Hey, you guys.
What's up?
I'm great. How are you?
I'm very well, thank you. It's so nice to see you again.
It's nice to see all of you again.
As we all
on. It's
two years. A year and a half.
Two years.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, it was a summer, wasn't it? 20. 20.
When we're all stuck at home.
Yeah, it felt weird, like, you know, us doing all this virtual press
and stuff like that.
It's almost like speed dating, and it's like, oh, wait, I remember you.
Why did we go out? Oh,
yeah.
Well, yeah, we are back.
We are, we are, we are back.
We are back for round number two, which is. Which is fantastic.
It's been great to speak to you.
Because obviously, we spoke we all spoke during
what was a bit of a crazy time, even though we were celebrating the show.
It was, yeah, very, very unpredictable as to what was going on.
So it's nice to, to circle back again.
How excited are you that we're finally here?
Because you've had to wait two years for season two and now finally we're here
I am like overjoyed.
I'm almost like a kid in a candy store.
I'm like, oh, you know,
there's so much that there's so much love
that has gone into the project over these last two years.
There's so much effort in term from the writing to the conceptualizing,
the wardrobe, the dance, the lighting, the production value, like,
oh, and that just pours into the actor
and makes it deeper and like take your roots and stuff like that.
So I'm really, really, really amped for season two yeah.
And Season one obviously was was a great success,
but you had to kind of celebrate in a strange way
because you can all be together and obviously the was still, still going on.
So I guess slightly bittersweet in that you didn't have a premiere
and you weren't able to kind of be together.
So it must been a strange
place to be in celebrating, but also not quite completely celebrating.
You feel like that. Yeah.
In an odd way though, it's it was in preparation for what season
two would be, you know,
in terms of just this show addressing the pandemic head on, had
we not had the time where we were able to
where everyone on the planet had said, you know, that moment of pause.
Right.
But to be in the space of as an artist
to how how art is digested in this space and what it is that you put out
I think it's really been interesting the whole process.
Like here, I'm like, oh, this is feeding you in another kind of way.
Yeah.
And you guys I mean, you've had you had great success.
How was it feeling for you guys in terms of that process and success?
Because you come out with a new show, you hope people
embrace it and hope people watch it and because there's so much content out
there these days.
But you guys seem to have found something special.
And among all of the amount of content, how is it kind of process in it for
you guys given that, you know, you hope people will watch it
and now you've got a lot of people watching it
it's still something that is in the process.
I don't think it's, you know, something like it's not done.
You know, I think that the audience for this show is continuing to grow.
I think that being outside definitely helps that.
But I also think that because the show,
it tackles such a specific
area of marginalized community, you know,
that doesn't get amplified voices like that.
So I think that because it's such a unique and it's such a niche
kind of a show that the eyes and attention are going to it.
And then I think also just because of the the artistry and the craftsmanship
that goes into creating this show, I think that people feel that
whether they know that that is what they are feeling or relating
to or not, you know, it's kind of like the docu series aspect or approach
to the storytelling in P-Valley, where sometimes people are like
Oh, you know, you, I need you to come and dance at my show.
Wait, wait, wait. I'm an actor.
Maybe I don't I don't know if I can I can call one of my girls
and we could get that gig for them, you know?
But I think that, like, that's just such a compliment.
It's such a compliment because people are seeing
the story in a real life way and
just being able to go from that.
So I'm here for it.
It's a beautiful, beautiful, powerful thing.
Yeah, I know.
I spoke to pretty much all of your amazing cast members as well, and they talked
about how the show, as you said, about how good the writing is
and the performances, everything in between,
but that there's no small part, every single character, no journey
everyone has, you know, they want to grow and they become different people
in everything else.
So that must be such an amazing thing to be
part of that it's not just one or two stars.
You guys are all in it together.
You are all as me and as each other,
and you're all embracing each other in this fantastic ensemble.
But Scott, what's interesting is that the I think that artists
sometimes you can get accustomed to the beat down that comes with the job.
You know, what it takes to get there.
And whether you are a writer, whether you're a director, or a set crew person.
And during this show, I have seen some some of the actors
that are costars and guest stars, they can come in with that
idea of like, oh, I'm just, you know, this little character.
And it's like, no, no, no, no, you got to show up because you do this.
And he does this and he does this, and it's like it's integral to the story.
But that also, I think, is just how we should approach life for ourselves.
We are all so important and vital, like your little discipleship, your part
matters in the whole body.
Everyone's been saying about Katori [Hall]
and I spoke to her last last time, and she's like a force of nature.
And everyone else was saying how much of a force nature is.
And she's had this story
kind of she's prepared for these two and she's prepared for more.
How is the lighter for her that she had this
this concept I wanted to tell the story about, as you say, these marginalized
people and everything else that she's been able to bring everything
that she wanted to to this show and has been embraced by so many people.
When I spoke to her
when we it was shortly after we wrapped
and wrapped filming and I said, how are you feeling?
And she was in an editing suite for one of the episodes.
And the way she was talking, my response
to her was, you sound happy
in terms of fulfilled.
Like there's I know I am.
I know I am.
There's a level of fulfillment
when you have been stretched, when you have been called upon
as an artist to dig deep to to
to really hunker down and do this work
that oftentimes you don't get an opportunity to do that.
Oftentimes, characters that represent your community are not given
such depth and breadth.
But every day when you walk past
people in the community, you know that that's what we're dealing with.
You know that there's a real person on the inside
just thinking about how do I keep myself afloat?
So whether you are a sex worker, whether you are a pole dancer,
whether you are a nonbinary person, or if you are a pansexual artist,
whatever your identity is, like the human experience and being able
to reflect that in this work, it's really, really gratifying as an artist.
And hopefully we are being change agents for for people out there
and for political things and that climate to shift
and for us just to be more of a loving world, period.
Yeah.
Tell me about coming back to play Uncle Clifford again,
because we leave him at a certain point in season
one now coming back into season two, and he's had such an impact,
not just in terms of the audience but on the show.
So for you as a performer, what was it like going back to play someone again
and seeing the growth, seeing the kind of maturity
and seeing him kind of evolve and do you do different things
and maybe you weren't expecting in Series two, we'll see Uncle Cliff
go through her process of how to exist
in the pandemic of it all and keep things afloat.
It was interesting. I was
I want to say I want
to say the actor part of me wants to say excited.
But the truth and reality of it is when I read it,
I was exhausted.
Because there were so many things.
Yeah.
Feeling, so many thoughts, so many
just so many things.
And none of them were extravagant.
None of them were like fantastical.
All of the things that Uncle Clifford this season gets to experience
and go through are so fundamentally
like grown, like grown, as we say.
You know, I don't know what we could do, but I'm a grown ass fuck.
There is no excuse or getting around.
How do you deal with an ailing elder?
There's no excuse around dealing with how do you keep your business afloat?
There's no excuse around.
How do you deal with the lack of love, intimacy in the space?
You know, in this pandemic, a lot of us have been
having that touch, hunger, you know, whether that was fear,
intimacy and a romantic release, all of that stuff.
Through the story has been really, really, really exhausting.
But it also is refreshing.
And I think that because we all have been in that space,
you get to come along the journey and see these characters, learn more about them,
but also at the same time and how they could come out
on the other side and hopefully introduce the audience and date.
And it's it's become a show that's kind of punctured the kind of pop
culture of it to the other guys about how social media and social media
and seeing people dressed up as the characters and want to kind of
been embraced by everybody.
Have you
is that a weird sensation, seeing all these kind of celebrities also
like fans that are now have found pages and doing Halloween and do tick tock stuff
that must be a slightly overwhelming but very rewarding
experience to see all that happening it is rewarding.
It is rewarding for sure. It's
I feel
when I think about it, I feel breath, like, OK,
you know, for me to see,
I think sometimes a lot of people get a bad rap, you know,
and the bad reputation, whether that is from certain people
ostracizing members of the LGBTQ plus community,
and to be able to see people with platforms,
people that can be hypermasculine, people that
are not necessarily known for advocating in the community,
to see them speak out and express their love
and inclusion of this show.
And especially specifically Uncle Clifford
I feel really, really a part
of a movement in a different kind of way that I didn't anticipate
my artistry really being I'm very proud of it.
I am grateful beyond belief for it.
It is a space that I as a person
have lived in, you know, and I just feel like
when you have a Deon Sanders from the NFL, when you have a Snoop Dogg from the,
you know, that's the pinnacle and hip hop culture and culture period.
When you have Lizzo a new fresh voice, when you have the Cardi B is
when you have people that have this megaphone
and they're speaking loud and they're speaking the truth.
If I Whoa, that's awesome.
It's awesome. It feels really great.
And I think because it is about the love space, it doesn't feel like it's about me.
So I'm even more it doesn't feel weird in that it's like, yeah, let's love people.
I'm here for it. Yes. You know,
absolutely.
Nico, it's always a pleasure talking to you.
Thank you so, so much for your time today.
It's been wonderful to see you again.
And yeah, hopefully we'll get to see you again for season three.
I hope that that happens for you guys from your lips to God's ears.
Yes, indeed.
Thank you. Absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for your time. Let me.