# Denise Nicholas (Room 222, In the Heat of the Night)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/denise-nicholas-room-222-in-the-heat-of-the-night
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290/denise-nicholas-room-222-in-the-heat-of-the-night.md
Podcast: [Ian Talks Comedy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ian-talks-comedy-140290)
Published: 2025-12-13T14:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ian-fermaglich/episodes/Denise-Nicholas-Room-222--In-the-Heat-of-the-Night-e3c4ilq
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/21d579e4/podcast/play/112396410/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-11-9%2Fe04274ca-b72e-8dd9-89d9-36c6037de675.mp3
Processing state: processed
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ian-talks-comedy-140290/episodes/denise-nicholas-room-222-in-the-heat-of-the-night
Duration seconds: 2514

## Resource

Denise Nicholas joined me to discuss watching the Ed Sullivan Show; living on the same block as Hitsville, USA; not fitting in with her family; joining the Free Southern Theater and performing Waiting for Godot; Roscoe Orman; her part in the Civil Rights Movement; Negro Ensemble Company leads to It Takes a Thief with Robert Wagner; loving 2 1/2 Men; Room 222, the first "dramedy"; James L. Brooks; episodes were taken from the headlines; going on game shows with Karen Valentine; Hollywood Squares; injuring herself on Battle of the Network Stars; singing on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in 1971; being the mystery guest on What's My Line; Match Game; Dinah Shore Show; having to prove herself to Sidney Poitier to cast her in Let's Do it Again; fighting to play Carroll O'Connor's girlfriend on In the Heat of the Night; asking for black writers; Redd Foxx; Baby, I'm Back; guesting on Diff'rent Strokes; her sisters gruesome murder; being in the pilot for Masquerade; guesting on Magnum, PI; getting an NAACP nomination for telefilm Mother's Day; joining the cast and writing staff of In the Heat of the Night; Ghost Dad; Richard Roundtree; her novel Freshwater Road; her second novel turning into her memoir deciding whether to work or not; 23 and me saying she is 64% European and 34% Nigerian; going to Nigeria and no one there believing she's Nigerian; Blacula; too much television shows

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