Danielle Perez Introduces Us to Darla the Deer

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-isolating, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in with some of our favorite people in comedy to get a firsthand look at how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.�

This week, I learned something new about the world of Zoom filters from Danielle Perez (NBC’s StandUp, A Little Late With Lilly Singh, definitely not ever doing four shows in a night again) during a digital chat about how she’s doing post-vaxx in the late pandemic. She shared her joy about being vaxxed and able to perform live IRL stand-up again; introduced us to her florally decorated, wall-mounted deer head named Darla; and gave me some excellent advice on making bold makeup choices for myself, complete with a shameless plug about her modeling gig for Halsey’s makeup line. She also told us she’s waiting to go back to the movies until she can see the new Fast & Furious flick, and got specific on why she’s a fan of afternoon movie screenings: “I feel like a matinee is, like, a really chic movie experience, because it feels very adult. It’s like ‘Oh, I checked off something on my list of things to do. And now I have more things to do; I’m a busy woman.’�

You can find Danielle on Twitter and  Instagram at @DivaDelux.