Erika Alexander became an icon at age 24 when she stepped onto the set of the FOX sitcom Living Single, starring Yvette Lee Bowser, opposite veteran Queen Latifah. Lawyer Maxine Shaw was unlike any character ever portrayed on television. Dressed to kill with her insatiable appetite and virulent tongue for Kim Fields’ diva Regine Hunter and Max’s nemesis-turned-lover Kyle Barker (TC Carson), Maxine was a confident black woman who spoke her mind, centered herself, and always wanted the best. Almost 30 years after the final credits rolled on the Brooklyn-set show, Alexander has returned to his roots.
The “Get Out” actress re-enters the world of TV comedy in NBC’s “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins,” directed by “30 Rock” alums Robert Carlock, Sam Means and Tina Fey. The show marks Alexander’s first regular role on a sitcom series since Living Single, and proves that her comedic skills, which she first honed on the set of The Cosby Show in the early 1990s, are as dynamic as ever.
In Reggie Dinkins, Alexander plays Monica, a business manager and ex-wife of a long-disgraced former football player (Tracy Morgan). About 20 years ago, a gambling scandal ruined Reggie’s career and reputation. Still, in pursuit of a spot in the Hall of Fame, he hires failed documentarian Arthur Tobin (Daniel Radcliffe) to restore what is left of his sordid legacy. Monica doesn’t agree with the plan at all.
Monica’s wit is not as sharp as Maxine’s, but she is not one to suffer fools. Furthermore, despite all of Reggie’s misfortunes and his permanent ban from the NFL, Monica has kept him financially healthy and prosperous over the years. Although Monica is often the voice of reason, she is not heterosexual. Making her just a straight woman would have been a misuse of Alexander’s vast talents.
Instead, like the rest of the colorful cast of the mockumentary, which also features rapper Megan Thee Stallion as a mail carrier who catches Tobin’s eye, Monica finds herself fully indulging in a prank. Alexander has long demonstrated this masterful comedic timing in more dramatic roles as well, including OWN’s “Queen Sugar,” Hulu’s “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” and most recently the Alecia Harris revenge film “Is God Is.”
Harris’s Southern Gothic film follows a pair of twin sisters on a quest to kill the father who crippled them when they were young. But Alexander’s performance as Divine the Healer, a delusional rib-eating evangelist, adds some much-needed levity to this deeply emotional but highly entertaining film.
Dressed in all white with a fuzzy wig and silver knee-high boots, she would be the envy of legendary boot lover Mary J. Blige. Divine is a flashy spectacle in every sense of the word. Like Monica and Maxine, she retains all the beautiful prisms that show Alexander’s decades of mastery of his craft.
The “American Fiction” actress has been nominated for and won countless awards throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards for “Living Single,” but the Television Academy has yet to recognize her greatness.
As Monica in Reggie Dinkins, Alexander offers a different type of comedy. Still, this is not a resurrection. Rather, it’s a reminder of just how good she is, paying homage not only to the art of comedic acting but also to a generation of dark-skinned black women who first felt seen when they burst through the door of a Brooklyn brownstone wearing Maxine’s sky-high heels.
