Please welcome Brian Tyree Henry!
-♪ ♪ -(cheering, applause)
Yeah!
Hey.
(cheering continues)
Thank you. I don't know why I felt like I had to bow...
You have to bow. You have to bow.
I don't know why I did that. I'm sorry.
-That is the sign of humility. -It's a sign of respect.
-I bow to the applause. -I bow to... (laughs)
-Welcome back to the show. -Thanks, man.
First things first-- congratulations
on your Tony Award nomination.
That is really exciting. That's coming up on Sunday?
-Yeah. -(cheering, applause)
-Congratulations. -Yeah. It's crazy.
That's really exciting. You know, I was thinking,
you've got a Tony Award nomination, right,
you were nominated for an Emmy, I mean, sooner or later
you're gonna win all of these things.
I heard you singing in an episode of This Is Us.
-Yeah. -Like, why not just...
why not just go into music, be the real Paper Boi,
-and then just go for an EGOT? -I mean, 'cause, like,
I want to stay in my lane a little bit.
You know, like, Donald's already taken over the music thing,
so I don't want to, like, go over there.
I was like, I'll just do theater.
I'll stay and do theater and let him, like,
-let him do the music side. -Oh, that's nice of you.
I'm a courteous guy. You know this. Like...
I like to share, man.
I'm not here to take it all. I am.
Um, l-let's talk a little bit
about all the projects that you're doing.
-That clip that we just saw -Yeah.
-is from the new movie Hotel Artemis. -Yeah.
And in that scene,
you were acting with Sterling K. Brown--
and we'll chat about that in a moment--
but what is the premise of Hotel Artemis?
It's a really interesting story.
I don't want to give too much away,
but, first of all, Jodie Foster.
-That's, that's one. -Right.
And, uh, so it's a hotel
for criminals during a water drought.
-Right. -Which may happen in the near-distant future.
So it's set in 2028.
There's a water riot going on, and these criminals,
Sterling and I, who are brothers,
we get injured, and we have to go to this hotel
-that is literally made for criminals. -Right.
You pay a membership, and Jodie Foster plays a nurse
that takes care of all of us there.
But we're not the only criminals
that have checked-in that same day.
Right. It's-It's a really crazy premise.
-It is insane. -The two of you being brothers
is funny enough, is, like, the most believable part
of the story in terms of a crazy world,
because in real life, you two are best friends.
-Yeah. -I didn't know this.
Yeah, I've known him for over 11 years.
-We actually-- uh, he went to NYU, -Right.
uh, for grad school here.
And after I graduated from Yale,
I came to New York and started doing theater.
And we have been doing, like, plays here ever since.
But we never got to act in scenes together.
We were always, what I call, "acting adjacent.”
So, like, I know he's over there talking, but I'm like,
I don't have any scenes with him, but... (laughs)
But, like, so we were "acting adjacent."
So this time, we finally got to do this movie, where we're like,
hey, man, like, let's-let's really, like, play brothers.
-Like, let's really do it. -Right.
And I can't believe we made it happen.
It's still unbelievable to me.
Yeah, because he got you the role on This Is Us, didn't he?
-Yeah, man. -The role that got you nominated for the Emmy.
-Yeah. Don't say all that to him. -That's really...
Now he's gonna know that, and he's gonna, like,
run around and tell everybody that.
Oh, you-you want, you want him to be humble for what...?
-Yes. -Oh, okay.
I mean, he already won the Emmy, so...
Well, you got yourself the role on his show
-through him knowing you. -Thank you, Trevor.
-Yes, that's how it happened. -Thank you.
But, yeah, it's like, when you are acting with somebody
that you've known for that long,
is it harder to change the characters,
or do you get into the roles even deeper?
No, it, actually, you become more of a jackass
-because you're just playing all the time. -Right.
Like, we, literally, we were there, uh, playing all the time.
There was one moment, man, that, uh,
you know, my character gets injured
and I'm laying on the gurney, and, like, he--
I just feel this wetness on my mouth,
and I guess this was his choice
to give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
He did not-- that's not in the script.
So after the director yells, "cut!"
I was like, "Oh, yeah. That's what we're gonna do?
Just gonna put your mouth on mine?"
So right before he yells, "action", I was like,
"You have the most tenderest lips I've ever, uh, felt."
And he's like, "action." I was like, "you can't break now."
Like, what are you gonna do?
-You have to finish the scene, so, yeah. -Right.
And now that the story has taken a completely different turn.
It's all new. That'll be the sequel.
Uh, it was, it was a great time, man.
We spent a lot of time just playing and joking.
And, like, I feel like when you have
a-a chemistry like that with somebody,
-it's infectious on set. -Right.
So, you know, we had just a great time, man.
That's something that seems to be a trend wherever you go.
You're known for being an affable person
who's great to work with, you know.
Your cast members speak about you in such a beautiful way,
whether it's in theater, whether it's in TV or movies.
I mean, Atlanta is one of the shows
where every single one of us who's a fan of the show
feels like we know you and your castmates intimately.
-We feel like you're a family. -Yeah, well, yeah.
You know, wh-when we see Alfred and the gang hanging out,
we feel like that is a family.
I've always wondered this, though:
Why do you always refer to him
as Alfred and not as Paper Boi?
Well, because I wanted, I wanted everyone
to be very clear that that's who he is.
You know what I'm saying? Paper Boi is the persona
that's put upon him, that's not, that's not who he is.
And, um, I just always want to make sure to remind myself
to always check-in with Alfred
before I check in with Paper Boi,
'cause Paper Boi is the one that gets the fame,
and has all these things, but deep down inside,
like, you know, he's still Alfred.
He started as Alfred, and I want to make sure
that he stays Alfred.
You have a lot of roles coming up.
I mean, everyone loves you.
People are waiting for you to play any role that you want.
Trev, stop it, man. I love you.
-This is true. This is true. -You're, like...
-Ugh, man. I love this man so much. -But this is true.
You-You are, you are dearly, dearly loved.
-I am telling you this now. -Thank you.
Are there any roles that you wish you could play?
There's got to be, like, dream roles where you go like,
"Yeah, I've always wanted to play that character.”
I want to be Bruce Leroy.
-Bruce Leroy? -Do you guys-- any of y'all know the movie
-The Last Dragon? -Like, from way back?
-From, like, The Last Dragon. -Yeah. Yeah.
-Like, I want to be Bruce Leroy. -Okay.
I think it would be-- No, actually,
I want you to be Bruce Leroy,
and I'd be Sho'nuff.
-Don't get me started. -I mean, like, I don't know.
Would y'all watch it? Y'all would watch that, right?
(cheering and applause)
You need to think about it, Trev.
Think about this project, and, like,
I-I think we can make it happen.
You see, and then you wonder why people love you.
This is what-- you go around giving people movie roles,
-and then you wonder why people love you. -I just...
I just want to have a chance for me and you
to do something together, man. I know we'd smash it.
No, man, it would, it would be great.
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you, man.
Hotel Artemis will be in theaters June 8.
Brian Tyree Henry, everybody.