Comedian Aida Rodriguez On Netflix Special ‘They Ready,’ Comic Adventures With Tiffany Haddish

If you’re a stand-up comedy fan and haven’t heard of Aida Rodriguez, you may have more than likely heard of her good friend Tiffany Haddish. 

Rodriguez, 41, is set to be one of six diverse comedians hand-picked by Haddish — the comic who has risen to superstardom over the last two years thanks to films like Girls Trip, Night School and The Oath — in a newly released Netflix comedy special called They Ready.

Rodriguez, a Massachusetts native, is best known for becoming a top-ten finalist on the eighth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2014. She spoke to uInterview exclusively about They Ready, her friendship and antics with Haddish, and more.

“The Netflix special — mine — is dedicated to the people who raised me, to my family, [to] those people who are considered derelicts and undesirables of society that are like my Wizard of Oz family,” said Rodriguez.

The comic furthered her analogy by comparing her Uncle Raymond to the scarecrow from the beloved film, while her mother was “the Wicked Witch of the East and the West, depending on which day it was.”

Rodriguez went on to reveal she considers Haddish, 39, one of her “best friends in comedy and in life” and also described her as a “mentor.” The pair have known each other for more than a decade.

The comic also told a hilarious anecdote about a story of her and Haddish that involved the pair attending a center that specializes in colon hydrotherapy cleansing and oxygen treatments.

“She got me to get oxygen blown into my vagina,” Rodriguez said of Haddish. “She was like, ‘It’s going to kill all the bacteria’ and we went in and it was these oxygen treatments but I didn’t know it was going to be in my vagina.”

“We did this holistic thing and then we went and ate fried fish with shrimp and french fries,” she added, laughing.

Rodriguez confessed she was “jealous” of Haddish after her recent rise to fame in the comedy world but was also not surprised by the Girls Trip star’s success.

“I saw [Haddish] do a video with Taylor Swift and I was so jealous,” said Rodriguez. “I was like, ‘that’s my friend! What are you doing with her?’”

Rodriguez also told uInterview that the best advice Haddish ever gave her concerning comedy is to make sure nobody ever took advantage of her in terms of proper financial compensation.

“Don’t pay to do comedy,” said Rodriguez. “You use your own gas and your own time and that’s you paying for the comedy, so you make sure people respect your work and pay you for it.”

The comic also explained she believes comedy is not just a “brutal” industry for minority women like her, who is Hispanic, but for everybody.

“You don’t matter until you matter,” said Rodriguez. “I’m sure there are a lot of white guys who do comedy who have gotten beat up by comedy because a lot of times, the industry beats the confidence out of you. They remind you that you’re nothing until you’re something.”

Although Rodriguez noted she believes comedy still has a long way to go in terms of allowing minority women — especially Latinas — to headline shows and to shine in other ways, the comedian said she remains optimistic and called comedy her “getaway.”

They Ready, whose name is derived from Haddish’s catchphrase, is now available for streaming on Netflix and also includes rising comics Chaunté Wayans, April Macie, Tracey Ashley, Aida Rodriguez, Flame Monroe and Marlo Williams.