Lureena Cornwell Can Teach You How to Thrift

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-quarantining, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday” column. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in on some of our favorite people in comedy and get a firsthand look into how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.”

This week, in front of her glorious wall of hats, I got to have a digital chitchat with Lureena Cornwell (iO Theater, a bunch of indie films, crushing her Zoë Kravitz impression on Twitter) about how she’s maintaining during the, you know, devastating global pandemic. She told us all about the superiority of the Chicago comedy scene, broke down the 10,000 hours she put into becoming a thrifted fashion icon, and bonded with me over our shared rare privilege, being Cape Verdean. She also proved that, despite being a star of stage and screen and Twitter, celebrities are really just like us: “If you hear that bag crinkling in the background, that’s my cat going absolutely nuts. My team is taking care of it.”

You can find Lureena Cornwell on Twitter at @makesgoodsoup and on Instagram at @louiesladyfriend.