Tiffany Haddish used to “dress like a man” early in her career in a bid to be accepted by her male comedy peers.
The star began her career in the late ’90s but found it tough to be accepted by the “boys’ club” – so, she tells Variety, she altered the way she dressed to help her fit in better.
“I started in 1997 when I was a teenager at the comedy camp at the Laugh Factory,” the Like A Boss star explains. “I definitely had a voice, but I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was just throwing stuff up against the wall and trying to see what worked.
“For a period of time — for like five years — I tried to dress like a man so I could be a part of the boys’ club. I even did a podcast where somebody gave me a flaccid penis and I would put it in my pants and go to the comedy club with it in there.”
She adds: “I was 23, 24 at the time and I felt more confident and it felt to me like the men were treating me like I was one of the boys.”
However, the star had to give up the penis prop after a while, after an embarrassing incident in a car park led to her exposing it to a gathering crowd.
“Even though it was a fake penis, it seemed like people had more respect for me,” she muses. “Just from my walk, my energy. Then one day we were in the parking lot in a group and I was wearing baggy pants and I started doing a little dance and it fell out of the bottom of my pants. And people were like, ‘What are you walking around with a fake plastic d**k for?'”
