Wanda Sykes tackles the three Bs — 'black-ish,' bowling and 'The Bachelorette'

Wanda Sykes tackles the three Bs — ‘black-ish,’ bowling and ‘The Bachelorette’

‘Black-ish’s’ Wanda Sykes talks about her most useless talent and what she’s bingeing now.

Aug. 14, 2017 11:05 AM PT

Despite getting nominated for an Emmy for an episode that centered on his election, Donald Trump is really starting to harsh Wanda Sykes’ mellow.

“It’s been rough. I’m trying to get into other things,” Sykes said of the seven months of the Trump administration during a recent visit to The Times’ video studio.

But it hasn’t been easy for the comedian, actress and writer.

“I wish I could care about ‘The Bachelorette,’” Sykes continued. “I really do. I wish that I could go, ‘Hey, what’s this Nicki Minaj/Remy Ma beef about?’ I really wish I could care about these things more than politics and my country.”

Sykes is not alone in being driven to distraction by the current administration, as evident from her guest actress Emmy-nominated turn in the “black-ish” episode “Lemons.”

The series, which focuses on the upper-middle-class Johnson family who live their lives as a black family in a predominantly white environment, examined the 2016 election through the lens of both work and school with deft portrayals of all sides of the issue.

Still, there’s an exhaustion to the news churn of 2017.

“I have a hard time doing stand-up now,” Sykes explained. “People who enjoy what I do, they have expectations. If I get on stage and I just talk about my family or the kids or ‘Ooh, I’m 53 now. I have a lot of hot flashes,’ while hilarious, people don’t want to hear that.”

“If I leave the stage without commenting on what’s happening and politics, then people feel like you’re not talking about the elephant in the room,” Sykes added.

However, it’s not all bad news in the wake of the election.

“Actually, Trump is making me smarter,” she said. “Because I’m reading books. I’m watching documentaries that I know he won’t be in.”

Her Emmy nomination for “black-ish” is Sykes’ eighth nod from the television academy, but her first for acting, having scored multiple nominations previously for her writing on “The Chris Rock Show,” as well as her stand-up special “I’ma Be Me.”

Sykes scored an Emmy win in 1999 for “Rock” but felt the nomination this year was different.

“The other nominations, it was my work. They were my words,” she said. “Being nominated for just acting and saying other people’s words, it is different. It’s almost like I’m a legitimate actress now.”

Check out the full interview below for more from legitimate actress Wanda Sykes, including stories about binge-watching “The Handmaid’s Tale,” bowling scores and bringing back game shows.

Watch her full interview below: