I know Nicole Byer from her standup specials and the show Nailed It on Netflix, where truly terrible bakers compete to make the least disgusting desserts. It’s one of those shows that’s good to have on when you’re doing something else around the house because it’s entertaining when you pay attention and you don’t miss much when you don’t. (Sidenote: Nexflix should add this category.) The show is good-natured, Nicole is so funny and I like how she plays off the co-host, Jacques Torres. She was on Conan O’Brien’s show to promote her new coffee table book, #VeryFat #VeryBrave, The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini. It has pictures of her modeling bikinis in cool settings and she told Conan O’Brien it’s a quick and inspiring read. I also really liked what she had to say about the whole narrative around bigger women wearing bikinis. I’m including some quotes she gave Kelly Clarkson on her show too.
On the protest movement and if things will go back to ‘normal’
It makes me feel hopeful because the protests haven’t stopped since May. It’s just really depressing to wake up, open Twitter and go ‘oh ok, somebody else is dead’. I don’t know if things will go back to normal, at least not for Black people. We talk about it ad nauseam. If you’re not radicalized, you’re part of the problem. I encourage white people to read White Fragility. It’s a wonderful book that breaks down why white people don’t want to talk about race and why their discomfort seems to take precedent over learning.
How she came up with the idea of her her book
My friend Kim Newmoney took the pictures and my friend Alison Rich was like ‘you should do a coffee table book.’ As I was writing it I was like ‘it’s so dumb that people call fat women brave for wearing bikinis. Why don’t I just make fun of that whole weird phenomenon?’ I hope people read the book and then go ‘why did I ever give a sh-t about what people think about me?’ If someone stares at me that means my body disrupted their life enough that they needed to stop what they were doing to look at me and that’s powerful. Every body is beautiful in its own way and everybody is different. The world is already really hard, so why would you spend it hating what you see in the mirror?
Somebody who [wore] a bathing suit to go swimming is brave? No they’re just wearing the correct articles of clothing to do an activity. It’s totally insulting. [My book] is very tongue in cheek. I don’t think I’m brave.
[From Conan O’Brien and Kelly Clarkson on YouTube]
What’s that saying, “every body is a bikini body?” I hope this helps reframe the conversation around how people talk about women in bikinis, as Nicole mentioned. Nicole also told Kelly Clarkson that she’s been learning how to rollerskate and that she’s taking pole dancing classes. I’ve tried taking pole classes and they are so hard! I only did the beginner classes and then gave up. She said she likes it because you can really tell when you’re making progress because you can do moves you couldn’t before.
Very Fat, Very Brave is the #1 new release on Amazon in the Internet & Social Media Humor category and you can get the Kindle edition for $9.99. Nicole is doing a live book launch event on Zoom tonight at 7pm EST and you can get tickets here. It’s co-hosted by her best friend, Sasheer Zamata from SNL.
Here’s her interview with Conan. (The part about how she came up with the book is at minute 12. The other quotes, including the end sentences, are from her interview with Kelly Clarkson.)
Read the caption to this, it’s for white parents talking to their kids about Black Lives Matter.
photos credit: Netflix press
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