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When two-time Emmy-winning actor Uzo Aduba was in high school, she thought she was going to be a lawyer. Then her creative writing teacher asked her if she’d ever considered going to art school, which introduced a choice to Uzo that she didn’t even know existed. Sam asks Uzo how she chooses her projects, including her upcoming Netflix series “Painkiller,” and about the day she decided to quit acting, which then turned into the day she booked “Orange Is the New Black.”

Follow Uzo Aduba online @UzoAduba on Twitter and Instagram.

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Transcript

SPEAKERS

Uzo Aduba, Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee  04:00

This is Choice Words. I’m Samantha beet, and this week I talked to the incredible actor Uzo Aduba. I am a huge fan of hers from Orange is the New Black and Mrs. America and I’m so excited for her new project painkiller. ouzo, made a choice to give up acting and then got apart, she couldn’t say no to. And I’m so glad she changed her mind and decided to go to that audition. So take a listen and make good choices. I’m so excited to be talking to you right now. I’m a huge fan. of, uh, you and I, you. Okay, so just to get started, I gotta lay it out. Yeah, there, this show is all about choices. Like the big choices, you’ve made the little choices that you’ve made the reverberations in your life. And so I want to talk about, like, the bigger choices that you’ve made later, but that word means something different to everyone. So I’m just gonna run through a little rapid fire and just like, see where everything lands with you, and then we’ll get into the bigger stuff. What is your relationship like? To the idea of choice? Like, do you make choices easily? Slowly?

Uzo Aduba  06:22

Depends on how big the choice what I want between two meals that I am in the mood rap, right? Rapid, like, more heavy, weighty or things. I am somebody who likes to think it through. Because my, like, gut, self younger self would just to be like this, you know what I mean? And I would find I found as I’ve gotten older that that not always serves me like it’s not it’s not an ignoring of my instincts. It’s weighing more, it’s more of like, a weighing what will best serve my life spirit, all of it? Because sometimes my snap decisions aren’t always the best thing for me.

Samantha Bee  07:15

Do you write lists like to do pro and con lists in your head? Do you? Are you tactile?

Uzo Aduba  07:21

Yeah, I’m not. I’m not beyond that. I would say more. More of what I am known to do is I will seek counsel, counsel, I’m like a big like, my husband be like, I mean, this is the landscape of the thing. Tell me what you think. Right? My sister. My mom used to be big for that. So like, I’m like a big, I will have my own thoughts that I seek counsel, I appreciate a round table.

Samantha Bee  07:53

To people around you like it when you take all that information, and then you just totally make a different choice. You’re like, thank you for that amazing advice. And counsel never bothered to like when you ask the waiter for all the specials, and they run you down, and then you’re like, I think I’ll just have a chicken Caesar. Do you like it? When do you like it? Sometimes when a choice is made for you, when you’re like, Okay, I guess that’s what I’m doing.

Uzo Aduba  08:28

Do I like it when a choice is made for me? Sometimes, not always.

Samantha Bee  08:34

Sometimes. And do you worry about choices that you’ve made? Do like once you’ve made it once you’ve arrived at a place? Do you then go back and second guess yourself or you’re like I thought about this.

Uzo Aduba  08:46

Once I’ve decided, I’ve decided.

Samantha Bee  08:50

You’ve decided, I feel like when when I had my TV show I would do this thing because I’m such a slow thinker, like a cruise ship. You know, when you see a cruise ship backing out of its birth, that’s me making a decision. And I would say I would say the words I need to mull this and it was like a signal to everybody in the office to be very disheartened and walk away for like a week and a half.

Uzo Aduba  09:14

I like to say can I come back to you with that? Can we start back Can I take can be Can I take a beat to think about it? Can I come back? That’s like my like I need time to think about it respond.

Samantha Bee  09:27

So what is what would you say is just a choice that fully changed your life? Can you define a moment like that

Uzo Aduba  09:36

Yes, absolutely. Probably going into the arts, you know, when I was when I was and it had like long later ramifications and the best way when I was in high school, and elementary school and so forth. I thought I was going to be a lawyer. Oh Yeah, yes, I thought it was gonna be a lawyer, and was certain was excited about it. By the way, it wasn’t like, put on me, you know, I’m first generation, my parents, both of them immigrated from Nigeria. And you know, they didn’t. They had the arts there, of course, but in terms of the opportunity that one could get coming to America, there was a very, like, narrow idea of what that looks like, and a reprint that everybody sort of had for that. And since they were coming here, and like giving up everything, they were, you know, betting on their kids getting the most out of us being here. And so those were like, jobs, like being a lawyer, a doctor, you know, an engineer, you know, those sorts of things. And so I talk a lot, so I think they were like lawyer for her.

Samantha Bee  10:59

You’re already kind of a miniature lawyer. So why don’t you just go with that.

Uzo Aduba  11:07

And so I thought I was going to do that, but and I, my parents would put me in the arts, like, you know, singing in the choir, I sang in the church stuff like this. And like, I look back now, and I know I must have displayed I know, I displayed an artistic nature and very, like excitable energy, what have you. And when I was a junior in high school, my creative writing teacher who was also my drama club director, she asked me to stay after class. And I remember thinking, I was in so much trouble. Like, I was like, after class, it was like, one of the items like wow, I don’t even know. And so she was like, you know, have you given any thought to where you want to apply for schools next year, or look, and I had, and I gave her the list of what those were, you know, I thought I wanted to do like international relations, or political science, whatever. And she was like, she was pensive for a minute. And then she said, Have you ever thought about going to art school? And I was, and I hadn’t the truth was not even a day of my life has second had I ever thought about it? And I was like, no. And she said, You seem to have a real interest in it. And I think it’s something you could do with your life. And I think you’d enjoy it. And like, I don’t know, I must have just been staring at her so confused and lost, because I remember being like, I have no idea where she’s going with this. And she just said to me, she was like, you know, you can go to school for this right? And I didn’t really didn’t I didn’t know that. I know. I knew though. The second she said it. Like it was like a brain explosion all the May. The second she said it I was like, that’s what I’m supposed to do with my life.

Samantha Bee  13:31

Wow, this is amazing. never

Uzo Aduba  13:35

Answered your question before. The choice never changed from that moment, like a scenic has to do with my life. As

Samantha Bee  13:43

Incredibly successful. Have you gone back to this person and said, Look, what do you have?

Uzo Aduba  13:48

We’re still in touch me life while she was mesmerized when I had her but now she’s router ceremi lies, right. I read her surname. What amazed me was the we’re still in touch. But yeah, so she knows this. And she’s before even you know, life started, you know, shaping into me working on television. She was following my career in New York and all of this. So she’s well well familiar with this story. But it changed my life. It changed my whole life. And I had never thought about it. And I went home. And I told my parents. That’s what I wanted to do.

Samantha Bee  14:30

Did you sit them down? How did you tell?

Uzo Aduba  14:32

At first I thought I wanted to be a director. And my mom was like, she was you know, in the kitchen and she was like, okay, like, just kind of like, moved on.

Samantha Bee  14:44

You’ll go you’ll go back to law school

Uzo Aduba  14:48

Like even then I was like, No, I think I want to do music. I thought I wanted to sing which is what I did. And She at first was like, no. And she said it three times to me, I came to her. I told her and she was like, and then on the fourth time, I was like, No, mommy, this is what I want to do. And she was like, Okay. And I was like, why were you? You know, telling me no. So many times, she’s like, I just wanted to be sure you were serious. Wow, that and then that was it. That was the end of the conversation.

Samantha Bee  15:23

That’s how it went, what a big swing, what a big like left field, just like a swing for the bat. I don’t know anything about sports. Swing for the back area. The outfield is that. The wall where the numbers I have read that there was there was a day in your career, when you decided that you had to completely had enough. And you were like, actually, I don’t think this is for me, I’m gonna quit my call my manager at the end of the day, I’m gonna break it. Gonna break it to them that I’m totally done. And that’s the day that you booked oranges, the New Black.

Uzo Aduba  16:05

100% True. I had gone to an audition and had been given the wrong for different thing. Yeah, I had been given the wrong address. And so then when I got the right address, I wound up being there, you know, 20 minutes late. And you know, like for actors, auditions, like, you gotta be on time. And I was so like, bombed and just devastated, frankly. Because I remember reading the sides, the audition material. And thinking, oh, you know, I hate it’s a dramatic role. But I kind of hear this line here. Like, funny. I think this could actually be kind of funny to say, even though it’s, you know, supposed to be this very serious nurse. And I think this could be an interesting way to play it. And I was so bummed because I was 20 minutes late. And I kid you not, I had auditioned for 100 things that summer already. And had been told no. And was just really getting really drained. I was watching my savings, dwindle, you know, working, just disappearing right before my eyes, trying to figure out how I was going to make ends meet coming into the fall. And so I went to that audition I read. I remember they laughed, and they enjoyed it. And I left the room and was like, that was a really great audition. But you’re not going to get it because you were late. And this is God the universe trying to tell you yet again, this is not for you. And you keep trying to make this like happen and it’s not for you. And I got an A train of sobbing and I was just like, your parents always thought you were going to be a lawyer. And you thought that too, you know, maybe you just were chasing something that wasn’t yours. And I was like, I’m gonna go to law school. I’m good. I’m gonna go to law school. And now I’m gonna order some wine or some sushi. I called my sister to come over because I was gonna tell her first. I think we’re gonna have a little pity party today. And then we’re gonna move on, you know, we’re gonna start looking for like schools, you know? Right. And I got home sat on the couch. 45 minutes later, phone rang, was my agent and manager are calling to tell me that the audition, I had gone on for hundreds of new black like, three weeks prior that they’d like to offer me a different role. I had to audition for another role. And they said, Well, you didn’t get that part. And I was like, I’m getting out right at the right time.

Samantha Bee  19:03

Fuck it. So you’re like, Okay, can we just stop with the signs? That was good. I already had enough today. That was

Uzo Aduba  19:10

Right. When they start calling you did tell you didn’t get the job. Right. Like, you didn’t get that part, but they’d like to offer you another part. And needless to say, I didn’t quit that day. I didn’t then I still drink the wine and sushi, but I didn’t.

Samantha Bee  19:32

Then your your pity party turned into such a different part of the actual party party. Yeah. Wow. That’s unbelievable. I’ve I have a similar story about getting hired for The Daily Show because I was quitting to to go to law school. Yeah, I was gonna go to law school. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, I’m done. I’m done. I’m done. Because you know, like, I don’t think it’s a hard choice to decide to go into the arts, right? Like, I understand that poll to the professional caliber of jobs, you’re like, Alright, I want to, I want to have a life. I want to be able to go on vacation. I

Uzo Aduba  20:12

I like to go to a wedding once in a while.

Samantha Bee  20:15

Just love to have a reliable source of income someone just participate in society. In a way, I’d like to adults. Yeah, if possible, and you feel like when you’re auditioning all the time, I don’t think people really in the outside of the arts understand what it’s like to receive months, sometimes years of rejection, but to have to wake up the next day and go, I still believe in myself, I’m really good at this.

Uzo Aduba  20:45

100% And well, because you see so much showing, like, just the top of this business or you know, like life business, that like, yes, people don’t realize the work that goes through the years of work, not even like days, the years of work, then when blood and tears, you know, like that put in and it and like to your point, like it’s like, it’s hard, you know, it’s draining and it pulls on you and you know, you start questioning your choices.

Samantha Bee  21:19

You do especially if you have like just one it’s like I was used to feel like it just took one moment of brightness in in like the fog of eight months worth of rejections. And then you get like a little you get like a little part a little speaking role in a commercial and you’re like, Oh, fine, everything’s fine. It was just like one tiny Yes, in a sea of nose could keep going. But you needed you need to.

Uzo Aduba  21:46

Everyone wants a full life raft every once in a while.

Samantha Bee  21:49

Just a life raft. I was gonna quit the business before and my last audition was gonna be the Daily Show. And we just shot I was like, man, look at that. And so you know, I love hearing stories like this. This is fantastic. I just it’s so affirming. It really, thank goodness, you didn’t answer the call to quit? Because I think he would have been a great lawyer. But I really love you as I’m performing. I prefer it. I prefer this fate. Although Lee would have been a great attorney. We know. Well, we’ll be right back with Uzo Aduba after this. At this stage of your career, how do you choose which projects you want to be a part of?

Uzo Aduba  26:12

I weigh projects like I want to have something to say am I the person to say the thing? Hmm. And like I have, the need has to feel this because this has become louder and louder and bigger and bigger. And me as time has gone on the need to do it has to be so strong. You know, because it takes a lot of energy takes time away from your family. It just takes a lot of preparation to get to the place to do the things. So the knee has to be really strong. I also it can’t feel like it’s already been done by me. Or maybe even someone else like we’ve already addressed that topic. But I don’t feel like I need to put like another day, you know, fought on it sometimes, you know? Unless it’s coming to me from another perspective or a new a fresh idea. Then the last thing is the people and that’s also become stronger. Like do I enjoy these people? Um, do I respect these people?

Samantha Bee  27:31

Because it’s so intimate, you have to be with these people all the time? Yeah,

Uzo Aduba  27:35

For sure. For sure. And like, again, that costs a lot of energy and time. And it’s like, I think more than anything I’m having I have a strengthening of like, the value of my time.

Samantha Bee  27:51

I love that. How did that grow in you? Over time? Because I feel like it’s probably a factor of age, but experience like, how did how did that need grow in you? Or how did that I think what perspective.

Uzo Aduba  28:09

Because, you know, before, like we were talking, it used to be when we’re chasing the thing, feeling ourselves. I was feeling myself miss out on some of the like, natural like experiences of life, because I either couldn’t afford to go on that vacation or fly to that wedding or, you know, take time off and miss that audition or shift at the restaurant, whatever. And wanting to experience those things. That now I have the privilege and opportunity to experience those life things. I’m not willing to like trade on them so readily, as readily that my family super matters to me, I think I think having big life shifts and big impactful moments in life has definitely shaped that for me that the realization that people aren’t here forever, and you can’t assume that you’re going to have every single, you know, opportunity to do and say and have those chances and shots when you want them to has made it even more important to me how I use my time and with whom. Because it’s very expensive time because he wants it spent it’s gone. You don’t get back, you know, right 1:03pm Today, there’s no time is done, you know. And so, for me, it’s like that’s the currency that I’m like, operating on now. It’s like my time how do I want to use my time.

Samantha Bee  29:49

And now you’re having having a baby.

Uzo Aduba  29:52

That changes and even more.

Samantha Bee  29:55

Changes it even more. It just makes the criteria so it just adds another But it’s just an incredibly a huge element to the whole mix the conversations you’ll have with yourself, you’re like, wait a second, this projects have to meet a pretty high bar, right? And that’s, that’s a good thing.

Uzo Aduba  30:15

And for what I want to teach this baby, I want my kid to know that, like, their time here means something, you know, like, I, my mom, God bless her, she worked so hard for me and my siblings. May she rest and like, did so much to like, make sure our lives had, you know, everything that she expected the American dream to have. And like, but she works so much. And you know, I want I want like, at the end of my story, I want everybody who knows me to be like, she enjoyed her life. Like she enjoyed the time here. She really had a great time. Right, right. You know, I want that to be the teaching, you know, like, boy, this, you know, and do what makes you do the things that make you happy.

Samantha Bee  31:06

It’s so funny, right? Because this entire career, the entirety of this career is to like, have a great time, nobody goes into the arts to have a terrible time. Like, it’s not supposed to be like a slog through the mud. Yeah. It’s supposed to be like, you know, work is good. And the work is hard. But we’re here because we want to create, and it’s a joy. Exactly.

Uzo Aduba  31:30

And that’s it. Yeah, I looked at every day, I wanted to be a good time.

Samantha Bee  31:35

I’m sure that people tell you now that seeing you on screen makes them feel visible, or seen. How does it feel to be that person for other

Uzo Aduba  31:49

It feels completely next level, it feels I don’t even really have a word for some like, it’s like it feels in all worth it every over, you know, every shift, I worked longer than I was, you know, I had the energy for, you know, tears on the train that day when I wanted to quit, you know, watching my bank account dropped to nothing, auditioned at all feels worth it. Because even though there were fewer examples like that, when I was coming up, like there was won’t be, you know, who I see out there. And she was deep out in the ocean, but she was doing it, you know what I mean? Yeah. And that mattered to me. And, you know, like you said, like, it was just enough of a buoy to like, that was my Yes, a little bit like, there’s someone out there, you know, who’s different. And I anchored on to her big time. And so then to hear people say that, that, you know, they decided not to get braces, you know, because they liked the gap in their teeth, you know, things like that. I’m proud of that. I’m happy for it. I hope it continues. And I’m glad that there are more examples. It’s not just me, I’m glad that there are day after day after day, more and more examples of that.

Samantha Bee  33:21

Mrs. America, equal rights amendment still hasn’t been modified. The No problem. I think it’s fine. I think we’re doing great women, if we don’t need that, whatever. Why? Why does the word feminist have so much baggage for people? I felt like it felt like we could really stand to take the stigma away from that word. It’s very weird for me to have to be experiencing such a backlash against that word, which I think is very simple to.

Uzo Aduba  33:53

Super simple word. And it’s funny that it has it because it actually has a definition that feels like most people would just be like, right on quality for you know, like, regardless of gender, or sex or gender. It’s like, okay, yeah, that makes sense. I think because, you know, the fact of the matter is like when, until we’re really ready to be honest with ourselves about the roles that we truly want women to play in our society. I think we’re always going to have this polarizing conversation about what is a feminist because until we can really, honestly and thoughtfully acknowledge the intimidation, the insecurity, the fear and insecurity that surrounds powerful and empowered women. Right We can’t ever be able then to discuss why the word feminist feels and sounds so dangerous.

Samantha Bee  35:08

Hold that thought more with Uzo Aduba after one more break. You return to the theater last year with clients. Okay, let’s talk about Clyde’s so your character owns a sandwich truck that employs formerly incarcerated people. And Orange is the New Black chair place and a women’s penitentiary? Is it? Do you love it when you know a project intersects with something? Like an issue that Americans are really wrestling with? Or like Do you love it to make to just kind of plant your flag and something and be like, Okay, here we let’s talk about that. Let’s wrestle with Let’s wrestle with some hard truths here.

Uzo Aduba  38:12

Yeah, I mean, I I’m not afraid I don’t back away from it or back down. doesn’t scare me to step into those spaces. Because oftentimes, you know, like, that’s usually where the missing and the forgotten people live, frankly, right now. And their POV. You know, we, we it’s so interesting, because it’s like having now done two projects that involve people who have been incarcerated. It’s so interesting to me. How many people are curious to see inside the world? You know, you know, our creator for Orange, Ginger used to say all the time, she was like, people want to know what’s going on behind walls, which is why they’re fascinated with prisons and monasteries. You know, they can’t see what’s going on. They want they wonder what’s going on back there. With these people who are all dressed the same, and they are for the same reason. It’s so true. And no one wants to actually go inside there. A lot of people don’t want to go inside there to actually do the work to find out, but they want to hear the stories that leak out. And so I like being in those spaces and in those projects, because it’s like, okay, you know, you want to be a lawyer, then we have your attention for five minutes. Let’s tell you what it’s like, you know, and maybe that will give you some perspective.

Samantha Bee  39:44

Is theater your first love or your or your second love or your third love?

Uzo Aduba  39:49

It was my first love. It’s where I started and it is my first love interest. It was my only love frankly, for a really long time. I didn’t have many lovers in the beginning of my career. Are and, and I loved it. I was super passionate about it and still am like when we were doing clients, I was just like, Man, I love this. This was just awesome. Such a great feeling. But I have developed a really, really strong love and passion for the camera to which I didn’t. Not that I didn’t think I didn’t know what it would be because I had never done it before. And that’s like, what’s this gonna be? But what I’ve really I guess learned over time is like my first love is a great story, I think more than anything, and that can exist anywhere.

Samantha Bee  40:46

I see how did you develop a relationship to the camera, because it is weird it is. It’s a weird experience to come from theater and live performance, which I completely understand this where I come from to, to get to sudden how, like taking all of the audience and putting it behind this little piece of glass or putting all of your it’s a very, it’s very trippy to get your?

Uzo Aduba  41:12

Trippy, very scary, especially when you’re coming from the theater and you get immediate feedback, you need to understand if you’re moving in the direction you want to. And that’s not true, necessarily in film and television. There’s a different trust, as I like, say an indifferent E or that is required. And I remember Season One of orange. Jodie Foster came and directed our show. And we were doing this scene outside and I don’t know what I was doing. But I guess something like, bigger and she gave me this note. And she was like, do that same thing. But just keep it right contained. Like don’t use your body to say it, just say it in your face. What started like me thinking of these eyes even more dramatically. And I remember we finished that scene and we cut. She was like that was great. And she said, Oh, that was great. And she was like, sometimes you have to go to the camera and do the stuff are the big stuff. And she’s like, but then sometimes you got to just let the camera come to you. And I remember I thought that was a really useful note. Because it really helped me understand trust in a way I hadn’t before in communication. That if I really trust what I’m saying and how I’m saying it, that I could just actually stand here and the camera could come and ah to come to me.

Samantha Bee  43:01

Such a good note. Yeah. That’s such a good was it Oh, my episode site? It’s I don’t know. I feel like having Jodie Foster behind the cameras good place.

Uzo Aduba  43:12

To show the fucking postures.

Samantha Bee  43:15

Like, okay, I understand. I will listen. I I hear you.

Uzo Aduba  43:21

Would you say your name once again?

Samantha Bee  43:24

Oh, have you done? experienced in any way? Okay. Do you have an upcoming show called painkiller? Yes. All right. This is, huh. This is of particular interest to me because I really loathe the Sacklers Oh, you know, just just me, it’s only me that loathsome. It’s about Purdue pharma, you play at an investigator leading the charge leading the case against Purdue. And I just want to say that it is a badge of honor to have I’m sure the Sackler family is gonna watch it, and they’re gonna hate it. And I think it’s a badge of honor, when the Sacklers don’t like what you’re doing. Okay, so they just won immunity from civil suits in exchange for a $6 billion settlement. Even though they are denying that they there was any wrongdoing, what is it like to hear that decision after having this story? Be a part of your life for the past couple of years?

Uzo Aduba  44:32

I just, it’s disappointing. It’s how does a bar to stomach frankly. So first time I’ve ever worked on something that was, you know, a hot topic in real life, you know, where we were filming and we know that there’s this like looming case and all of this going on, simultaneously. Well, we’re Telling the story. It’s like, it’s history, but it’s present since simultaneously, you know? Yeah. And it’s not ancient history where, you know, this happened in 1920 where I can’t net Yeah, if any of it it’s it’s something that we’re looking at the effects still to this day, you know of what this drug was doing and, and how it was ravaging communities across the country. It’s really it’s kind of unbelievable, frankly, you know that that one would be even granted an immunity clause, you know, it. That’s kind of wild to me, it still doesn’t the math doesn’t matter to me yet. So yeah, I can’t say anything other than really just.

Samantha Bee  45:52

So disappointing. How much research do you do when you work on something like that?

Uzo Aduba  45:58

Yeah. A lot. Well, number one, I knew that Ed was a composite of characters, many investigators. During this whole process, book, painkiller, of course, we all read. And then, sort of, I guess, taking in stories as they come as they come to you, on this front, realizing that no one was really safe from this drug, you know, and not like, oh, you know, if you find yourself amongst the wrong crowd, it’s like, you could find yourself like, needing your wisdom teeth pulled. Yes. And that’s all.

Samantha Bee  46:59

You know, I once went to a dermatologist, because I have I’m very moly, we don’t need to talk about that in great detail. But I have a lot of beautiful moles. And I went to a dermatologist and she was like, I’m going to take this one off just real quick here in the office. And she did. And it was nothing and she was like, I’m gonna give you a prescription. And I was like, um, I don’t need one. I mean, at all, it’s the band aid is we’re in a band aid situation, and she was like, she was like, No, I’m giving you a prescription because you’re gonna be in a lot of pain tomorrow. And she gave me a prescription for 100 Vika now. No kit, like, not a word of a lie. A big jar of Vicodin. Was my head exploded, my head exploded. This is what we’re talking about. This is how normalized it was for doctors just just pick up the band and prescribe these like for a role.

Uzo Aduba  47:57

These like heavy drugs for a mile. I had my wisdom teeth pulled. And I was prescribed the oxy cotton. And I remember I was talking to my mom, and she was like, Oh, what did they give you? And I was like, Tylenol, whatever. And this and I was gotten she was like, totally aware of this epidemic. And what was going on? And she was like, take one today. And like the rest she moved. Throw it away. She wanted it in the.

Samantha Bee  48:30

Give it to the rats.

Uzo Aduba  48:32

And I was and she called me the next day and she was like, Did you wash it? Like I haven’t mommy.

Samantha Bee  48:47

Send it on a rocket ship out to outer space.

Uzo Aduba  48:51

These images of me like fishing through the I don’t know, but she was like washing it.

Samantha Bee  48:55

We’ve been talking for so we’ve been talking for a really long time. I have been transfixed by your stories. Honestly. I have enjoyed this so much. Okay, my last question is Mary fuck kill theater, film or television? Oh, it’s the hardest question of all. The hardest one Yeah. You don’t even have to we can we can prepare okay, we can be like well, I’m going to marry theater but we have an open relationship.

Uzo Aduba  49:33

I’m gonna marry because she’s been so loyal. That a good spouse a steady spouse study. I would Buck Stevie because there’s just so many.

Samantha Bee  49:59

You gotta you have to experiment.

Uzo Aduba  50:02

I would kill to be in a movie.

Samantha Bee  50:06

This was such a pleasure. Congratulations on the baby you. Thank you. This has been a wonderful experience. Thank you so much.

Uzo Aduba  50:15

Thank you so much. Thanks. It’s been great.

CREDITS  50:22

That was Uzo Aduba. And I had no choice but to Google. One thing after our conversation, she reminded me that of course, there’s an actual definition of the word feminism. And I think it is important for people to remember that so that we can read the word if it’s unfair stigma. So the definition, according to my Google is belief and an advocacy of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. I don’t know works for me. Anyway, thanks so much to Uzo Adoba for joining me and good news, there’s more Choice Words with Lemonada Premium. Subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content, like a rapid fire trivia based off my interview with Laura Dern and Diane Ladd subscribe now in Apple podcasts. Thank you for listening to Choice Words which was created by and is hosted by me. We’re a production of Lemonada Media, Kathyrn Barnes, […] and Kryssy Pease produce our show. Our mix is by James Barber. Steve Nelson is the vice president of weekly content. Jessica Cordova Kramer, Stephanie Wittles Wachs and I are executive producers. Our theme was composed by […] with help from Johnny Vince Evans . Special thanks to Kristen Everman, Claire Jones, Ivan Kuraev and Rachel Neil. You can find me at @Iamsambee on Twitter and at @realsambee on Instagram. Follow Choice Words wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad free on Amazon music with your Prime membership.