An interview with '2 Dope Queens' Phoebe Robinson on #MeToo in comedy

Podcast-turned-phenomenon 2 Dope Queens wasn't just prescient to the systemic issues facing comedy, the show was providing solutions years before The New York Timesand the #MeToo movement would make the rest of us aware of them.

Beginning in 2015, the monthly live stand-up show introduced audiences to a kind of comedy they'd never really heard before. Headed by her majesties Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams, it handed the mic over to talented women, LGBTQ people, and people of color who weren't getting the mainstream attention they deserved.

2 Dope Queensskyrocketed to success almost instantly, selling out shows to adoring fans. Last week, the new monarchy of inclusive comedy reached another landmark milestone yet: They brought their court of dope, diverse comedic nobility to HBO with four hour-long weekly specials.

SEE ALSO:Please stop applauding Louis C.K. for doing the bare minimum

"We're an alternative," said one of the 2 Dope Queens, Phoebe Robinson, who also launched her own solo podcast last year called Sooo Many White Guys. "It's like, of course spaghetti is great — but I don't want it all the time, you know? Sometimes I want sushi, or a rice cake, or a burger."

Truly, 2 Dope Queensis a smorgasbord of comedic talent that deliciously subverts the status quo.

Unlike the standard issue Straight White Dude brand of comedy, 2 Dope Queenshas always delivered a line-up of marginalized voices who find humor in the realities of life outside of dominant power structures. Their perspectives are fresh, their comedic stylings experimental and sophisticated.

More than anything, their hilarity is universal and impossible to deny. 2 Dope Queensmakes an argument for diversity in comedy not by preaching, but by slaying.

2 Dope Queens PREVIEW Introducing 2 Dope Queens

The show's success flies in the face of the narrative touted by many famous comedians — most of them straight, white, cis, or male; one of them Louis C. K. — that "PC culture" is ruining comedy.

Of course, the notion that progressive ideals come at the expense of good comedy serves as a way to silence marginalized voices. Far from "ruining" comedy, 2 Dope Queens demonstrates exactly how much comedy can benefit from abandoning age-old crutches of shock-value sexist, racist, and homophobic jokes.

To be clear, Robinson doesn't think comedy needs to be "nice all the time." But, she says, "I think comedy needs to inspect itself a little more." Alternative ways of being funny tend not only to be smarter and more original, but also more pertinent to culture today.

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That's how 2 Dope Queenshas long been changing the tides of comedy. Because, as Robinson said, it "shows people who don't fulfill the traditional comedy narrative that they're just as valid and just as worthy."

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Robinson is too humble to take credit for 2 Dope Queensas a paradigm-shifting phenomenon. But she does value its importance as a "platform." Aside from showcasing the Queens as two fabulously talented black female comics, it lets them "pass the mic over to other people who can tell their own stories, and create something they're really proud of with us."

Elsewhere, those voices are too often devalued or ghettoized into subgenres. But when they perform at a 2 Dope Queens show, they're greeted by packed audiences already cheering and laughing. The opening segments set the right tone through the electric chemistry between Robinson and Williams.

The comedians who joined the Queens for their first HBO special in New York got to perform at the historic Kings Theater. With glamorous outfits and guests like Sarah Jessica Parker, these comics are finally being given the chance to be part of high scale, premium cable productions.

That kind of validation and visibility is invaluable to the comedy community at large.

SEE ALSO:Samantha Bee weighs in on Aziz Ansari and it's straight fire

In Robinson's experience, one of the biggest solutions to the toxic work environment that pervades comedy is a "shift in the balance of power." Robinson points to the example of Broad City's Ilana Glazer — both a personal friend and recurring guest on2 Dope Queens — who recently fired men in her employ for inappropriate behavior.

Rampant inequality and toxicity is just "no longer acceptable as the usual order of business in comedy," Robinson said. "And I think that's because women are coming up and creating their own content — which then leads to more women being in charge."

That's why she encourages people who aren't sure whether they'll be accepted in comedy to just try it — start projects that build their unique voice without necessarily worrying about the outcome. "Jessica and I had no idea any of this would happen. We did it because we wanted to have fun," she said.

Robinson insists that, at the end of the day, it really isn't that hard to replicate what 2 Dope Queens popularized. "A lot of times people come to me like, "How do you find all this diverse talent?!' But all you have to do is just sort of... look," she says, laughing. "Like where's the confusion? They’re not difficult to find. They're actually everywhere."

Robinson often refers to herself a "Cocoa-Khaleesi"Credit: hbo

Though Robinson believes there's still a lot of work to be done in the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, she's hopeful about their overall effect on comedy.

"You're just going to start seeing comics who you never knew existed before, because before they didn't feel comfortable performing, or weren't given a shot," she said. "It's going to create overall a more interesting tapestry of voices that can exist and succeed in the comedy world."

Instead of lamenting the loss of predators like Louis C.K., maybe we should spend our time celebrating the comedic voices his (and many others') behavior silenced. Their new chance to flourish will change the landscape of comedy forever.

Because there are new rules now, and new rulers. And they're regal AF.

You can listen to WNYC's 2 Dope Queens wherever podcasts are found, and watch their HBO specials after they air every Friday at 11:30 p.m. for the next 3 weeks. The first one is available for free.

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