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Nicole Byer on Netflix Stardom, Body Positivity, and Her New Book
She models more than 100 bikinis to show self-love
If you’re a fan of the comedic baking show, Nailed It! on Netflix, you have probably laughed along with the show’s co-host, comedian Nicole Byer.
In the new season, Byer and her pastry chef co-host Jacques Torres critique regular people on their baking fails. But offscreen, Byer is a busy lady. Besides being one of the funniest hosts on a streaming service today, the standup comedian, actress, podcast host, and frequent guest on Conan is now a bikini star releasing her first book.
Yes, Byer has become a bikini model for a photo book out June 2 called #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini. The book features over 100 photos of Byer posing in different bikinis around California; she stands alongside a shopping cart in Palm Springs, poses with colorful murals in Los Angeles, and hops on a Ferris wheel in Santa Monica. Loving her own looks, she pokes fun at herself, too. This body positive book is a way to help other people feel brave with their bodies.
It’s also an exercise in photo captions, as Byer writes jokes to accompany each photo. (In one, she is holding up cotton candy, and it says: “Look at me eating what I love most: whipped sugar with food coloring. What if someone saw me and preemptively gave me an insulin shot without even asking if I needed it?”)
Byer hosts five podcasts, including the hilarious dating podcast Why Won’t You Date Me?, and will be a guest judge on the forthcoming fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, premiering June 5. She speaks to ZORA about her favorite Black comedians, getting undressed on a Ferris wheel, and how she became a Netflix star.
ZORA: Your new book is so cool. Did it all start as an Instagram hashtag or with your friend Alison Rich?
Nicole Byer: Ha! It started on Instagram as a hashtag; me and my friend Marcy went to Palm Springs in 2017, and I only packed bikinis. I was like: “I’m only going to use the hashtag #veryfat #verybrave.” We know that when fat women post pictures of themselves in less clothing, people say: “You’re brave!”…
