Amber Ruffin is joining the writing team for Seth Meyers’ new edition of Late Night, making her the first black woman to write for a network late night talk show. In fact, she is the first woman of color to be on the writing staff of a nightly late night talk show ever.
Imagine just how far back that goes. There are a plethora of late night shows on many different networks, and yet not one woman of color has ever been on their writing teams? Ever? According to Jezebel:
After analyzing the writers’ rooms of nightly network talk shows like The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, David Letterman’s two shows, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jay Leno’s two shows, Jimmy Fallon’s two shows, Conan O’Brien’s two shows before he was on TBS, Last Call with Carson Daly and even older shows like The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, it’s clear that Ruffin is an outlier in the world of traditional late night comedy writing. Expanding that list to look at non-network shows brings in programs like Conan on TBS, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report,Chelsea Lately, the cancelled Lopez Tonight and Arsenio Hall, but still, no one comes up. Shows that did have women of color on their writing staffs: Totally Biased and The Chris Rock Show, plus Real Time with Bill Maher at one point.
I’m honestly shocked. Even shows that I love like The Daily Show did not have a single woman of color on the writing staff. However, I’m happy that this is happening. Being represented in the writer’s room is extremely important because she can help to dictate how black women are presented to the world by someone who is in the spotlight and not of color. Sometimes, people can’t understand you when you explain yourself, but for whatever reason, they receive the message when it comes from someone else. I applaud Ms. Ruffin and wish her well.
Incidentally, the former Second City mainstage and iO Theather performer (based in Chicago) was among the black women selected for the Saturday Night Live auditions last month. One door closes and another one opens indeed.