CBS sitcom star Gina Yashere is bringing her 'The Woman King of Comedy' tour to Detroit

One of Gina Yashere’s funniest clips on YouTube concerns her decision to leave her job as an Otis elevator engineer and pursue comedy. When she broke the news to her Nigerian mother, she thought she might as well come out to her as a lesbian, too.

“That did not go well,” says Yashere. “She was like: ’What? Why are you telling me that my daughter is a gay clown?’”

Make that a creative and very successful clown with an international fan base. Born in London to Nigerian parents, Yashere is yet another English performer who has conquered America. Her achievements include becoming the first and only British comedian to perform on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam,” being a British correspondent for “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and starring in several comedy specials on Netflix.

Last year, Yashere was promoted to executive producer and co-showrunner of “Bob Hearts Abishola,” the CBS sitcom that she co-created with mega-producer Chuck Lorre. It's about a businessman (Billy Gardell) with a compression sock factory who falls for and marries his Nigerian nurse (Olowofoyeku) after a heart attack.

Yashere also co-stars on the show (now approaching its fifth season) as Kemi, Abishola’s outspoken, indomitable friend and co-worker.

On Saturday, she is bringing her Woman King of Comedy tour to Detroit’s Majestic Theatre. She spoke to the Free Press this week about why she moved from England to the United States, what she won’t be talking about at her concert and why TV and movie CEOs need to open their overstuffed wallets and pay their fair share to the writers and actors currently on strike. If that last part sounds like the confident, no-nonsense Yashere speaking, well, that’s a compliment.

Her connection to Detroit

Although “Bob Hearts Abishola” is filmed in Los Angeles, the half-hour series is set in the Motor City. The Detroit-centric details rolled out in the first season included the name of Kemi and Abishola’s fictional workplace, Woodward Memorial Hospital (after the city's main avenue), the Jamerson Middle School attended by Abishola’s son (which sounds like a nod to the great Motown bass player James Jamerson) and the real DDOT line, 16 Dexter, that was seen on the bus that Abishola takes to work.

'Bird Box': World created by metro Detroit author gets revived in new Netflix film

'Justified: City Primeval': Series puts Detroit in the spotlight for the return of Raylan Givens

But while Yashere plays a Detroit dietitian on TV and has done stand-up in nearby suburbs in real life, Saturday will be her first time performing in “the city proper, as she puts it. She says she is looking forward to meeting Detroiters, eating some favorite local dishes and seeing the birthplace of “obviously, Motown, come on.”

Notes Yashere, who grew up listening to the iconic label's hits: “It’s like a pilgrimage for me.”

What drew her to the United States

Yashere, who now lives on the West Coast, says it was “your movies and TV shows” that made her dream about being here when she was a child.

“I was given an impression of a lifestyle that I did not have myself in England and I wanted a part of. I just thought everything American was cooler. Your toys were cooler as a kid. Your candy was cooler. And coming from England —I was watching shows that were primarily made in Los Angeles — your weather was better. Immediately, I was, like: 'I want to live there. I don’t want to be here.'"

Since moving to the U.S, about 16 years ago, she has seen the nation — or at least a percentage of it — going backwards on issues of race, immigration and the LGBTQ community. “The majority of the people are not in agreement with the way the Supreme Court and these right-wing Republicans are sending the country. The majority of people are not like that, so that is what gives me hope,” she says.

What she likes most about Americans

Yashere is a fan of the honesty and straightforwardness of people here, especially when it comes to their attitudes about success. ”I work hard for what I get, and when I get it, I celebrate it and go yeah! Despite all the obstacles thrown in my way, I’ve managed to do this thing, and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved. And that is a very American mindset.”

In contrast , she explains, most Brits downplay their success and act as if it occurred by luck. “Oh, I don’t know how it happened. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” says Yashere, imitating English false modesty. “It’s like: 'No, that is bulls---. You know damn well you worked for it. Celebrate what you have achieved.' That has always been my personality.”

What she won't be talking about Saturday in concert

“If you’ve seen me online talking about something, then chances are I won’t be (doing it again),” she says. “I like to bring a fresh show, a fresh approach with fresh material, to my shows on the road. I’ll be talking about different stuff and aspects of life you’ve never heard before. ... Once I’ve put my stuff online and it’s on Netflix or whatever, that material is now dead to me.”

Her favorite car

Yashere should feel right at home with the automotive vibe in Detroit. She says she has never been without a set of wheels since she was 19.  “When I landed in America, the first thing I did was go and buy a car,” she says. She enjoys driving, but not for prolonged distances. “Two hours is my max. Anything over two hours, I need to be on a plane.”

And while she loves all makes and models, she confesses to having “a real affinity for the Ford Mustang because we never had that in England.” Her best road trip ever might be the time she rented a Mustang convertible and drove from Los Angeles to Las Vegas “and loooved it.”

Her take on the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that have shut down Hollywood

Yashere, who can’t promote “Bob Hearts Abishola” while she is on strike, supports the labor walkout wholeheartedly. She has been spreading the message that 87% of actors don’t qualify for health care because they don’t earn more than $26,000 a year, which is necessary to qualify. Meanwhile, 92% of writers don’t make the $40,00 per year necessary to qualify.

“We’re not being paid what we’re worth," says Yashere. "We’re creating all the content that makes these streamers, all these studios, billions of dollars. And yet five or six men at the top of the studios are being paid $700 million between them, which would pay 11,000 writers a decent working, living wage, and they are pleading poverty and saying they cannot do that.

"The absolute greed of these corporations is astounding.”

Thanks but no thanks to politics

Does Yashere ever see herself using her gift for persuasion in a political role? ”Never, she says, laughing. While politicians have to compromise their principles, comedians don’t, she firmly believes.

”Comedy is the one space where I will not be corrupted. I can always speak my piece and  speak my mind and damn the consequences.”

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.

Gina Yashere

7 p.m. Sat. (doors open at 7 p.m.)

Majestic Theatre

4140 Woodward, Detroit

$27.50 in advance ($32 the day of concert)

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gina Yashere plays a Detroiter on CBS, is bringing her standup to city