ATHLEISURE MAG #86 FEB ISSUE | ENJOYING THE HOLIDAYS WITH Whitney Cummings

We love a good laugh and Whitney Cummings has been giving us that in front of and behind the camera as a creator, writer and comedian. She created and wrote 2 Broke Girls, Executive Produced the Roseanne reboot and appeared in Crashing, Made of Honor, The Wedding Ringer and more. We talked about her partnership with Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur, how she will celebrate St. Patrick's Day and upcoming projects.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you knew you wanted to be a comedian?

WHITNEY CUMMINGS: Oh wow, woo. You know what? It’s interesting that you say that because I could answer this a lot of different ways, but I truly because I am doing this partnership with Baileys, this actually folds into it! I found myself as a child, always fighting very hard to get my parents attention. They were watching TV, they were always doing other things. So I had to fight really hard, I was not planned, my sister is 13 months older than me. So sometimes when you’re the youngest or not planned, you’re trying to fit into an already established system and I was always trying to get their attention. My dad and my mom, they loved comedy and they would watch TV and I would see what they laughed at and I would try to make them laugh!

I was just talking to the Baileys people and I was like, this is kind of blowing my mind, because as soon as I posted that I was partnering with Baileys, a lot of my family members reached out and said, “oh my gosh you’re working with them? We're a Baileys family!” I was like, “we are?” They were like, “what do you mean? All we do is drink Baileys.” I didn’t remember that and didn’t know what they were talking about. Then I realized that that’s what was in all of the mugs that they wouldn’t let me have! I remember that I was competing with mugs of coffee and I would tell them that I was going to drink coffee and they’d say no – no coffee! So I wasn’t allowed to drink coffee, but that’s

not what was in there! So I started putting it together that I became funny competing with Baileys as a kid and here we are and now me and my childhood nemesis are now partnering up! Now that I have incorporated Baileys into my life, I get now why they would have rather done that as opposed to talking to me!

AM: Well, it is a tasty beverage!

WC: I just remember in my brain as a kid, that coffee was supposed to make you have energy, be jittery – you know jump off the walls like a Tasmanian Devil. But when my mom and dad would drink coffee when they would come home from work, they enjoyed it.

As you get older, you sort of put all of the pieces together and this was one of the missing pieces. I always wondered why they would want to drink gross coffee instead of hanging out with me. But nope, that’s not what was happening!

I also come from a Virginia/DC area where every part of the world has their own unique set of circumstances that provides a little bit of adversity and looking at things in a different way. I think that I get a lot of it inherited from my family. I found out that I am half Jewish and part of me is Irish. I always knew that I was Irish and that I am the only brunette that will dance on a bar, I have to wear so much sunscreen and I’m not afraid of snakes! Do you know that Ireland doesn’t have snakes?

AM: Really?

WC: Nope, no snakes! They never introduced snakes to the island and I’m obsessed with this and this is part of the reason that they’re able to have such a good time and to chill. Baileys is made in Ireland and now, my only bucket list item for me to do now is to go to Ireland and to try to meet with my relatives.

AM: Why do you think that everyone is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick’s Day?

WC: I’m a little Irish on every other holiday because I Irish Goodbye all the time. Every holiday I show up for 5 mins and then I leave. Everyone is like, “Irish Goodbye Whitney,” it’s my thing.

Every other holiday, there is so much pressure. It’s about finding gifts, crazy schedules and cooking all day. To me, St. Patrick’s Day is the only holiday that doesn’t make you feel guilty, go broke and you can actually enjoy it! I love the thematics of it where it’s about luck, it’s about fortune, gratitude and celebrating about just being alive. As someone who has been called a saint and someone who does have a few exes named Patrick, I feel like there is something magical about it and that this day brings out the best in everyone. It didn’t always bring out the best in me in college, but now that I have figured out a way to do it, it’s fun and a little bit glamorous. It’s delicious! I have never been the type that when I drink, it’s like oysters. They bring them out and then they have all of these sauces and people say, oh just eat them. But if you have to do that much, it’s just too much and it doesn’t taste good! You shouldn’t need so many sauces to be able to do it and then just the way that you have to eat them by swallowing and doing it as quickly as possible – no. I like things that I can savor. So for me, adult beverages you have to figure it out. There are those that burn, you then have to shake it with a lemon, add lime, put sugar in it – it’s too much. The Baileys Vanilla Mint Shake was a game changer for me because I can just enjoy it! For me it’s the perfect element to add to the magical and whimsical warmth of St. Patrick’s Day. It’s like, if a Leprechaun had a blender, this is what he would make.

AM: How are you going to celebrate this year? Obviously we know that you’ll enjoy the Baileys Vanilla Mint Shake, but is there an outfit situation?

WC: Well yes. So Baileys and I worked on getting the perfect outfit. To me, it’s like I'm always struggling the GRWM videos, I don't really dress up to do stand up too

much. I’m in sneakers, I jump around, I don’t dress up that much. So this is the holiday where I really want to go for it. I do look amazing in green, it’s weird. But I have never really put it together. Do you know why? I wanna say that when I was 15 or 16, I didn’t have a Halloween costume one year and I just panicked. We had to dress up as something for school. What I did was that I just dressed in a green turtleneck and green pants and I went as jealousy. I thought it would be easier to go as a concept and no one got it and it was very dramatic! I guess it has taken me 20 years to get back into the green wardrobe phase! I really want to go out and to make it a fashion moment because I’m a Virgo and green is my color. I want to celebrate and I tour. We were inside for 2 years straight and then we had to make up all of my tour dates so I have been out on the road for like a year in 80 cities so I haven’t really gotten to be a person! I’m probably going to have people at my house and we’re going to do sort of a cocktail party, hang out and do a hot tub and just fun stuff at my house! I’m a dork! On Etsy, I bought a bunch of puzzles and we’re just going to do Baileys and do some puzzles.

AM: That totally seems like such a fun way to spend the evening!

What projects do you have coming up as you mentioned that you’re still touring, but we know that there are other things that you’re doing as well!

WC: Oh yeah! There’s this show on FOX called Accused.

AM: LOVE THAT SHOW!

WC: Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to hear you say that! It’s intense right?

AM: Yeah it is!

WC: My episode, thankfully the Baileys Vanilla Mint Shake will be out when my episode airs. You’ll sort of need to take the edge off when you watch it. My ep -

isode comes out in a few weeks. It’s very dramatic! I have been very careful about doing drama and when I was going to do drama. With comedians, there is a very tall order with us where no one ever gives us a chance to do dramatic acting, but when they do you know, it’s always a Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I'm Dying Up Here, Kidding) or a Robin Williams (Dead Poets Society, Jumanji, A.I. Artificial Intelligence). We’re kind of cut out to do it, so I was very picky but Howard Gordon (The X Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tyrant) who made the show who did Homeland and 24, he was the first person that I could trust doing this incredibly traumatic subject matter. It was wild to shoot so I’m just bracing myself for that.

In addition, what the roasts used to be, the Friars Roasts where it evolved into the Comedy Central Roast, I’m bringing those back on OnlyFans TV. We’re doing the roast for Bert Kreischer (This is Not Happening, Something's Burning, Go Big Show), we already shot it, it’s going to air on April 1st and the roast of me is going to air on Mother’s Day, May 14th and I’m in post on those. Then, I’m working on an animated movie and more info to come on there. It’s about making up those tour dates and I’m going to get back into digging into more scripted stuff and of course, there’s the podcast that I do every week that people are really enjoying that. I’m glad they like it even though I have no idea what I’m doing!

BAILEYS VANILLA MINT SHAKE COCKTAIL

INGREDIENTS

3.5oz Baileys Vanilla Mint Shake PREPARATION

PHOTO CREDITS | Angela Pham

1. Pour Baileys Vanilla Mint Shake into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well.

2. Strain into a coupe glass.

3. Garnish with chocolate shavings