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Full Interview

Liza Treyger TRANSCRIPT 8/6/20

Liza Treyger: Hi!!!!

Ziwe: Hi there, Liza! How are you doing? Thank you for doing the show.

Liza Treyger: I’m so happy you’re wearing a Bulls jersey.

Ziwe: Of course, I was researching you today, and I learned that you're from Chicago, and so I had to represent.

Liza Treyger: The suburbs. I have to be honest.

Ziwe: What suburb?

Liza Treyger: I'm from Skokie.

Ziwe: Okay, shout out to Skokie.

Liza Treyger: Yes.

Ziwe: I know it well.

Liza Treyger: I moved to Chicago a little bit, but…from Russia…and then Skokie, for most of my life.

Ziwe: Clutch. I lived in Evanston. I went to college in Evanston.

Liza Treyger: Oh!

Ziwe: Yeah, so I know Chicago –

Liza Treyger: Are you…oh yeah you're a Northwestern gal. Yeah, my first open mic was Caffeine.

Ziwe: Oh my gosh. Okay, we're really getting into the weeds of the Midwest, baby! So Liza, I have a lot of questions for you.

Liza Treyger: I’m ready.

Ziwe: How many black friends do you have?

Liza Treyger: So I watch the show every week, and I think about this all the time, and what I would say if I was on the show and how I would…and I think I would say, a bunch.

Ziwe: A bunch of black friends. Yeah, you actually, I would say that you famously are one of those white women that has a lot of black friends.

Liza Treyger: I don't know about that, but I've definitely been asked to step out of an all-black photo more than once.

Ziwe: Really?

Liza Treyger: Yeah.

Ziwe: Can you name some of your black friends just for the record?

Liza Treyger: I would say my two that I've had the longest that, that are like my besties would be Clark and Will.

Ziwe: Oh, I listened to you on, on Clark's podcast, where you said that quote that when the conversation turned to blaming white women for stealing eligible black men you said “you fucked enough unsuccessful black men.” So I guess my question for you, is what qualifies as a successful black man? And who are you to judge?

Liza Treyger: Um, I think I was making a joke…I…but I think unsuccessful, or success, successful to me is like has a passion, direction, knows what they want to do, work hard…um, yeah.

Ziwe: Okay, what does black love mean to you?

Liza Treyger: I think it means lots of things. To me, I would say like spectrum, hot, beautiful, passionate, cool and then, like messy on the other end.

Ziwe: That's what black love means to you, messy?

Liza Treyger: On some sides, yeah, like Whitney, Bobby. I don't know.

Ziwe: Oh gosh, Whitney, Bobby is the pinnacle of black love to you, Liza?

Liza Treyger: No, the pinnacle to me are the Obamas, I would say and then that couple who got married in Philadelphia during the protests, like that to me was like a symbol of black love, for sure. But you know the, the spectrums, but yeah, I think it's like all types of black love can be beautiful and great and then messy.

Ziwe: Okay, what do you qualitatively like about black people?

Liza Treyger: So I don't, I know that quantitatively you can't do that, like all black people are different individuals, but I do have to say that I do love black Twitter. And I don't know if that's bad.

Ziwe: What are your favorite black Twitter jokes?

Liza Treyger: I don't know. I love the memes I love the games i don't know if I remember, I don't know if I remember stuff.

Ziwe: When you read like black Twitter and it says the n-word, what are you reading in your head?

Liza Treyger: I don't know, probably…I don't know. I think I have no, I don't know. I can't say. I probably, I want to say the n-word, I'm sure it's not, but I know that I don't retweet it or anything, but I send sometimes tweets that I can't retweet to some of my friends that might like them.

Ziwe: Okay. Can you name five black men for the record?

Liza Treyger: Black men?

Ziwe: Yes.

Liza Treyger: Winston Duke, Patrick Ewing, Spike Lee, Lee Daniels, and Larry Owens. 

Ziwe: Okay shout out, that was a plethora of black men. So shout out to that, shout out to Larry Owens who’s  in the comments as well. Have you ever called the police on a black person before?

Liza Treyger: Not on. Now what I know, I wouldn't have done that, but there was like a homeless man dancing in the street of a busy intersection, but like, it was not a safe situation, and I wanted him to be safe, and I don't think I would have done that.

Ziwe: Okay.

Liza Treyger: Knowing what I know now.

Ziwe: Let's roleplay. We're in the streets I'm, I'm naked in the streets, dancing in an intersection. What are you, what are you doing?

Ziwe mimes a phone.

 Ziwe: 9-1-1, what's your emergency?

Liza Treyger: I pulled over, I said, there's a man in the middle of the street, and I don't think he's gonna be safe, like he's not leaving and cars…like it's just kind of a clusterfuck. I didn't say clusterfuck, but I don't think I would do that now, and I would try to find like a shelter or a different person to call.

Ziwe: And what is this man's race,

Liza Treyger: He's black.

Ziwe: Wow. Wow. Okay. Who are your favorite black authors, Liza?

Liza Treyger: So I know I'm going to get dragged. I’m so scared. I'm not really a reader. I'm an ignorant dumb bitch, like I watch a lot of TV. I don't really read. I can name black authors, but I have not read their books.

Ziwe: No not a single one?

Liza Treyger: I mean, Toni Morrison in high school. Um, and then like Chicago, Samantha Irby, like I know her, kind of, but like I don't…I want to read Roxane Gay’s books, but I don't. I just follow her on Twitter.

Ziwe: You're on the Grace Kuhlenschmidt vibe where it's like reading, fuck a book.

Liza Treyger: Not fuck a book. I feel definitely shame for it, but.

Ziwe: So you on Classic Black Dude podcast, you watch TV you just said, and you really loved Watchmen. And so you pitched Regina King playing Wendy Williams in a biopic.

Liza Treyger: I, I never saw Watchmen.

Ziwe: You didn’t see Watchmen?

Liza Treyger: No.

Ziwe: Maybe that was a different voice I was hearing. Wait, why didn’t you see Watchmen? What's wrong with you?

Liza Treyger: Well I just got an HBO password. Now I will. I can’t wait.

Ziwe: It’s a fantastic, It’s honestly a fantastic show. It really changed what I thought about what you could write for like mainstream culture in terms of like black literature.

Liza Treyger: Is it…like just usually when something’s superhero, I’m not like into it, but enough people have said that it's great.

Ziwe: It's good.

Liza Treyger: I’ll watch it.

Ziwe: Yeah, it's really, it's really good. I loved it. Okay, who's your favorite black celebrity?

Liza Treyger: Um, I mean my favorite, one of my favorite celebs is Rihanna.

Ziwe: What do you like about Rihanna?

Liza Treyger: I love her music. I love the way she dresses. I love her like, I like that she stands up for herself. I like –

Ziwe: Totally.

Liza Treyger: -- that she's a humanitarian, and donates so much, and a businesswoman, and a badass, and I love her outfits, and I think she's really hot.

Ziwe: I, she's gorgeous, and wait, what's your favorite Rihanna song?

Liza Treyger: Um…like S&M.

Ziwe: Yeah. And how does it, just remind me, how does S&M go?

Liza Treyger: “Whips and chains.” I don’t…”like it.”

Ziwe and Liza Treyger laugh.

Liza Treyger: “We found love in a hopeless place.” 

Ziwe: That’s not S&M, but okay.

Liza Treyger:  No.

Ziwe: Are, you’re Russian. Are Russians and negroes of the white community?

Liza Treyger: I don't know. Not that I know of. I don't know what that means. Russians annoy me out in the world, but…I don’t know.

Ziwe: Have you ever worn blackface?

Liza Treyger: No.

Ziwe: Never?

Liza Treyger: No, but lots, okay so I was so adamant about that, but then in another episode of your show you asked if someone went tanning and I did used to be addicted to fake tanning.

Ziwe: Really?

Liza Treyger: Yeah I would have memberships to multiple places so I didn't have to wait 24 hours, and I would just tan all the time.

Ziwe: How tan would you get?

Liza Treyger: I had like blonde highlights, and I was tan.

Ziwe: Wow, so like you're in Skokie, and you're looking like Snooki.

Liza Treyger: Um, more red because I don't think I tanned that well.

Ziwe: Wild. You know what I like about you on, I was listening to you on Why Won’t You Date Me, and you were talking about how you like demand makeup, hair and makeup because people really fuck it up, I just thought that was really interesting. Speaking of Why Won’t You Date Me, you mentioned that your, you got your Glittercheese necklace from Compton. Do you frequently go to black neighborhoods to get your jewelry?

Liza Treyger: A stylist got it for me and ordered it and did it. Um, but I would say no, I don't often do that.

Ziwe: Oh, you don't shop at black businesses?

Liza Treyger: I shop at black businesses but not jewelry. I don't think I have any jewelry from a black owned business.

Ziwe: What are your favorite, five favorite black owned businesses?

Liza Treyger: I'm not going to be able to do that.

Ziwe: Fenty…

Liza Treyger: Pat McGrath, I like, I do have Pat McGrath. I don't…this is fucked. I don't know.

Ziwe: Okay. How have you decolonized your mind in the last five months?

Liza Treyger: Well, I mean, watching this show, I would say, I also, I watched every video that everyone's posted so like I watch a lot of the videos people are doing online, the, like, I go through everyone's posts. I'm reading stuff. Um, I watched a doc.

Ziwe: So videos and reading?

Liza Treyger: What?

Ziwe:  What doc are you watching?

Liza Treyger: I did this week watch the James Baldwin doc. And I feel like that’s –

Ziwe: Oh, love that documentary.

Liza Treyger: Yeah.

Ziwe: What did you, what was your takeaway from it?

Liza Treyger: So many. My main one is like that It's nothing new and how repetitive it is and how the images from that documentary are what's happening today and how nothing has changed.

Ziwe: Word. People are saying in the comments that the show is quote unquote not decolonization, which I take as a personal insult.

Liza Treyger: I think it totally is. I feel like I've, all the questions you ask everyone, I think about them all the time. And it's really made me think about race all the time.

Ziwe: Word. Also, Sydnee wants to note that she is a black owned business, and she's pissed that you did not mention –

Liza Treyger: [Laughs] Okay, I do love Syd Can Cook.

Ziwe: On June 6, you tweeted “why the fuck was I taught about Mesopotamia, but not black history?” What do you know about black history?

Liza Treyger: Not a lot so that's what I've been doing, like I've been researching the people…that tweet came about, I went to a protest and there were speakers, and they were talking about people, and I just had no, I had no clue what they were, who they were talking about. And I was mad at myself, and so I tweeted that.

Ziwe: I, let's just go through a couple civil rights leaders, and you're going to tell me who they are, and do you have notes in front of you, by the way?

Liza Treyger shows her room to the camera.

Liza Treyger: I don't have any notes. I didn't make my bed. I don't have any notes. I am in my home twin bed.

Ziwe: Shout out, shout out, shout out to the twin bed. Why are you in a twin bed?

Liza Treyger: Listen it’s traumatic, someone, my dad had health problems. I had to come back.

Ziwe: Oh, no! Sorry.

Liza Treyger: That's okay I try to like pep it up but I'm back here.

Ziwe: I'm sorry. That's –

Liza Treyger: It’s okay.

Ziwe: Let's go through some civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King.

Liza Treyger: He's the most visible civil rights leader that we're taught about. He has a Nobel Peace Prize. He was in charge of the bus boycotts. He wrote the Birmingham Jail thing. Sorry. Um…and March on Washington.

Ziwe: Okay, Marcus Garvey.

Liza Treyger: So, um, he is a publisher and had a black newspaper, and he wrote speeches.

Ziwe: Okay, you did research.

Liza Treyger: Well, I've totally been watching and researching, I'm not going to come on this show and not know these things, hopefully.

Ziwe: Malcolm X.

Liza Treyger: Malcolm X was a Black Nationalist, and he was like by any means necessary so how Martin Luther King was civil disobedience, he believed in a more aggressive approach.

Ziwe: Philip Asa Randolph.

Liza Treyger shakes her head no.

Ziwe: Okay. I've said that one before. Huey P. Newton.

Liza Treyger: He's started…oh no. Was he in Chicago? Black Panther. Huey P. Newton started the Black Panthers.

Ziwe: In Oakland.

Liza Treyger: In Oakland.

Ziwe: What about Fred Hampton?

Liza Treyger: He was Chicago, and he was murdered when he was 21.

Ziwe: Stokely Carmichael.

Liza Treyger: He helped people vote in the south, he, and he coined the term Black Power. And then –

Ziwe: Kwame Ture.

Liza Treyger: What?

Ziwe: Kwame Ture.

Liza Treyger: I don't know, but I wanted, I did like one, I liked a Carmichael quote that I didn't know was his for a long time, that I really liked.

Ziwe: What was the Carmichael quote?

Liza Treyger: About how like you cannot fight with people who don't have a conscience, and the United States has no conscience.

Ziwe: Damn. Okay, radical, Liza! Where do you stand on Booker T. Washington versus W.E.B. DuBois?

Liza Treyger: I don't know. I'm gonna know after today.

Ziwe: Okay. Why did you come on this show?

Liza Treyger: Um, well I love it. I love watching it. You’re a fellow Housewives girl so –

Ziwe: Shout out.

Liza Treyger: I would never, but in this time of like as stand ups there's like, there's just not much, and this is truly bringing like fun and joy. Being asked to do this, is like be nominated for an Oscar, I felt like, like I responded within a minute, it's something like, it also just like you and Syd Can Cook, it's the two things that are like old school television where, you know, I'm like watching it when it comes out, and it's just such an exciting thing, so it's a cool thing to be a part of.

Ziwe: Okay.

Liza Treyger: And, um, yeah, and I like being challenged, and I want to be better. And this, I know the comments will hopefully let me know.

Ziwe: Yeah, you know, the commenters, they have a mind of their own. Thank you so much for joining the show.

Liza Treyger: You were very nice I, I definitely was anticipating a rougher time.

Ziwe: No, you're doing great, and you are so funny, by the way.

Liza Treyger:  Thank you.

Ziwe: I really, you know, what I really like about you is I just think that you are such a strong, like, strong person in comedy and like really give women a voice to be like do what the fuck they want and like speak up.

Liza Treyger: Thank you.

Ziwe: So shout out to you for doing the show, even though you don't know that Stokely Carmichael and Kwame Ture are the same person. Okay bye!

Liza Treyger: Oh yeah, I [indiscernible], I saw like [indiscernible] –

Ziwe sends Liza Treyger out of the Live. She laughs.