Stephanie Filo, Taylor Mason, Malinda Zehner (‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ editors): One favorite scene was ‘favorite scene from season was ‘the baby baptism slam dunking contest’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“I like how our characters are evolving over the seasons,” reveals “A Black Lady Sketch Show” editor Stephanie Filo. For our recent webchat she continues, “In a lot of sketch shows there’s a one-note version of a character.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
The half hour sketch show, which spoofs a wide range of genres, stars creator and co-producer Robin Thede alongside Gabrielle Dennis and Skye Townsend. The fourth season premiered on HBO in April.
Filo edits the show with Taylor Mason and Malinda Zehner Guerra. Guerra admits, “It does feel very collaborative and that’s not something you always get. Everybody has a sketch and we compile them and create the episodes at the end. When you get to that point, you really feel like it’s a team. Doing all this work from home, you feel less alone when everyone’s involved together.”
Often the actors in the show will improvise. Filo says that for those scenes, “you are crafting a story. A lot of the improv has nothing to do with the rest of the sketch, but it’s so funny, I have to figure out a way to put it in. Sometimes you use a piece of improv in one part, and you use a piece of a different one, and then tie them all together to make one story. It’s almost like using a different part of your brain. You are kind of writing new beats that didn’t exist before. But it has to follow the overarching theme of the sketch.”
“A Black Lady Sketch Show” has been nominated in the Best Variety Sketch Series category at the Emmys for all previous seasons. For the past two years, the series won the Picture Editing for a Variety Program Emmy. Filo took part in both of those wins and Mason won her first trophy last year. Mason reflects, “It’s really nice to have each other as a barometer. It’s worked for the past couple of years. Hopefully we are reflecting the audience when we laugh.”
Taylor’s favorite scene from season was “the baby baptism slam dunking contest. That’s a mouthful! It’s just so absurd. I knew I was going to be laughing every step of the way. There was so much we cut out that we couldn’t put in. There was improv, physicality with an actual baby. It was absurd before I even touched it.”
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