Nicole Byer says she's no longer asked to "be blacker" now that she's successful

The Hollywood Reporter

The comedian -- who has shows on Netflix, TBS and NBC plus a new Big Beautiful Weirdo comedy special out -- says: "When I first started auditioning, a lot of it was just, like, 'Be Blacker.' Because I don’t have a stereotypically Black voice, which is an insane thing to say, but that’s what I’ve been told and that’s what I’ve internalized. But I’m a Black woman speaking, and this is what I sound like, so why do I have to code switch for a white casting director? And it would happen, like, 'Oh, she’s a secretary, but you want her to swivel her neck and be all stereotypically sassy,' and I’m like, 'But that doesn’t have to be her.' The nice thing is that casting directors know who I am now, so they don’t put whatever societal bullsh*t onto me anymore."