The A.V. Club

When Nikes came out and everybody had Nikes, I had shoes that my mother found in a “free” box. One was a knit bootie and one was a flip-flop. And that kind of outsidership… My parents were also really progressive, so they didn’t believe in television. I didn’t have a TV, so I wasn’t able to talk with kids about what was happening on the television, because I was this voracious, crazed reader. I used to bring my flashlight under the covers. Other kids would stay up to play games, I would read. [Panicked voice.] “What’s gonna happen to Frodo next?” So I was just, in every way socially, a pariah. And those were the formative years. 

Aisha Tyler talks about Archer and growing up a smart black geek.