By Edith Updike
eupdike@antonnews.com
When longtime standup artist Wanda Sykes returns to perform at NYCB Theater at Westbury this weekend, she’ll be on familiar ground.
“I’ve been to Westbury a few times and I love the LI audience,” she says. “I always get good support. It’s a fun venue.”
She even likes performing on Westbury’s theater-in-the-round stage, although she confesses “I had to learn my lesson the first time.” As she tells it, she popped a quick shot of tequila before going on, and found herself getting a little woozy from constantly turning to face all sides during the performance.
“About halfway through I was like ‘Whoa, shouldn’t have had that shot of tequila,’” the comedian remembers with a chuckle. “‘Usually the spin comes later in the day.’”
Westbury isn’t her only LI experience. She played at Governor’s in Levittown, “you know, back in the day,” she says, “before I became big-time Wanda Sykes.” And she loves Fire Island for relaxing and getting away from the city—which of course means she’s hung out in Sayville (after missing the ferry) as well.
“Once you get out to Long Island, you still get the New York attitude, but the spectrum is wider; it’s a different vibe,” she says. “It’s how most of America lives. Instead of like the city where everyone’s on top of each other and it’s….not edgy, exactly, but there’s a kind of anger (in the city). On Long Island it’s a little more relaxed.”
The 50-year-old comedian has branched well beyond standup and one-off comedy specials. One of the things she loves most is voiceover roles for animated movies and shows. “It’s not all makeup and wardrobe,” she notes. For a while she had her own TV talk show and has appeared regularly on several shows including HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Veep. She currently appears on Alpha House, the online sitcom about Republican pols sharing a house in Washington. Right now, most of her time is spent producing. She helped bring Last Comic Standing, which was cancelled for four years, back to life, revamping the show and recruiting judges like Roseanne Barr and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Now, she says, it’s doing well in the ratings again.
Of course she’s fully digitized, with a Facebook site and a Twitter feed. When she’s working on her routines, however, she likes to write the old fashioned way. “I still use pen and paper,” she says. “That’s my favorite part. And people say to me ‘oh, you should put it on the computer, it’ll be easier,’ but this is how I have to write, with pen and paper.”
Despite the multifaceted career, Sykes says she still has to be “on her game” doing standup, because that’s what she’s known for. Even if an audience is primed for laughter, she has to be seriously funny.
“They’re going to give me the first five minutes. After that, it’s like ‘okay Wanda, we bought our tickets and we’re here for a show,” she says. “They expect a quality show because that’s what I’ve been putting out.”
Saturday night’s show in Westbury is her last of the summer. She’ll crank back up for touring again in September.
“What I love when I go to LI is the fashion. You all really turn it up a notch,” the comic artiste says. “I love Long Island—the hair, the clothes, the chest hair. I love it all.”
We love you too, Wanda.
Tickets for her show Saturday show are still available. Find out more information at www.venue.thetheatreatwestbury.com or call 516-334-0800
