*Issa Rae, whose character, Issa, on her hit HBO show “Insecure” has a part-time gig as a Lyft driver, tells Page Six that she once tried to sign up as a driver for the ride-hailing app in real life just two years ago.
“I rented a car to write the first episodes [of the show’s second season] in December, and the rental car that I had, I drove it all the way to Malibu,” recalled the Los Angeles native. “I bought a full tank [of gas] but I didn’t use it. So I thought, ‘I’m not returning this car with all this gas. I paid for it — I’m just going to lose money.’ ”
Rae said that despite her growing fame from the show’s first season, she decided to sign up as a Lyft driver to take fares until she’d used up the tank, then return the rental.
“So I filled out the application. I got the sticker [to go on her car from Lyft] and then I got denied because I had some stupid traffic violation in 2014.”
The gas-guzzing plan, which didn’t work out in real life, ended up in the writer’s room of her show.
“I told the writers how I tried to do that and they found it hilarious. And they asked, ‘What if people recognized you?’ But I wasn’t even thinking about that, because Season 2 [of ‘Insecure’] didn’t even come out yet. And it was in Malibu so I thought that I would be OK.”
She added, “There are so many creative people using ride sharing as a means to make some additional income, and Issa definitely needed that extra income.”
Season 3 premieres Sunday on HBO.
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