Niecy Nash tells Conan how getting nearly killed by Oprah isn't so bad

Not that anything about her When They See Us role was easy, as Nash explained how DuVernay’s lack of voicemail meant sliding into the acclaimed filmmaker’s DMs to put her hat in the ring for, as she put it, literally any role. She also said this was the first part she’s ever had where the production offered the actors crisis counselors, which Nash claims she used rather than other option, tequila, to work through the emotional stresses of playing a mother of a wrongly accused young son.

Plus there’s that whole “getting killed by Oprah” thing, which is what happens when Winfrey produces a project you’re in and invites you along to Maui for a dream vacation. Nash joked about quickly rooting through her already-packed luggage to remove her “ho clothes” in her illustrious host’s honor, before discovering that lead foot, as Oprah (taking the wheel, naturally) drove them through paradise at high—not to say reckless—speed. Still, there are benefits even to dying in Oprah’s company, as Nash—offering up a trusting “Oprah, take the wheel” in prayer—consoled herself with the thought that dying in a buggy accident with Oprah Winfrey would at least lend her some everlasting fame.