On paper, Grand Crew is the latest example of a tried-and-true formula. But while the series may regularly lean on the power of its charismatic cast – which is comprised of Echo Kellum, Nicole Byer, Justin Cunningham, Aaron Jennings, Carl Tart, and Grasie Mercedes – as they hang out at their favorite spot (in this case at their favorite wine bar in L.A.) and deal with life’s many highs, lows, and misadventures, the show offers a lot more in both laughs and substance.
Mixed in with tales about evolving friendships, dating mishaps, and family drama are stories that focus on more unfamiliar terrain like combatting the stigma of therapy in the Black community, managing the onslaught of stressful news events that seems to be undening in day to day life, and, of course, the joys of a good glass of wine. (There’s so much wine.)
Following the wrap-up of season one, Uproxx caught up with Jackson to look back on what inspired the show and how those early comps to familiar sitcoms from the past hit.
What inspired you to tell this story?
The idea for Grand Crew really is pulled from the pages of my actual life, my real life. When I was talking about developing a show with Dan Goor, because I worked on Brooklyn Nine-Nine for four seasons… During that time, Dan pulled me aside and was like, “Hey, if you ever want to develop, I think we’d create something really dope together.” He didn’t say it like that, because he didn’t use the word “dope.” You know what I mean. I’ll paraphrase it here. [Laughs]
But we started meeting weekly while Brooklyn was still in session and we were throwing around a bunch of high-concept ideas. “You’re in the Antarctic.” It’s just high-concept stuff, but before we’d start each meeting, I would tell him about my life and we’d just catch up. I would tell him that I meet up with my friends at this wine bar and we talk about life. We talk about our dating lives. We talk about our career aspirations. We talk about any and everything that is personal to us, in this space. I just told him how I was getting more and more into wine through patronizing that establishment with my friends. Then, after a couple of weeks of catching him up on life at the wine bar and then talking about potential ideas that we could develop, I think we both realized that that was the idea.
When the show first came out, I know there were some early comparisons, calling it an “Insecure for Black men” or even a “Black Friends.” How do you feel about both labels? Do you think they’re more of a hindrance or more helpful when it comes to promoting a new show like this?
I think when any new piece of content comes out, comparisons tend to be drawn. People have their comps, what it might be closely related to. But I can tell you personally, we weren’t trying to pivot off of Insecure. I enjoy the show, Friends, but that wasn’t what I had in mind for the show, either. It really is that I was going to a wine bar with my friends. Then, that’s the idea. I think, obviously, they meet at a coffee shop in Friends, so I could see how the comparisons could be drawn there. Also, the ensemble nature of it. Also, the Los Angeles of it with Insecure and things of that nature. But when it came to the ideation behind the show, that wasn’t a consideration.
That being said, I worked on Insecure for two seasons. But the development of the show was already well in progress before I even started working on that show. If anybody says, “I can feel hints of Insecure and Friends in there,” I’m absolutely honored because those are two shows that are in the cultural lexicon and have had a significant impact on television. In that way, I think that’s cool if people are saying it in a positive way. But it was, by no means, an intentional thing when we were coming up with the show. I think it can be helpful, in the way that it might help people wrap their heads around this new show that I’ve created. But it can be harmful because it’s not what my intent was. It was not to make a 2.0 version of either of those shows, as much as I enjoy those two shows.
Yeah. I wanted to give you a chance to speak on that, too, because, personally, after being a fan of the show and seeing those comments, I thought that, as well-intentioned, as those comparisons may have been, I felt like it was a bit reductive and oversimplifying, in a sense.
Thank you.
There was one thing that caught my eye in the very first episode, which may have been a pure coincidence. In the opening scene, I think Sherm was wearing a hat that had “squad” on the front and the style looked a lot like the Friends logo. Was that on purpose?
That is interesting because it wasn’t me saying, “Let’s throw this hat on Sherm.” That being said, our wardrobe person, Queensylvia [Akuchie], had the idea. I saw the fit on Sherm. I was like, “It looks like it’s a dope fit.” Do you know what I mean? In that way, I guess we welcomed some of those comparisons, but in a world where there are pillars of comedy, I think maybe that I could see that being an homage to a form that we are playing in. But it was less about, “Okay. We’re doing the next version of that,” and more about, “All right. It’s the juxtaposition of a Black man wearing a hat that says ‘squad.’” It’s almost like the vernacular, the language, the tone’s going to be almost different than a Friends. Do you know what I mean? In a way, it’s like tipping a hat to it. Also, saying we are something a little bit different.
Going back to your process a little bit, can you think back on some checkpoints or even just potential pitfalls or obstacles you kept in mind throughout the process of making this show?
I really wanted to cover therapy. I did therapy for the first time last year, after years of contemplation, trepidation, and wondering if that means that there’s something wrong with me, if I go to therapy. I think, to me, that stigma is real in the Black community. Once I did it, I was like, “Shit. This is great.” If people are open to it, get past that initial barrier, just do it, because it’s really beneficial if you find the right person to help you out with the therapy. That one was really important to me, just to say, “It’s cool. It could be cool to do therapy and there’s nothing wrong with it.” Even when we had topics throughout the season, the goal was never to come off too preachy. Even though we wanted to cover it, I wanted to say, “Okay. We got to make this funny.” What’s the comedy game, without making therapy the joke? You know what I mean? That was a big one.
I definitely wanted to cover Black men and their relationship with their fathers, just the unspoken nature of some of the dynamics when it comes to Black men and their fathers, and my relationship with my father. I love him so much, but we’ve grown so much as I’ve gotten older. I think we communicate better than we ever had, but there was a point where that came to a head, where we had to transcend the subtext of our relationship and just speak more things overtly. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. For sure.
I love music. I really wanted to do something that had a musical element to it. Also, I wanted the show to evolve. I wanted the characters to evolve with their love of wine, in the same way that I have done in real life. This first season, the wine is a backdrop. Every now and again, you’ll have a cold open that deals with wine. Or you have the episode at the vineyard and things like that. Or the episode eight cold open, where you’re dealing with savoring and elements like that. But I also wanted to make sure that we got them to a vineyard and that we gradually had more wine elements covered in the show, as well. Those are some of the things. Honestly, every episode has a topic in it that I was like, “This is important. I really am excited to cover this.” I could go on and on, but that’s how we approached the story break, was, “Okay. What are we excited to cover? How can we do it in a way that still leads with the funny, without making light of the actual topic at hand?”
You touched a lot on the themes that people connect within this show. I think that’s one of the reasons why I like it so much myself, these types of themes. But also, the people, because the reason why I even started watching is I had multiple people text me saying, “Hey, you’re in this show, you just don’t realize it yet” in reference to Wyatt (Justin Cunningham). I’m curious, are there any characters that you specifically relate to?
I relate to every character in the show. I’m going to give you the politicians’ answer. When it comes to Noah, I really love rom-coms. I want to write rom-coms. I want to write and direct rom-com movies. I love rom-coms. That’s the Noah part of me. As far as the career focus and really being about your business, I think that’s the Anthony side of me. The jovial nature and the playfulness of Sherm. I think that there’s a side of me in there, too. Then, when it comes to Wyatt… I see maybe that’s the future version of me, once I find that person. It would be so dope to have somebody that is your best friend, that you can talk your shit to and have a really great dynamic with. As far as the guys on the show, I do think there are elements of me in all of them. I don’t know, if I had to choose one, which one I would choose. It would depend on the moment, depend on the situation. Then, when it comes to Nicky, Nicole [Byer] has been one of my best friends for over a decade. I’ve known her for a long time. Then, Fay. They’re just a tandem, but there are people in my life that those two actually remind me of, as well. Actually, I do have friends that there are pieces of them in all these characters, as well. I can’t give you a straight answer. I’m sorry.
No, it’s all good. I realize I basically asked you your favorite child, which you’re never supposed to do. I want to ask you, how do you hope the show inspires viewers?
I hope that it inspires viewers to want to learn more about wine, to want to get more into wine. Or for people that are already into wine, I hope they see a piece of their wine-loving selves in the show. That’s one. At the end of the day, I want this to be a feel-good show. There is so much shit going on in the world, that I think there is room and there’s space for a show that is like, “Man, I just feel like I’m a part of this group. It feels good to be a part of this group. I get to laugh and escape for a little bit.” Then, we can get back to real life and the real world. Not to say that we don’t cover real topics, but I think, tonally, we were very intentional about doing it in a way that, hopefully, makes the viewer feel protected and feel safe in the world of the show.
I hope it inspires people to just connect with their group of friends and find their tribe. A big part of me coming to L.A., I do love L.A., but I think what really made it special for me is when I found that group. When I found that set of people that I could always hit up at any time to say, “Hey, let’s head to the wine bar. I just want to talk.” I hope it inspires people to also realize that that is a really great part of life and find their group of folks to drink wine with, as well.
You can stream season 1 of ‘Grand Crew’ on Peacock