If you haven’t watched London Hughes’ standup special on Netflix yet, do yourself a favor and watch it now. As a matter of fact, call your girls and tell them to watch it too and then afterward share some laughs again over the hilarious reliability of the British star.
“When I wrote To Catch a D-ck I did it for me, but I didn’t realize how universal it is and how women all over the world would be like, ‘I needed this!’ Hughes tells ESSENCE.
To Catch a D-ck is the name of her debut comedy special which touches on everything from dating to the myth of the “big Black D” and, of course, sex — or the lack thereof. It’s essentially like seeing the conversations you have with your friends brought to the stage which is why we had to chat with our new girlfriend in our head about standup, being single, and her struggle settling in America during the pandemic.
“I’ve been doing comedy for 11 years and if anyone could tell me 2020 would be the year that everything happens for me I would be like, ‘Are you sure because I feel like there’s a lot going on in the world right now?’ The 31-year-old says laughing. “‘Are you sure this is the time to launch my career?'”
The answer to that question has proven to be yes with Hughes also guest-starring in Nicolas Cage’s The History of Swear Words and co-hosting The Netflix Afterparty alongside Fortune Feimster and David Spade. Will Packer and Universal have already snatched her up for her own film about being Black and British in America as well.
Kevin Hart executive produced Hughes standup special which is a sign the stigma tide of comedy might be turning. While female comedians are often subjected to different standards from their male counterparts, Hughes’ breakout success suggests comedy is finally ready to openly embrace women comics having conversations as raw as men.
“I’ve been taling about d-ck since 2010 but when I was talking about d-ck it wasn’t seen as a thing. It was like, ‘oh she’s being crude, women shouldn’t be allowed to talk sex, blah blah blah,’ Hughes says. But what’s happened is women have started to own their sexuality and I owe that to rappers, female rappers coming out, talking about sex, sucking d-ck. Wet a– p-ssy was the biggest song in the world at one point. We’ve got people from Queen Latifah to Salt-N-Pepa to Meg thee Stallion to Cardi B to Nicki Minaj talking about sex and owning it and I feel like if that can happen in rap that should be able to translate to comedy.”
Check out our full convo with London Hughes in the video above and catch her on the latest episode of The Netflix After Party streaming now.