Emmy Episodes: A Black Lady Sketch Show

It’s always my policy to watch every Emmy-nominated episode each year, which leads me to sample a handful of shows that I don’t tune in to on a regular basis. For the sixth year in a row, I’m making a special effort to spotlight each of those installments to offer my perspective on shows that I don’t review each week.

A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 2, Episode 4 “My Booty Look Juicy, Don't It?” (C)

This is the third episode of this show that I’ve watched now, and it was the one I found least engaging and entertaining. Knowing that Issa Rae was nominated for an Emmy for this installment, I assumed there was going to be another Black Lady Courtroom segment, but instead, she showed up in an even shorter one-scene role as one of the friends on the meditation retreat. It was fun to see her doing something different than what she does on “Insecure,” which has earned her multiple Emmy nominations, but this is such a small and insignificant part, and not one I would have singled out for consideration even though I really do like Rae. None of the other sketches worked particularly well in my opinion, like the under-the-bed friend and the final concert. The Fairy Aunt Mother was entertaining mostly because of how much what she thought she was experiencing and putting out into the world was not reflective of reality. Ally being so upbeat about everything, including the bone that was horrifyingly protruding, was definitely a bit much, and I still fail to see what the magic is about these post-apocalyptic scenes where people don’t seem nearly as panicked about the end of the world as they should be, instead focusing on things that are much more trivial and hardly as consequential as whatever that devastating event was. I’m sure I’ll be back watching more episodes of this show when it gets nominated again for season three.