Sherri Shepherd Skates Through Life

Sherri Shepherd has a knack for making her dreams come true.

The one about being a stand-up comic? Check. (Her “Two Funny Mamas” tour with Kym Whitley kicks off in May.) An actor? Check. (Remember the “Queen of Jordan” episodes on “30 Rock”?)

How about her fantasy, starting when she was a kid interviewing her teddy bears, to be a talk-show host? That’s a big check with “Sherri,” her syndicated daytime hit. It premiered in September and by January had been renewed for two more seasons.

“I love coming out, sitting in that chair, because I got to do it when I was on ‘The View,’” said Shepherd, 55, who co-hosted that long-running talk show from 2007 to 2014. “And I love my family on ‘The View,’ but you have to share audio space with four other women at the table. So this one I get to come out and be as silly as I want to.”

In a video interview from Harlem, where she lives with her teenage son Jeffrey, Shepherd chatted about a few other things that excite her, like a loud game of spades, Sylvester Stallone in “Tulsa King” and roller-skating wherever she can. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

1

Katz’s Delicatessen

It’s unorganized chaos, but everything gets done. They have the best pastrami sandwiches. The sucker is about 10 feet tall so you get your money’s worth because it’s $200, practically. You will walk in and there is a crowd of people and if you’ve never been to Katz’s Deli, you’re freaking out, going, “Where am I supposed to stand?” But once they see you’re lost and have no clue about life, somebody from Staten Island will go, “What are you doing? Come on over here.”

2

Melba’s Restaurant

Melba’s is the go-to place for comfort food — like a warm, fuzzy blanket. Ninety-nine percent of the time Melba’s there, and she’s got these big chocolate eyes and she hugs you and she comes to your table. During the summertime, you sit outside and eat, and inside you’ll have a really great R&B or jazz band. So I don’t even leave Harlem when people come to New York. I go, “Meet me uptown.”

3

‘Tulsa King’

It is the perfect role for Sylvester Stallone. He plays this old Mafioso who’s done 25 years in prison and he gets out and the world has completely changed on him. And instead of getting this really great position because he didn’t snitch on any of the family, they send him to Tulsa, Okla. He just plays it so beautifully. I feel like it got greater later for Sly.

4

Spades

Even if you don’t know how to play the game, you’ve got to talk like you know. You have to be loud. You have to slap cards on the table. And you have to be a real sore loser. It’s all about betting how many wins you will get. If you don’t get close to those wins, you’ve got to literally go off on your partner. At the end of the day, you’re all friends. While you’re playing? Mmm-mmm.

5

New York Comedy Clubs

At Gotham’s or the Cellar, it’s people who want to hear you be funny and be truthful and be transparent. When you try to do the Hollywood stuff, it just doesn’t work. I had to follow Gina Yashere from “Bob Hearts Abishola.” She’s an amazing comic, and she was very New York-style. And I thought, “Oh please, I go up in L.A. at the Comedy Store all the time.” Well, I tell you, I bombed like crazy. I had to go back, sit down, reassess and go, “Sherri, you’ve got to get more honest.” Went up there the next night — killed it. I think New York crowds can see through all of the bull.

6

Roller Skating

I’m not one of those roller skaters that do all of the tricks and turning. But there’s something about going around in a rink, or if I’m at a great beach where I can roller skate, with the air hitting my face. I love that feeling of coasting. It’s very cathartic for me. Before I leave my studio, I skate around because they push everything out of the way. I’ll sneak my skates and hope they don’t have me on camera.

7

Gregory Porter

He’s a jazz artist, and he wears a black hat with a black scarf around his face. He used to be a football player. He is a big, hulking, over-six-foot-tall Black man, and the most beautiful gentle music comes from him. I was dating somebody who was like a thug gangster, and this was a person who you would think all he listened to is rap. But he introduced me to jazz, and it was Gregory Porter.

8

The Blue Note

Lalah Hathaway invited me to the Blue Note, and a gentleman by the name of Robert Glasper, who just won a Grammy, was playing. And he packed it. It was just amazing to see all of these people who had an appreciation for really great music. The jazz crowd is like a comedy-club crowd. They sit back and they listen.

9

Oprah Daily

I love that she has used her platform to continue beyond her show and still gives you tips on how to live your best life. I used to journal, and I don’t too much anymore. And Oprah said on Oprah Daily, “You really should be journaling.” So I pulled out and dusted off my journal, and I started writing some more.

10

Dunlevy Milbank Community Center

This is a center in Harlem, and they are really into kids that come from a lower income and teaching them life, especially the young men. They have basketball coaches there, they have swim teachers, they have teachers for after-school tutoring. This center is very close to my heart because Jeffrey goes after school at 3 p.m. and I don’t see him till 7:30. They have a leadership class for young men that he goes to. I was a little skeptical, but they said, “We guarantee you: Let Jeffrey go here for two weeks, and he is not going to want to come home.” And that is so true. Literally at 7:30, I’m texting him, going, “Get your butt in that Uber and spend some time with your mother.”