Comedian Dulcé Sloan is taking over as guest host this week on The Daily Show. Sloan is the fourth of the five Daily Show Correspondents’ that will be guest hosting while the program looks to secure a new permanent host.
Sloan started off her first show with the killer one liner, “I’m nervous…that I might crush this too hard” and then dove right into the show’s first segment, “Headlines.” Sloan covered a variety of topics, starting with professional basketball player Brittney Griner’s return to the United States. Griner has stated that she has decided to not travel for basketball anymore given the horrors she experienced after traveling to Russia for basketball and ending up in Russian prison. Apparently, people are upset that Griner has made the decision to cease traveling, and to those people, Sloan matter-of-factly-stated, “I know people are saying, “how could she never travel again?” And those people, are white.”
Sloan also tackled the controversy surrounding the new Netflix show Queen Cleopatra, and the decision to portray Cleopatra as a Black woman. Many people are arguing that Cleopatra was of Greek descent and was not of African descent. Sloan gifted us with two hilarious statements on this issue, first stating, “I didn’t hear you complaining when all of those Mummy movies were coming out” and then ending the conversation with “You can have Cleopatra, but then we get Jesus.” Obsessed.
Sloan ended her debut episode with an interview with drag legend (and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15) Sasha Colby. Colby’s win was historic in multiple ways, as not only was she the first trans woman to win the show, but she was also the first Hawaiian queen to compete and take the crown. The two didn’t shy away from Colby’s legendary status, with Colby chiming in that she’s “mother” (she is) and the two joking about the “drag delusion” the other season 15 queens developed in thinking they could beat Colby. We love the energy.
Colby also gave an excellent response to Sloan’s question as to how her Hawaiian culture intersects with her transness, mentioning how gender fluidity is deeply embedded in many Indigenous cultures. She additionally discussed how she wants to be an example of a happy trans person in the media, and how the attack on trans bodies and the attack on reproductive justice are struggles that are intertwined. The whole convo was an example of true feminist solidarity.
Finally, Sloan was given her own drag name, Dulcé Colby, and it’s a name that sums up Sloan’s comedic genius and status as, dare we say, “mother.”
Be sure to check out the rest of Dulcé Sloan’s episodes of The Daily Show this week, airing on Comedy Central at 11 PM EST.
Top photo: Courtesy of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show
