- So what's it like being a part of a hit Netflix show?
- Fun.
- That right?
- Is that a good answer?
- [Narrator] This is What a Joke.
- [Narrator 2] With Tom Papa and Fortune Feimster.
- [Narrator] On Netflix is a Joke Radio.
- Season two of Black Summer. And you're amazing in it.
- Thank you.
- Very scary.
It's very scary.
- All Zombie things have a little,
a little darkness to it.
And I, as a comedian,
whenever I see these films, and I'm always,
your breath gets taken away.
You're like, is it that intense
to actually shoot these films?
- Yeah.
- Is it?
- I rely solely on comedy to get me through it?
- Really.
, you know, like Hannah Gadsby, Sam Jay, you know like,
you know, like I can go on and on, like,
there are certain comedians that truly got me through
because when you're in it, it's so real.
Like, what we're doing is so,
it's not just like a zombie show, right?
Like that's, that's really the mask.
- Right. Right.
- What we're doing and what we're saying, you know?
- Yeah. And it, I mean, it's a lot about
like a loss of control.
- Yes.
- It's when your reality gets flipped on its head
and all the old rules and all the other ways
that you survive no longer are relevant.
- Yeah. I mean, I think,
we're just trying to explore humanity.
If these people are in this situation,
what does a commodity mean, what does it mean if you,
if money doesn't matter,
it's about food and shelter and water and trust.
And what happens when you have a collective trauma, right?
- Right.
Like who you band with?
What, what, where is your integrity?
What is your character? What is your, like,
how do you operate within that thing?
So it's like, the show is very deep, you know?
- Yeah.
(Zombie beating down door)
- I don't think you can stay.
- Why not?
Please.
- I don't know if you're useful.
- I can't go back out there.
I can't. I'll die.
Please, I'll, I'll help you.
- I need help dumping the bodies.
Can you do that?
- Yeah. I can do it.
Get inside and make a fire? It's cold.
We were the first up for Netflix during COVID.
We were shut down and then we're the first up
and the first to make it through COVID clean.
And I knew it, like, I knew it as the producer.
I was like, okay, listen, like,
if anyone can do it, we can do it.
Our cast, our crew, like we're, we're like.
- Yeah - Symbiotic. Right?
- Yeah.
And that, that energy is brought forward within our show,
you know, because we do, you know, from like
seven to 20 plus minute one-ers,
you know, where we never cut the camera.
- Wow.
- And we have the blueprints every day,
but then we throw our scripts on the ground
and we rewrite everything, we strip back everything,
and we wanna give everything to the audience,
so that we're not telling you how to think, feel, see,
all of those things.
- It's an interesting way to work
because there's something about being in this moment
that artistically you, we're kind of finding it
as you're going.
Anybody that writes or performs or does,
or creates shows or acts, you know, that the,
almost the old rules, like some of it will still pertain,
but we're moving in this new direction.
So you almost have to be open to what you're feeling
and what the people around you are feeling.
- The joy meets the, like the,
the absolute fear.
Because when I say we're throwing a script on the ground,
I'm not kidding.
Like that's literal.
We know the circumstances, the structure. And now what?
- Yeah.
How we (silenced) a way.
And then how do you do that in one shot
where there's only one chance.
And so, like, I really felt my, my own,
like with this, what's so amazing,
and I think that's why we're artists.
Why we're all artists is that
it's not just me playing someone else.
There's no, like the playing is the play. Right?
The play is like in the freedom of being on set
or being in the moment, that's the play.
Right?
- Right.
- But it is me and Rose merged. Right?
So it's like, - Sure.
- I mean, anything other than trying to get more nuanced
and trying to get more connected
and trying to be free enough inside of our own selves
so that people can see themselves inside of us.
- A Black Summer, which releases tomorrow,
June 17, on Netflix.
- Oh, my gosh. It comes out tomorrow?
- You didn't realize.
Oh yeah, here comes the pressure.
- This is like the love of my life.
This project is the love of my life.
And so I think I've been like in a weird COVID denial
about, like, what year is it, what month is it?
What day is it?
- Yeah. (chuckling)
- Oh my.
- Yeah, here it comes.
- The thing is, I'm trapped in this.
I'm somebody else now,
It doesn't matter if I like who that person is or not.
It's who I am.
I can only look out for her.
No one else.
It is crystal fucking clear.
My life has one meaning and it's her.
So everybody else can just get the fuck out
because you're probably going down.
- Well.
Bygones.
- Well, welcome. It's a great show.
- Thank you.
It was, it was interesting shooting it.
I mean, during the pandemic.
I, I keep saying that it's,
there wasn't much acting involved. (laughs)
It wasn't hard put himself into places where
a virus spreaded across the entire world, you know.
When we got shut down for COVID,
I was at like customs trying to come back in
and, you know, they grill you with all the questions.
And then, wait what are you doing here?
And I was like, I was shooting in Canada
and they were where you shooting?
A Netflix show.
What's it about?
A worldwide pandemic where people die
and turn into Zombies.
(all laughing)
The guy just gave me the coldest look like,
yeah, get outta here.
(all laughing)
- Now you don't play, necessarily, a good guy in the series.
- No, no.
- I would say, just because you're here with us,
I would call him complicated.
- Yeah. That's a good way to put it.
(all laughing)
He's complicated. He's morally ambiguous.
(all laughing)
- Yeah.
He's definitely not a great guy, I think.
You know, when civilization was normal and,
but now that we've got him kind of thrown into
this apocalypse and, you know, money and whatever
doesn't matter anymore, all that matters is surviving.
I think, you know, then there's some antihero-ness
that comes out of him just because he knows how to survive.
And he's a tough dude, you know, so.
- Right.
That help himself and reluctantly others,
I think, sometimes.
- Jaime was talking about how,
how a lot of times you guys would show up on set
and basically toss the script to the side,
if something was happening
and you would start to improvise
and go in different directions.
- Absolutely. Yeah.
I mean, the amazing thing is our show runner,
who's also the director of almost every episode,
he's an in-the-moment kind of guy, you know.
And he really encourages us.
He was like, hey, if you don't think you'd say that line,
toss it, you know.
Which, you know, most, most directors don't, don't ever say,
you know, and, and he just wants you to explore.
He wants you to find it.
You know, he, what he always says is
he comes to set with an idea.
- [Fortune] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- Hoping that people will make the idea better, you know?
- Right. - Right.
- So he's really about collaborative and collaboration.
- It's a very physical show too, right?
- Oh yeah, very physical, very physical, you know,
and particularly this season.
He wanted it to be much about,
as much about fighting nature as it is zombies, you know?
So I have one of my own episode
and where they just kind of track my character and.
- [Fortune] Mm-hmm (affirmative).
- And, you know, it's very, Revenant was kind of like
the inspiration.
In fact, we shot at the same place
where they shot the Revenant.
- No.
- Yeah. Yeah, so it was the real deal.
We were, I'm telling you, we were in like negative 10,
negative 14 degree weather.
- Ohh.
- It was awesome because I didn't have to act sometimes.
Like I was really surviving.
You know, I'm a Cali dude, so like, born and raised.
I don't know weather like that.
And so, you know, I had like four or five layers on.
I had big boots, you know.
But it just added to the physicality of it, you know.
And as you're kind of just trudging through the snow
and, you know, I'm really fighting to keep warm, you know.
There were some scenes they were just let the camera roll.
Justin's just really trying to stay warm here.
(all laughing)
(gentle music)