Premium Blend: Wanda Sykes (S6E7)

Wanda Sykes hosts this 2002 installment of Comedy Central’s Premium Blend, a half-hour showcase that functioned as the network’s farm system for emerging talent. Sykes is the draw here, holding court during a massive year in her career—she had just wrapped an Emmy-winning run writing for The Chris Rock Show, secured a prominent gig on HBO’s Inside the NFL, and was cementing herself as an inescapable voice in early-2000s stand-up. She treats the hosting duties with her signature exasperated authority, setting a high bar for the four younger comics tasked with following her.

The lineup serves as a fascinating time capsule. DeRay Davis hits the stage the same year his role in Barbershop began transitioning him from Chicago club comic to Hollywood fixture. Martha Kelly, fresh off winning Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots competition, delivers the slow-drip, deadpan pacing that would eventually make her a breakout on Baskets and Euphoria. Robert Mac brings a tightly constructed, cerebral set, and a pre-Parks and Recreation Retta rounds out the bill, proving her stage chops years before her pivot to network television. It is a highly edited, rapid-fire five minutes for each comedian, offering a clear look at exactly what it took to get noticed on basic cable at the turn of the century.