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By
Suzanne

Interview with Grant Dekernion and
Bobby Moynihan of "Chozen" on FX 1/7/14
Final Transcript
FX NETWORKS: Chozen
January 7, 2014/12:00 p.m. PST
SPEAKERS
Kristy Silvernail, FX Networks / Senior Manager, Media
Relations
Grant Dekernion, Chozen / Creator, Executive Producer,
Writer
Bobby Moynihan, Chozen / “Chozen”
PRESENTATION
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by.
Welcome to the Chozen conference call. At this time, all
participants are in a listen only mode. Later we will
conduct a question and answer session. I would now like to
turn the conference over to our host, Miss Kristy Silvernail.
Please go ahead
Christie Hello, and welcome to the Chozen conference call
with series creator, executive producer, and writer Grant
Dekernion and series star Bobby Moynihan who voices the lead
role of “Chozen.” I’d like to thank all of you for joining
us today and remind you that this call is for print purposes
only. No audio may be used.
Chozen debuts its first season on Monday, January 13th at
10:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on FX, immediately
following the season-five premiere of Archer. As always, we
respectfully request that you do not post spoilers pre-air
to help protect the viewing experience for our audience.
With that said, let’s go ahead and open it up for questions.
Moderator We have a question line of Suzanne Lanoue. Please
go ahead.
Suzanne Hi. Thanks for talking to us today.
Grant Hi there.
Bobby No sweat. Thanks you for having us.
Suzanne I’ve been watching the show, and I have to say I
didn’t think I would necessarily like it or that it was my
kind of show but I think it’s really good.
Bobby Thank you so much.
Grant Awesome.
Suzanne Well, you read the description and you start going,
“Okay,” you know. I’m probably not your target audience, but
still it’s really well done. I don’t know what else I can
say about it. But anyway, was it difficult trying to get
someone to take a chance with something that’s kind of
off-the-wall or not your standard TV show let’s say?
Grant This is Grant. I guess I can hit that real quick.
Surprisingly, when it came to FX, it wasn’t difficult. I
mean, that’s what they’re known for. They are known for
taking chances, and they are known for doing programming
that’s kind of unique and groundbreaking, and this is the
place myself and the producers always pictured the show as
having a chance to live.
So we went there with high hopes and our high hopes were
met. They were very excited and very invested, and we were
really fortunate in finding a home on the place where I
think the show has the greatest chance to make an impact.
Suzanne Good. Bobby, did you have to audition or were you
involved at the beginning with the process, or how did it
come about for you?
Bobby I’m actually a gay white rapper cartoon in real life,
so it just worked out really good. No, I got an email
saying, “Would you like to put yourself on tape for this,”
and they had one of the little character descriptions—the
drawings of what they look like—and they said Method Man was
involved and I said, “Yeah, I don’t want to do anything more
in my life than this.”
Suzanne Well, that’s great. I’m going to tell everybody how
good it is, and I hope it’s very successful.
Bobby Thank you so much.
Grant Thank you so much for your time.
Suzanne Sure.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Jamie
Steinberg with Starry Constellation Magazine. Please go
ahead
Jamie Hi, guys. It’s such a pleasure to speak with you.
Bobby Hello.
Grant Hi, Jamie.
Jamie Bobby, I was wondering how you came up with the voice
for “Chozen”?
Bobby I know it sounds weird to say, but it’s a voice I’ve
been doing all my life maybe. I feel like I know a lot of
people that sound like “Chozen,” and when I saw the drawing
and read Grant’s script—the character is so well-defined
already that all I had to do was come in and talk and have a
good time. So I felt like it was something I had inside me
already.
Jamie So there wasn’t anything about this character that you
added? You just stuck with Grant’s script?
Bobby No. I mean, we do some improvising. Me and Grant will
go back and forth, or he’ll have a line and I’ll add to it,
or he’ll say, “No. Try this,” and I think it’s a good mix
between the writing on the show is pretty wonderful, so I
like to let them do that, but when we’re doing the recording
sometimes something new will come up or something very
dirty, and then I beg Grant not to put it in, and he does,
and I was wrong, and it’s very funny.
Jamie So, Grant, how did you come up with the concept for
the show then?
Grant Well, I had always wanted to do a show—I knew I wanted
to do a show involving music and the struggle to be a
musician, and I’ve loved hip-hop my whole life, so I just
started thinking about it. Then I also wanted to create a
character that I’d never seen before on TV, and I think
“Chozen” fits that bill.
I think there’s a lot of interesting things you have with “Chozen.”
Here’s a guy who’s coming out of jail; here’s a guy who’s
trying to take his life back. So to me it’s a different kind
of—it’s like a delayed coming-of-age story a little bit, and
I thought that would be a fun way to kind of get into a type
of story that’s been told a few times but in a different
way.
Jamie Okay. Thank you guys so much—can’t wait for the
premiere.
Grant Thank you.
Bobby Thank you.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Dan
Calvisi with Act 4 Screenplays. Please go ahead.
Dan Hey, Bobby. It’s your old UCB buddy Dan Calvisi from …
Improv 101.
Bobby What’s up man? Amazing. How are you?
Dan Good. How’s it going?
Bobby Good. Doing well.
Dan Well, congrats on the new show. I really enjoyed it, and
I’ve enjoyed watching your work over the years, so I’m
looking forward to it.
Bobby Thanks, man.
Dan So here’s my question: My audience are screenwriters, so
my question is kind of about comedy-writing now—for both of
you guys writing comedy—and the idea of parody versus
original concepts. For example, your “Snookie” impression
was hilarious.
Bobby Thank you.
Dan It was a great pop-culture parody at the time.
Bobby She’s not a real person is she?
Dan Whereas like “Drunk Uncle” and “Anthony Crispino” are
these original characters that you created, but yet they
remind us all of someone we know. They kind of have those
essential human truths in them. So for you guys, what’s the
difference in writing these two types of characters and
stories, and where does Chozen fall in that kind of area,
range?
Grant Oh boy. I think Chozen in my mind and the way the
writers work with him, he’s a very real person to me. I
don’t think he’s a parody of anybody or a parody of any
idea. I know people like him—maybe not exactly like him—but
there are traits about him that are familiar to me and, I
think, familiar to Bobby as well.
Within the show I do think we do have some fun with—there is
some parody in our show of whether it’s famous people or
ideas or things like that. It’s always a fun place to get
jokes and kind of get a tentacle out into the real world
because we’re in a cartoon world. So I think we do a little
bit of both, but I think “Chozen” is wholly unique and in my
mind wholly real and original to himself.
Bobby To be honest, it reminds me the most of “Kenny Powers”
on Eastbound & Down. It’s like “Kenny Powers” is a real
person. The way people talk about that is like he’s a real
person, and hopefully they’ll do the same about “Chozen.”
It’s like this guy is a loose cannon lunatic, but he’s
actually a pretty good person with a good heart, and it’s an
amazingly fun character to play because there is this—it’s
so insane and so off-the-wall but there is this groundedness
[sic] to him, and there is this kind of own life philosophy
that he has that I will say since I’ve gotten the show I
have actually had the thought in real life of like, “I need
to act more like this “Chozen” dude,” because he gets what
he wants, and he gets results. He may go about in a weird
way, but it’s a very well fleshed-out character, and that’s
one of my favorite parts about it.
Dan How do you find that line, if I may ask, between the
dark sides of him—I mean, he literally wants to rape men—and
then the good side of him, you know?
Bobby Yeah, I think he just wants love from anywhere, and I
think whatever he wants he’s going to take just because
that’s how he’s learned how to do things. But that fine
line, I don’t know. I think one of the best parts about it
is that we can kind of Dance on that line, and there are
times when you can kind of take it over the line, and there
are times where you don’t need to, and I think it’s a good
balance between the two on Chozen.
There are some lines when I watch it I cringe because I
can’t believe I said that, but then I go—but coming out of
“Chozen’s” mouth it seems completely perfect.
Grant Yeah, I think it’s important to recognize too since
“Chozen” in the real world—he is making an effort, albeit a
backwards effort, to try to figure out how to relate to
people. So you will see him try to develop a relationship,
try to be in a relationship, and it isn’t all about some
forced thing with them. It’s that mind trying to figure out,
“Okay how do I participate in a give-and-take,” and that’s
obviously a struggle for him a little bit.
Bobby Yeah, there’s a line in the second episode were
“Chozen” wanders into an LGBT meeting and immediately
screams, “Where’s the dick at?” I believe?
Grant Yeah.
Bobby It’s completely just out of—that’s just how he
knows—that’s what he does, and that’s how he knows. They’re
asking him questions about if he’s bisexual or not, and he
just says, “Stop trying to label me. I’m just ‘Chozen.’
Like, I’m a sex person.” Like he just does what he wants to
do and lives his life.
Grant Yeah.
Dan Okay, great. Thanks.
Moderator Your next question comes from Sabienna Bowman from
TV Equals. Please go ahead.
Sabienna Hi, guys. Thanks so much for talking with us today.
Bobby Thanks for having us.
Grant Hi there.
Sabienna Hi. Okay, so my question is—I haven’t gotten to see
the show yet, but I’m really excited to see it—but from the
press material that has been released I’ve read that Chozen
kind of launched a fight against misogyny and homophobia in
rap lyrics. So I kind of wondered is Chozen a show with a
message hidden within the comedy?
Grant I wouldn’t say so. I mean, I do think there are some
ideas and messages that may be touched upon, but we write
the show. The show is about one person and about one
person’s experience, so it’s not—it has nothing to do with
politics or anything like that. I think just because of the
nature of the character and the way he goes about things
certain things could hit people in a certain way, but that’s
nothing intentional that we do from our end.
Sabienna Right.
Bobby Yeah, I kind of see it as it’s a show about a man and
his relationship with his friends and his sister, and he
just happens to be a gay white rapper also.
Sabienna Awesome. What do you hope viewers kind of take away
from the show?
Grant Well, I’ll go first. I just hope they have some
laughs. I hope they can connect with the characters. I hope
they can laugh. I hope they can kind of invest in the
struggles and the wins and losses of all these great people
we have on the show and they’ll just kind of jump on for the
ride.
Bobby Yeah, as far as an animated comedy goes, to me it’s
not like Family Guy which is just joke after joke. It’s more
of like this is a story about this guy’s life, and I hope
that people want to see where he goes in his life, and I
hope they continue to watch it so they can find out.
Sabienna Awesome. Thank you guys so much, and good luck with
everything.
Bobby Thank you.
Grant Thank you.
Moderator Our next question comes from Simon Applebaum from
Tomorrow Will Be Televised. Please go ahead.
Simon From Tomorrow Will Be Televised, the radio show on
television about blog talk radio. Grant, if you just read
the premise of your show it sounds like it could’ve gone
either way in terms of how it’s done, animation or live
action. So talk about your animation background and is this
program—did you think about doing it as a live-action show
for FX, and how different is this from other animated work
you’ve done?
Grant Well, one of those questions is a really quick answer:
I haven’t done animated work prior to this. So this is my
first foray into animation, and when we got the concept of
the show going and the idea of the show, myself and the
other producers we just thought it was a natural fit to try
to do something with animation.
We wanted to do an animated show that was perhaps a little
more grounded than a lot of animated shows, and there are
things we can do with animation that we couldn’t do with
live-action. Mainly we can go inside people’s heads inside
their dreams. You could shoot that live, but it would be
prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, so we thought
animation was a good fit.
Simon So given that this is your rookie experience in
animation, how did you work out the process? How did you
work out diving into this world?
Grant Well, it’s really an ongoing—I’m still kind of getting
an education on the whole process. We were fortunate enough
to get to work with Floyd County, who is the animation
company behind Archer, and so the guys over there have
decades of experience in creating animated television, and
they’ve really kind of took us under their wing and showed
us their process which is very unique in the animated world.
There’s no other studio making content the way Floyd County
makes it.
So we really just kind of got a crash course in here’s how
you do things, and we kind of just jumped in feet first, and
we’ve been learning every day since. I think we’ve about got
it figured out, but it’s a very complex process.
Simon Grant, Bobby, great to hear you. Good luck with the
premiere on Monday.
Bobby Thank you.
Grant Thank you, sir.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Jerry
Nunn from Windy City Times. Please go ahead.
Jerry Hey, guys.
Bobby Hey.
Grant Hello.
Jerry I was wondering if you had heard of Big Dipper? He’s
an overweight white gay rapper in Chicago.
Grant Sure.
Bobby You’re not going to believe this: That’s my father.
Jerry There you go. I didn’t know if you had heard of him
before making the show or after?
Bobby I actually haven’t heard of him before, but he sounds
wonderful.
Grant I hadn’t heard of him, however—
Bobby He is going to love this show.
Grant As soon as the show was announced or something, all of
a sudden I heard of him real quick because I think—I don’t
know, he said, “This show is about me,” or something like
that, and so then I became familiar with him.
Bobby What’s his name again?
Jerry Big Dipper.
Bobby I’m going to have to look this up.
Jerry Yeah, you’ll have to look them up on YouTube. Then
also, do you guys have LGBT consultants about the show, or
where do you get some of your info from, because it’s really
funny but I just wanted to know about that.
Grant I mean, I don’t know if I’d use the term consultants,
but we have a very diverse staff on every level of the show
from the creative staff to producers to the studio, so we
have voices in the process represented. So yeah, I mean we
definitely have had many people help us out whenever we’re
in need of knowledge, but they’re part of the process. It’s
not as if I call someone up and ask about—
Jerry Right, I get it. I love the show, so I just wanted to
say was great. I wasn’t offended at all being gay, so there
you go.
Bobby Oh great. Thank you.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Rich
Milko over from BubbleBlabber.com. Please go ahead
Rich Hey guys. How’s it going?
Bobby Good. How are you?
Grant Hey, Rich.
Rich Having a blast. What was it like having Method Man in
the booth rapping lines he had written, and did he ever
offer any constructive criticism from the booth?
Grant Well, it was interesting. I’ve only done a few rap
things with Meth, but the main one we did, he was actually
in Norway at the time. So we were over this wire, and I had
written this pitch for what he would rap, and obviously he’s
the pro—he can feel free to mess with it if he likes. But it
was a little bit surreal him being like, “Okay, well play me
what you’ve got,” and he hears it and he’s like, “Uh, okay,”
and then he does it his own way.
I mean, probably the funniest part is we had all these
lyrics in mind, and he liked them, so he’s like, “Yeah lets
go with this.” And it took me literally an afternoon of
editing to be able to get a demo of what this could sound
like, and I think Method Man did it in one breath in about
32 seconds. So it’s been really great, and we’re going to be
working with him tomorrow.
He’s been very collaborative, and he’s always open to
throwing in his own flavor and switching things around and
just in general making them better. So it’s been really
cool.
Rich Awesome. We’ve seen shows in the past like
Metalocalypse eventually turning into a touring band. Could
you see Chozen following that path?
Grant I don’t know about that one. You know, I think we do a
great job making these songs for the show, but it is—I’m not
a pro rap-performing artist. I do the best I can, and it
does take probably a bit more production on our end to get
stuff done than it would if we had someone with the skills
of Method Man or whoever doing it every week. So I don’t
know if it would lend itself quite to that, but I’ve
actually seen Metalocalypse the band, and I’m a huge fan.
Rich Alright, cool. Thanks a lot, guys.
Grant Thank you.
Moderator Our next question comes from the line of Gwen
Reyes from Red Carpet Crash. Please go ahead.
Gwen Hey, guys. Thanks so much for chatting with us today.
Bobby No sweat. Thanks for having us.
Grant Thank you.
Gwen Well, I had a quick question since I heard you guys are
still doing some recording. Bobby, you’re also on Saturday
Night Live, can you talk a little bit about balancing your
work on Chozen as well as kind of fronting Saturday Night
Live as well?
Bobby Yeah, to be honest it’s not hard at all. Even during
the show week it’s pretty easy. The recording studio is two
blocks away from SNL. I’ll go run and do that and then run
back to SNL. It’s not as hard as you would think.
The hours at SNL are pretty insane, but it’s nice to be able
to run across the street and act like an idiot for an hour,
and then run back and act like an idiot for seven hours.
Gwen Then I’m also curious since you have Method Man on
here, but are we going to see any other guest rappers or any
other big voices that we should be looking forward to?
Bobby The rap debut of Kathy Bates is going to happen. No, I
would—I don’t know. I hope so. I mean, I hope some guys see
it and want to do it. Yeah, that would be wonderful.
Grant We don’t have anyone locked up just yet, but that’s
something we definitely want to try to do.
Gwen Is there any wish list or anything like that?
Grant Oh boy. I mean, I could go on forever.
Bobby Yeah, me too.
Grant You know, it really depends on you kind of have to
figure out what the character needs to be like first, and
then you can just take your pick of great rapper that would
fit that.
Bobby Grant, you don’t know this yet, but I would like to do
an episode where you meet “Chozen’s” mom and the voice is
just DMX.
Grant That would be amazing.
Moderator Next question comes from the line of Earl Dittman
from Digital Journal. Please go ahead
Earl Hey, guys. Thanks a lot for doing this today.
Bobby Thank you for having us.
Grant Hey, Earl.
Earl I have to say I had to agree with my first colleague.
When I first saw it on paper I thought, “You know, I don’t
know that this is for me,” but once I saw the video for
“Murder, Sex” I was intrigued. I watched all five of... I
felt in love with it. I think it’s a wonderfully written,
hilarious, really well-grounded show. I’m just really
excited about it.
Bobby That phrase, “Once I watched “Murder, Sex” I watched
the rest,” has never been uttered before, and it’s the
greatest thing I’ve ever heard.
Earl It caught me immediately. Once I saw that I was like,
“Okay, this is something I’ve got to watch,” so I’ve been
watching. Grant, the thing I wanted to ask you, you talked
about doing the show, developing a show about somebody
up-and-coming in the music business. What was specific about
rap and hip-hop that made you go with that instead of maybe
rock or pop or dance or whatever?
Grant Gosh, good question. Well, I grew up in bands. I grew
up in rock bands, and then I did some work in the rap game
as it were, and I thought that the rock-band story has kind
of been told and been, I think it’s been told really well
more than a few times, and I think in the rap world there
have been a couple of movies about it, but there hasn’t been
any TV.
It’s also just really the practicality—writing a show about
a rock band and then having to create original full-band
rock songs. That’s a very difficult thing to do. You know,
it’s really just—to me hip-hop is fun. It’s interesting.
Hip-hop is pop culture now, and I thought there were a lot
of fun things we could do in that world, so it seemed to
make sense in that regard.
Earl Yeah, and the whole fact that you have a gay rapper in
the rap world is really irreverent. I think it’s a clever
irreverent. I mean, they still have the stigma of being a
little against gay rappers, and the whole fact that he’s
actually working in that is a whole joke within a joke.
Grant Right.
Earl It’s one of those unintentional ones you were talking
about. I think there are a lot of messages, but again
they’re very layered and buried underneath. I think that’s
part of the whole thing about it that’s really funny.
Grant Yeah. I mean, my view is anybody—there are all
different types of people in rap and rock who act, and there
are straight people; there are gay people. You just want to
pick a character and have fun with them, and this is our
choice.
Earl That’s fantastic. Bobby, a quick question for you: Big
news, of course, today on the news is SNL just hired the
first African-American comedian in seven years. Have you
heard anything about it, or have you talked about it, or
have you met her?
Bobby Yeah, I know Sasheer from Upright Citizens Brigade, so
I was very happy. She’s a very, very—we’re very, very lucky
to have her, and she’s a very talented girl. So I’m excited
for her to be on the show and for America to see her. I
think she’s great, and I think it’s a great addition.
Earl So this is going to be a pretty exciting year for SNL.
Bobby Yeah. I mean, it’s funny. Yeah, I think so. With
everyone leaving and stuff, it’s a whole new world. I’ve
been on the show since Amy and Darrell Hammond were on
there, and as a fan of the show since I was a kid to just
kind of see it change internally alone has been fascinating.
The act next year is the 40th anniversary. It’s very big
times over at SNL, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Earl Okay, I’ll put you both on the spot on this one. Okay,
I guess Bobby you first: What was your favorite album of
2014?
Bobby I’ve got to go. I got to go. I got to go. No, I’m just
kidding. Say again? Sorry.
Earl Bobby, what was your favorite album of 2014?
Bobby Of 2014?
Earl I mean 2013. I’m sorry.
Bobby Wow, maybe Eminem’s album. I don’t buy a lot of albums
anymore. I listened to the same five albums I’ve listened to
my entire life, so my favorite album for 2014 was “Ready to
Die” by Notorious B.I.G.
Earl And Bobby?
Bobby That was me.
Earl Oh, I’m sorry. Grant?
Grant My favorite album? I’m blanking on the name of the
album, but the artist’s name is Action Bronson.
Earl Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.
Grant He’s awesome. He’s this big white rapper dude from New
York who sounds just like Ghostface Killah. He was like a
professional chef, and he raps about gnarly stuff and food.
Earl Well, great. Again, thank you guys for coming up with
this great show, and I can’t wait to see more.
Bobby Thanks, man.
Earl Thanks a lot.
Grant Thank you.
Moderator Your next question comes from the line of Sheldon
Wiebe from Eclipse Magazine.com. Please go ahead.
Sheldon Hey, guys. Thanks for doing this.
Bobby Thanks for having us.
Grant Hello.
Sheldon Okay, I am about as far from your target demo as you
can possibly imagine—old, white guy, child of the 60s—and I
loved what I’ve seen so far.
Bobby Amazing.
Grant Oh, great.
Sheldon The thing I think I like most is that “Chozen” is
such a walking contradiction, so he’s a real person. He can
go off like a bomb in one scene and then tell someone very
sincerely, “Respect yourself.”
Bobby Yes.
Sheldon So how do you figure out the balance between all the
various sides of his personality and how far you can push in
any of the directions he gives you to play with?
Bobby I mean, I feel like the characters so well realized
and so well written that—and I come from an improv
background, so I kind of just come in—the one thing I know
when I’m doing “Chozen” is that whatever “Chozen” is doing
at that exact moment is the only thing he’s thinking about,
and he will do it until he’s conquered it. So if that means
one second trying to get a boyfriend and the next second
trying to make his sister feel better about herself then
that’s just how it is, and then he moves on to the next
thing that he wants very badly.
It’s just such a real character to me and very—the way Grant
wrote it and the way that the writers write it is just—it’s
very easy to do. It’s very easy to play.
Sheldon Cool. Grant, as a follow-up could you talk a bit
about where “Chozen’s” crew came from and how you’re
developing his relationship with his sister?
Grant Well his crew, these are guys he’s known since he was
in grammar school. So these are all buddies of his from the
neighborhood, and as the season goes on we do kind of see a
little bit more of them and their formation and things like
that. So they’ve known each other forever, and when he gets
out of jail they just kind of pick back up where they left
off.
As far as his sister, she was kind of a default crash pad
for him, and I do think their relationship—I mean, that’s
one of my favorite parts of the show. I feel like she has
this kind of animal living with her that she has to deal
with, and she’s pretty responsible, and she’s pretty sharp
gal. But you know, it’s obvious there is love there. It’s
obvious—well it’s not obvious he appreciates everything she
does, but I think he does.
I mean, it’s important to realize this person has been in
jail for ten years, and anyone who comes out of jail is a
little bit of an alien, is a little bit of a man out of
place and out of time, and I think “Tracy” is the one person
that really understands him beyond all the bluster and can
kind of ground him every time.
Bobby Yeah. The pilot episode is a lot about how “Chozen”
got where he is and how he’s just gotten out of jail, and
then the second episode revolves around “Chozen” trying to
find out if this guy that’s dating his sister is cheating on
her, and that’s one of my favorite things. He just got out
of jail; he’s trying to do all this stuff; but he’s got to
take a break real quick to make sure this guy is not messing
with his sister. He’s a human being. He cares about people.
Sheldon Terrific. Thanks very much, guys.
Grant Thank you, sir.
Bobby You’re welcome.
Moderator We have time for two more questions. Our next
question comes from the line of Suzanne Lanoue from the TV
Megasite. Please go ahead.
Suzanne Hi again. I was wondering, Grant, you spoke a little
bit about having some rap music background. Can you talk to
us a little bit about your background in general as far as
music and writing—writing non-music as far as—both types of
writing.
Grant Oh, sure.
Bobby Grant, you were originally in Parliament Funkadelic,
right?
Grant I was. Yes. I was in Tony! Toni! Tone! as well.
Bobby That’s right. You were.
Grant Well as far as the music, my music writing, I mean I
just started playing music as a kid and was in various types
of bands all through college and after college and played a
little bit and toured a little bit and kind of get tired of
it, and then the writing didn’t start really until about six
and a half years ago when I kind of saw my friends who had
been writing and working at it—I saw their lifestyle, and I
saw it was tough, but I saw how great it was when you could
make something and see it happen whether it’s a play or a
YouTube video or something like that. So I started writing
creatively, which is something I kind of did for myself but
never in a format for a script or a TV or movie or anything
like that.
I just worked on that, and then I got a break on Eastbound &
Down. I got a chance to work on that, and then I did a lot
of set writing and rewriting on that. I really cut my teeth
there and kind of learned the game as it were, and after
that I just started getting this idea together as best I
could, and lo and behold it happened to work. So that’s a
brief history of a short career.
Suzanne Great. I was wondering, obviously the show—I don’t
find the show at all offensive. I enjoy it. I think it’s
very good. But it seems like anytime somebody does something
that touches in certain controversial subjects, let’s
say—things that are not typically addressed on television in
much depth or that you don’t see a lot of—unless you’re in
that world you don’t see a lot of—I mean, rap music is sort
of an African-American world sort of, and then being gay and
all these things that you’re touching on. Are you concerned
at all or does anyone who’s connected with the project have
any concerns about white straight guys doing the show?
Grant I mean, I have no concerns. The way I write the show
is I write the show and I don’t even consider any of that. I
don’t consider sexuality. I don’t consider color. I don’t
consider any of any of it because I don’t think it’s germane
to the characters. I don’t think it’s important, and I think
that’s the most fair way to write a person.
You know, some people might not be into the subject matter.
Maybe some things aren’t for them, and that’s totally fine,
but I do think the show is wholly relatable to anyone and
everyone, and I think everyone can get something out of it.
Bobby Yeah, I think 20 years ago it might have been a little
shocking. I think now—I mean, one of my favorite parts about
the show is it does feel like, to me, a story about a guy
and his friends, and he happens to be a gay white rapper.
It’s not like that’s what drives him a lot of the times, but
it’s written so well that it just comes across to me as—I
feel like 20 years ago you’d be like, “Who is this guy?” and
now I feel like there’s probably 100 “Chozens” running
around on this block in New York City right now where I am,
you know? There are a lot of people like “Chozen” who are
just living their lives. It’s not really that crazy of a
thing anymore.
Suzanne Alright, well thanks for that. I definitely agree
that it’s very relatable.
Grant Oh, that’s awesome.
Suzanne Thank you.
Grant Thank you.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Dan Calvisi
from Act 4 Screenplays. Please go ahead.
Dan Hey, Bobby. I’m curious about writing for SNL, about
working there—trying to get sketches that you’ve written on
the air—and I’m also curious when Seth Meyers leaves who
actually is going to be the head writer and how you think
it—
Bobby I’m glad you asked: It’s you. Congratulations. No,
writing on SNL is a crazy process. As cast members we’re all
expected to write. Sometimes it’s harder for the cast to get
sketches on. If you see something where a cast member is
talking a lot, it’s a good chance that they are probably the
ones that wrote it. You have to kind of write for yourself
on that show.
I’ve been lucky enough to get some stuff on that I’ve
written, and you always feel much more in control of it, but
also another amazing thing about SNL is walking in and some
writer hands you some really brilliant piece of work that
they’ve written, and then you get to perform it. So either
way you win.
I think I’m more of a performer than I am a writer. I feel
like SNL has taught me to be a much better writer, so that
alone has helped. As far as what’s going to go on when Seth
goes, they don’t tell me anything. I have no idea.
Dan And why does Taran Killam get to play all the sexy-guy
roles now and not you?
Bobby I let him do it because he needs it, you know? I mean,
if I had a dollar for every sexy guy I’ve played in TVs and
movies, I wouldn’t have a single dollar. But no, Taran is
the perfect straight man. He’s kind of taken over for Jason,
and he does it really well where he can—he’s so talented and
can do anything. Taran gets to play all the sexy roles; I
get the play all the weird looking ladies. So we all play
our roles.
Dan Everybody wins I guess.
Bobby Yeah, I’m just happy to have a job.
Dan Alright, well thanks. Good luck with it.
Bobby Thanks, man.
Kristy Alright, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us
today and especially Grant and Bobby. We really appreciate
your time. As a reminder, Chozen premieres on Monday,
January 13th at 10:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on FX.
Bobby Bye, Grant.
Grant Thanks everybody. Bye, Bobby.
Moderator That does conclude our conference for today. Thank
you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive
TeleConference.
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