-Our next guests are sisters and best-selling authors
whose new book, "The World Record Book of Racist Stories,"
is on sale now.
Please welcome back to the show Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Welcome back, you guys! -Yay! Hi!
-Before we get started, Amber,
did you make Lacey dress like you?
[ Laughter ]
-Uh-huh.
-Did you make anybody else dress like you?
-Mnh-mnh.
-Are you lying?
-Mnh-mnh.
-Tom, is she lying?
-She's lying, Seth.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-He does look great.
-[ Laughs ]
-Looks beautiful.
-I'd like you to know Amber came in this morning
and pitched that idea, and I said, "I mean,
is Tom okay with it?"
And she was like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."
-Tom came up to me.
[ Laughter ] -Alright.
So, now, last time you were here, Lacey,
this was very in line with your previous appearance
where Amber made you dress and have the --
Were you expecting this when you came?
-No. She stole my look. -She stole your look both times.
Alright, so, the first book, which is a best-seller --
congratulations -- was based on --
[ Cheers and applause ] Absolutely.
These were based on stories -- You live in Omaha, Nebraska.
Obviously your sister lives in New York City.
They were stories you would tell her that she could not believe.
Was this -- What made you
then come to this idea of a second book?
-Because we had too many stories to fit into the first book.
-Yeah. -And I'm still living there,
and so these things are constantly happening to me.
So Amber's like, "We should probably write a second book."
And I'm like, "It's writing itself."
-And these are -- these are -- And I think there's a real --
I mean, it's a weird way to describe this book,
but it is an education that's in the form of a gift.
You're both very funny. You're both very honest.
You both seem like very loving people,
and yet you, in very clear-eyed ways,
describe these racist things that happen to you both.
And I think it's helpful for people like myself
to read them and be like, "Oh, my God. I knew it was bad.
I did not quite understand the depths of this."
-Yeah, people don't -- That's part of the reason
why we wrote the first book, is because of the sheer volume
of these things.
It's one tiny lady's lifetime of garbage,
and it's so funny because she's not a --
she's not special in any way. -What?
-No, I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding! I'm just kidding!
She's not, like, angry or mean or bad in any way.
She's just this cute little happy guy,
and that all happens to her.
-And these stories, you have to read them to believe them.
Are there any good examples of exactly what we're dealing with?
-Oh, yes.
So, not too long ago,
right before the second book was finished,
I went to the car dealership.
I was going to purchase a new car.
And I'm looking at this car, and I say, "You know what?
If I pay cash on this, can you do any better?"
And they're like, "Absolutely not.
That's not a thing. We don't do that."
I said, "Okay."
I left, immediately called a family friend --
-Because she knows damn well they do that.
Everyone knows they do that.
-White gentleman.
He's like, "I live for this. I'm on my way."
He goes there, looks -- I mean, this is in minutes.
Same car. Sa--
He offers cash, same amount of money,
and they said, "Oh, we'll take $4,000 off."
-Really?! They gave a $4,000 --
-Both: $4,000!
-And they at no point could smell that this was some...
-No, I love it because the -- the guy calls me and goes,
"You know what? You need to come back and look at this car
because someone's looking at it."
-So then she calls them back.
She says, "I sent my white friend in there,
and you gave him $4,000 off."
And they said, "Okay, okay. Fine.
You can have $1,000 off."
-Swear to God. -Can you believe it?!
-I only got $1,000 off. -That's amazing.
-She didn't buy -- -I didn't buy the car.
-So, you said you wrote this last book
at your parents' house while drinking margaritas.
Was that your process for the second book?
-Yeah, pretty much. -Yeah, yeah.
-Okay, good, yeah. You also admitted
that your mother would not enjoy reading the first book.
Did she change her tune on the second?
-We're still grounded from the last book.
-Yeah. -I shouldn't even be here.
-But you got her to agree
to participate and tell some of her own stories.
-We're bigger and stronger than she is, Seth.
-Tiny little lady. -So you just bullied her into --
-"When was the last time you felt like this?!"
[ Laughter ]
-I mean, do you think -- I mean, she must be proud
of the fact that this is a book that is circulating
and people are reading and people are enjoying.
-No, she is. She's very proud.
She just explicitly said...
-Both: "Do not..." -"...put me in the book."
-"...put me in the book." -And then we did.
And then we said -- That was the first book.
That was flagrant.
But then the second book, we said,
"We will tell your stories the way you want them to be told.
And we won't put in a lot of the stories
where, you know, you, um -- uh, defend your children."
How about that? Let's say it like that.
-Well, right. Because she does come off very heroically
as someone who defends and stands up for her kids.
You got other people in your family, other people in your --
your circle of friends
to commit their stories to you and tell you stories.
Were most people sort of eager to do that
or were most people hesitant?
-I think a lot of people were eager.
Our whole family, our brothers, our sisters, everybody was fine.
And then people in the community were --
There are a lot of people that were like,
"Ooh, I have a story."
I'm like, "Of course you do. You're my neighbor."
[ Laughter ]
-I have a lot more to ask you guys, especially about
a very special person that you guys got to meet.
We'll be right back with more
from Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar.