The one and only--
Thank you.
--Sheryl Lee Ralph, welcome to The Daily Show.
Let me start with saying congratulations,
Emmy-award winning Sheryl Lee Ralph.
[cheering]
You know, there are many performers in history,
many artists, many actors who audiences have said,
critics alike, this person never got their flowers.
This person never got the recognition that they deserve.
So many people in Black Hollywood
never got the flowers that they deserved.
Yeah.
Talk me through just a part of this journey.
You know, you've done it all.
I mean, Moesha, for me, and then
moving from one to the next.
[cheering]
Dreamgirls for so many people back in the day,
the original Dreamgirl.
Talk talk me through the journey,
and what has kept you being as effervescent as you are?
Oh my god.
I choose to be happy.
I choose joy.
Yeah.
[applause]
I believe that since I am alive,
I might as well get up, get out there, and enjoy it.
[cheering]
Yes.
I'm so happy that God has chosen throughout all
of these years to wake me up every morning in my right mind
so that I can carry on in life.
I love it!
TREVOR NOAH: Amen! - Yes.
Yes.
That's what keeps me going.
That's what keeps me enjoying what I do through all
of the ups and downs, through all of the missteps
and the bad breaks.
I choose to carry on.
I choose to look in the mirror and love what I see.
TREVOR NOAH: We love what we see.
Thank you.
We genuinely love what we see.
Again, I mean, I am a sucker for--
I love all comedy.
Anything that is funny, I love.
You are a master in the way you perform it.
Abbott Elementary has done what many people
said wasn't possible.
People said no one watches live TV anymore.
Nobody likes a sitcom anymore.
Nobody likes these family stories anymore.
SHERYL LEE RALPH: That's right.
And yet Abbott Elementary has gone
and done the exact thing that everyone said was impossible.
You know, Quinta Brunson assembled
this amazing squad of people to come
in and tell real stories-- - That's right.
TREVOR NOAH: --that teachers love
of themselves, of the students, of the American schooling
system. - That's right.
You know, I know it touches everything.
But what do you think it is that brings people
back every single week and watching live, by the way,
sharing it with each other?
I think what they're seeing is their own struggles.
We're just a group of regular people in the show,
going through life.
And we just happen to be in a very challenging situation.
And every week, we are getting over the difficulties,
and we are appreciating what we have together,
working together on the show, in the show,
in the characters, in the scripts.
And people see themselves in it, and they love it.
TREVOR NOAH: They feel it. - They feel it.
TREVOR NOAH: They feel it, and they love it.
- And they tell us. - They do.
Oh, they do. - Oh my god.
Oh, they do.
Oh my god, my life now has turned
into one big photo session.
[laughs]
Anytime I go out into the street,
everybody wants to take a picture.
Everybody wants you to talk to their people.
And everybody wants to tell you how much they love you.
And I am saying, see, that's why I wake up happy every day.
[applause]
You-- you're also the rare breed of human
being who is talented in every aspect of what you do,
you know? TREVOR NOAH: Thank you.
Some people will see you as an actor on screen.
Others know you as the phenomenal performer on stage.
And now you have an album out. - Yes.
- A Christmas album. - Yes.
Sleigh.
SHERYL LEE RALPH: Yes.
TREVOR NOAH: Which I like the play on words,
but talk me through that.
Talk me through why the Christmas album
and why an album in general.
Well, first of all, it was only supposed to be a song.
And before I knew it, we had done 15 songs,
and we have an album called Sleigh.
And people are actually downloading it everywhere--
TREVOR NOAH: People are loving it.
--and loving it. It's crazy.
- People are loving it. - Yeah.
People are--
It's not your mother's Christmas album.
It is not.
We're going to take your mother to church and the club.
Yes.
I did notice that.
[applause]
It is one of the sexier Christmas
albums I've ever heard. - Thank you.
I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie.
Thank you.
TREVOR NOAH: Before I let you go, I would be remiss
if I didn't talk about your moment at the Emmys,
where I always say at every award show,
I feel like there should be an award
for the best award acceptance.
SHERYL LEE RALPH: Aw.
And yours was that.
Because sometimes at awards, it can feel self-indulgent.
It can feel like we're not part of what's happening.
It felt like we won with you.
It felt like people won with your win
even just for their lives.
It didn't feel like a platitude.
It didn't feel like you were just saying it.
It felt like you were embodying it.
And I'd love to know, in that moment, when you're holding
that award, in an industry that everyone thrives
to be celebrated or successful in,
what made you think of talking to the people
and not just talking about yourself?
Because I thought in that moment, you know,
my dad was a great lifelong learner and educator.
And when they called my name, it was like I could hear
my dad saying, there you are.
It's your time.
Come on.
But I couldn't-- I couldn't--
I was so shocked.
I couldn't get the message from my brain to my feet to move.
And my husband kept saying, get up.
Get up.
And it wasn't until I heard Quinta say, it's your name!
Get up!
Then I got up because Tyler came and literally lifted me
up and guided me to the stage.
And I got there, center stage, and there was my dad
again saying, don't you cry.
Don't you cry.
This is your moment.
Let them know who you are and how you got here.
TREVOR NOAH: Wow.
And there's a big screen like that in front of me
saying, stop now, stop now.
And I was like, I haven't even gotten started.
[laughter]
- Oh, I love it. - Yes.
I love it so much.
Thank you for joining me on the show.
Thank you. Trevor.
Thank you so much for everything you do.
- I missed you. - Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Sheryl Lee Ralph, everybody.