I'm Tricia Black. I'm an actor/comedian with Second City in their new mainstage revue,
'If I Could #Throwback Time.' Today, I'm going to be answering some questions that are sick,
and some are going to be hard and some are going to be soft.
Which bowl, which bowl? What advice do you give to young queer comics? I probably would
like to tell young queer comics just to do it. I think it's important for us to just
step up and start really getting out there, whether you're in standup, improv, sketch
or you're doing video sketches or anything like that, I think it's just, make sure that
your voice is heard and push the boundaries, because people want to hear it.
What's the most unexpected DM you've gotten? Just usually like, I've gotten a couple recently
where women are basically like, 'I saw you on stage, let's bang,' and I'm like, 'No,
that's very nice, thank you so much but I can't.'
Who was the hardest person you had to come out to and why? Obviously probably my parents.
I'm from New Brunswick, too, so it's like, not a lot of people – everyone I know that
came out, came out when they moved to Toronto. So everyone's like, sneaking out of New Brunswick,
going to the big city.
What do you want to see more of in comedy? I want to see more marginalized voices. And
I think we're starting to get that, like I think it's starting to – you think of shows
like Baroness von Sketch, or TallBoyz, now both on CBC, or shows like She the People
at Second City or Extravaganza or Yas Kween, which is produced by Nelu Handa. You're starting
to see more of that, but I want to see more and more. Like, people a disability – anything
like that, I think those voices also truly need to be heard and there's been a huge lack
of it, and I think that would be awesome to see.
What was your first queer kiss like? Exciting. It was so exciting. I remember being like,
'This is what it's supposed to feel like!'
What's your biggest fear? Definitely death, by something weird. I'm always like, I'm going
to be just standing on the corner, and then all of the sudden, a car's going to fly in
the air and it's going to fall on me, or I'm going to get stung by the one jellyfish that's
poisonous or – even though my brain is like, no, that's probably never going to happen,
but sometimes I'm like – you never know. I'll be walking and I'll be like, that crane,
it's going to fall – it's going to get me.
What project are you working on next? I have a theatre company in Tweed, Ontario where
we write original Canadian musicals. I have a lesbian werewolf musical that is very funny
and dumb, and then I'm working on another musical about famous Canadian women.
Who's your favourite queer thirst trap? Anasimone George. She does the show Shade, which is
a queer POC show. She thirst traps a lot.
Who would you love to collaborate with? I mean, Catherine O'Hara would be huge. I love
– Carolyn Taylor is another person, Baroness von Sketch, who I think is just one of the
funniest human beings. Kate McKinnon would be amazing to work with as well. Her comedy
is so funny and her character work is incredible on SNL. Those three right now in my mind are
who I would love to collaborate with. What's your go-to pickup line?
Go-to pickup line? I don't know if I've ever actually used a pickup line. It's probably
like, 'Um, hi, I'm Tricia, would you like to go out sometime?'
When was the first time you saw yourself reflected in media?
Well, I guess probably the biggest one would be when Ellen came out on her show. That would
have been the one that I really remember – and Rosie O'Donnell, too, I remember being a big
person on screen that, as a kid, I was like, 'Oh, maybe it is okay, because Rosie and Ellen
are –' but then Ellen got such backlash that it was scary, too, at the same time,
but I feel like they would have been the first couple of people that I would have know that
I, as Trish, would have recognized as being similar to me.
Yeah. I did it. There's no more.