Despite no background in improv or sketch comedy, Niecy Nash-Betts is grateful that she got the opportunity to wear a fake booty for “the longest-running bit that has been on television,” Reno 911. Give the comic her props, literally — that prosthetic butt was all her idea, Nash-Betts recently revealed on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast.
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Why the bogus buttocks? “Because the women in my family, I did not see them on TV, you know what I mean,” she said. “Now you could buy a butt on every corner, but then it wasn’t popular to have all of the … you know what I mean?” Conan did know what she meant — a prodigious posterior.
“I went to so many booty fittings, like you don’t even understand,” she said. But no matter how many measurements the costuming team took, Deputy Raineesha Williams’ assets just weren’t properly taking shape. “They couldn’t get it right because they were building it straight back.”
Nash-Betts’ solution was to enlist a ringer, a longtime friend with the proper proportions. “I brought her up there. She had the natural slamma jamma,” she says. “I’m like, ‘You got to start from the hips and wrap it around. So I got the booty right.” All it took in the end was the actress telling her friend, “I need your ass. Get your ass over here. Literally, get your ass over here.”
The Reno 911 star wasn’t done telling tales about her friend’s tail. According to Nash-Betts, that enviable behind was key to meeting Prince. “True story,” began Nash-Betts. “Her butt and my up-top was how we got to look Prince right in the face. We didn’t have tickets to this Grammy party he was at so we went around the side and there was a a security guard. I said, ‘Girl, you know what to do.’”
The friend did what she always did when trying to persuade a Grammy security guard: Started walking backward. Combine that with Nash-Betts walking forward — leading with her up-top, we’re left to assume — and the back door to the party magically opened. But the two friends weren’t done scheming. “We lied,” Nash-Betts admitted, claiming that she’s always stretching the truth if that’s what it takes to get a job. All it took was her friend claiming to be Prince’s cousin.
“The Purple One was behind this door so we walk up to security,” she explained. The women played the “She’s his cousin!” card and the security guard “looked at us up and down. He said, ‘One minute.’ He closes the door and when the door opens, it is Prince. He looked at us and before we could take a breath, he said, ‘Nice try’ and closed the door in our face.”
Nash-Betts counts that as a win. She got to see Prince! Prince said, “Nice try” to them!” And it was all made possible by the booty that inspired the look for Reno 911’s Raineesha Williams.
