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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When [the HBO series] didnt pan out, we turned our attention onto my hometown of Chicago.
Quincy used to work at Rent-A-Center.
Spent ten years there.
He has stories for your ass.
[Laughs] All this sort of subterfuge and drama in it.
It made us realize, Wait a second.
Chicago is a city we want to crack.
Why did we do that?
But lets put those people on camera, those funniest people.
Most of the other folks you see on camera [besides our main stars] havent acted before.
Diallo Riddle:Local actors and absolute neophytes.
My experience was largely positive and wonderful and joyous.
We said that there are enough places in the world to show the challenges of Chicago.
Also just the raucous, hard-edged South Side humor I grew up with.
It was really important for us to stay focused on the funny.
If you notice, we never explicitly say what makes them even a gang.
We went out of our way to not show the traditional drug-selling plotline or the traditional gang-war plotline.
We didnt even want to go down the path of making the gang members anything like one-dimensional characters.
One of the things we both loved when we first met is the movieComing to America.
You see the true diversity within our community.
Sometimes its okay to be escapist.
Not escapist and being fake, but just embracing the joy.
Diallo Riddle: Real life is funny sometimes!
Diallo Riddle: Our writers room is based more on what happened than what if.
And theres a power in that.
Theres so many funny stories that came out of that room that didnt even make it into season one.
In some way you are putting ideas and images into peoples consciousness.
You have to be careful its a trust.
Definitely.Bashir Salahuddin: I have a spiritual point of view about it.
I think peoples lives are really difficult sometimes.
Like the character Bluto, when hes at trial and says, Theres nothing more expensive than being poor.
I like that line a lot.
That is very true.Diallo Riddle: Its true!
Diallo Riddle: Im the anomaly in that scenario.
[Laughs]
Bashir Salahuddin: Lets not make the setting incidental, lets make the setting a character.
People have a point of view about the South Side.
Its something unique and specific to Chicago.
Mild sauce is a very Chicago thing.
The model we create becomes much more authentic.
We met him at Fallon hes been a friend for years.
Especially in that episode, I felt there were a couple of shots that were lyrical.
And you dont usually see that in comedies, especially the black ones.
Bashir Salahuddin: Got a little Terrence Malick going on.
I had never heard of anything like that.
She said, No, youve never seen a black girl who wasnt in serious fucking peril.
Shes just going on a spiritual journey.
We dont get to take a fucking break.
I would argue that in season one its just learning more about these characters.
For me, Goodnight functions a little like Uncle Ruckus onThe Boondocks.
Everything bad about the South Side you see on the news Goodnight believes thats all there is.
I dont want to move him too far from that.
But there are little glimpses where he realizes hes wrong.
What were not going to do is, by season three hes in love with the South Side.
I think its important as writers to keep him where he is.
And the reason why he feels trapped is because thats something we give all our characters.
Its really unfortunate but also super realistic that people get trapped in their past and their circumstances.
I got to cut my writer ring off to be a better actor.
You cant be a writer and actor at the same time.
And look, there is violence in every community.
Oh, people know were funny.
Cause right now the world doesnt know were funny.
Bashir Salahuddin: Very downtown-centric.
