Tiffany Haddish shot to fame in 2017 after her role in Girls Trip. And we, and the rest of the world, has been obsessed with her ever since.
Read on for 18 things you need to know about Haddish…
1. Haddish calls herself a “Jew-Jo” — her dad was from an Eritrean Jewish family, and her mom was a Jehovah’s Witness.
2. At the 2018 Oscars, she honored her father’s Eritrean Jewish heritage, explaining, “He told me, ‘One day you’re going to end up at the Oscars and when you go, you have to honor our people. So I’m wearing an Eritrean, authentic princess dress. And I’m PROUD of it!” (The gown is called a zuria in Eritrea.)
3. She stole the show at the Oscars with fellow black Jew Maya Rudolph. Watch this clip, seriously:
4. At age 9, her stepfather tampered with the brakes on her mom’s car. Instead of killing her and her four children, the subsequent accident left her mom mentally impaired. At age 12, she was put into foster care and at 15, she and her siblings went to live with their grandmother (but were technically still in the foster care system).
5. Haddish quite literally killed it in her career as a bar/bat mitzvah dancer (like she may have killed a man with her moves. May have).
6. She published her memoir in December 2017, The Last Black Unicorn.
7. In a GQ interview, she set off a firestorm when she revealed someone bit Beyoncé at a party.
8. In her Drunk History episode, she tells the story of Rose Valland, who helped take down the Nazis in Paris.
9. Drunk History host Derek Walters explained that Haddish wanted to tell the story of the history of the weave, but was drawn to Valland’s story because of her own Jewish heritage. Walters said Haddish was an “unbelievable” storyteller because “she told the story and gave it her own take. Who would ever imagine that story would end with Tupac and Hitler together? She’s the best storyteller. It’s hard to smile learning about Nazis, and it’s hard not to smile throughout that whole story because it’s her.”
10. She was the first black female comedian host of Saturday Night Live, and knocked her episode out of the park.
11. She did so well on SNL that she was nominated for an Emmy for her episode.
OVERJOYED to be nominated for an #Emmy for when I hosted @nbcsnl!! I might even splurge for a new dress for this one!! Thank you everyone for your love and support! #sheready
— Tiffany Haddish (@TiffanyHaddish) July 12, 2018
12. Her motto is “she ready” — and it’s the name of her stand-up special. Haddish explains, “Me and my cousins, we came up with it when we were young and trying to sneak into clubs. When we would come out of the house and you looked cute we’d be like, ‘Yeah, she ready.’ And if you looked bad, we’d be like, ‘Uh uh, she not ready, go back in the house.'” However, “It kind of just stuck with me, through everything. Like before I get on stage, I’m like, ‘Yeah, she ready, you got this.’ It’s a confidence booster. She ready for what? She ready for success, she ready to win, she ready to spread love, she ready to make people laugh, she ready for joy, she ready to get this job.”
13. After telling a story on Jimmy Fallon about taking Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith on a Louisiana swamp tour using Groupon, Haddish became a spokeswoman for Groupon. Literally. She was in their superbowl ad. It’s so amazing.
Groupon’s head of marketing told CNN, “She knows our product better than a lot of Groupon employees, it was incredible. She could name what she’d done, the experience she had, and how much she’d saved.”
14. On an episode of Ellen in February 2018, Ellen surprised Haddish with meeting her hero, Oprah. She started crying, we started crying, you have to watch.
15. She propositioned Leonardo DiCaprio to have his baby, as she explained to Hollywood Reporter: “I met him at a party two, three months ago, and I asked him if he’d let me hit that. He’s like, ‘Tiffany, you’re so funny.’ I’m like, ‘I’m serious.’ And then he goes, ‘I mean, I’d do it, but …’ I was like, ‘Come on, wasn’t you in a squad? The coochie squad or something?’ I told him, ‘My only stipulation: I wanna do it with you as your character in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.’ He starts bustin’ up laughin’. ‘Why?’ he asks, and I say, ‘Cause I feel like that performance deserves a real reward and that reward is this (gestures at her own body).’ He starts goin’ into how he got into the role, how he worked with these kids and all this stuff, and I’m just listenin’ and listenin’, like, ‘Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm.’ I finally go, ‘All that’s good, I just need to know, When’s this gonna happen?'”
(That whole story was necessary to include, yes.)
16. She’s currently starring on Tracy Morgan’s series The Last O.G., as Morgan’s ex-girlfriend.
17. She wore the same Alexander McQueen dress to the Girls Trip premiere, on her episode of SNL, and as a presenter at the Oscars. She explained, ” When I saw the receipt, I cried. The dress was $4,122! So I’m wearing it multiple fucking times. I don’t care what nobody say — that’s a down payment on a car, that’s a medical bill. So, even though everyone says I shouldn’t wear the dress in public again, I’m wearing it.”
18. Haddish’s goals? Be “little baby Oprah, with my own production company, maybe my own channel, inspire millions.” We’re rooting for her.
