To the chagrin of the many detractors who continue to write her off, Mo’Nique has rebounded in a big way.
The Academy Award, Golden Globe and NAACP Image Award-winning funnywoman will host her first stand-up special in almost 10 years.
On Friday, Showtime announced that Mo’Nique & Friends: Live from Atlanta will air Feb. 7 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Filmed at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, the hour-long special—executive produced with her husband/manager Sidney Hicks—features a variety of talented newcomers including Prince T-Dub, Just Nesh, Tone-X and Correy Bell alongside veteran comedian Donnell Rawlings (of Chappelle’s Show fame).
This is great news for diehard fans of the once super-sized comedienne who had a white-hot career during the early to mid-aughts with a hit TV show, best-selling books, sold-out comedy tours and films that were successful at the box office.
And then came the former Showtime at the Apollo hostess’ critically acclaimed turn as a lowdown, diabolical welfare queen in the Lee Daniels film Precious.
As she shook up the late-night TV world with a short-lived BET talk show, the Baltimore native found herself on the wrong side of the Hollywood elite’s favor for not “playing the game.”
Beating the odds, Mo’Nique was able to rebound with a lead role in Patrik-Ian Polk’s 2014 coming to age drama Blackbird and garnering an outstanding supporting actress Emmy Award nomination for her portrayal of blues legend Ma Rainey in HBO’s award-winning Bessie in 2015.
Not bad for somebody who claimed she was blackballed.
After grabbing headlines for blasting black power wielders such as Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry and then going toe-to-toe with fellow comedic superstar Steve Harvey, Mo’Nique also caused a stir for launching a racially charged discrimination boycott campaign and subsequent lawsuit against Netflix.
Proving that talent is undeniable, the new Showtime look should be able to quell the talk that the social media savvy celebrity is blackballed—or doesn’t have an audience interested in seeing her do stand up.