Robin Thede Says 'Reckless Confidence' and Desire to Help Others Led to 'A Black Lady Sketch Show' 's Success
Season 4 of the comedian’s hit show premieres on HBO April 14
Robin Thede is unapologetically funny.
"This season is wild," she tells PEOPLE in this week's issue of HBO's A Black Lady Sketch Show, which she created and stars in alongside an ever-evolving ensemble of Black comedic actresses. "Our last day of filming, Tracee Ellis Ross comes in. We couldn't get through anything. We were laughing so hard. It is hard work but it is so joyful."
She's worked hard to create just this kind of environment for Black talent. In fact, it's been her life's work.
"Black women are the funniest people on earth," says Thede, 43. "Black women raised me. So for me, it's personal. Why not celebrate that?"
Raised in Iowa and named after Robin Williams, the star says her dad, Dave, who's German-American, and mom Phyllis, who's now an Iowa State Representative, were supportive but a bit nervous about her comedy career aspirations.
"They were both teachers and neither one of them wanted me to do anything like this," says Thede. But for her part, "I never really wanted to do anything else."
While her grade school years were tough — "My sisters and I were the only Black girls in the school and it wasn't great. We were bullied a lot. I had a stutter" — Thede says she found respite and representation on the TV screen.
"When I saw Whoopi doing characters in her one-woman show, and then Kim Wayans on In Living Color," she says, "those were my heroes."
Thede attended Northwestern, where she received a broadcast journalism degree, and went on to join Chicago's famed The Second City improv school and troupe before making her way to Los Angeles.
"I struggled the first six, seven years of my career," she says. "Because I was like, 'I've got to get a job, it's about me, me, me.' Once I opened that up to 'what can we accomplish together,' everything changed."
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In 2015, Thede made history, signing on to The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, where she became the first Black woman to ever lead the writers room on a late night show.
Related:First-Time Emmy Nominee Dime Davis Talks Making History with A Black Lady Sketch Show
But she's more excited about another fact: "At the time we had hired the most Black women ever on any staff in late night. I got addicted to helping people."
She'd soon land her own late night gig on BET called The Rundown, but when that ended after one season, Thede found herself on the receiving end of support.
"Issa [Rae] called and said, 'What are we doing together? Let's do something together!' I said 'I have this sketch show,'" she recalls of the moment she and the Insecure creator teamed up to produce A Black Lady Sketch Show. "Within months we were on the air."
Just like during her time on Wilmore, Thede's using Sketch Show as a vehicle for change. "I want it to be that launching pad," she says of the show that once featured a pre-Abbott Quinta Brunson and that picked up two Emmys for directing and editing last year.
She's a firm believer: "If you can do things that also benefit others while benefiting yourself, you're always gonna win."
Thede, after all, has a winning spirit. "I've always had reckless confidence." It's not cockiness, she explains, but a deep belief in herself. "It's like, I don't care how hard it is, I don't care who's never done it before, I can do that thing."
A Black Lady Sketch Show season 4 hits HBO on April 14.
For more on Robin Thede, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
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