A Black Lady Sketch Show Returns to HBO in April

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It’s been almost two years since the first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show, the first sketch comedy entirely written and directed by Black women, aired on HBO. The network quickly renewed the series back in August 2019, but for various reasons (there was this pandemic you maybe heard about?) it’s taken a while for Robin Thede’s sketch show to continue. Fortunately the wait’s almost over: today HBO announced that season two will be premiering on Friday, April 23, at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Like the first, it’ll consist of six episodes, which will all be available to stream on HBO Max, as well.

A Black Lady Sketch Show’s first season was pretty much universally acclaimed. As Paste’s own LaToya Ferguson wrote in her review of the first season, it’s a genuinely great show that “captures a great deal about the black woman experience and what it means within a world that both doesn’t understand it and loves to appropriate it.” It went on to be nominated for three Emmys, with the show landing a nomination for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, and guest Angela Bassett getting a nod for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. It presented a viewpoint rarely seen in sketch comedy, and did so in hilarious fashion. It’ll be good to have it back. And oh, here’s a trailer:

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A Black Lady Sketch Show’s creator Robin Thede will return as showrunner and star, with Gabrielle Dennis and Ashley Nicole Black also returning. Laci Mosley and Skye Townsend will be joining the cast as featured players, and Thede and Black will also be in the writer’s room alongside Lauren Ashley Smith, Holly Walker, Akilah Green, Rae Sanni, Kindsey Young, Shenovia Large, and Kristin Layne Tucker. The series is directed by Lacey Duke and Brittany Scott Smith, and will have guest appearances by all kinds of stars, including Gabrielle Union, Ayesha Curry, Miguel, In Living Color cast member Kim Wayans, Jesse Williams, and more.

Sadly Quinta Brunson, one of the first season’s core cast members, had to sit this season out due to a Covid shutdownr-related schedule conflict. She will be missed, but this is still a stellar cast.

Expect more on the return of A Black Lady Sketch Show as April 23 draws closer. In the meantime, you can catch up on that first season on HBO Max.