The Nigerian-American actress and comedian talks about her first comedy special, “Momma, I Made It!,” debuting Saturday on HBO.

“You don’t get to be Nigerian and tell your parents you want to do comedy without getting a couple of degrees under your belt first,” Orji said recently.

You’ve got to give your parents what they want, then you go and do the things you want to do.

After I got my master’s degree, I knew I didn’t want to go to med school, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do, either?

Really, it was God who told me to do comedy, and I was like, “OK, I hear you.”.

And while I’ve achieved a level of success at this point, I still want to buy my parents a house, or show up to the village with a car.

I include my parents in my humor because they are the foundation of my perspective on a lot of things?

I also wanted to have my parents have their say in a way I don’t think a lot of parents get to.

People try to compare Lagos to New York City, and I’m like, Lagos is New York multiplied by 25, bruh.

It’s also understanding that the things that make you different are the things that make you special.

For me, there was never a time I thought I didn’t want to be Nigerian.

I mean, I didn’t want to be bullied anymore.

[Laughs.] But there was never a time I didn’t want to be what I was.

In the special, you utilize a Nigerian accent throughout.

When I go to Nigeria, I don’t [in an American accent] talk like this?

I’m on a comedy stage to give my perspective, and hopefully, that can create a bit more understanding between us.

You don’t ever let go of comedy.

Like many of us, I’m looking forward to seeing what innovation comes from this new normal.

You say in the special that as a Nigerian, you’ll always have multiple jobs.

You don’t get to be talking to me if my faith didn’t sustain me during those periods when I questioned whether I wanted to be in entertainment