Amber Ruffin on Biden Administration, How She Deals With Critics and Interview Bucket List

Amber Ruffin spoke with The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet of New York Power event.

Transcript

00:00How are you doing tonight and what does it mean for you to be a part of this year's list?

00:04It is pretty unbelievable because we have been, we spent so much time in a pandemic,

00:11it was kind of like performing in a vacuum. You know, who knows if anyone was watching it or

00:18enjoying it or if you were making a mark in any way, but now it kind of feels like somebody heard

00:28it. You know, it's really nice. No, they definitely did. I have to say, like you said, a lot has

00:34changed in the last couple of years. What do you think has been the biggest change in your day-to-day

00:40responsibilities going from the last presidential administration to now this one? The biggest change

00:46in my day-to-day responsibilities is, well, now I am not very terrified every minute.

01:00And during the last administration, I was very scared a lot of the time. So like performing

01:04through that was very hard. And now performing through dread, but a much smaller dread is a lot

01:14easier. Well, also speaking of being a part of this industry also means opening yourself up to a

01:21lot of criticism. How do you sort of combat that, deal with critics and not let them shake you?

01:27Right. I feel like when people are criticizing you, it just means that you matter. So like wasn't nobody

01:37criticizing me when they didn't know who I was. So the fact that I'm getting on anyone's nerves

01:43is pretty cool. Yeah.

01:45I love that. I have to ask, who is someone on the interview bucket list that you haven't sat down

01:51with yet that you would love to speak to?

01:53Buddy, look, everyone who has an old R&B record, isn't that odd? I would kill to talk to a friggin'

02:05baby face, elder barge, like that stuff. Because I do honestly wonder, what is that like? How is it?

02:14How was that? Isn't that odd? I can't help it.

02:17I love it. Finally, we're here celebrating media. We're celebrating New York. How would you describe

02:22New York in three words?

02:25Smelly, messy, fun.

02:27That was exactly what I was going to say.

02:31I'm from New York. I have the same three adjectives.

02:35Thank you so much. Have fun tonight.

02:37Thank you. I'm doing it already.