It must be getting hard for Coleeta Lewis not to notice Tiffany Haddish by now. Haddish plays saucy Nekeisha in the "The Carmichael Show," comic Jerrod Carmichael's critcally admired sitcom. The NBC offering became a bona fide hit last summer when it debuted and it's even bigger now, following the ratings rocking "Little Big Shots."

So where is Lewis, the former social worker who had the vision to keep Haddish out of trouble by getting her into comedy camp when she was a foster care youngster?

"I've been reaching out to her for years. I want her to know she did a good thing," says Haddish. "She recognized that I had something and she did something about it. Sometimes I think about it and I just want to cry, because when you're in the system, you feel like you're invisible."

It's a warm L.A. afternoon and Haddish is being funny and engaging throughout an interview. One suspects this is her typical manner. Even as Haddish looks back briefly to her childhood struggles, it becomes evident that the comedian and actress isn't one to remain somber very long.

In regard to Coleeta Lewis, the spelling of whose name Tiffany is unsure, she continues, her voiced rising with theatricality, "I remember when she quit. She was like, 'I just can't take this any more. Too much pain, too much suffering. I'm too young for this. It's too much!'

"And I want to tell her, 'I'm gonna make you proud!'"

She describes an encounter that sounds kind of comical in itself.

"I ran into her when I was 20 and I was living in these apartments that were really nice, and she lived there, too, and she thought I was trying to stalk her. I said, 'No, I live here, too. I work for the airline. I have a nice job. And she's like, 'Yeah, right.' And then she disappears."

Adding to Tiffany's high visibility of late, she has "Keanu," with Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, opening in theaters across the land April 29. She plays a gangsta girl named Hi-C who is nothing like Nekeisha, according to her. The plot has to do with the abduction of a gang leader's beloved cat, and the efforts to get it back.

"Hilarity ensues in the process of that because everybody wants this cat," says Tiffany.

We can't tell you who winds up with the cat in the movie, but we can report that in real life, Tiffany ended up with one of the eight rescue shelter kitties that shared the role.

"The trainer, the 'set dec' people, everyone was saying, 'That kittten loves you so much' — because every time I hold her she falls asleep in my arms, and when you take her away she cries. The trainer says, 'I've got to get this one a home.' And I said, 'I don't know. ... I've got two dogs.'"

However, she points out, "You can train them to get along. I think the cat thinks she's a dog, but they play really well together. I have a blue nose pit bull and a Yorkie-Maltese mix and a cat. We're superstars living together."

Besides working on the series, Tiffany also participates in extra lively live tweeting during the episodes. "The Carmichael Show" is known for courting controversy by tackling issues in the news with humor. That's led to some strong back-and-forth with angry viewers — even though, as Tiffany notes, there is a mature content warning following "Little Big Shots."

"One lady tweeted to Steve Harvey, 'I am appalled. How can you have a show about a condom breaking right after your show? That's just inappropriate.' And I tweeted her back that I think it's inappropriate when teenagers gets pregnant because they don't know what happens when condoms break."

She recalls her grandmother engaging in that kind of talk, telling her she'd better use protection, because if she had a baby she'd have to move.

Now those days are a distant memory. Grateful for success, Tiffany gives back regularly. She's found helping feed the homeless at Jamie Masada's Laugh Factory in Hollywood on holidays. It was a Laugh Factory comedy camp that changed her life. She also performs for foster kids. As she puts it, "I do a lot of stuff with the Department of Children's Services, like celebration events — I host them, tell jokes at them."

With it all, "I am still looking for that one social worker."

Coleeta, we hope you'll notice soon. You did, indeed, do a good thing. Congratulations.

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