Linda Mendoza is an Emmy nominated, Comedy Director Extraordinaire. Her credits are extensive, directing episodes of Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, The Mindy Project, The Good Place, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Ugly Betty, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Grownish, The Chris Rock Show, Girlfriends, The Bernie Mac Show, The Tick, Liv & Maddie, 30 Rock, and many, many more. She has also been the go to Director for many Comedy specials including Tiffany Haddish (Black Mitzvah and 6 episodes of They Ready), Katherine Ryan, Wanda Sykes, Jamie Fox's Laffapalooza, Caroline Rhea, and various Mark Twain Prize specials (Ellen Degeneres, David Letterman, Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Bill Cosby, Carl Reiner, and George Carlin).  She has been nominated for 2 DGA Awards, a Primetime Emmy, a NAACP Award, and an ALMA Award (which she won).

In this episode, we talk about:

•  Why she gave up $8k a month to work on SNL

•  How Bernie Mac helped her transition into Narrative

•  Her new TV Special, Yearly Departed, starring Tiffany Haddish, Sarah Silverman, Rachel Brosnahan, Natasha Leggero (Hosted by Phoebe Robinson) Comedy special features eulogies for the year 2020 with a line-up of all-women comedians discussing everything from casual sex to beige Band-Aids and everything in between that we've "lost" in 2020. - Premiering on Amazon Prime Video on December 30th, 2020

•  Her first directing experience

•  Her Comedy special 'pet peeves'

•  Often being told that she was the first female director that a show has ever had

•  Her Mentors, including Bruce Gowers (famous for Bohemian Rhapsody Music video)

•  BTS on various Mark Twain Specials and Comedy Specials

•  What makes her the best at what she does

•  How a Mexican girl from Detroit, who everyone thought was Chinese, made it as a TV director

Resources:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Mendoza

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0579318/

Yearly Departed: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13321268/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adetroitmendoza/?hl=en

Recommendation: If you like this Episode, check out Episode 1.17 to TV Director Jason Ensler (currently directing HULU's Love, Victor).

Host:

Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller

Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM

Mentors on the Mic Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic

Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle