Mo’Nique
Interview
By Adam Bernard
She's
a Queen of Comedy, a two-time NAACP Image Award winner, and
her sitcom is in syndication every night. Some view her as
a big girl, others view her as a comedian, still others view
her as an actress. Mo'Nique is really all of these things
and a whole lot more. Recently the amiable star sat down with
me to talk about her new movie, Hair Show, what happened with
Soul Plane, and what having The Parkers in syndication means
to her.
Adam
Bernard: You're a massively successful comedian,
so I gotta ask, what are you doing up at 6AM?
Mo'Nique: I am up promoting the movie Hair
Show. Actually I'm normally up at this time, I'd either go
for a walk or go to the gym.
AB:
When I was thinking up questions for this interview I was
trying to dig deeper into history of Black female comedians
but there really have only been a handful of Black female
comedians who've done as much as you have (movies, sitcom,
book). Do you feel like a trailblazer?
MN: I feel blessed. I feel like that for
whatever reason God said this is what I want to do. I feel
like I'm just carrying the torch, but by no means did I say
I would be the one to do this. There were others before me,
Marsha Warfied, Whoopie Goldberg.
AB:
Let's talk a little bit about the new movie, Hair Show, what's
it all about?
MN: Hair Show is a movie about two sisters
that are estranged due to a miscommunication and they come
back together because they actually need each other. They
learn they need to trust, to give, and to love. It's a wonderful
love story between two sisters. Both are in trouble, but they
come together and they make it happen.
AB:
What interested you the most about your character in Hair
Show?
MN: It was fun. Peaches, she's loud, she's
aggressive, she's opinionated, but she has a big heart and
people just fall in love with her because she's real and that's
what made fall in love with her. She's says everything that
you're thinking. And in the movie the big girl gets the man.
AB:
The big girl getting the man seems to be a theme in your career,
do you think people find it inspirational?
MN: I think that, The Parkers was something
different, Nikki Parker was a fanatic over this man, normally
the big girl does not get the man, normally it's everybody
else and she feels sad, depressed, hurt and upset, but in
Hair Show she gets the man, and the man gets her because he
likes her, and I really enjoyed that part. It's daring to
be different and I love that.
AB:
In what ways do you feel you relate to Peaches?
MN: We're both a lot of fun and we love to
love. She loves to give advice, baby, and that's Mo'Nique
baby all day long. In some aspects of Peaches I think they
just changed my name from Mo'Nique to Peaches.
AB:
Your last movie was Soul Plane and I know there was a lot
of controversy about bootlegging with that one. Were you happy
with that movie?
MN: I had the most incredible time making
that movie because I made it with some of the most incredible
people. I think Kevin Hart is brilliant. The movie was so
brilliant and it was absolutely about nothing, just like Airplane
was about nothing. Soul Plane said come in and get your laughs.
If that movie had not been bootlegged it would have been a
major hit in the box office, but it was bootlegged three months
before it came out. I saw it bootlegged in The Bahamas.
AB:
Did you hurt the bootlegger?
MN: I put it in my comedy routine, but hell
no I'm not goin to every corner. I'd be in the news too much.
AB:
Last year you ended your television show, The Parkers, but
it remains in syndication four times a day, five nights a
week. How does it feel to know that people can turn on their
TV and see you every day?
MN: I think the biggest thing for me is we
made history. My grandchildren will be able to watch The Parkers
on some channel and their grandchildren will be able to watch
it on some channel. For me it's like watching The Jeffersons,
Good Times, Gilligan's Island and being like wow I was only
four years old.
AB:
Are you going to feel old when it's on Nick at Nite?
MN: Hell no it's gonna be like where's the
check.
AB:
To go with the comedy and the acting you also wrote a book
a little while back called "Skinny Women Are Evil,"
first of all let me clarify something, I'm a skinny man, are
skinny men evil as well?
MN: No because most skinny men want a big
girl. Couples are rarely the same. When you look at couples
it's usually a skinny girl with a big man or a big girl with
a skinny man.
AB:
Because you're theory is some skinny girls are skinny but
have big girl hearts, I'm just wondering about your thoughts
on a few skinny girls, namely Paris Hilton, and the newly
thin Brandy.
MN: Paris is a cool thin one, she and I can
hang out and Brandy's my friend so she's a cool one too.
AB:
Last question, is there anything about you that you'd like
people to know that they may not know already?
MN: I'm pretty much exposed, they pretty
much know about me all the way around. That's what comes with
the territory of bein in the business and I've always felt
that I'd tell it before you could tell it. It's always funny
when people read stories about celebrities because people
make it sound really really bad even though it wasn't really
bad. I'll just tell you before anyone else can.
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