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*Deon Cole recently made his first ever visit to “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where he talked about his Chicago past, working with millennials and his latest series “Grown-ish.”
The new Freeform network comedy is a spin-off of ABC’s award-winning hit series “Black-ish” and stars breakout actress Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson and Cole as Charlie Telphy.
“He’s outside the box and unpredictable,” Cole says of his character, adding: “It’s going to be some wild classes of things he’s teaching.”
The Emmy-nominated comedy writer allegedly got into the biz when a friend bet him $50 that he would not get up on stage one night in Chicago.
“When you’re coming up as a comedian or anybody in the arts in Chicago, all the gangsters and pimps, they’ll leave you alone, they’ll let you do your stuff or whatever,” Cole said on Friday’s episode of “The Late Show.” “If (the gangster) be like, ‘Hey, come join the gang,’ I’d be like, ‘I’m an actor.’ He’d be like, ‘Aww, do your thing, brother.’”
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Cole became a fan favorite on “Black-ish” as the eccentric Charlie Telphy, and now the character is moonlighting as an adjunct marketing professor on “Grown-ish.”
When asked how much of his own personality is embedded in Charlie, to our surprise, Cole said: “None. I’ve never really been asked that question. Maybe as mystique as he is, people might think that about me because a lot of people don’t know too much about me. Other than that, none of him.”
But what’s up with Charlie’s obsession with drones? Does he have some compelling insight into the future of drones that we should know about?
“He’s just a guy that loves sabotaging people and that’s probably one of those devices that he likes. He’s crazy with it. He loves drones.”
For our readers who have not tuned into “Grown-ish” yet, what can you tell us about how Charlie and Zoey’s relationship develops?
“In a quirky, awkward way of teaching that Charlie brings, she’s going to find stuff in that classroom that she needs in order to find out how to conquer whatever situation she’s in. That’s as much as I can probably say about that.”
Are there additional important characters in Charlie’s life who will pop up and help drive his narrative?
“I think he’s just going to be focused on the classroom but there will be something towards the end of the season where you’re going to see him stretch out and see him on a whole ‘nother page with some other people. The majority of the situation will be in a classroom but you’ll see him stretch out a little bit. But when he stretches out, I promise you, it’s crazy.”
From “Black-ish” to “Grown-ish,” Charlie is a scene-stealer and you are truly a visually arresting and authentic performer. Do you find comedy therapeutic?
“Absolutely. Just depending on what form it is. But comedy is much more therapeutic. I was just telling somebody earlier that my stand-up is therapeutic. Acting is more of an escape and stand-up very much therapeutic.”
So, what does Deon Cole enjoy most about exploring Charlie’s world?
“How fascinating he is. He’s a fascinating character. Every script I get, it’s something new. It’s something different and you’re always learning something new about him. That’s what I love. It’s fun to play him because you never know about him. If you notice, in every episode that he’s been in on “black-ish” you learn something new about his past and it’s just amazing to play that kind of guy.”
As a Primetime Emmy nominee, do you think awards such as the Emmys are just as important as the work you put out?
“No. I just think that it’s good to be recognized and for people to see what you’re doing and honor you with it. That’s always good but if you don’t then you don’t. You still can feel good at the end of the day with what you’ve given to people and what they’re receiving and what you’ve got to bring to the table. And as long as people can recognize the real that you’re bringing then you can always feel good about that. If we win some hardware, fine. If we don’t, fine. We gon’ keep doing what we doing and keep resonating with the people and making people think and laugh.”
Do you find that being from the Midwest equips you with certain scruples which allow you to stay grounded in morally decaying cities such as Los Angeles?
“Absolutely. This is the problem that a lot of people have, just people in general. A lot of people forget that they are original. You’re different. There’s no one on the planet like you. A lot of people tend to forget that. So when you take a person from Chicago and you go to L.A., they tend to adapt to what’s going on in L.A., like everyone else is there. But you have to have the mindset to go, “Instead of me being a part of something, I should bring something that they don’t know about.” You have to remember that you’re original and you should rather bring something rather than be a part of something. That was the mind-frame that I had and that’s why we’re here talking now.”
Lastly, what else is coming up for you this year? Any other projects you’re working on?
“Me and Netflix are going to be doing an hour stand-up special. My other special is on Netflix right now called “The Standups,” with me and six other comedians. I have a couple of movies coming out, “The Female Brain” with Whitney Cummings, Blake Griffin, James Marsden, Sofia Vergara. It’s a wonderful cast. And also, I did a movie called “Headshop” with Nicole Ari Parker, Kimberly Elise and Michael Jai White. That’ll be coming out this year. And also another movie called “Two Minutes of Fame” with Jay Pharoah and Katt Williams. Other than that, hitting the road, preparing for this hour special and writing and writing and writing!
“Grown-ish” airs Wednesday night on Freeform. If you missed an episode, get caught up via Freeform.com and the Freeform app.
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