Amber Ruffin on the Broadway Revival of The Wiz and Marrying Fred Armisen

-Our next guest is an Emmy and Tony nominated writer, comedian and producer. You know, from his work on "Amber Ruffin Show," "Some Like It Hot" on Broadway and this show. She adapted the book for the

revival

of "The Wiz," playing at the Marquis Theater in New York. Welcome everyone to the show, our very good friend Amber Ruffin! ♪♪ ♪♪ Amber Ruffin while I live and breathe. -Oh, it's Sethie-poo! Buddy! -I am very excited. We've been doing this show together for 10 years. -Ten years? -I met you another 10 years even before this. So, I think we've been friends for about 20 years. -Yes, which is strange, because I am 23 years old. -Yeah. -Seth. -Yeah. -That was a funny lie I told for fun.

It was a joke. -About you being... Yes, yes, yes. -Yeah. But I want you to know that I know it's April 1st. -Yeah. -So you're hoping I'll tell you some weird April Fool's Day lie. And I'm not going to do it. -Well. -Well. -Well. -Well. -Because, you know, I don't love that kind of stuff. -Yeah. You don't like surprises. -I do not like surprises. And yet we did our 50th version... - -Our 50th version of "Jokes Seth Can't Tell," which is one of my favorite recurring parts with you and Jenny Hale. -Yeah. -I am nothing but incredibly supportive. - -And ally, you could say.

And still for number 50. -Yes. -You surprised me. I had no idea. And you wore dresses and tiaras. -No. And you went out on a red carpet. - In "Jokes I Can't Tell," we just... Seth says the setup, and Jenny, a lesbian, and I, a black woman, tell the jokes that Seth couldn't get away with. -No. -But by the 50th we made him tell all the jokes. He...he didn't like it. He doesn't like that. -Were you a little nervous about how he would react? -No! I knew you wouldn't like it. -Oh, so you started with how bad it could go. -Oh yeah.

And I... continued as... Jenny, the... lesbian. She... I didn't tell her how much you'd dislike her on purpose, because I knew she'd chicken out. -Oh interesting. Because everyone thinks you're the good guy, but you're actually the bad guy. -I like chaos. -Yeah. Um, we were, uh, we did a wonderful podcast of people, uh, sharing their stories about the first 10 years of the show. And you talked about "Fun Obama" being a character you played on the show. Here's Amber as "Funny Obama." There's "Fun Obama" backstage. -You can tell that none of these are during a show, because when we rehearsed "Fun Obama"...

Well, then we did the show for DC, right? We go to DC, everyone goes, man, the whole show goes to DC and we have the time of our lives. We did a sketch in DC. It's "Funny Obama." We bring that stupid wig, we bring the full costume and we do it for the rehearsal audience, the audience, bigger than you. And there was no laughter. It was the hardest shelling I've ever had. But look how happy I am. -Attractive. There is... This is the best. When you know you're about to explode. Look how conceited. - -Look how conceited you are.

I really thought it was going to be good, I really did. -And the really funny thing about your bombardment is that you are such an enthusiastic artist that there is no way to underestimate it. You were like you were a failure in the sweaty city, like jumping up and down trying to get people to support "Fun Obama"... And nothing. -I will never forget the second joke in which I looked at you and you looked at me and we said there are five more pages. It was great. So "The Wiz", congratulations on "The Wiz" and for writing the book for "The Wiz". -Hurrah! -How do you approach a job like this? -Um, we actually started in 2018, I mean.

Um, we set it up at a place called the Muny in Saint Louis, and it was incredibly cute. And those people said, "Let's go to Broadway, let's go to Broadway." I was like, "Uh-huh," but then... But then we... we, um, put it back together. We actually re-re-re-re-re-wrote it and now we open it. Well, the previews started a minute ago. -Amazing. -And we open on April 17. -How exciting. Congratulations. Now I wonder, because I know you have the heart of an artist. Do you find it strange working on a project where you're not one of the people on stage? -Oh, I'm performing... among the audience.

How difficult, man. These people say it's very funny because when you do comedy, you can sing well. Alright. -Yes Yes Yes. -Your voice is good enough to sing. -You are a great singer in this program. Perfectly enough for people who don't know what music is. But sitting in the audience where those people like it, melting your face every night, they're just the best singers on the planet, and it makes listening to the radio difficult. -UH Huh. -They are very good at singing. So yes. -That's very exciting. -I'm pretty calm today. -Uh, you have a podcast I want to talk about with your sister Lacey, "The Amber & Lacey, Lacey & Amber Show!" -Hurrah!

Look. -Just look at those two. -Yes look. Hurrah! -I, uh, my brother and I have a podcast. You were a guest on our podcast. What do you think? How do you think your dynamic is different than Josh and I as hosts? -Well, first of all, the Lacey and I show is better. -Well. -Well. Plus, we'll destroy the hell out of each other. The other day, Lacey had arranged to do the podcast and I didn't do it because I'm an idiot. And Lacey kept saying we were a before and after photo. Yes, we look exactly alike. But the difference is the makeup. - Uh, you have a very exciting and very real announcement to make. -Yeah.

Yes. -It's not April Fool's Day. -It's not April Fool's Day. Absolutely. -Well. -It's just a personal ad. -Good, excellent. -Well. So, like Seth, we are friends. This is true. I got divorced last year. That's true. -Yeah. I married Fred Armisen. -I do not think it's true. -I think it's... It's true, Seth. We married. -No. Yes. We are 100% sea... I mean, it's not... it's not far-fetched. But... Hahahahaha! We married. Fred? -Yeah. -Do you remember our vows? -Yeah. -Yeah. -I said "Hey, right here, right now. Let's go. Let's do this. Come on. Please. You're so cool." -And that was... -So, wait.

Did you say "please" in your vows? -Yeah. -Because it was like a surprise wedding. So I didn't even know it was... Yeah, I wonder why it wasn't there. -I know. Two of your best friends got married, but we... You steal the show. We got married and we're, um... We're in love. -Brilliant. Seth, I have something to tell you. It was April Fool's Day. -Very good, Amber. -God. -You really had me excited. Thank you. Really good. And Fred. Urgh! Urgh, Fred, urgh! Good job buddy. - You are Webby's host. That's a real thing. -Hurrah! I'm the host of the Webbys.

The Webbys are an awards show for the Internet. Set. -Yeah. -You were the host of the Webbys? -I did. -It was fun? -Was. -Did you love him? -I did. -Well. -There you go. -Thank you. -Thank you. -No no no. Yes. Thank me. Yes Yes Yes. -Thanks for being here. -Hurrah! -Amber Ruffin, everyone! "The Wiz" plays at the Marquis Theater in New York. We'll be right back with more "Late Night", everyone.