I did not think the joke lost its punch in the revival, mainly because of the way that Goodwin played that moment. When Richie said that line, Goodwin gave an epic eye roll, as if to say, "Oh, please!" Goodwin's Sheila got to where she was by being the best, not by trying to "play the race card," to invoke a 20 year old pop culture reference.
For what it's worth, Richie seems to have chosen paths that were atypical for black men (kindergarten teacher, chorus dancer), so I imagine that he probably had a tougher time coming up than Sheila did and his race may have been more an issue in his life and career paths than it would have been for her. I totally get why he would toss that out to Zach and also why she would be the first one to discount his reasons for doing so. |
