Small screen lawyer has a big knack for comedy
Momma, I Made It! Streaming, Crave
Yvonne Orji’s mother had long hoped her daughter would become a doctor. So when the Insecure actress informed her Nigerian parents she was pursuing a career in comedy — on the heels of getting a masters in public health from George Washington University — her mother resorted to what Orji explains is a very Nigerian method of encouragement: “shame and comparison.”
“But you roll up on my mom today, it’s a different story,” Orji, 36, says in Momma, I Made It! her new HBO comedy special now streaming on Crave. She switches to a thick Nigerian accent. “Do you have,” she says, pivoting to a stop in slouchy thighhigh boots, “HBO?”
The bit, which earns loud applause from the crowd at Washington, D.C.’S Howard Theatre, encompasses layers of triumph for Orji. The special is a homecoming — two, actually. Orji grew up in Laurel, Md. The special also follows Orji to Lagos, in her native Nigeria, where her family lived before coming to the United States in 1989.
Orji calls the one-hour special — recorded in February during a sold- out leg of her Lagos to Laurel tour — “a love letter to my two homes, and to my parents.”
Momma, I Made It! is filled with riffs on Orji’s unlikely path to Hollywood, and her experiences as a first-generation Nigerian American. Orji takes joy in both cultures, riffing on her mother’s exasperated response to Orji saying she was “happy” for a recently engaged acquaintance: “Well, Yvonne, when can I be happy for you?”
When Orji shared a promo for her special last month, some fans took the opportunity to tell her they weren’t happy with her Insecure character Molly, a lawyer who might be a little too exacting in her romantic relationships. Orji, who lives in Los Angeles, said not even quarantine had dampened fan feedback on her character’s recent ( and controversial) decisions: “Twitter has let me know how they feel about me,” Orji said with a laugh. “It’s also kind of cool, because in some ways I’m like the underdog. People are just like, ‘ Yeah, you know, we’ll go support because we like Insecure,’” she said. “And then they leave like, ‘ Yo, that was funny, though!’”
Orji got her start in standup after competing as Miss Nigeria in an American pageant. When event officials called to ask what her talent was, she was stumped. “When you’re the child of immigrants, you’re not allowed to have talents,” Orji deadpanned. “Your only talent is just to get straight A’s.” A devout Christian, Orji prayed — and received her answer: comedy. Her first joke, about Nigerians talking loudly on overseas calls, tapped into the insights she infuses into her HBO special. Orji relishes those identities.
“I’m still kind of amazed that I’m here,” she said. “I’m still pinching myself, in a way. My parents did not, could not dream this when we left Nigeria.”