Grace Parra has broken out as a star contributor and panelist for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore since she joined the late-night Comedy Central talker in November 2015. But Parra thought she might just as well have enjoyed a career behind the scenes as a sitcom writer, or perhaps as the star of her own late-night talk show. The Houston native did, after all, briefly co-host the misnamed-on-purpose White Guy* Talk Show on Fuse. Even before all that, though, Parra’s early New York City experiences included performing with and even rooming with fellow future comedy stars at Columbia University, as well as an NBC gig working for Conan O’Brien that continues to inspire her to this day. Her latest projects include a webseries for Más Mejor called “Big Opinions” and a sexy-times talk show with Jen Bartels called Lady Freak. She talks to me about all of that, writing TV for the Jonas Brothers, working with J.Lo and more.

So let’s get to it!