By Darlene Donloe
Contribuitng Writer
BEVERLY HILLS — Dulcé Sloan is very serious about being funny.
Her amiable personality, impeccable timing and occasionally deadpan yet hilarious delivery have made Sloan one of the top comics to watch.
The acerbic funny lady, best known for her role as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s “Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” is set to bring her razor-sharp wit and unapologetic humor to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts for one night only, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
The show, part of her “Selling This Book Tour 2024,” includes stories about her life — many of which appear in her memoir, “Hello, Friends! Stories of Dating, Destiny & Day Jobs.”
“I wanted to call the book, ‘Don’t Call It A Memoir, I’m Only 39,’” said Sloan, an Emmy Award-winner for “The Daily Show.” “I didn’t want to write a book. My manager tricked me.
“He asked me if I wanted to write a book. I said, ‘That sounds hard.’ He said, ‘Well, will you take a meeting?’ I said, ‘OK.’”
Sloan, 41, took a couple of meetings, and “all of a sudden, we sold the book.”
“I do like the way it came out,” Sloan said. “But, I was worried because you never know how things will be received. I got the deal because of ‘The Daily Show.’ I still don’t know how the book performed. No one has said anything to me, so I assume it didn’t do well. I feel like I disappointed people.”
Although she admits writing the book was exciting, Sloan tries “not to set high expectations for things.”
“I’m glad people are getting to read it,” she said. “I wrote it for people who look like me. I wrote it in the voice of talking to someone. Some people have enjoyed it. Writing a book is a hard process.”
Sloan said she will continue to tour indefinitely because she needs to “sell this book,” which came out earlier this year.
“I’ve been on tour since 2016,” Sloan said. “My tour could be titled, ‘I’m Still Selling This Book.’ ‘I’m Continuing To Sell This Book’ is what it will be called next year.”
An in-demand performer, Sloan, a trained actor, comic and now author, mostly lives on the road.
“I’ve only spent seven nights in my house since September,” said Sloan, who is on the road by herself for 60% of the time she’s touring. “I’ve only been in my house on a Saturday — once since August. I’m always on a plane.
One time, I was on eight planes in 10 days. I have 930,000 miles on Delta and about 400,000 on American [Airlines]. I want to see my number hit one million. That will be exciting. I gotta keep selling this book.”
Her book and the stand-up stories she will share at the Wallis are about Sloan’s childhood, jobs, “The Daily Show,” and more.
Her “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” colleague, Roy Wood Jr., who was a comic correspondent on the program, and is Sloan’s comic mentor, has a quote on the book’s back cover.
He wrote: “I am now excited that the world gets a chance to laugh as we all did every day at work.” — Roy Wood Jr.
“I admire Roy Wood Jr. because of the depth in which he writes,” Sloan said. “He is generous and a genuinely nice person. He’s a comedian who cares about other comics.”
Former talk show host Conan O’Brien wrote, “When Dulce performed on my show, she was so confident I couldn’t believe it was her TV debut. She has what the Irish call ‘chutzpah.’ Dulce has a stunningly brave, honest, and hilariously unique comedic voice.”
In the book’s dedication, Sloan thanks herself.
“I want to dedicate this book to ME! And to anyone who doesn’t think you can dedicate a book to yourself. I didn’t think I could write a book. The process was hard. It made me cry, laugh, call upon my public school education and question the choices I made in my past. But I did it! I’m proud of myself and what I created.”
Organized into essays from her life, Sloan, whose Netflix special was hailed by the New York Times as a knockout, doesn’t pull any punches in the book or during her stand-up.
She talks about when she was 12 and how she scored a nine out of 100 on a test for gifted students.
“Here’s the thing, you can’t be gifted in everything,” said Sloan, who by the time she started kindergarten had lived in Miami, Oklahoma City, Colorado Springs and Atlanta, where she mostly grew up. “When the teacher returned my test, I was sure I had done OK. I got nine. Nine out of 100!
“I attempted every problem and showed my work. I started laughing. The teacher said, ‘Dulce, this isn’t funny.’ I said, ‘But it’s a nine.’ I had to take it home and have my mother sign it. When I told her what I got, we both laughed.”
Sloan considered one of Variety’s “Top Ten Comedians to Watch” and one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Comedians You Need to Know,” also delves into her childhood, which includes moving between cities, starting her own business selling toys at a Miami flea market, and being a Black kid in a predominantly white school.
With entertaining and culturally resonant stories, Sloan, who was nominated for a GLAAD Award for her standout interviews (Outstanding Variety or Talk Show episode on Sasha Colby — RuPaul’s Drag Race), “Dulce Sloan and Sasha Colby talk about what it means to be a happy trans person,” has always used her masterful wit to challenge the status quo. Her purpose in comedy unfolded while navigating clubs and the set of “The Daily Show.”
Have you ever dated an adult who roller skated or went out with a mechanic to get free auto service? Yes, she’s got that story for you.
Sloan, co-founder of Giggle Gloss lip gloss with comedian Lace Larrabee, never considered herself a comedian. A friend convinced her to give comedy a shot.
“It was a comedian named Big Kenney Johnson who put me in a standup class,” said the two-time NAACP Image Award winner. “Being funny and being able to tell a joke are two different things. I never thought about myself as a comedian.
“I’m a trained actor. I’m a theater kid. My mother encouraged me to do it, so I had to learn to write a joke. The confidence, for me, had to be in writing the joke. Once you write the joke, you then have to feel the audience. It’s all feeling. An audience will let you know if you can play with them.”
Sloan’s Netflix set premiered on Nov. 28 as part of the new standup series, “Verified Stand Up.” The New York Times lauded it, “In less than 15 minutes, her set packs a wallop.”
With a happily hectic schedule, Sloan can also be heard as part of the cast of Fox’s hit animated series “The Great North,” currently in its fourth season, on which Sloan voices the character “Honeybee” alongside comedians Jenny Slate, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Will Forte and Paul Rust.
Every comic has a distinguishable presence on stage that plays to the audience. When it came to developing and shaping her stand-up, Sloan, who will appear in the movie “Save Muny” in 2025, returned to her training as an actor and theater kid.
“As a theater kid, I learned to plant your feet and find the light.”
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
