Jessica Williams Quotes
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I grew up hearing, 'You're pretty for a black girl,' 'You speak well for a black girl...' I was really bookish. I was reading all of the time. I had big glasses.
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I ended up living in braids. It was the '90s - thin braids were very popular - and my mom took me to a lady's kitchen. I got it done, and I've never stopped.
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I think we need to not speak over black women, not assign them labels.
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Basketball would have been the natural sport to play, but it's a little too aggressive for me, so instead I dabbled in volleyball and some good old-fashioned Roller Derby.
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The last thing I do before bed is think I should take my contacts out. Then I fall asleep.
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As I got older, I had to learn to not have people speak for me. It was the first time I recognized, 'Oh, sometimes people are going to condescend to me because I'm a woman, or sometimes people aren't going to give me opportunities because of the way I look.'
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I love it when women are like, 'You guys sound like me and my best friend!'
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I'm a tomboy, but I really love doing my makeup - I find it relaxing and grounding. With 'The Daily Show,' it was easier for me to do my own makeup. In the beginning, I watched a lot of YouTube tutorials. You find a beauty blogger who has your skin tone, and pretty much everything they use will look good on you.
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I had to get used to seeing Samantha Bee around. I had to get used to seeing Jon, like, getting a bagel, and to John Oliver, and all these people whom I had seen on TV. Colbert would sometimes drop by. I had to get used to being a part of this multiple-Emmy-winning machine and being this 22-year-old black girl who was really green.
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I'm always battling how to be in a relationship while simultaneously maintaining my independence and my career.
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The color and the diversity dies out, and it gets whiter and whiter, and that's in any field. There is also this idea that there can only be one gay person or there can only be one Asian-American woman in the office, and so it also perpetuates itself where we are isolated, especially the more successful we get.
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I don't really do stand-up.
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As far as diversity's concerned, there's me, there's Al Madrigal, there's Aasif Mandvi. But I'm not walking around feeling black all the time. That would stress me out.
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Oftentimes, as women and women of color, we are put as supporting characters in other people's narratives. With 'Jessica James', she is the star of her own narrative.
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I think we can topple the patriarchy by using our voices to speak out against things that aren't right and that we don't agree with. I think for people who are not people of color or members of the LGBT community, it is being an ally and being an advocate in spaces that people of color or members of the LGBT community can't really get into.
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Get more confidence by doing things that excite and frighten you.
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Post-'Daily Show' has been so busy, which I've been surprised about. We're basically independent contractors in a way. So you have one gig, and you're worried about never getting another gig again, or at least I do.
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The black experience for me has been very interesting. Some days, I wake up, and I feel really black. Some days, I'm like, 'This is me. I'm black. Black Lives Matter. Black pride. Look at my cocoa skin.' I just feel it's my being.
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Oh, I'm obsessed with the Kardashians. Not the way that I think a 13- or 14-year-old girl would be, but I find them fascinating. They are so rich. They are also, at the end of the day, women of color.
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Acting-wise, I love Helena Bonham Carter. I love Kate Winslet. I love Angelina Jolie when she was 'Girl, Interrupted' Angelina Jolie. There isn't anybody that I can definitely point to and be like her. Because I've never felt like I've been able to relate to the women that are famous.
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There's such an adrenaline rush for me on stage and having all these people look at you. There's an adrenaline rush from not having things written down, too.
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'The Daily Show' was amazing because I learned so much.
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It's a really nice way to cut your teeth, doing live shows. It's like going to the gym because you do have to think fast. You are constantly under the threat of people not laughing. Instead of getting hit, people could just not laugh, so you really are trying to mine quickly for the funniest thing you could say in that moment.
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I'm always thinking about what a black lady would think about what I'm doing, just because I feel like they have such great taste, mostly because as black women, we've spent a lot of time downloading what a white male narrative is, so in my head, I'm like, 'If a black woman likes it, if she responds to it, then it's probably pretty damn great.'