay, this one is actually particularly salient based on our most recent conversation. Who's most likely to stalk someone on social media? Lacey me, Okay, you got some good detective skills there.

Yes, I will find out who you are married to, how many kids you have, because I'm dating. I gotta find out before I go on that date. I will know your blood type.

Yeah, no, totally normal.

Who is most likely to hog the ox cord during a road trip? Lacy me, what's your road trip playlist? Is it smooth Jazz?

Is it it's baby Face, baby Face, It's Tony Braxton, it's Anita Baker.

I mean that sounds like a great road trip to me. It's wonderful and a little hood, just a little little gangster.

A little ratchet in there, But like what kind of like what brand of ratchet are we talking?

Juvenile? Uvinile? Like PD Poblo, the five oh four boys, hot boys. You gotta have a mix. You gotta do a high low mix. Okay, who is most likely to keep a secret?

Me?

Lacey.

I'm still telling embers because from twenty years ago chosen.

I don't tell her all at once.

Lacy tells me something new every day, every day day, every daw because now I'm old enough to know the secrets.

So now she's still.

Not old enough to know everything. You don't know everything, but I'll let her know every couple of weeks I give her. It's really good, guys, it's really good. That should be another book, the Secrets. I can take a secret to the grazy kids, put it in the lock bags.

As we wrap up, I want to ask you both, after having worked together on all these projects, how have you grown together as sisters?

I feel like you never get to work with people you're related to, you know, and you don't know who you gonna get. Well, that's not true, because I knew who Lacey was gonna be I knew Laser was gonna do all her work on time and be easier and easy.

But yeah, I don't know, it's nice.

And then the result is we have these lovely accomplishments that feel great and they are you know, they feel a lot like vacations we went on. But it's like we, you know, did a book tour and like sold this show and wrote another book and podcast and it feels like this list of cool accomplishments and really quick, we're all of our accomplishments hosted.

The accomplishment bathroom or all in the bathroom say more.

If you come over, can go to the bathroom and you'll be surrounded by accomplishments of us staring at.

You, Hey, genius, and more homes across America should adopt this. What is the accomplishment that's hanging in the bathroom that you are most proud of?

The mine is the book, Amber, I don't know, it's got all of them in there. They're all in there. I'n say the Emmy nomination for the Amber Ruffin Trow.

Yay, yay, good answer. Hey Amber Lacey, thank you so much for bringing your rough and energy to the bright side.

Yay.

For a sum it's too much, but you seem to roll with it and we appreciate that.

Hey, I feel like I would do pretty well on a rough and road trip like it sounds great, You can do it.

Thank you so much.

Amber Ruffin and Lacy Lamar are sisters, writers, podcast hosts, and authors.

That's our show for today. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back tomorrow to pop off with People's Style and Beauty director Andrea Labenthal. Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Simone Boye.

You can find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.

Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.

That's r O b A. Y. See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.