Nicole Byer interview
Deborah Howell chats with comedian Nicole Byer.
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00:00Nicole Byer is best known as host of Emmy-nominated baking series, Nailed It.
00:05The legendary comic, actress, writer, author, and podcaster is fresh off her performance in
00:10the Netflix is a Joke Festival. Now I can welcome Nicole Byer.
00:16Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi.
00:17I love the pink couch, the whole pink thing.
00:20Thank you. Thank you so much. I love color. I like being surrounded by color.
00:24It's like an Indian wedding behind you. It's wonderful.
00:30All right. I noticed that neither one of us showed up to this interview
00:33in a cheeseburger bikini. So what's up with that?
00:37I know. I have retired it. I don't know where it is anymore.
00:42It's under that couch cushion. Come on.
00:44Somewhere in my closet. It's somewhere.
00:48It's such an epic bikini.
00:51It's served best with a side of stripper pole, right?
00:55Yes.
00:55So in 2020, you made history by becoming the first black woman ever to be nominated
01:01in the category of outstanding host for a reality or competition program for Nailed It.
01:06And you were nominated again in 2021 and 2022.
01:10What's been the most phenomenal part of that whole ride?
01:16I just think it's really cool to be recognized by what you've done.
01:23And there's like no school to host.
01:26Like nobody teaches you how to do it.
01:28So I just figured out how I wanted to present myself and how I wanted to present the show.
01:34And I wanted all the contestants have a great time.
01:36So it just felt really solidifying and affirming when I was nominated.
01:42It felt really, really, really, really fucking cool.
01:46You know, did you go and watch old tapes of old, you know, judges and hosts?
01:52On shows like that?
01:53Or did you just pick it up out of whole cloth?
01:57Would have been a very smart thing to do, which literally never occurred to me.
02:05Yeah, it really never occurred to me.
02:07I was just like, okay, well, here are the words.
02:10How do I say it?
02:11And they wanted to like feed me with an IFB and earpiece, like me line by line.
02:18And I was like, oh, I can't do that.
02:20And they're like, why?
02:21That's how all hosts do it.
02:23And I was like, well, because then you're just like telling me how to say it.
02:26And I can't figure out how I want to say it.
02:28So then we had a prompter and they hadn't done that before.
02:31So it was truly just like an experiment to figure out how this would work best for everybody.
02:36This is why it's Emmy nominated, because it was so different and so non script.
02:40I mean, it was scripted a little bit, but you threw your stuff in there.
02:43And that's what made it special, I think.
02:45Oh, thank you so much.
02:47All right.
02:48So now you've got a special coming up.
02:50Not a whole lot of people get to do solo stand up comedic specials for Netflix.
02:56Tell me about how that all came about.
03:01I've been doing Nailed It for so long and I had wanted to do a special.
03:06So we approached Netflix and we were like, here's my material.
03:11Here's what I want to do.
03:13And they were like, they came and saw me do an hour and they were happy with it.
03:18They had pretty minimal notes.
03:21And then they were just really great at the creative process.
03:24They listened to me.
03:26Everything I wanted, I got.
03:30So from the thought to the execution, they were behind me 100%.
03:35And I'm really proud of BBW.
03:38I think it's really special.
03:40And for those who don't know, BBW is Big Beautiful Weirdo.
03:43And that is the name of the special.
03:46Yeah.
03:46Thousands and thousands of incredibly talented people try to get a meeting at Netflix.
03:52I mean, the lobby of Netflix is just people milling about trying to do anything.
03:57So kudos to you for pulling it off and getting everything you want.
04:01That is really something.
04:04But wait, there's more.
04:05You've got a juicy role in Comedy Central's Cursed Friends along with Harvey, do you say Guillen?
04:12Yeah, Harvey Guillen.
04:13Jessica Lowe and Andrew Lewis Caldwell.
04:16It's a supernatural comedy.
04:18So tell us a little bit about it just in front of Halloween as we get ready for it.
04:22Yeah, it came out last year or two years ago.
04:28The years are running together.
04:30But it's just about friends who have kind of lost track of each other.
04:35And they're still grappling with what friendship looks like as adults.
04:39They find this book they used to play with as kids.
04:44It's that game, MASH, where it's like, you're married to so and so.
04:48You live in an apartment, you have five kids.
04:50Here's your job.
04:51And the book comes to life and the things that they came up with as kids start coming true.
04:58And then they don't know what's happening.
05:00And Joey Fatone is in it.
05:03And that's really fun.
05:04It's a really fun movie.
05:05I love it.
05:05I love it.
05:06Cursed Friends.
05:07All right.
05:08There's also the immersive comedy special called Surrounded presented by Just for Laughs.
05:13I'm trying to keep all your jobs straight.
05:15I don't know how you do it.
05:16But you've said before that you run on fumes and you're doing a really good job of it.
05:20So what is an immersive comedy special?
05:24So we did this at JFL.
05:27I think it was in Montreal.
05:30There were so many JFLs at one point.
05:32But it was like in the round and it was all crowd work.
05:37And then people could put on headsets at home and be in the crowd and watch the special
05:44as if they were there.
05:46That is very cool.
05:47And how do they get the headsets?
05:51People have the meta headsets.
05:52Oh, they just have.
05:53They already own them.
05:54The headsets at home.
05:55Yeah.
05:56Got it.
05:56Got it.
05:56Go.
05:57All right.
05:57That had to be kind of unique to participate in, right?
06:01Yeah, it was super fun.
06:04I like doing crowd work.
06:05Crowd work is it's fun.
06:07It is.
06:08I was like late in the lineup.
06:09So it was like kind of hard to be like, what was already talked about?
06:12Who was already talked to?
06:14I'm trying to keep track of that was like a little hard and a muscle that I'm not used
06:18to.
06:19But yeah, it was it was super fun.
06:21Yeah.
06:22Two more things, because, you know, all those balls, you've written a dang book, which is
06:27phenomenal.
06:28Tell us about it.
06:30It's called Hashtag Very Fat, Very Brave.
06:33The Fat Girl's Guide to Being Brave and Not a Melancholy Down in the Dumps Weeping Fat
06:37Girl in a Bikini.
06:38It is a self-help book with the longest title.
06:43It's also just like a picture book, a comedy book.
06:47But yeah, my friend was like, you should do a book about wearing bikinis because like
06:51you're just so confident and shit.
06:53And I was like, oh, that's a great idea.
06:55And then I pitched it.
06:56I can't believe someone bought it.
06:58And then I was like, oh, got to write it.
07:00And that was like really tough.
07:04But it was fulfilling and so fun.
07:06And I'm really proud of it.
07:07And I think you still get it on Amazon, a bookstore if you want.
07:13But yeah, I it's just it's really tongue in cheek.
07:17Super fun.
07:17Super silly.
07:18OK, so what do you like better, taping for TV or doing the live shows in a theater?
07:24I don't have a preference.
07:26I think everything is super different and super fulfilling in their own ways.
07:31I love shooting like TV and movies.
07:34It's not like an instant gratification because you have to wait for it to be edited.
07:40But the camaraderie on the set and like trusting people and trying new things is super fun.
07:46And then being on a stage is also really fun because that's my own shit and that's my stuff.
07:53And I get to pick what I'm saying.
07:57And being with an audience is its own different type of like electric.
08:03Yeah, I know you love working alone and I know you love working with a troupe.
08:07But is there anyone, a female or male comedian that you would just say,
08:12that is my dream to work with that person?
08:16I'm really lucky.
08:17I perform a lot with Sashir Zameda, who is currently in Agatha all along for Marvel and
08:25Disney.
08:27She's like one of my best friends.
08:28She's been my best friend for like, I don't know, 15 years.
08:32But I'm just like super lucky that I get to work with one of the funniest people
08:35who like gets me and I get them.
08:39So, yeah, I mean, sure, there's other people I'd love to work with,
08:41but she's my favorite person to work with.
08:43I would love to see a buddy comedy with you, too.
08:45That would be amazing.
08:47Maybe a road trip movie.
08:49Yeah.
08:51Speaking of movies, you got your sights on anything?
08:54You reading some scripts?
08:57I mean, everything is kind of slow right now, but yeah, I've read a couple of things.
09:04Nothing that's come to fruition yet.
09:07Okay, you're doing a live show and that should be the main purpose of this,
09:11but you're doing so many things and have done so many things that I just
09:15felt like we should put that first and then get us to the moment of today,
09:18which is your standup comedy at Wallace Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
09:23in Beverly Hills, darling, for one night only.
09:27October 7th, curtain time, 7 p.m.
09:29So don't get there at eight and think you're going to laugh
09:31because, you know, you'll be halfway through the show.
09:33You're going to nail it.
09:34Tell us a little bit about the show.
09:37It's standup.
09:39It's me.
09:39It's if you like BBW, it's more dating stories.
09:44It's more stories about my life.
09:46It's jokes about things that I think are funny.
09:50And honestly, I think it's a good hour and I think you'll have fun
09:56and hopefully forget about the bullshit of the world and just have a nice time.
10:00God, do we need that right now, right?
10:02I mean, of all times.
10:04Okay, so that is happening on October 7th.
10:08What do you do to get sort of psyched up for each show?
10:10I mean, you have to remember a lot of stuff.
10:13Yeah, well, I do my makeup.
10:15I listen to older sets.
10:17Oh, yeah, that's how I worded that.
10:19Oh, yeah, remember to say that.
10:23And then sometimes I'll like think of something new to say.
10:28But for the most part, I'm just like reviewing
10:32and like trying to figure out, like, you know, get in the mood.
10:35But I like to do my makeup.
10:36I like to look pretty just in case the audience hates me.
10:41At least they have something nice to look at.
10:44Hardly, hardly.
10:46You got to feel that love every time you step on stage, right?
10:49Yes, I have very, very, very nice audiences.
10:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:53Well, you're gonna have another great audience full of love for you.
10:57Any parting words?
10:58Anything you'd want to talk about before I let you go to your busy, busy day?
11:02No, this was really great.
11:03Thank you for making the time for me.
11:05Thank you so much.
11:06All right, Nicole Byer, October 7, Curtain Time, 7 p.m.
11:10at the Wallace Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Tony Beverly Hills.
11:16We're going to fill the house for you, Nicole, all right?
11:20Break one of your beautiful legs.
11:22All right.
11:22Thank you so much.
11:23Bye.
11:24Bye.