#LGBTQ: “Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready”

Tiffany Haddish’s new Netflix comedy series is called Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, . But Chicago native, comic Flame Monroe says,

“I would say it’s a great launching pad, but I’ve been launched a long time ago. And it’s just a new way to reintroduce myself to the world, to 190 countries, because I was out before it was very apparent that (transgender people) were all over TV and in the movies. I would have got chased out years ago by comics had I not had a thick skin.
I worked for maybe 10 years in the game, and comics didn’t even speak to me or address me or acknowledge me. Even if I had a great show, I couldn’t get a hand, a thumbs up or a fist bump or a pat on the back, but I stayed in the game because it’s what I wanted to do.”

Monroe (who goes by Marcus Parker too) has roots on the West and South sides of Chicago, performing on the second episode of They Ready, a collection of six half-hour comedy specials. Haddish says in her intro,

“Flame is one of my favorite comedians. I think that Flame is brave, funny, fiery, inspiring, joyous.”

Monroe jokes about lots of thing; airport screenings, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’ intimate pictures and Trump’s female staffers and touches on what it’s like to be a single father of three. She kicks off her set with a joke about Jussie Smollett,

“I never believed the story that he told. I feel sad for whatever he’s going through, but it really cast a shadow of doubt over the [LGBTQ] community.”

Monroe counts Diana Ross and Norman Lear among her influences, recalling a ’75 episode of All in the Family where Archie Bunker saves the life of Beverly LaSalle, not knowing she’s a female impersonator. Monroe said she was a kid at the time and cried in the bathroom because she felt seen. She hopes her Netflix special has the same effect.