I’ve been here since I moved to college at the age of 17, and I really fought for the show to be shot here. Initially, there was a debate that “may be possible on the LA sound stage …” and “No, no, no. New York is in that DNA.” I’m Crown Heights, Kensington, Clinton Hill, and all those regions. Lived in. I love all those areas. I would like to show you the actual Brooklyn as well as the gentrified parts.
Do you have a message you want people to take away from the show?
I just want people to accept where they are. We are always very focused, oh, I have to get this next one, and I need to improve like this. This is a celebration of those who are not in a hurry to change who they are. They are like this: “OK, this is me. This is my truth. This is my journey.” They hope to laugh a lot when people are watching, but then they might apply it a bit to themselves. Hmm.
You will see different kinds of blackness, you will see beautiful Brooklyn, you will see people make mistakes and try to understand [expletive] Hopefully you can do more right than wrong. People are very depressed about themselves because they think they aren’t doing enough or are failing in some way. And I’m like you’re doing fine.
One of the things I really fought: Oh, Phoebe is so messy, and in the end she’s going to calm down, move to Connecticut and have a child. I don’t know how her journey will end, and she won’t. I think that is fine.
I’m looking at you now: You have a production company, a publisher, an apartment with color-adjusted bookshelves, Peloton. Are you still trash?
Peloton does not make you Mother Teresa. come! I’m always 10 to 15 minutes late for things. I can be stubborn. Sometimes I forget something. Of course, I’m garbage. Listen, everyone’s trash. MLK Junior was trash. Let’s do the truth. He was great. He did a lot of great things. He was also garbage.