You may know Dulcé Sloan from her current role as a correspondent on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
She’s been a recurring correspondent on the show since 2017 but the superstar first got her start in Atlanta. Now, having been in the industry for 10 years, Sloan is ready for her big-big break.
With her stand up special for Comedy Central Presents coming up, I had a chance to talk to Dulcé about her journey into comedy and her goals in entertainment.
The Storyteller
As you would imagine, Dulcé was always a talented storyteller and pursued acting and theatre in college. It wasn’t until others recommended that she try stand-up after seeing her natural ability to make people laugh.
Her acting skills made it easier for her to work the stage compared to the other new comics.
“Making people laugh and me being a comedian didn’t really connect for me until I was an adult.”
Dulcé’s storytelling skills led her down a path that seemed to be a departure from her initial goal. But instead, it was a necessary detour to break into acting.
“Standup just kind of came out of nowhere but if it wasn’t for stand up, I wouldn’t have been given the opportunities to pursue acting.”
Dulcé has been around the world since her comedic and acting careers took off. So far her favorite place has been Edinburgh, Scotland. During a show hiatus, Sloan followed friends and colleagues to Scotland and got to perform whenever she wanted without the constraints of traditional touring.
“I just get to get up and do a show if I want to.”
Getting Onstage
Dulcé’s advice for up-and-coming female comics is to take every opportunity you do get instead of focusing on the push back. She says it’s hard to tell in the beginning if venues are not putting you up because you’re new or if it’s because you’re a woman.
Either way, she did not care.
“If you think they’re not putting you up because you’re a woman, fuck ‘em and go somewhere else.”
The comedic industry’s white male toxicity has been recently highlighted with women coming forward and comics rejecting the “politically correct” shift in culture.
I asked Dulcé how she felt about the public being more aware of the phenomenon of white men taking advantage of their positions of power.
“White male toxicity has always been here.”
https://youtu.be/Y8dodV1ch2U?t=16
The way Dulcé approaches sexism and racism in the industry is by not giving those people her time and effort.
“I do not have the time to educate and fight with white men […] If you’re gonna be a trash dude you’re gonna be a trash dude, period.”
Dulcé also emphasized the importance of how others treat her. However if someone touts stereotypes under the guise of rejecting PC culture onstage but is decent offstage, Dulcé feels there’s no real way to know which is real.
“There’s a lot of comics who talk shit when they’re on stage but when they get off they’re very nice to you […] which one of these is the REAL white man that I’m talking to?”
Offstage
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Safe to say Dulcé does not play with comics who disrespect women, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community. Not even when they’re low-key about it.
“The most toxic thing about white male comics is not the stuff that they say on stage, it’s the stuff they say to you off stage.”
Dulcé remembered a coworker telling her that fellow female comic Ali Wong was successful because the industry wants more women and minorities right now. Sloan expressed frustration with the comment, emphasizing the amount of extra work non-white men do to be recognized.
“That is not what the industry wants right now. That is a culture moving forward.”
Sloan gave white men some advice as well.
“If you’re gonna be a white dude right now, you gotta be a better white dude comic.”
Dulcé also recognizes that there are plenty of decent white men as well. Sloan credits them with helping her in her career and counts them as friends. But the rest who run their mouth with toxicity will never get her time.
The Actress
Her time is more valuable and focused on growing her career as a comic and an actress. I asked Sloan who inspired her to act. Dulcé counts Lucille Ball as her childhood idol growing up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxtlsfMAMIO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
She says she appreciated the legend more as she grew older and learned more about the back story and historical significance of “I Love Lucy.” Sloan remembers learning that Ball was the only female exec at the studio at that time and the weight of her insistence that her character’s husband be Cuban despite the Red Scare.
Sloan sees the connection with “I Love Lucy” being a comedy and her own comedic path, but what she’d like to pursue in the future is a role on Black Panther 2 and a character in a sci-fi genre.
At Kulture Hub, we’d love to see more of Dulcé Sloan on the large and small screen in the future. And If you too feel like those Daily Show segments are not enough Dulcé time, you’re in luck because Dulcé Sloan has an upcoming special on Comedy Central airing October 25.
Dulcé is also working on an animated series from the makers of “Bob’s Burgers.” Sloan will be opposite Jenny Slate, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, and Paul Rust on “The Great North” premiering on Fox in 2020.
Tune in Friday and watch Dulcé Sloan go off.
Don’t write a song about showing off your dick unless you’re prepared to show it. @dulcesloan pic.twitter.com/UI6xBPDiEV
— Comedy Central Stand-Up (@standup) October 22, 2019