Wanda Sykes’s 2023 is off to a dizzying start. She guest-hosted The Daily Show in January. She starred in and executive produced Hulu’s History of the World Part II. Her sitcom, The Upshaws, returned to Netflix in February. She’s back in her recurring role as Shuli Kucerac on the third season of HBO Max’s The Other Two. And now, she’s releasing a new Netflix stand-up special. It’s a lot to juggle, but as she implies in the show’s trailer, the Second Coming is near, so it’s now or never. “We’ve had a pandemic, an insurrection, Roe v. Wade got overturned, Kanye’s Black ass wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ T-shirt — I think I’m gonna call this special Here Comes Jesus,” Sykes jokes.
The special, titled I’m an Entertainer, was filmed at the Miller Theater in Philadelphia in early February and directed by veteran director Linda Mendoza. It will see the legendary comedian tackle “the challenges of raising Gen-Z teens” and “the dilemmas of being a liberal in a hypercharged political climate,” according to a press release. Among the hyperpoliticized issues Sykes sets her sights on? Drag shows. “I can’t tell you how many drag shows I’ve been to where they ran out of high chairs and booster seats,” she mocks in her signature sarcastic tone.
I’m an Entertainer marks Sykes’s second special for Netflix, following 2019’s Not Normal, and sixth overall. Find out what else she has to get off her chest before the end of the world when it premieres on Netflix May 23.