Life on earth is just as anxiety-ridden for the charmingly neuroticGood Placestar.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Fuck, man, Ive been bullshitting with some bullshit dumplings.
All right, Im not fucking around.
Were gonna eat these dumplings.
So thats what he did for a while workshops and readings with playwrights like Lynn Nottage and Branden Jacob-Jenkins.
Maybe hed quit acting.
Thats, of course, when he gotThe Good Placejob.
It would have just seemed too big and too scary.
Its not a given that this is the sort of thing that happens.
I was getting older and wanting some kind of stability.
So I was probably a bit looser and more relaxed than I would have been.
Because you felt like you had nothing to lose.I had nothing to lose.
I had already made my peace with it.
I cant give it up.
I cant stop.The thought of not being an actor anymore felt like I was really losing something.
Before this pilot season, I had had that conversation with myself and it didnt feel like a loss.
I felt everything settle.
I can find something else to do.
And she said, Hey, you know what really holds up?Cheers.
You should watch the pilot episode ofCheers…
So we come back, and I watched it.
I was in the middle of the second episode and I got the call.
I feel like everyone should have the equivalent of that happen in their life, at least once.
Its a really nice feeling, to really, really want something and for it to happen.
Its so rare, you know?
But I felt like I was ready for that moment.
I want the element of surprise.
Sentimentality … makes me uncomfortable.
Im the dude that hates love songs.
Thats a lot of pop songs.Yeah, I know.
I grew up hating them.
I was like,Man, theres something wrong with me.
Ive got a dark, cold heart.
I really just dont want anyone to be professing their feelings.
Its like,No, man.
Keep that shit on lock.
Im all about trying to find the weirdest, most surprising thing that we can find.
Its a lot harder to do that in TV because you have a little less time to get weird.
All these jokes were vetted by a room full of really brilliant people.
Whats that unexpected thing that takes something from being just great?
But also, how do you have the drop on an audience?
I mean, I do think ofThe Good Placeas a somewhat sentimental show.
It has a certain gooeyness at the center.
Its not like, Look at me.
Its a lot of people having feelings and trying not to display the fact that theyre having feelings.
Thats why the show works, because its a joke-forward sort of show.
It stands out in stark relief.
It does sort of affect you.
A lot of the writing very much fits within the things that I like.
Im the easiest mark.
Im the first to break when Manny does something weird.
She says like, I know you guys all have lives to go back to.
Well, maybe not me and Jason.
Its so bizarre, but he gets me.
He gets me a lot.
There have been times also when hes tried so hard to get me that hes gotten himself.
Hes done some stuff and I wouldnt break, and then he starts breaking.
Im like, You see?
Has it been a challenge to play the straight man?Yeah.
Its hard for me.
Mainly because youve got to stay in your lane.
My job is to mostly set up some really good jokes and hand the ball off.
It can be tough, but its also a lot of fun, too.
At certain times I just get to be human.
And subtle in a way that if youre not the straight man you dont get to do.
There is a degree of taking in peoples energy and being what I need to be at the time.
Theyre all going to find out soon enough that Im not supposed to be here.
They meant to hire another guy.Its silencing all that stuff.
That went unexpectedly dark.
Im ready to go there.
Do you think youre a neurotic person?Yes.
The major difference between me and Chidi is that he talks about it a lot.
When Im feeling neurotic and anxious, I just completely disappear.
I dont want anyone to be dealing with that or see it.
I remember I was on a date some years ago.
Eventually, after a couple of drinks, I started to relax.
Then she said to me, Oh, there you are.
I was wondering when that guy was going to show up.
Of course, that weirded me out again immediately.
I was right back to where I was.
It was like,Fuck, I thought I was covering.
I dont want to make people deal with that, so I tend to disappear.
My understanding is that you grew up very religious.
How did that impact you?Yeah, I did.
It was Church of God in Christ, which was a very conservative Pentecostal group.
I grew up there.
I also went to a nondenominational Evangelical Christian school for a lot of my youth.
I think about it in retrospect and Im like, That was kind of fucked up.
Honestly, one of the greatest sources of anxiety and fear in my life was my religion.
I was just scared all day, every day of my youth.
Theres this book calledTurmoil in the Toy Box.
Anything that was sort of popular for kids was in this book: G.I.
Joes, Barbie, Cabbage Patch Kids, Transformers, He-Man.
My mom, thankfully, was just like, Youre a kid.
Youre not casting spells.
Youre playing with toys and using your imagination.
Youre not going to Hell for playing with He-Man.
That sort of rigidness scared the mess out of me.
Then, it was also being one of the very few black kids.
At this Christian school, the movieMalcolm Xcame out when I was in seventh grade.
Its this thing where Im the only black dude in the class and Im being taught this.
Fortunately, there were other black kids in the school that combated that narrative for me.
Id be a full-on head case if my mom didnt straighten me out when something weird was said.
This person is fun to hang out with.
I was like,This doesnt track.
The more I pushed that away, the less I was fearful.
I havent looked back since.
How would you describe Chidis place in the show?Okay.
His place in this whole universe is to be the utility guy.
Whereas I feel like definitely Ted [Danson] is Kevin Durant.
Darcy [Carden] is Steph Curry.
Jameela [Jamil] is DeMarcus Cousins.
Kristen [Bell] is Steve Kerr.
Manny [Jacinto] is definitely Klay Thompson.
I am professionally obligated to ask you aboutgetting swole.
Was that an intensive process?The goal was honestly just to avoid ridicule.
I was so afraid that I was going to be made fun of.
And its just going to be me getting dumped on on the internet for the way I looked.
I got made fun of for how I looked when I was younger.
So when this episode came up, I was just like,No.
Oh, God … Oh, grocery shopping.
I was like, theres no way I can hide.
I also didnt want to have the conversation of, Id feel really self-conscious taking my shirt off.
I dont go to the beach.
I dont go swimming.
I dont do shit like that because Im that nervous about it.
I only do it when I absolutely have to.
So you didnt give a shot to convince them not to do it?Nope.
I was too scared to have the conversation.
I didnt want to reveal to them that I had a thing.
I didnt want anyone to know that I had a thing.
So I just worked out really hard.
Went on a diet.
Like, I dieted for two weeks.
Ive been working out for two years now.
I was hoping Ill avoid ridicule.
Ill just look normal.
No one will notice anything.
And the joke will be funny, and thatll be it.
If no one says anything, I will have achieved my goal.
I failed, which is fine.
I dont know, in my head, I look a little weird.
Weird how?I feel like my torso is just doughy and weird.
But then seeing everyones reaction, I was like,Maybe somethings wrong up top.
Maybe Im looking at myself and seeing something different in the mirror than other people are seeing.
I just need to calm down.
I mean, obviously during puberty your body freaks out.
And maybe I never really sort of grew up in that respect.
I think that maybe something didnt progress the way that it was supposed to.
I dont see myself the way the world sees me at all.
And I actually got there.
That sense of control was nice.
Like, I worked out and I dieted.
It yielded an unexpected result, but still a positive one.
So what is your thing?
I suffered severely from body issues.
I was made fun of constantly when I was little.
Im still trying to work through that.
Twitter wants Chi to get naked.
And I was like, They do?
But some of the responses were negative, people being like, Death to the gym body.
How dare you body-shame me.
Its cut into me living fully in certain ways.
And I hate that.
So I was like, Yeah, man.
I do work out.
Because I really just dont want to think about it.
I dont want to be bothered.
I dont want to walk around and be self-conscious.
And Im still self-conscious, man.
I was in Budapest, and theyre famous for their baths.
I was in hell.
I hated being that disrobed in front of that many people and in public.
I just want to go to baths and feel free, man.
Thats all I want to do.
All I want is to feel free.All I want is to feel free.
Or they see that script and they see theyve got to take their shirt off.
And theyre just like, Fuck.
I know more dudes who have that reaction than dudes who dont care.
I just dont know how to keep the ball in the air.
Then I just wind up saying too much and I start not making sense.
Fucking forget about it.
Im the multiheaded fucking Hydra.
I just make no sense.
I feel like this baby tooth in the front is the only thing that shows up.
Everything just feels wrong, like,Im not supposed to be here.
Like,Im starting to smell bad because I got that stress sweat.
I assume the financial stability is nice.Well, you know, the financial stability is a big thing.
Now I can only do stuff if Im creatively intrigued by it.
Its nice to have just enough of a cushion to be creative and not be worried all the time.
Its nice to not really be thinking about that.
Which is a fucking luxury!
Thats so fucking nice.
