-Bashir, Diallo! -What's up?
-It is always great to see you guys.
Congratulations, by the way.
I want to talk about "Sherman's Showcase."
It is so funny and so awesome.
We talked about this when you were on the show once before.
You guys were once writers for our show,
for me at "Late Night." -Yeah.
-And you wrote some of the best bits
that we've ever done on our show.
So thank you for those bits.
And I mean, "History of Hip-Hop."
[ Cheers and applause ]
Endless. -Yeah.
-And it's cool to see -- it's cool to see you guys
get your own show and crush it, by the way.
100% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Not too shabby, bud. [ Cheers and applause ]
The reviews for season two --
let me just read a couple of these, and, oh, yeah, yeah.
"Daily Beast" says "TV's coolest variety show
makes its triumphant return."
[ Cheers and applause ] "Sherman's Showcase."
New York Times says, "This musical comedy tribute
to Black culture has returned as joyfully absurd as ever."
[ Cheers and applause ] Ooh!
That's got to feel -- that's got to feel good.
I mean, you put so much work into it.
But, Bashir, you were telling me backstage that it came from
a sketch that we did on our show?
-You know, Jimmy, it's important always to give you credit.
-No, no, no. [ Laughter ]
-It's a condition of appearing on this show.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah.
I make everyone give me credit for their career.
-No, but seriously, man. I mean, you let us have
so much fun when we worked with you.
You let us do our thing. And one of the sketches we did,
'cause you know we love music,
was Jackie Neptune and The Planetariums,
which is a -- -Oh, I remember that.
-That's right. It was a solar body-obsessed
R&B group that sang soul.
And at the end of every song, they'd be like...
♪ Planetariums ♪
-Yes, yes. [ Laughter ]
Jackie Neptune. -But the science checked out.
Like, we always made sure that all the science involved
in the -- -Oh, you did your research.
-Oh, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, as much research as you can get off of Wikipedia.
-Yeah. -Sure.
-But it was -- [ Laughter ]
-In a hurried afternoon before the sketch airs.
-I have a photo of, actually... -Let's go.
-...you guys performing Jackie --
-There's a photo? -Yeah.
Jackie Neptune and The Planetariums.
Here. -Oh, man.
-Yeah. [ Cheers and applause ]
Look at that.
-I remember I wanted my guy to have --
I wanted him to be a redhead.
I wanted him to be, like, a Black guy with red hair.
[ Laughter ]
-I think Kirk is over there on the --
-There's Kirk. -Kirk, yeah.
-Tariq's hair is the best. -Tariq.
-Right in the middle. [ Laughter ]
-That's nice, right there. -So smooth.
-So, you finished that. And after this sketch,
you said to Diallo, you're like, "Hey" --
-Yeah, we were talking literally right in this hallway,
and then -- yeah, we were just talking about how --
-I mean, like, we were sitting out in the hallway, I was like,
"Bashir, honestly, like, we have to find out --
we have to find our way to do a show where it's just this."
-Yeah. -"Where it's just us in wigs,
and we write original songs." -Yep.
-"And just have so much fun."
And, honestly, me and him, we've known each other forever,
so there were some song ideas that we had that were
not quite appropriate for NBC. -Yeah.
A little dark. [ Laughter ]
-We didn't want to put you in that position.
-Yeah. -I appreciate that.
Thank you for looking out for me.
But how did you pitch it to IFC? -Oh, it was --
Man, honestly, it was the easiest pitch we've ever had,
I think, ever. We went into the place
where we ended up making the show.
And we told them, you know, what "30 Rock" is to "SNL,"
this show is gonna be to "Soul Train."
-That's right. -And they were like --
We got, like, 30 seconds in, they're like,
"We're making the show." -Wow.
-"Now tell us how to" -- Yeah, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] That doesn't happen every time.
-And the premise --
The premise is Sherman has his own variety show.
-That's right. Saturday mornings.
-Saturday mornings. -Right after "Jabberjaw."
[ Laughter ]
It's "Jabberjaw," and then "Sherman."
But why the '70s? And why --
-Well, you know, we like the variety format.
You know, they don't happen as much nowadays,
but there was a time in the '70s when everybody had a vari--
Rerun from "What's Happening!!"
They were like, "Hey, you want a variety show?"
He was like, "Yes." [ Laughter ]
-Very -- yeah, yeah, yeah. -Thank you.
[ Laughter ] -Everyone had one.
-Dance of the '70s, thank you. -Yeah.
-Paramore fans are like, "What is he doing?"
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-It's a long story. But, no, everybody had a show,
and it was a chance to do music and comedy.
And for us, it was like, "Well, let's use that
as the baseline for the show
because then we can do sketches about anything in the world,"
and any music that we do can happen on that stage,
and we can just have a lot of fun.
-And then you made Sherman -- you said he's kind of
a little bit based on, like, Krusty the Clown?
-Yeah, he's based on Krusty the Clown.
[ Laughter and applause ]
You know, I love Krusty. He's the ultimate showman.
Like Krusty, Sherman has no allegiances.
He literally will stab anybody in the back
if it helps him for one second.
-He stabbed my character in the back.
-Many times. [ Laughter ]
He literally was like, "You got to go," yeah.
-Yeah, he actually has.
But you got John Legend to produce.
-Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] He's a great guy now.
-He's a good -- -Did you hear that, John?
You finally got some applause. -Finally.
Finally, somebody says something about John Legend.
-Finally. -Finally.
Said his name on TV. -Wow, he's a big --
A big shot now. -You know what's funny?
John and I had a mutual friend,
and my wife was having our second child's baby shower.
-Yeah. -And John and Chrissy came,
and then Chrissy and Brittany -- my wife, Brittany --
they hit it off, and they were friends.
So John and I were at parties together and, like --
we were always like, "Hey, we want to work together."
And then, eventually, you know, came this show
that married music with comedy,
and we knew that John dabbled in music.
-Sure. [ Laughter ]
-Sort of a side hustle of his. And --
And it was just a really cool thing.
But, you know, what's interesting about that is that,
like, in some ways, for that reason, like,
the show would not exist without my wife,
who's also the choreographer on the show --
-That's right. -I think it's --
-Shout-out, Brittany Riddle. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Brittany.
-Brittany wrote all those dances you see on the show.
Those are her work.
It's very much a family affair. -It is.
-But my nephew does the animation.
His sister is one of the writers.
She actually wrote -- She brought us the idea.
She's like, "I've got this idea for 'Drop It Low for Jesus.'"
-That's right. -And we were like --
-And America's never been the same.
-And Amer-- I hired extra -- -"Drop It Low for Jesus."
-"Drop It Low --" "Drop It Low for Jesus."
-Of course. I understood.
-I heard this thing -- Diallo, is this true?
I heard that you just sometimes cast people,
like, on the street.
-Yes, he does. -Yes, I do.
-Who? -Okay.
So, on our show, we have a security guard.
His name is Reynard.
And there's just one day that I was in Vegas,
and it's this typical -- You know, it's a Sunday morning,
and, you know, might be a little hungover.
Kids, turn this off.
-Maybe had one or two cocktails.
-Yeah, one or two. -Maybe, maybe.
-It's Las Vegas. I needed fried food.
So, I went to -- So, I went to --
This shows you the condition I was in.
I went to the Walmart stooper -- superstore.
-Yeah. -By the way, I probably
called it the "stooper store" at the time.
I went to the Walmart superstore.
You got to go -- have to go off The Strip to find this Walmart.
And the guy -- -In Vegas?
-In Vegas! -You went to a Walmart?
I just -- Look, they have a particular type of chicken
that's fantastic. [ Laughter ]
-I've never heard this!
-Why does it always have to be about the chicken for you?
-I don't know. -I --
[ Laughter ] -I have a problem.
-Not okay. -But I walked up to the counter
where you order the food, and this -- this old Black guy
came up there, and he had me cracking up.
Like, you know how, like, sometimes, like,
you're struggling, but then somebody
just comes along and they're just cracking you up?
-Yeah. -And I was standing there,
and all I wanted was chicken, but I was crying.
I was -- I was crying. I was dead, I was dying.
And I was like, "My man, what's your name?"
And he was like, "Reynard."
And I was like, "You are so funny.
One of these days, if I can ever find a part for you --"
I was like, "Do you act?" And he was like, "Not really."
I was like, "Doesn't matter."
I was like, "You're a funny person."
We do this on "South Side," too. -Yeah.
-If we find somebody who's just funny, we're just,
like, we'll put them on the show.
And so, now, two seasons later, Reynard the security guard...
-Yeah. -...is Sherman's security guard.
[ Cheers and applause ] -That's what I'm talking about.
It is so funny.
Don't stop crushing. Keep crushing.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here are Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle
in the new season of "Sherman's Showcase."
Take a look at this.
-Attention passengers -- we have taken control of the ship.
Hand over Sherman McDaniels and no one has to die --
violently, that is. [ Crowd gasps ]
Also, this is Ngasi speaking.
I know what you are thinking.
I died in the Black History Month Special,
but I survived, and I'm back.
-Well, folks, if Reynard is not successful with his crowbar,
it looks like we're all going to die.
[ Crowd gasps ] So, for those of you
who have something to live for, I apologize.
For the rest, I'll see you in hell.
Dutch?
-Let me go negotiate with him.
You stay here and keep the show going.
-Dutch, no. It could be dangerous.
-Sherman, I didn't know you -- -You're wasting time, brother.
You're wasting time. I'll do it.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
-Bashir Salahuddin, Diallo Riddle, everybody!
Season two of "Sherman's Showcase"
airs Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. on IFC.
It is available on AMC+.
More with Bashir and Diallo when we come back.
Come on back, everybody.