There’s Always Room For Joy: Padma Laskhmi, Punkie Johnson and W. Kamau Bell

You may recognize W. Kamau Bell from his multi-Emmy award-winning docuseries United Shades of America or from his Substack Who’s With Me, or from his commercials for the ACLU. If you're a long-time ACLU supporter, you'll know Bell has worked with us for more than a decade as our Artist Ambassador for Racial Justice. We're excited to have him as our interim host for our At Liberty podcast, where he will host conversations with leaders, legal experts, artists, and storytellers dedicated to the fight for civil rights and civil liberties.
In this episode, Emmy-nominated producer, television host, food expert, New York Times best-selling author and ACLU artist ambassador for Immigrant and Women’s Rights Padma Lakshmi joins us with her good friend, the comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Punkie Johnson to discuss the intersection of identity, comedy and voting. Known for her critically-acclaimed and Emmy-nominated Hulu series “Taste the Nation”, and as host and executive producer for 19 seasons of Bravo’s two-time Emmy-winning series “Top Chef,” Padma tells us how she is exploring stand-up comedy as a storyteller, her meet-cute with Punkie over tacos at Questlove’s house, and why reproductive freedom and immigrants’ rights can also be fought for on the comedy stage.
For her part, Punkie talks about what it was like to be on SNL, why she needed to leave, and her text thread with friends asking all the questions about politics she didn’t understand. Through it all, they also talk about joy, which we are looking to bring you on this day before the election.