New HBO Special Proves Orji isn’t Molly

Hit the credits on Yvonne Orji’s first HBO comedy special and you will be certain of one thing. Orji is not Molly.

Though the Nigerian-American actor rose to fame playing the ambitious, sexy and wisecracking lawyer on ‘Insecure,’ Orji introduces us to the comedian beneath the character in ‘Momma, I Made It!’ (2020).

In the special, filmed at Washington DC’s Howard Theatre in homage to her mother, who was a nurse at Howard University Hospital for 27 years, Orji bursts onto the stage all black leather and swagger.

Before ‘Insecure’, this is exactly where you could find her. Below the bright lights of a comedy stage trying to make it in Los Angeles or New York while her Nigerian mother dropped hints about suitors and married friends, bolstered by prayer.

Though Orji’s stand-up roots may not be common knowledge, they are the foundation on which her success is built and the path she pursued despite Nigerian parents’ persistent belief in just four professions – “doctor, lawyer, engineer or disappointment”.

Flitting between Orji on stage in DC and her return to Lagos for the first time since ‘Insecure’ made her famous, Orji underscores a set centered around the quirks of being a Nigerian-American with scenes from the Nigerian city shot in January.

The effect is an intimate one. As Orji invites us into her parent home, shows them speaking about their apprehension and her success, takes us shopping, out into the street and draws us into conversation with other Nigerian artists, on stage the comedian quips about her life.

Single, 36, a Christian and straddling dual identities, Orji sees the world through the veneer of humour she casts over her student debt, dating life, brokenness, new money, fame and family.

Hilarious when illustrating how her Nigerian nature seeps into her American life, Orji gives us haggling at Trader Joe’s, the inability to stand in food lines and the accepted calibre of friends for young Nigerians.

Orji has lived in America since she was a kid but being an African immigrant to the US hasn’t always been easy. “Any African booty scratchers?” says Orji looking knowingly at the crowd. “Look at us now!”

‘Insecure’ fans watching the special are in for treat. Orji isn’t Molly. She’s the actress embodying a black, successful and beautiful 30-something-year-old woman on one of the hottest shows on television and so much more.

After the documented struggle, her parents, who admit to hoping she would perhaps become a doctor, are so proud of Orji they have decorative cushions bearing her face in the living room, her mother will tell anyone who listens that Orji is on HBO and her uncle, an Uber driver, brings “Molly” up during any drive that isn’t mandatorily mute.

“I am living my best black life right now,” says Orji, whose star will no doubt continue to rise as she finds the laugh-out-loud humour in Nigerian fighting techniques, African braid galleries and the unanticipated peril of being kidnapped when you’re 36, single and your Nigerian mother sees God’s work in all things.

Joyful, inspiring and a good laugh in these heavy days, Orji’s comedy special is the dream every creative wants to come true. To quote Orji: All any of us want “when we’re chasing any dream is to be able to make that phone call home and be like: Momma, I did it. Momma, I made it!”

‘Yvonne Orji: Momma, I Made It’ (2020) is now streaming on Showmax.

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