WHO

Wanda Sykes

WHAT

The stand-up comedian and Emmy Award winner will go for the laughs at three area venues this month. Sykes will be at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis on Wednesday (www.melodytent.org), the Wilbur Theatre on Thursday (www.thewilbur.com), and the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom on Friday (www.casino
ballroom.com).

‘My favorite is still stand-up. That’s where it all started. . . . There’s nothing like being onstage with a room full of people laughing together.’

Q. I was tired just reading your bio: stand-up comic, movie and TV star, voice-over artist, producer, writer, mother, wife. Have I left anything out?

A. Um, maybe a potential basket case or nervous breakdown — anything that leads to a bed and peace and quiet.

Q. Do you tweet and blog?

A. I tweet. It’s fun, it’s quick, and if something happens in the world, you can comment on it right away. I trained myself to avoid drunk tweeting. I got reprimanded by my publicists and friends.

Q. What’s your favorite medium?

A. My favorite is still stand-up. That’s where it all started. I’m always doing [stand-up] dates even while I’m doing TV and movies. There’s nothing like being onstage with a room full of people laughing together.

Q. How involved are you in writing your stand-up routines and the TV shows you’re in?

A. With stand-up it’s all me, and with “The New Adventures of Old Christine” I didn’t write a word. There were great writers on the show; the words were there. That was a beautiful gig. With other shows, if I’m a producer, I’m involved in the writing.

Q. Who makes you laugh?

A. My kids, my wife, my friends, “Modern Family.”

Q. What comics influenced you?

A. “Moms” Mabley, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Lucille Ball.

Q. When did you know you were funny?

A. I was always a funny kid. In school, I made classmates and teachers laugh. It wasn’t until I got onstage for the first time and did stand-up that I said, “I can make strangers laugh. I’m funny.”

Q. Will you do the same routine at your three gigs here?

A. Each night is different. I’m always playin’ around. There’s always something that happened that day that I throw in.

Q. Is there anything off-limits?

A. Anything mean-spirited, abuse. I want people to feel good.

Q. “The New Adventures of Old Christine” was one of my favorite shows. It won an award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and you were nominated for an NAACP Image Award. How did you feel when the show was canceled?

A. I was really sad, because I loved that show and working with that cast and the crew. It was more that “I can’t go and play with these people anymore.” I wasn’t shocked. At the time, CBS was male-driven with comedy.

Q. As a famous gay and black woman, do you feel like an ambassador for gay and black rights?

A. I don’t want to say I feel like an ambassador, but I’m highly aware that whenever I do something, especially when I screw up something, that will be mentioned. When I do my stint in rehab, I’m sure they’re gonna point that out.

Q. Has motherhood changed your life, your comedy, your marriage?

A. It’s definitely changed my comedy and my material. If I got up and just did a bunch of stuff on politics, that would be fabricated, like I had to send myself off somewhere and read and watch news shows, which I don’t have time for. That’s what motherhood does. You have to put yourself on the back burner. We have a nanny, but she can only work 8 to 10 hours a day. It’s still time-consuming. My wife and I went out to dinner, and I’m looking at my watch and I said to her, “Can you believe we have a curfew? We’re grown-ass women and we have curfews.”