Tracy Clayton: I had this moment, and I think I tweeted
it, but I was like, "I can't believe it took me so long
to realize that you are, like, what I want to be, you know?"
Jackee Harry: Really?
Tracy: Yes, oh my gosh.
Jackee: Going to make me cry.
I'm like, "Really? Wow."
Tracy: But really I was just like, "She's hilarious,
and smart, and outspoken, and just--"
And also funny.
It makes me so mad people are like,
"Women aren't funny, there are no funny women."
I'm just like, "How dare you when Jackee is in the world,
how dare you?"
Jackee: Well, you know what they mean, though.
It's a very male-oriented thing, standup for sure.
There used to be a lot more women,
Totie Fields, Lucille Ball.
I'm talking about Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers.
It was a lot, Imogene Coca.
I know my history, you know.
But I don't know, it's like they disappeared,
and now they're coming back.
But the thing with women is it's a female thing, but also,
you know, you have these things you can't talk about.
You know, you know, that aren't allowed.
Men can talk about anything, you know, but women, you have to be
careful because people are looking at the woman first
and then the comedian.
The man comes on, boom.
So, you got to go right to funny.
It's almost like you got to go right to funny, you know?
So yeah, it's like Ellen DeGeneres,
she goes right to funny.
See what I mean?
Tracy: I see, I see.
Jackee: And so we--but we're getting better.
But I don't know, it's just one of those things.
Tracy: Who were some of your early comedic inspirations?
I feel like you could probably just name them.
Jackee: Lucille Ball. I love Lucy for real.
Tracy: Since you say Lucille Ball, it's like
of course, I can see the influence now.
Jackee: Uh huh, Mae West for sure, Joan Rivers.
Joan taught me to write down everything, every joke,
every ad-lib.
And Rodney Dangerfield is my last mentor.
Tracy: Really?
Jackee: He'd, "Baby, baby, baby, write down everything.
Baby, baby, you got to get your mantra,
got to get your mantra, baby.
You know, no respect, baby. I got no respect."
You know, you got to have your--mine of course is...
[giggling]
And when you do people copying, I know you copying.
And keep repeating it and repeating it and repeating it.
And then you put it in there, you know?
You got to hammer it out.
Tracy: I wanted to know what baby Jackee was like.
Like, did you just, like, come out of the womb funny
and just, like, amazing?
Jackee: No, shy, very shy, very quiet.
Singing along to the radio.
My earliest memory's maybe seven or eight, singing along
to the radio, the actual radio in the house.
We didn't have--yeah.
And TV baby, oh yeah. Still am.
Tracy: Yeah?
Jackee: Oh yeah, 24/7.
Tracy: How did you end up acting?
Like, how did you--did you grow out of it?
Did you break out of it? Did you act--
Jackee: I was a member of the glee club from the age of six,
five, you know, singing.
And all through school, all the way up, I got to junior high
and I got in the play, school play.
And the first one was "Oklahoma,"
I didn't get in the lead in that.
I was mad.
I didn't get the lead 'cause--and I was crying
'cause I was so good.
They said, "No, you're not a senior."
So, I did "The King and I," and I got on stage and I was great.
And I got the applause, and that's when I came.
But I still was shy, I couldn't speak out.
But then I went and got acting lessons with
Dick Anthony Williams at Henry Street Settlement.
And they taught me, you know, what you call monologues and
things, and how to get up in front of people and talk.
It took a year and a half for me to get up.
But when I broke--
Tracy: You broke.
Jackee: And that's what you have to do if you're going
to do it.
'Cause even now, you have some actors who are shy,
but I can speak in front of anybody.
You know, but don't ask me to do standup.
You know, I'm strong in anything, I'm a confident woman,
but standup?
Tracy: That's a different beast.
That is a different monster.
And I tell people all the time, like, being funny on Twitter
is one thing.
Standing in front of a crowd and trying to make them--I don't
understand how anybody does it.
Jackee: But I was a sweet kid and really nice.
And I still am, you know.
Bookworm.
You know, nerdy, corny.
But I had a nice--you know, I'm a baby boomer, so I had
a nice growing up period, not tumultuous.
You know, nothing, I mean, you know, to speak of.
I was a really sweet kid, yeah.
Tracy: I feel like the '90s--in the '90s,
TV used to be so black.
You know, like there were so many black sitcoms.
There was "Living Single," there was "Martin," there was
"Sister, Sister," there was--what do
you think happened?
Like, where did all the black shows go?
Jackee: You know, we were in fashion because like
blacksploitation in the '70s, all those black movies,
which were not great, but they--we enjoyed them.
Tracy: Were necessary also, you know?
Jackee: What, "Shaft" and "The Mack,"
you can go--"Superfly," on and on and on.
But we just--we're in and then we're out.
Black people, we're in, we're hot, but we always resurface
because the creativity is so original, you know?
But black and white people, I'm sorry, we're all the same
because we influence each other now.
'Cause I sure have learned something from
my little young man.
Tracy: Oh, do tell.
Jackee: It's give and take now, and that comes from
the evolution and the evolving of people.
So, I believe in evolving, and that's what's happening.
You have to evolve constantly.
To understand racism, to understand gay rights being,
you know, infringed, you have to learn it.
It's not--you don't just go, "Oh, that's wrong,"
'cause you said it.
You understand it, you can fight it.
Tracy: Right, and you have to do a lot of listening too.
Jackee: It's like Colin Kaepernick in the NFL.
I understand that, so you can fight for it.
But if you don't understand, you know, you really are confused.
So, we have to keep evolving. You feel me?
Tracy: I feel you, girl, I feel you.
So, what is the greatest piece of advice that you've gotten
about acting?
Jackee: From Debbie Morgan, you know who that is?
When you leave an audition, leave it there.
Don't take it with you home, don't take it back.
It took me 40 years to learn that because I'd get all,
"Did I get it? What did I do?"
I'd be in the car, I'm talking about it would last for months.
You, ooh God.
And then somebody gets that role, and you watch it, go,
"How'd she get that part?"
Tracy: "I'm better than that."
Jackee: Yes, envy, jealousy.
You know the difference between jealousy and envy?
Envy is, "Why not me? Why her and not me?"
Jealousy is, "I hate her."
No, really, that's the difference.
Tracy: I'm learning so much.
Jackee: So, that's the greatest piece of advice,
and I have followed, and it works.
Tracy: But it's a practice to get that, huh?
Jackee: Just like forgiveness does.
When you forgive somebody, you have to practice it,
and it works.
Mm-hmm, but you have to practice.