TN: Then you work harder.

LN: And we have a creative outlet. I get to be a drama queen when I’m acting, so I can take a break from that in my life.

TN: Comedy is literally my therapy. I can get onstage and tell my deepest, darkest secret. And not only do I not feel like I’ve overshared, the audience doesn’t judge me for it. Because someone in the audience is going, “Yeah, that happened to me, too.”

PG: Let’s end with something surreal: You were not considered beautiful as children.

TN: God, no! I was the most nerdy, strange-looking kid. Big feet, ears sticking out. No question of girls. There was no question of asking one to the prom.

LN: I got stood up at my prom. He didn’t show up.

PG: And not beautiful?

LN: I was always confident, but I shed my tears. They told me I was too dark for TV. But I came to accept myself. And a lot of that had to do with Alek Wek, the way she was embraced by the modeling industry. Oprah telling her how beautiful she was. I was like, “What is going on here?” It was very powerful. Something in my subconscious shifted. That’s why this conversation is so important — because it burns possibility into people’s minds.

TN: I wish I could rewrite “The Ugly Duckling.” Because after the ugly duckling becomes a swan, people go around dumping on the swan, saying, “Oh, you swan, you don’t know what it’s like to be an ugly duckling.”

LN: I used to be teased and teased. They called me black mamba, awful names.

TN: Now they act like we’ve had it easy all our lives. I can’t help that my face fixed itself.

LN: You know what I gained? Compliments never grow old. They’re delightful every time.