The hilarious actress and comedian on the frustrations of being called an ‘overnight success’, full-circle moments with Kevin Hart, and getting advice from Taylor Swift
In the time since our interview in mid-August, Tiffany Haddish’s reign as queen of comedy has only gotten more secure – as at the time of writing, she’s fresh from adding ‘Emmy winner’ to her long list of recent achievements.
However, the Californian actress and stand-up comic has been working long before her top-rated role as Dina in roaring 2017 blockbuster Girls Trip sent her straight to the top of everyone’s ‘get-to-know’ lists. Since the immense popularity of last year’s film, Haddish’s charisma has taken her to the Oscars, the MTV Movie Awards, too many red carpets to count, and even to parties with Beyoncé (yes, where she allegedly saw someone bite her cheek, sparking a global ‘whodunnnit’ mystery!).
Though her work ethic and dedication to building on her craft is impressive on its own, there’s a whole new level of magic given to her journey once you learn about where she’s come from. In her many interviews over the last two years, Haddish has spoken openly about the fact that the road to adulthood, let alone Hollywood stardom, was far from easy. From a difficult time in foster care as a child, having issues with reading while in high school and encountering moments of homelessness in her early twenties, Haddish could have given up many times – but self-belief and a goal of making people laugh has carried her to long-deserved stardom.
As tough-loving teacher Carrie in new film Night School, she’s more of a straight. Bantering with old friend and co-star Kevin Hart on-screen, Haddish has come full-circle – and meeting with her in a central London hotel for this interview, it’s more than clear that, with her sparkling combination of talent and sheer determination, she’s got a whole lot further to go. Here’s what happened when Pride spoke to Tiffany Haddish – where she showed off some out-of-the-blue knowledge on British history, revealed the source of her positivity, and her frustrations about people only just paying attention to her gifts.
Pride: Congratulations on Night School, Tiffany – it’s such a good time, and looked like so much fun to film. Any scenes that stand out in particular for you?
Tiffany Haddish: We had a blast. The scene where I fart in Kevin’s face – that was really funny to me.
Are there any teachers from your past who stuck out to you, when building a teacher character of your own?
I’d say my drama teacher in high school; she really cracked down on me about reading, and made me come to her class everyday at lunch and read to her. She figured out that I couldn’t read that well, and I was very, very bad. To me, that teacher, Mrs Grieb, was so important to me because she saw me – and I think that’s important for teachers, when they recognise something in their students; to address it and try to help them if they can. She actually cared. It really helped me to get me where I’m at today.
After hearing how you and Kevin Hart used to work together, and how he’s lent a hand – filming this must have felt like a real full-circle moment for you…
Complete circle! I remember when we used to do sketches and stuff together, at the Laugh Factory, and we had this little show that we did, and we’d do stand up all over the city, and I would just be like: ‘We gon’ make a movie! We gon’ do this, we gon’ do that’ – and he’d be like, ‘Okay, Tiffany, okay.’ And now, boom, it happened. How he helped me figure out how to organise my goals, and how to tackle those things… he’s like a big brother, even though he’s only like four, five months older than me. He’s like a big brother in the sense of giving good advice and guidance, and not judging because… I didn’t have my s–t together. I was a mess, and I didn’t know what I was doing. But he gave me a lot of great advice to help me get on track to where I needed to be.
“Just because you just now finding out about it, don’t make me an overnight sensation – because to me, I been sensational, bitch!”
It seems you’ve spoken your success into existence – what kept you going through the rough times?
I know, right? And some days, I was like “I’m done,” but it’s like… I watched these TV shows of people winning in life, and I thought… “I wanna win.” You know? It makes me feel really great to accomplish a goal; success makes me feel really great. And then, being able to make others laugh, and see them go from coming in looking grumpy, to leaving all happy, that makes me feel really great, and if I had something to do with that, then that’s even better. But the thing that got me into believing that I could do it… was having a realisation, just like with that teacher who helped me with reading. It was like, “Well, if I can read now, well, jeez: I can do anything!” All these little moments that propel you along, just when you feel like you’re gonna give up in life – something happens that’ll move you forward.
Can you remember a significant moment where you realised – ‘Oh WOW, I’m really famous!’?
Hosting the MTV Movie and TV Awards, meeting Oprah Winfrey, hanging out with Whoopi Goldberg, I mean! Hanging with Taylor Swift, getting phone calls from people I never thought would call me…! Just… the moments with people I’ve admired, or who I think are really awesome, and then… being nominated for an Emmy, it’s a lot. It’s a lot of stuff! Time magazine? Really? Wow! Cover of Glamour, Hollywood Reporter? So much stuff. It’s pretty awesome. Girl, I got so many pinch marks, ‘cuz every day I’m pinching! I’m in England!
And how are you enjoying London?
Oh, I love me some London. I’ve been here before, in the Winter – did not like it that much then, but I did enjoy going to the restaurants, and meeting the people. We’ve been driving around the city, and everything is so beautiful. You really did a good job building this place.
Not sure I can take too much credit, but thank you anyway!
Oh, I’m sure our people had something to do with it, I’m sure. I read up on it, back in the 1500s, the blackamoors and everything. You know!
“I don’t ‘have to’ anything; all I gotta do is pay taxes and die.”
You have such a big, public personality that makes people like you a lot from afar; does anyone get overfamiliar when they meet you in person?
Yeah. A lot of people feel like they’re my friend, as if they know me so well. Which is cool with me – just don’t catch me on a day where, if I’m sick, or not feeling so good. I’m not rude or evil or anything, but people are like “Lemme get a picture with you! Can I get a picture witchu?!” and I’m like, “Well, first off, you’re rude! You not asking right. And I’m kinda sick. Can we just make a memory together?” And they’re like, “A what?! A memory?!” And I’m like, “But I’m sick!”
Do you have a feeling of always having to be “on”?
No, I don’t feel like that. Because, I’m not always on, and I don’t have to be on – especially if you’re not paying me to be on. If I’m going to the grocery store, I don’t have to be on. I don’t have to be cute, neither. I don’t have to take a picture if I don’t want to, but you can take a picture of me walking by if you want to. I don’t ‘have to’ anything; all I gotta do is pay taxes and die.
You’ve been working for a long time, but many people were properly introduced to you with the release of Girls Trip last Summer – and they’ve said things like calling you a “breakout star” or an “overnight success”. Do those descriptions annoy you?
At first, it did. At first, when they’re like, “You’re a breakout star, a scene stealer”, but it’s like… I was offended at first, because I been working my ass off, and paying for acting classes, I’ve been getting on stage every night. Everyday I do something towards my craft. Every single day. Whether it’s getting the newspaper and reading it out loud in different character voices, whether it’s sitting writing jokes for 10, 20 minutes, or reading old plays and trying to figure out, “How would I perform this character?” Everyday I’m doing something towards my goals, and I was making money five, six years ago! I wasn’t making the same money I’m making now, that’s another story, but I was getting paid for my craft. I was on TV, in movies, and all kinds of stuff. Just because you just now finding out about it, don’t make me an overnight sensation – because to me, I been sensational, bitch! I been winning.
Being in this new echelon of fame, who can you depend upon in the industry to have your back and give advice?
Mostly, you have to depend on yourself. But, I call Jada [Pinkett-Smith] whenever I need some advice on something. Dana – Queen Latifah – she gives me advice. That relationship that we built when we were working on [Girls Trip], we’re all still really friends. I talk to everybody once a month or so; Regina [Hall] and I probably speak once a month, at least. I feel like those women are rocks. Whoopi [Goldberg] is someone that I bounce a lot of ideas off of; Dave Chappelle is someone else, but I’ve known Dave for a long time, so it’s not anything new. Kevin, Tyler Perry, Taylor Swift – she be giving me some cool advice.
Seriously?!
Yeah! She’s way younger than me, but she gives great advice. She’s been doing this for a while, y’know, so she has great advice. It’s a lot of people that I communicate with and depend on. Malcolm [D. Lee], I talk to a lot – the director of Night School and Girls Trip. Will Packer gives me great advice and help. It’s a lot of people, I can’t just put it on one person. It really takes a village of people to help get you where you wanna be. There’s still so many other comedians that I’d love to open up the avenue to, so that they can succeed. They’ve helped me out, writing jokes for each other, all kinds of stuff. It’s a big synergy.
And finally, if you could, what’s something you want to redo from these past few months?
The Oscars! I’d love to do that again, I had a good time doing that – and being with Maya [Rudolph] and everything, that was super fun.
Night School is in cinemas now
