You're listening to Comedy Central, The Long and Last Cheryl Lee, Ralph, Welcome to the Daily Show. Let me start with saying congratulations Emmy Award winning. You know, there are many performers in history, many artists, many actors who audiences have said critics arelike, this person never got their flowers. This person never got the recognition that they deserve. So many people in black Hollywood never got the flowers that they deserved. Talk me through just a part of this journey. You
know you've done it all. I mean militia for me and then moving from one to the next. You know, dream girls for so many people back in the day, the original dream girl. Talk me through the journey and what has kept you being as efficescent as you are? Oh my God, I too is to be happy. I choose joy. Yeah, I believe that since I am alive, I might as well get up, get out there and
enjoy it. Yes, I'm so happy that God has chosen throughout all of these years to wake me up every morning in my right mind so that I can carry on in life. I love that. Yes, that's what keeps me going, That's what keeps me enjoying what I do Through all of the ups and downs, through all of the missteps and the bad breaks, I choose to carry on. I choose to look in the mirror and love what I see. We love what we seek, We genuinely love what we see. Again, I mean, I am sucker. I
love all comedy, anything that is funny. I love you are a master and the way you perform it. We Abbott Elementary has done what many people said it wasn't possible. People said, no one wantes life TV anymore, nobody likes to sitcom anymore, that we likes these family stories anymore. And yet Abbot Elementary has gone and done the exact
thing that everyone said was impossible. You know, Quincon Brunson assembled this amazing squad of people to come in and tell real stories that teach us love of themselves, of the students of the American schooling system. You know, I know it touches everything. But what do you think it is that brings people back every single week and watching live by the way, sharing it with each other. I
think what they're seeing is their own struggles. There's We're just a group of regular people in the show going through life, and we just happened to be in a very challenging situation. And every week we are getting over the difficulties and we are appreciating what we have together, working together on the show, in the show, in the characters, in the scripts, and people see themselves in it and they love it. They feel it, they feel it and they love it, and they tell us they do God,
they do, My God. My life now has turned into one big photo session. Anytime I go out into the street, everybody wants to take a picture. Everybody wants you to talk to their people, and everybody wants to tell you how much they love you. And I am saying, that's why I wake up happy every day. You You're also you're also the brid the rear breed of human being. Who is you know, talented in every aspect of what
you do? You know some some people will see you as an act on screen, others know you as the phenomenal perform on stage. And now you have an album out, the Christmas Album. Yes, yes, which I like to play on words. But but but talk me through that, talk me through why the Christmas album and why an album
in general. Well, first of all, it was only supposed to be a song, and before I knew it, we had done fifteen songs and we have an album called Slay and people are actually downloading it everywhere and loving it. It's crazy, people are it's not your mother's Christmas album. It is not without take your mother to church and the club. Yes, I didn't notice that. I didn't notice that it is. It is. It is one of the sexiest Christmas albums I've ever heard. I'm not I'm not
gonna lie. I'm not gonna like before I let you go. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about your moments at the Emmy's where I always say, you know, at every awards show, I feel like they should be an award for the best award acceptance, and yours was that because sometimes at awards, you know, it can feel self indulgence, it can feel like we're not part of what's happening. It felt like we won with you. It felt like people want, you know, with your win, even
just for their lives. It didn't feel like a platitude. It didn't feel like you were just saying it. It felt like you were embodying it. And I'd love to know in that moment when you're holding that award. You know, in an industry that everyone thrives to be celebrated or successful in, what made you think of talking to the people and not just talking about yourself Because I thought in that moment, you know, my dad was a great
lifelong learner and educator. And I when they called my name, it was just like I could hear my dad saying, there you are, it's your time, come on. But I couldn't. I couldn't. I was so shocked. I couldn't get the
message from my brain to my feet to move. And I my husband kept saying get up, get up, And it wasn't until I heard Quintus say it's your name, get up, And then I got up because Tyler came and literally lifted me up and guided me to the stage and I got their center stage, and there was my dad again saying, don't you cry, don't you cry. This is your moment. Let them know who you are and how you got here. And there's a big screen like that in front of me saying stop now, stop now,
And I was like, I haven't even gotten started. Oh I love it, Yes, I love it so much. Thank you for joining in the show's trap. Thank you so much, Thank you so much showing me rough everybody. The Daily Show with Trevor no Ears editions. Subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast