AISHA TYLER

You know, I read graphic novels but not encyclopedically.

There's a part of every person that is entertained by the idealistic, the fantastic.

I might not agree with myself in a year.

And I was the only black kid in my school for almost all of my childhood, until I was a teenager. So imagine, if you will, being 6 feet tall by third grade, so essentially being a living maypole.

I'm black, and black don't crack. It does droop.

I like grown up comedy.

People challenge my nerd cred all the time. I just show them the photo of me winning my middle-school science fair, wearing my Casio calculator watch and eyeglasses so big they look like they can see the future.

You know, it's about getting out there and having a good time. Not about worrying - all these young books for women are like I'm 29 with a closet full of Prada shoes and I can't get a date. Come on.

I'm just myself, so I don't know that I think of myself as a nerd icon.

But I love stand-up, and it's where I came from creatively, so it's something I never want to walk away from.

I'm such a geek, and have always been a real nerd.

So much of a stand-up's life is doing live radio and having to be funny and quick on the spot with these strangers, and sort of surgical in terms of how funny I can be in three minutes.

You rarely see women being nice to each other on television anymore.

I was this weird little bookish giant.

The only concept or experience or core belief that I can attribute my other-ness to is that I just started out a weirdo and I stayed a weirdo. And it took me a long time to embrace my outsidership and see it as a strength rather than a weakness.

I'm sure I had low-level scurvy all of my childhood.

On general principle, I boycott shows that don't employ actors.

Pop culture hales you and wants you to fail.

I don't believe in superheroes but I love Batman movies. There's a part of every person that is entertained by the idealistic, the fantastic.

Yes, I do get recognized in public. It's pretty nice.

When I get old and slow down I want to look behind me and see all the fire and the wreckage and no stone left unturned.

I thought I was gonna be an attorney, so I went to Dartmouth and I was a government major and I minored in environmental policy, and I didn't do anything academically around the arts.

My parents were vegetarians. I'd show up at school, this giant black kid, with none of the cool clothes and a tofu sandwich and celery sticks.

I love Toronto. I love it. I love Toronto. I love Canada. I can't wait to get back. Can't wait to have some Timbits.

Wounds turn into scars and scars make you tough.