Teddy Ray, a comedian and host of Issa Rae‘s “What Say What?!” show has had to find a way to adapt in these ever-changing times.
Recently, Ray spoke with rolling out from his Los Angeles home about how he’s navigated through the pandemic and his gig on the Issa Rae show, a part of the YouTube Originals “Bear Witness, Take Action 3” six-part series.
In “What Say What?!” you tooled around St. Louis with Smino. You two have also worked together in the past. How did this latest interview come about?
Smino is the bro. I met him from Noname, shout-out to Noname. I opened a couple of years ago for her in Chicago, and he was on the show. We [are] just young, we [are] Black and we caught a vibe.
How has COVID impacted you as a comedian?
That first pandemic year was rough. This year has been way better [financially].
Seven streams of income? I didn’t care about all that. I was just [focused on] stand-up and show money. I don’t want for much. I want a couple of things, and that’s it. When all the show money dried up last year, I went from L.A. across country and back, and probably only tackled about four or five shows because everything was shut down.
The South was jumping. Y’all don’t care. Atlanta let me perform, Texas let me perform, Arizona didn’t care. Certain little pockets that just didn’t care, but everybody else was inside.
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