On Friday, April 8, the Emmy Award-winning sketch comedy series A Black Lady Sketch Show returns for its highly anticipated third season on HBO.
The new season will consist of six episodes and feature the core cast of Robin Thede – the show’s creator, writer, and executive producer – along with Ashley Nicole Black, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend, as they enact funny and relatable experiences on camera for a national audience.
“The third season of A Black Lady Sketch Show is so epic, so dynamic, and so joyful – making this show really is my dream come true,” Thede said. “The cast’s chemistry and talent, the 40+ guest stars and the relatable yet wild subject matter are all so incredible this season. I am just proud of the season we’ve made in yet another pandemic year of shooting. We love that the show makes Black women feel seen and makes people of all kinds laugh around the world.”
A Black Lady Sketch Show will include nearly 40 celebrity guest stars this year, including Ava DuVernay, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Raven-Symoné, Wanda Sykes, David Alan Grier, Kyla Pratt, Jemele Hill, Holly Robinson Peete, Kel Mitchell, Michael Ealy, Wayne Brady, Bob the Drag Queen, Vanessa Williams, Lance Reddick, Loni Love, Cari Champion, Shangela, Trevor Jackson, Tommy Davidson, Jay Pharoah, Jidenna, and Essence Atkins and more.
Black spoke to the importance of the narrative sketch comedy’s new season, and its impact on people – especially women – of color.
“A Black Lady Sketch Show has always been about showing Black women doing comedy without the limits traditionally put on us by the mainstream entertainment industry,” Black said. “Hollywood likes to put us in 2-3 boxes. But if you watch even one episode of this series, you will see each cast member play more characters than that! A third season just means more. More characters, more stories, more undeniable proof of what we’ve always already known; that Black women are limitless.”
“This season is really special because as a cast, we unlocked an extremely unique type of chemistry,” Townsend added. “The sketches are bolder, brighter, and more universal. This show is so important because it gives viewers a chance to step away from reality and simply laugh. It’s an honor to make people smile for a living.”
Since its debut in 2019, A Black Lady Sketch Show has been nominated for eight Primetime Emmys, an Art Directors Guild Award, a Television Critics Association Award, and Thede earned a Hollywood Critics Association TV Award nod for Best Actress in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Comedy. In 2021, the series won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing For Variety Programming.
“A third season means more opportunities to inspire more comedic talents that look like us,” Dennis said of the upcoming season. “It reminds me somewhat of the 90s era when black comedy was having a moment, and how big a deal shows like “In Living Color” were. I remember the excitement of catching each new season and seeing how the show discovered so many breakout stars and fresh faces and how it was able to inspire so many people, even the likes of me all the way at home on my couch.”
“So, having a platform as big as HBO with such bold and refreshing sketches like ours just makes me think about how many women sitting at home on their couch are watching our show and daring to pursue their dreams in comedy both in front of and behind the camera and I you better believe that can’t wait to see what they come up with,” she continued.
Catch the first episode of A Black Lady Sketch Show tonight at 11:00 pm EST on HBO, and streaming on HBO Max.