The Backlash Whitney Cummings Received Over Her Sitcom

The amount of backlash and shit I got when I started and had to show out was brutal. It was brutal. I didn't know you then. I met you at the laugh factory. I remember I met you at the laugh factory. I had already been kicked out of the comedy store and that was, it was during my time where I was doing other clubs. So it was somewhere around like 2007-ish or something like that. I met you, I don't remember where I met you. But I remember saying, can I get a hug? You were like, you were in the corner crying. Yeah, it's so weird to think that because I was at the comedy store when you were not and you were still such a big presence there in a way that it's, cause Ari was there. You know, it just was, I don't know, I felt like I knew you maybe before I knew you. Yeah. That was a weird time. It was a weird time for you too because like there was a lot of people hating on you because of your show. Because it was so big. Like you had these giant billboards and your face was everywhere. You know, that's just one of those things where that fucking green envy monster pops out of people and they get so mad. But it's also, I'm a comic. I know what you're making fun of. If there was a show called, you know, Rita with some girl holding a beach ball, like being sassy, I would make fun of it too. It was like, you know, I was young and, you know, it's like as a comedian you get an offer like that. What were you when you got Whitney? Twenty seven. Twenty seven. Damn. That's crazy. You have your own show at twenty seven. And I wanted to hire all my friends. I fought really hard even though I had no power. You know, I wrote the part for Kristalia, you know, and I said, I don't want to do this without him. Not that I even had any of that power at the time. You know, of course they want to cast like these actors that have been on nine shows and that have been on a bunch of failed shows. You're like, why do I want someone that's a merit or people have voted they don't want to see. What year was it that you started doing stand up? Two thousand four. So you were only doing stand up for a short period of time. How many years before you got your show? Six. That's wild. Seven. That's wild. Wild. I was doing the roast. I was a writer for the roast and then I was on the roasts and I Tom Central did not. I never got premium blend or I never got Gotham. I never got new faces in Montreal, which really quick. Just a joke that you might appreciate that I wrote for Joan Rivers at the Joan Rivers Roast, but didn't tell. This is kind of an inside comedy thing. Joan Rivers has had so much work done on her face every year. She books Montreal new faces. And so then I did the Joan Rivers Roast and I did so well that Comedy Central offered me a half hour and then I just was like I want to do an hour because they said no to me so many times. Right. As soon as I had leverage I just was like. Right. Use it. Fuck this. Yeah. Because also then when comedians complain about their clips being broken up on Instagram or their stand up being broken up, I always try to go like remember when we were in Comedy Central and they would break up our specials seven minutes and then a four minute commercial and then five minutes they would just arbitrarily break it up anywhere and you only actually had 42 minutes to actually do stand up. Yeah. And your set was fucked up because like sometimes those bits would continue after the commercial break and people would forget what the fucking premise is. And if people were just tuning in they had no idea. They didn't give a shit. They just shoved those commercials in there. I remember my it's like an Adam and Eve and you're like cool. I remember I used to do my second Comedy Central special. I remember trying to time it seven minutes punchline killer and do like three mini sets with little closers instead of one big set. Yeah. Because of the way they would cut it up. To be 27 and have your own show is so crazy. Crazy. It's so it's so like so much pressure. That must have been like really overwhelming and weird. Well because I think at that point you think more is more in terms of press publicity that kind of stuff. Yeah. Just keep doing it. I didn't realize how you know it's interesting the way that you know whether it's our business or just people in general they look at comedians as kind of these children that need to be babysat instead of these mature adults that have gone all around the country and you know comported ourselves. Actually we act like silly gooses sometimes but we really have our shit together. What we do is not easy. So going in and when they were making the billboards and stuff I was like you guys this is this looks like a cheesy sitcom from the this looks like Veronica's closet. This is a friend Russia show from the 80s. It was like because it was multi cam it was like purple font and I know what I was doing. They do those photo shoots with you and they're like you know make this face like do this and I'm like I was like painted as like the finger wagging like annoying girlfriend. No. The show was like a role reversal was about me someone who had come from three divorces and was actually commitment boba. But in love with someone and trying to figure out how to like you know like someone who's kind of feral trying to be domesticated to be in a normal relationship. And you know and it was people loved it. They couldn't get past the multi cam of it and which is weird because I feel like multi cam is so respected in one in one way. Cheers and. Well explain to people what that means. It means you did it in front of a live audience. Sure like when you shoot show in front of live studio audience Roseanne. So who couldn't get past that. What do you mean they couldn't get past that. I think people would just were so mad that I like existed that they couldn't. It was like well that's a laugh track. They were mad that you existed. Maybe. That's interesting. So it's just who are these people. I don't know. I think like critics or other comics like what do you know. I think I also it was a multi. I did two multi camps that year shows in front of a live studio audience. The Whitney show and then two broke girls two broke girls was on CBS. It was beloved and ended up going for six seasons. That was a show that had other multi camps two and a half men. Big bank theory Mike and Molly. So that was so the network was already sort of set up for that. And anyone watching that network is already king queens. I follow the office and community on. Oh I see. So they were used to single cam things being shot kind of like a movie. I think the inside cool kids club was like what's this like. I got news for you. That club sucks. And those people that are in that club are all cunts. The inside cool kid club. Those are assholes pretending to not be assholes. They're douchebags pretending to be kind and considerate. And the irony is like they all it's a lot it's a lot of Harvard guys. It's like Harvard lampoon guys. Well some of the best writers. Yeah. I've met a lot of great writers from Harvard. It's kind of amazing how many good like a lot of the guys from news radio. Were were Harvard guys. Interesting that. Poon thing. Well they're just you know really smart guys who became that you know that you got sort of ushered into this group. And it was a great way to like use that intellect and that love of comedy and comedy writing. And it was already like a clearly established path. You know like Paul Sims had come through there and all these different. And when they came through it's like there was other ones that had already paved the path. Oh I'll just go on to write for sitcoms. Right. And then I you know hey this guy's really funny. We'll hire him. He was also in you know the lampoon. But you're not better than me because he went to Harvard. We're both telling dick jokes. Well. We're both doing dick jokes here guys. You know I mean that that is always a part of Harvard. Right. A part of Ivy League education is that you know some people are going to feel like they're elite. Right. Which is fine if you're doing elite work. But there's a lot of people that were just not you know. But they have the attitude. Right. And that's why I'm here. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you. And I'm here to help you.