She grew up in Northern Kentucky, now she's on 'Bob's Burgers' and Comedy Central
Akilah Hughes could choose several different answers for the “occupation” space on the 1040 form.
“Writer” would work. In September, Penguin published “Obviously: Stories from My Timeline.” The book in part details Hughes’ experiences growing up in Northern Kentucky, where she attended Boone County High School.
“Actor” works, too. Last month, Hughes made her debut on the Fox animated sitcom “Bob’s Burgers,” providing the voice for the character Theresa. This month, Comedy Central is rolling out three video shorts starring Hughes.
There’s also “journalist.” Hughes hosts the "What A Day" daily news podcast.
But maybe “comedian” is the best term. During a phone call from her home in Los Angeles, Hughes offered a definition of what it means to be a comic.
Question: Did you like going to Boone County?
Answer: It’s such a complicated question. I liked Boone County High School. I think it was a great high school experience. There was once an article that I wrote for Fusion about going back to my high school reunion, and it got published in The Enquirer, and there was a giant confederate flag behind my head, and then my mom started getting death threats. And so when I think about it now, I think it somehow feels even worse to think about.
Q: Why did you choose to go to Berea College?
A: Berea is an awesome place. It’s a very cool school and town. It’s this tiny liberal bubble in the red state of Kentucky. There wasn’t a lot to do. It forced us to be so creative and weird, and I feel like I really grew as a person, because you could try stuff and fail and it’s not the end of the world. I exploded with creativity. I wanted to learn how to code and be a better photographer, so I could make my Myspace page look better. I wanted to learn how to make videos, so I could go ahead and do these terrible skits and sketches online that 100 people might see, and that’ll be enough. I don’t think that I would have the career that I have now if it wasn’t for Berea.
Q: You graduated in 2010 and moved to New York in 2012. Did you spend any of that in-between time in Cincinnati?
A: I actually had an interview at the Museum Center. Did not get the job.
Q: That’s going in the paper.
A: Yeah, you tell ‘em. I think they should feel bad. They messed up. I was really kind of bummed about that. I worked at the Florence Mall at a Justice, which is like Limited Too, like a little kids' sparkle store, for about a month. And then I started working at Alpine Valley Water and Coffee, and that’s a Cincinnati-based awesome water company that just needed marketing, and I was a just-chipper-enough 21, 22-year-old to get that job, and I built all the social media pages. I don’t know if they still use any of them.
Q: Do you miss Cincinnati?
A: Cincinnati is my entire being. New York is the external love of my life, but I don’t think I would be at all who I am, or make the jokes that I make, or even had the success that I had, if it weren’t for growing up in the Cincinnati area. It’s an area that’s often overlooked. I think a lot of the reason I’ve been successful is because my voice sounds original to people out here in Los Angeles, and in New York, and to people who are making media. I also think that in terms of what people think about the Midwest-South, right where it intersects, they’re not thinking about a black girl who grew up poor making it somewhere. Representation matters, but in a different way than people think. The perspective matters.
Q: Was “Meet Your First Black Girlfriend” (the 2013 YouTube video with more than 1.7 million views) the first thing to put you on the radar?
A: Yeah. That was for sure the first truly viral video I had. In terms of, I wrote this, it has a real impact, and it hit immediately, that was really the thing. And it’s honestly shocking to me how far it has taken me.
Q: What would you settle on as the title of your occupation?
A: I say “a lot of stuff.” I would say that I’m a comedian, and it manifests across so many different platforms and forms of media. I’m just a funny person that’s trying to continue to get paid for being funny.
Q: Is being a comedian the same as being someone who creates funny content?
A: No, it is not. Because I think you can create funny content without it being intentional. If you’re trying to be funny, that is closer to the direction of being a comedian. But I think a comedian’s job is to be incredibly observant, so that we’re noticing things that others are not, and to that end, pointing out the absurdity of something that maybe people don’t stop to think about. All of my favorite comedians are great at it.
Q: I had thought of you as a content creator and thought of comedians as someone who begins a career as a standup comic.
A: I think the path to being a more traditional media comedian has changed. One of my favorite comedians is Bo Burnham. He started on YouTube making ridiculous dumb songs that were jokey that we loved in college. He had the opportunity to make a TV show. It got canceled. And then he has this amazing standup special. And then he has another one. And then he’s directing Chris Rock’s standup special. And he puts out the movie “Eighth Grade,” and it’s like, now there’s Oscar buzz for this guy who was a content creator. The same is true for Donald Glover, Justin Bieber. You can make things for the internet, but the end game isn’t that.
Q: What’s your end game?
A: Oh, man. I want it all. I want to write a show. I want to star in it. I want to write shows and sell them. I want to be Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I want to be “Fleabag,” but in America and black. I want everything. I want it all.
Q: And you’ll get it, I assume?
A: Yeah, I think so. I mean, that, or the world will end. Whatever happens first.