First African-American Woman to Lead a Late-night Talk Show’s Writing Staff

Robin Thede | Biography

Creator, Executive Producer, and Co-star of HBO’s Primetime Emmy Nominated Series 'A Black Lady Sketch Show'

• By Ashna Tamrakar
• Update : August 18, 2021

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Robin Thede is a comedy writer and improvisational comic. She became the first African-American woman to lead a late-night talk show’s writing staff.

Who Is Robin Thede?

Robin Ann Thede is an American actress, entertainment host, radio personality, comedy writer, and sketch/improvisational comedian. Thede is the creator, executive producer, and co-star of HBO’s Primetime Emmy nominated series A Black Lady Sketch Show.

In 2015, Thede made history after becoming the first African-American woman to hold the head writer position for the late-night talk show, The Nightly Show. She also became the first woman of color to host a late-night talk program, BET’s The Rundown, with Robin Thede. 

 In 2019, Variety recognized her as one of the Top Ten Comics to Watch for the year.

As a comedy actress, she has featured in several comedy TV episodes, including A Black Lady Sketch Show, The Great North, Second Generation Wayans, and Key & Peele. She has also appeared in movies such as A Haunted House, Bad Hair, and County General. She has also co-hosted on Zo Williams' radio show The Voice of Reason.

Early Life & Education 

Robin Thede was born on 27 July 1979 in Spencer, Iowa, USA. She was born to a German-American father, Dave Thede, and an African-American mother, Phyllis Thede. She is the eldest of three sisters. Her family also lived in a trailer park for a while.

While her father worked as a teacher, her mother Phyllis was appointed to the Iowa State House of Representatives for House District 93 in 2009. There, Phyllis worked closely with now U.S. Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris throughout the 2020 United States presidential election.

Robin graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, with a B.S.J. in Broadcast Journalism, Integrated Marketing Communications, and African-American Studies. After college, she then went to Chiao-based The Second City, a world-renowned comedy club, to refine her comedy-writing abilities and study improvisation and sketch.

Career As a Comedy Writer

Thede started her comedy writing career by writing skits for the reputed award shows such as Academy Awards, the BET Awards, BET Hip Hop Awards, BET Honors, and the NAACP Image Awards.

In 2015, she created history when she became the first African-American woman to hold the head writer position for a late-night talk show for Larry Wilmore’s Comedy Central show, The Nightly Show. Later, she would write for several celebrities, including Mike Epps, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, and Kevin Hart. She was also the 2016 White House Correspondents Dinner’s lead writer. As she landed the role, she also became the first woman of color to hold such a position for the event.

Later, she became the second African-American woman to join the writing crew of Late Night with Seth Meyers (first was Amber Ruffin). Thede also worked as a writer for Kevin Hart’s sitcom Real Husbands of Hollywood in 2013 and as the lead writer on The Queen Latifah Show in 2014. She also worked as a writer and performer in the Foc sketch comedy series In The Flow With Affion Crockett in 2011.

Thede was also a frequent contributor on the Funny or Die website, for which she developed numerous viral skits with personalities such as Wayne Brady, Mike Tyson, and Bobby Brown.

Acting Career

The actress made her on-screen debut with a short film titled Plant One on Me in 2004. In the same year, she made her television debut as Robin in an episode of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s comedy All of Us, which was based on the lives of the Smiths.

Since then, Thede has acted in many TV projects, including the Fox series In the Flow with Affion Crockett, comedy series Clunkers, The Great North, Central Park, Insecure, Key & Peele, Hot In Cleveland, Chocolate News, Kath & Kim, and Worst Week. In addition, Thede has featured in movies such as A Haunted House, Bad Hair, and County General.

‘Rundown With Robin Thede’

In October 2017, Thede began anchoring her own late-night TV chat show, The Rundown with Robin Thede on BET. She is among the few women of color to host a late-night talk show. The show saw Thede cover headline topics in politics and pop culture. The show had a fast-paced format, and it featured social commentary, parodies, and sketch comedy. Eventually, BET had canceled the show on 25 July 2018 after 17 episodes.

The show had just aired seven episodes when it was named No. 8 on Time magazine’s ‘Top Ten Moments of Late Night 2017.’ Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter called The Rundown one of the top ten shows of 2017. 

ABC Series

In 2018, ABC was developing an untitled television series centered on Thede’s experiences growing up in a trailer park as a dirt-poor kid. Her character, Robin Sanders, would later become a well-known and successful financial planner, but the show will focus on how her upbringing influenced her adult life.

‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’

A Black Lady Sketch Show is an HBO sketch comedy show created and produced by Robin Thede. The show has a major cast of Black female comedians, including Thede, Ashley Nicole Black, and Gabrielle Dennis, who perform comic skits. 

In season 2, Laci Mosley and Skye Townsend joined the group, while Quinta Brunson appeared in season 1. In addition, other casts, including Laci Mosley and Skye Townsend, joined the cast in season 2.

A Black Lady Sketch Show initially aired with a season of six episodes on 2 August 2019. The first season was nominated for a ‘TCA Award’ in the category of ‘Outstanding Achievement in Sketch/Variety Shows’ in 2020 and the second season premiered on 23 April 2021. In May 2021, the series was renewed for a third season.

Did You Know?

According to Distractify, Robin Thede's estimated net worth Lies between $1 and $5 million. The site also reports that Thede "appears to be single," as of 30 April 2021. Similarly, Hollywoodmask has published a report dealing with how Thede is using humor to make fun of her single status. The site reports that she once joked that her future husband would "work the counter at The Waffle House on Labor Day."