USA TODAY International Edition
Come along for the ride with Awkwafina
It’s a comedy adventure on the set of “Nora From Queens.”
NEW YORK – It’s a cloudy September morning, and Awkwafina is under arrest. ❚ The actor/ rapper is on the set of her new Comedy Central series “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,” premiering Wednesday ( 10: 30 EST/ PST), which she writes, produces and stars in as a version of her younger, pre- fame self.
In this scene, a generic Irish bar in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood is standing in for an expatriates’ bar in Beijing, where her character, Nora, travels to sell a much- maligned photo app after a launch party disaster reminiscent of Fyre Festival. But her trip hits a snag when a new co- worker is caught with party drugs, and Nora admirably decides to take the fall.
“No, no, they’re my drugs!” she shouts, rattling off the ( mostly unprintable) places she stashed the drugs in her body as a police officer handcuffs her. Outside, an unrelated siren goes off, and Awkwafina works it into the scene on the fly.
“We’re in trouble, aren’t we? They brought backup!” she riffs, as the crew laughs and pauses filming.
Given Awkwafina’s comedy background – she hosted MTV’s
“Girl Code Live” in 2015 and “Saturday Night Live” in 2018 – improvisation was crucial to “Nora from Queens.”
“I didn’t want it to be a set where we felt married to things that didn’t work,” she says later by phone. “I always tell my actors, ‘ Just say it how you’d say it. Let’s make sure we get this one point across, but the rest can be totally off the top.’
” Awkwafina ( real name: Nora Lum) first started developing the show, which has already been renewed for Season 2, nearly six years ago. One of its early titles was “The Cult of Nora,” and it initially centered on Nora and her friends. The final version focuses on Nora’s relationship with her dad ( B. D. Wong) and grandma ( Lori Tan Chinn), who implore her to get her act together. “The biggest change was how much more grounded in reality and my experiences the show became,” Awkwafina, 31, says. “I really did focus groups for money; I really did work in a shady real estate
agency. I felt that the best way to tell a story without making it seem like it’s trying too hard, especially with comedy, was to just tell it the way it happened.”
The first 10- episode season follows the pot- smoking, video game- playing Nora on offbeat adventures as she hustles at odd jobs, accompanies grandma and her friends to Atlantic City and learns her new roommate is secretly a porn star. The show has drawn comparisons to another heightened, crude and female- centric Comedy Central series – “Broad City,” which ended last year – and Awkwafina says that’s understandable.
“Those similarities will always rise when you have twentysomethings living in New York, wondering what they’re going to do next,” she says. “But I think (“Nora from Queens”) has more of a sitcom aspect, and I don’t think there’s really anything like it.”
“Nora from Queens” marks Awkwafina’s first time in the producer’s chair, and she decided to hire an all- women writing staff. Wong, who plays her onscreen dad, says he was most impressed by how Awkwafina juggled roles in front of and behind the camera, and how she assembled a primarily Asian American cast – a rarity on TV.
“She’s a very driven, visionary person,” Wong says. “She has philosophies about who she wanted to hire and who she wanted to represent, and she made it all happen. She never compromised, and that shows on ( screen) and on the payroll. She created opportunities for people in a really good way.”
“I’m definitely still learning things,” Awkwafina says of the experience so far. “If you’re going to take on those roles, you have to be present for each one.”
She plans to continue making movies, after winning a best actress Golden Globe Award this month for her dramatic turn in last year’s “The Farewell.” She’ll also star in Marvel’s superhero movie “Shang- Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and will voice Scuttle in Disney’s live- action remake of “The Little Mermaid.”
But for now, “the show is definitely a priority,” Awkwafina says. “With all the multitasking things that you’re doing, you have to find a center. I hope I can do that.”