- Issa Rae, welcome to the daily social distancing show.
(Issa laughs)
- Hey Trevor Noah, thank you for having me, distanced.
- Yes. Having you very distanced.
Although I feel like you have been somebody who I,
I feel like your always in my life,
like there are some people who make the kinds of shows
that make you feel like you know them as a person.
Like I would probably be one of your creepy fans
who comes up to you in the streets
and thinks I know you more than I do.
I'm sure you have people like that,
because you make those kinds of shows
where whenever I watch Issa Rae,
I go like, I know her. Issa's my best friend.
But we're not best friends.
And I'm actually very creepy when I do that to you.
Do you have that a lot with people?
Do they all feel like they know you?
- What a high compliment. Yes. People do.
I take it as a compliment.
Until they start like insulting me and my character,
my literal character.
But you know, I know what it's like to be on the street,
seeing me, I welcome it.
- What do you think that is?
I've always wondered how you do that,
because like everyone can make a show
but when Issa Rae makes her show,
there's a connectivity to it that that connects.
Even if you give like a speech at an award show,
there's a familiarity that you have that connects people,
to you.
Have you ever wondered what that is?
- I haven't, I don't try to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I, and it's not something that I realized
until people may bring in it up.
But I think for me, it just comes down to relate-ability.
I do strive to find the commonality there,
and create the only one that goes through things.
- I think what makes Insecure such a fantastic show,
and hopefully a show that'll change shows forever.
You created a show in which black women specifically,
can occupy all spaces and places within society.
There's no archetype of what the black woman,
is supposed to be.
You can be the lawyer, you can be the broke ass friend,
you can be the person who is focused, not focused,
the person who's, you know.
There's something powerful in that.
And I've always wanted to know,
whether you set out to create that or
whether you would just replicating your world as you saw it.
- It's definitely the ladder.
It was the, and I think that's what was the frustration,
about not seeing that on television for so long.
Because I was surrounded by these women who occupied
so many different spaces.
I wasn't seeing that reflected on television.
And it was just like, but this is my life.
This is their life. This is my mom's friend's life.
So what is the problem?
Where's the disconnect now?
And of course we had that during the earlier decades,
but there was, you know that dearth in the early 2000's.
- Right, right.
- 2000, 2010, and it was just like, where are we?
And where are these women that I know so well?
And so I wanted to intentionally reflect that world,
just cause it was missing.
- The show has been extremely successful.
And then you drop the bombshell on us,
and you tell us that Insecure is now coming to an end.
The question is why?
- Because it's a story and good stories end.
Even in pitching it that first season,
I knew that I wanted to end it the fifth season.
Prentice and I had talked about that and he was just like,
Yeah, that feels right.
And so we've been building towards this journey,
to finish telling the story.
I love watching television,
that kind of has a- that takes you on a story.
Like there's nothing like a meandering story.
And so for me, I hope that people leave feeling satisfied.
Like, oh, I'm glad I watched that.
I'm glad I watched that story be told.
- I think everyone's going to have that feeling.
And what's cool is if you're an Issa Rae fan,
I mean from what I read in the magazines,
there's not going to be a shortage of Issa Rae in the world.
Like you are doing mogul things,
is what the internet calls it.
You know when Twitter goes like, oh, making money moves.
Then you know, like things are happening.
- Get the bag.
- Yeah. You're getting the bag and making the money moves.
Congratulations first of all,
because you are just making things,
you've signed a giant deal.
You're going to be creating everything across the board.
Firstly, where do you find the time?
Secondly, what are you now looking to do,
that you haven't already done
- So much. I mean, I'm- thank you.
I am, I have the time because I work with incredible people.
And so like, you know, there's different,
our company and people are, you have people,
you have incredible faith and work very hard.
And then for me next,
I just want to I want to go behind the scenes.
Like I love exploring the business parts of the industry.
I love producing the work of people who I'm a fan of.
And I have not made a film yet.
That is my personal next goal.
And yeah, there's just so much,
so many things that I want to do,
and I don't want to just do anything to do it.
I want to do things well.
- Talk me through your partnership with LIFEWTR.
This is really interesting.
I saw money, I saw opportunity
and I saw Issa Rae and I was like,
all right I want to know what this is all about.
(Issa laughs)
What's happening.
- So I'm always in the spirit of collaboration.
We wanted to find other people to work with,
and you know this industry right now
talks so much about diversity and representation.
And where do you find these people?
And it's like, we're trying to create the pipelines.
Basically LIFEWTR and I have partnered,
to quote a contest, to find people and artists,
and creatives who need that opportunity
to have their work be seen.
- Oh, wow.
- They created a 20 bottles with the work,
of these various artists that we've hand selected.
And then we're doing a contest to find five more,
and they'll get $10,000 to have their work commissioned.
- I wonder if part of the reason you did this is because,
in many ways, your career was also started by the people.
I mean, you know,
your original show was this awkward black girl.
And here you had people on a kickstarter saying,
oh, we're going to make this thing happen.
Without that you might not be here today.
Or maybe the journey would have taken much longer.
- Without a doubt.
I know what it's like to be in those early stages.
And be like, I just, if someone just sees my work,
if just that one person believing you has a platform,
then that could change the game for me, or I it could not.
But I just need to either,
see this and be like this is great.
Or see this and be like, this sucks don't ever try again.
And so we are hopefully providing this platform,
for these artists and looking out for them
in a way that the industry isn't necessarily doing.
Specifically by having LIFEWTR commission a study,
to see like where there's a lack of representation,
in these areas.
It's visual art, fashion, music, and filmmaking.
- Oh, okay. Issa Rae, thank you so much for joining me.
I appreciate you.
- Thank you Trevor.
(light sound)
- Stay tuned for a first look at LIFEWTR's new launch video,
Life Unseen.
(intense music)
- We are the unseen creators,
because of our gender, who we fall in love with,
the color of our skin or the ability of our bodies.
(intense music)
Our life's work may never be seen, or heard.
It's time for change.
(sirens blaring)
(foosteps)
(drum sound)
(upbeat music)
LIFEWTR is on a mission to fill the world,
with creativity by people like us.
Because when our work is seen
it can inspire the next generation,
and create a future where all artists can make it.
No matter who they are, join LIFEWTR's movement
to make unseen artists seen.
(upbeat music)