Queen Latifa move over, there is a new queen of comedy in town, and her name is Amanda Seales. While you might not have seen her name across the latest entertainment news or black celeb gossip sites yet, Seales is already proving she is a force to be reckoned with.
While Seales may be best known for her viral videos of her dragging CNN commentator Steve Santagati or her skillful assessment of Caitlyn Jenner’s privilege problem, this comedy veterans stand on the verge of success in a way that black women rarely see.
But that doesn’t mean that it has been an easy rise for Seales. In fact, she spent years as a singer under the name Amanda Dive, producing web content for major outlets like BET and AOL, and doing the comedy in a fruitless effort to break in and “get the whites to like [her].” But that changed in 2013.
?I went to see ?12 Years a Slave,? left the theater, stood on the street at Lincoln Center and said, ?That?s it. We?re done crossing over. We?re going to break through and do it by being as black as we want to be,?? she told the Los Angeles Times.
That was the turning point for Seales, who began focusing on creating art, comedy, and space for herself within the black community. She found that while her new mission might be more rewarding than trying to make it in the “mainstream,” it wasn’t any easier.
Despite living in the city with the highest black population, (3.7 million in 2013), it wasn’t until Seales left New York for Los Angeles that she saw success.
Once there, Seales began hosting a monthly comedy game show called “Smart, Funny and Black,” an event which features two other black comedians as they compete for the the title of “master blackspert,” an event that regularly packs Hollywood’s Meltdown comic book store.
It seems like her work is paying off. The latest entertainment news for seals includes a new gig as a series regular on HBO’s “Insecure”. While the role is putting Seales in the spotlight, she isn’t planning to rest on her laurels.
?I feel like I have a unique voice that?s true and authentic, and we need more of that,? she said. ?If I can inspire more of that, I need to do that in as many places as possible.?
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