“Abbott Elementary” was an Emmy force in its first season. Over its seven nominations, creator Quinta Brunson got a Lead Actress in a Comedy nomination and won for her writing. Tyler James Williams earned a Supporting Actor in a Comedy nomination. Janelle James earned a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nod, and her co-star, Sheryl Lee Ralph, had everyone on their feet when she won the category. There are two members of the ensemble still waiting for their well-deserved Emmy nominations, Lisa Ann Walter and Chris Perfetti. Something tells us it might just be the latter’s year.
READ MORE: Janelle James recognizes Ava’s “hustle” on “Abbott Elementary” [Interview]
A year ago, Perfetti was seemingly still on a high over the surprise success of “Abbott.” This year, not much has changed. Perfetti says, “Every day that I’ve had this job has been a new pinch-me moment.” But, season two allowed viewers to learn more about his character Jacob (his college alma matter reveal was a cackle moment) and placed him in the middle of the show’s “will they or won’t they” romance between Brunson and Williams’ characters.
During a conversation last month, Perfetti did a deep dive into Jacob’s motivations for season two, the strong chemistry between the cast members, his return to Broadway, and much, much more.
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The Playlist: Congratulations on the second season.
Chris Perfetti: Thanks, brother.
Is that hard to hear, or are you like, “Eh, whatever. It’s just a job.”
I feel like every day that I’ve had this job has been a new pinch-me moment, and I feel like I’ve never been a part of a show that’s made it to a second season. So yeah, it’s a cool thing to hear.
I was speaking to Janelle yesterday, and I asked her a question I’ll ask you. The first season was only 13 episodes. You guys knew going in, at least, that the pilot had been well received, but you weren’t able to, like many other shows, shoot it and see people freaking out and the ratings going crazy. You were in a bubble. What did knowing that the show had been a success bring to you, or bring to your confidence going into season two?
I think it’s just that. That’s funny you were talking to Janelle yesterday; I was talking to Janelle yesterday. I think the amazing thing about working on a new piece like this is you just, especially in film and TV, you have this authority to assume that the character is you in a way. And all of your work on it is obviously made easier by a very talented and specific writer like Quinta. But yeah, you’re still shooting in the dark when after you make the pilot in the first season. But coming into the second season, and just knowing that people were picking up what we were putting down, just gives you this confidence that you can push it further. That it just allows the character, I feel like, to settle deeper into your body. And that’s a good feeling, especially when it’s captured on camera. I feel like one of the many things that contributes to the success of our show is you need to believe on some level that it’s real life. It’s meant to look like a documentary, and that adds to the comedy and the pathos of it. And I feel like you can behave more like a real person when you’re confident about what you’re doing. And so I hope that the success of the show will just help make it better.
Well, obviously, you guys went from, in the first season, just 13 episodes to, I think 23?
We did 22.
22. Did it feel, I know you have so much experience in theater, but was it tougher? Was it more of a grind to do so many episodes week after week?
No. A grind is not how I would describe it. It’s tough in certain respects. I’ll just speak for myself and say that one of the things that I enjoy so much about working on a play is you get to spend a month figuring out what anything could be. Every possibility. And our show shoots very quickly, obviously, and so you don’t have time to really second guess yourself. And so that is the mildly torturous part about doing 22 episodes for me. But no, I think one of the other things I’ve realized about our show is just how well all of the cogs work together, and that it really encompasses not just us as an ensemble, but everybody there who’s making decisions about our show. And so 22 was such a gift and so fun. But I think we could have done 42. It wasn’t hard to do.
I hope you get to do another 22 this season this upcoming year. We’ll see what happens this summer with the strikes. One of the interesting things about Jacob this season is that Sheryl Lee Ralph’s character, Barbara, basically decides she’s had enough with Jacob, which was a big turn from the first season where it appeared they were friends. Did you enjoy that aspect that the writers added this season? How did you see Jacob overall with his fellow teachers?
Look, I thought that was a hilarious line, and so that at the end of the day trumps anything in my book. I want everybody to like Jacob, but if it’s funnier for people to not like Jacob, that’s what I want. And I think the nature of this environment, this place, this show is everything is always changing on a dime, and everybody’s always in chaos mode. And so I think it makes total sense for them to like each other and hate each other all within the same day. That’s just the nature of what they have to put up with at Abbott. And then in terms of what happened with Jacob this year, I was just so pleased that writers and our producers wanted to explore so early on why Jacob is the way that he is.
That’s the metaphor and the overall intention I feel like with the second season, is hopefully, you have some investment in these characters from season one, and so now we can either go home with them, or just figure out why they are messed up in the way that they are, or brilliant in the way that they are. And so the corny episode very early on in the season, I feel like was a great touchstone for where Jacob was going and maybe what his journey over that school year would be, which I feel like is coming to terms with that, and exploiting that, and using it to his advantage. So I’m glad that there’s a real trap, I feel like with this character you could just always make him the butt of a joke and have it not rooted in some sort of reality. And I feel like the exploration of that in, I think it was the second or third episode, I feel like really set us up to have more room to go.
Just to go back to the Barbara storyline, or if it really was a storyline, there is an episode late at the end of the season [“Educator of the Year”] where Jacob is integral in helping her. Did you feel like that maybe closed that writer’s idea of her being annoyed with him?
Look, I love that moment too. I feel like the world is fangirling over Barbara, and so to get to be the chosen one to temporarily embody that was fun. At the end of the day, this is a sitcom, and so things are going to vacillate as I said, possibly hundreds of times. But I think the cool thing about what we did in the second season is at the same time that we were fracturing these characters in a bit and seeing who they are alone or with other people, we were really sewing them together and we were creating an Avengers squad that hopefully a group of people that can rely on each other. So, I was definitely happy to read that.
Speaking of things you have been excited about, was there any joy in the fact that Jacob was the one that found out that Janine had a crush on Gregory?
Totally. I feel like it’s antithetical to Jacob’s nature. His naivete is often a breeding ground for jokes, but the fact that Jacob is the one that was in on it, or got to witness it, is totally fun. And the cool thing also about what we’re doing now is I feel like the writers are writing to who we are as actors as well. And finding out that information I feel like will inevitably result in some sort of burst of physicality and, “Hey, I’m your guy for that.”
That all tracks with Jacob not really being a gossip though. Some of the other characters are, but he tends not to be.
No, I think you’re right about that.
I know you’ve shot over 35 episodes so far, but is there one moment or one episode from season two that enjoyed the most or felt that you might have done your best work?
Oh, well, I’m never going to feel like I’ve done my best work, but I think the episode where Janine is sick and Janelle’s character has to take over for her class, I think is some of the best writing I’ve encountered. I just think it’s such a brilliant idea. And Janelle’s performance is gobsmackingly good. So that’s a real highlight, but it’s hard. It’s really hard to hone in on that. It’s such a beautiful set, it’s such a beautiful group of people that every day is very fun. I’ll say that the scenes where we’re all together, all seven of us, and the camera is whipping around, and we’re just pinging off of each other, and it’s moving at the speed of fun. I feel like those are the real highlights for me. Those are my favorite moments, the big group scenes.
As someone who’s obviously done lots of theater and been in larger ensembles, did you feel this season that you guys clicked into your rhythms quicker? Are you getting to know your co-stars well enough that it just clicks?
They are continually surprising me and I feel like every day that I’m jamming with them is a day that I’m learning about how to be a better actor. So, I don’t think that I can predict what they’re going to do, but I think sometimes you walk onto a set and you have a bit of a wall up in the sense that you need to protect your performance, which I can understand and relate to, or you need to just protect yourself as a person. And I don’t feel like I have to go through that here on this show. And so there’s a real ease, and a real sense of improvisation, and collaboration, that I think makes the show fun.
So, without even knowing I was going to be speaking to you, a few days ago my father messaged me, “I just saw this great play ‘King James’.” And I was like, “Oh wow. Coincidence.”
Oh, he called it great?
He called it great.
Amazing. That’s a great review.
This is the third time you’ve staged it, right?
Yeah, this is the third incarnation.
Are you excited about the opening and if anyone had seen it somewhere else, is it markedly different at all? Have there been changes or is it pretty much the LA production?
To answer your first question, yes, I’m very excited; I’m oddly suspicious of how excited I actually am. The play feels so fresh and so fun to do. And so I’m thrilled. I’m in my happy place working on a new play. And the production is the same production. We started the play at Steppenwolf in Chicago, and then we went to LA to CTG and did it there at the Mark Taper Forum. And now we’re doing it here at Manhattan Theater Club in New York, and it is the same production. So, the play is the same, and we’ve tweaked it for this house, and for these audiences, obviously, very, very minorly. But when Rajiv Joseph writes a play, it’s pretty well-baked and it doesn’t need to be changed. So, if people missed it in Chicago or LA, they can catch it here in New York.
I’m just going to assume that unless there was a Knicks joke already in the show, there has not been one added for the Broadway production.
No, nothing has been added. As I said, it’s perfect the way it is, but there is a Knicks joke in the play.
Oh, there is a Knicks joke.
And it’s playing very differently here in New York than it did in Chicago and LA.
“Abbott Elementary” season two is available on Hulu.