Comedy Central Presents: Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes steps up to the mic with a deeply skeptical worldview to launch the very first episode of Comedy Central Presents. Billed at the time as Wanda Sykes-Hall, she operates with a casual authority, picking apart the unspoken contracts of everyday life. The standout material is her breakdown of the exact transaction taking place when a man buys a woman a drink at a bar, smoothly transitioning into her case for being a cool aunt who drinks liquor and plays Nintendo instead of taking on the burden of motherhood.

Aired in December 1998, the 21-minute televised set captures Sykes right as her profile was rising. She was actively working as a writer and correspondent on HBO’s The Chris Rock Show, a job that earned her an Emmy nomination that year and a win the next. Her set leans into the cultural focal points of the late nineties, taking aim at Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson, and the Bill Clinton sex scandals. She anchors the topical material with blunt observations on the grim realities of marriage and the big lies people tell themselves to get through the day.