When Paul Simms, the executive producer behind such comedy hits as “Atlanta” and “What We Do in the Shadows,” first stumbled upon Brian Jordan Alvarez, he wasn’t looking for a new show. Instead, he was wasting time on Twitter when he noticed someone mention the web series “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo.”
“I clicked on it because I had nothing else to do,” Simms told TheWrap. “I was like, ‘This guy is really funny.'” That social media rabbit hole led to Simms meeting Alvarez and — ultimately — FX greenlighting its latest buzzy comedy series, “English Teacher.”
Created by and starring Alvarez alongside his longtime comedy partner Stephanie Koenig, “English Teacher” follows the life of Evan Marquez, an openly gay teacher in Austin, Texas. At his core, Evan wants to be a principled person. But between demanding parents, confusing teenagers and his own foibles, those admirable goals blow up in his face more often than not.
The comedy was inspired by Alvarez’s mother and sister, both of whom are teachers. “A high school is an interesting environment where people from every part of life are forced to interact for a common goal: to educate these students. There’s going to innately be so much friction there,” Alvarez told TheWrap.
High school offered a point of “universal nostalgia” for both the audience as well as the series’ cast and crew. “We wouldn’t know what to do in an office, but we do know what to do in a high school,” series star Stephanie Koenig, who plays Evan’s best friend and fellow teacher Gwen Sanders, told TheWrap. But a major reason why Simms and EP Dave King were so interested in this particular project came down to the chemistry between Alvarez and Koenig.
“Brian and Steph together, they have a particular kind of pace and tone that feels a little new but still familiar,” King told TheWrap.
Simms said the closeness between the duo is something that is “hard to fake.” In fact, Koenig, who stars in and writes for “English Teacher,” was such an important part of the project that early on producers fought to keep her in the series when it looked like Koenig’s schedule would prevent her from being cast.
“We were doing the pilot, and they were like, ‘Should we find someone else?’ I said, ‘You’re not going to find someone else. First of all, she’s great, and you’re not going find someone who can [match Alvarez as well],” Simms said. “We made it work somehow.”
The closeness of these actors and creators doesn’t just make “English Teacher” feel like a confident and lived-in comedy — a rarity for any first season of television. Their intimacy also influenced the rest of the cast.
“Those two have a very quick, almost effortless way of making you feel like you’ve known them and worked with them a thousand times,” Sean Patton, who plays PE teacher Markie Hillridge, told TheWrap.
“Creators always set the tone, and they’ve got a fabulous team behind them,” Enrico Colantoni, who plays Principal Grant Moretti, told TheWrap. In addition to Alvarez and Koenig, he praised “Baskets” and “Portlandia” EP Jonathan Krisel as “the most chill director or producer I’ve ever worked with.” “[Alvarez and Koenig] are so comfortable with each other, of course we’re going to observe that … That’s the world we’re playing, just easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.”
“They’re family, and it just trickles down,” Carmen Christopher, who plays the school-hating guidance counselor Rick, added. “They’re good at immediately creating a very loving vibe where you feel supportive, take chances and just be your character, be yourself.”
That open tone was especially helpful when it came to Patton’s character. Like Christopher, Patton comes from the world of stand-up, but “English Teacher” is his first major acting role, and it’s a demanding one. On the surface, the upbeat Markie seems to be a clueless jock, but as the series progresses and he spends more time with Evan, it becomes clear that this PE teacher is smarter and more empathetic than he may appear.
“I give a lot of credit to Sean,” Christopher said. “As a stand-up, you want the affirmations, you want the joke lines. He had to switch gears and be like, ‘I actually have to service this project.'”
Patton admitted this creative change was a challenge. “Carmen is saying 15 hilarious things, and people are dying laughing. And I’m like, ‘I gotta be emotional in this scene,’ ” Patton said.
Other than this lived-in quality, it’s the setting of “English Teacher” that makes this comedy feel so distinct. Whenever you think the series is going one way, the punch line takes another direction at the last minute. “[Austin] is a liberal outpost in a conservative state. That interplay lends itself to some really great comedy,” Alvarez said.
This juxtaposition matches well with Alvarez’s distinct comedic sensibilities. Koenig called Alvarez’s unexpected punchlines one of his “special skills” and pointed to a sketch the two worked on nine years ago as a good example. Meant to mimic what it’s like when someone says you remind them of someone else, the sketch involves Alvarez showing Koenig her look-alike on Facebook. Only this time, her doppelganger is a literal cockroach.
Simms noted that, from the beginning, he and Alvarez didn’t want to make a show “where there’s a good guy or a bad guy.”
“[The characters] can have funny, honest conversations the way we all talk with our closest friends. ‘Am I allowed to say this now? Am I allowed to say that now?’ Because it is funny how none of us can figure out what the right rules are these days. But my main thing was subverting expectations on every side,” Simms said. “I hate shows that try to teach. I hate shows that feel like homework.”
Alvarez praised Simms, Krisel and FX head John Landgraf as “brilliant” for how they helped elevate his show. “[Landgraf] is a really deep, intellectual guy. You have these long meetings about your show where he’s helping you even understand more deeply what you’re trying to say and smarter ways to say it,” Alvarez said.
Ultimately, Alvarez just wants to make people laugh with his “show for everyone.” “I hope audiences find [‘English Teacher’] extremely funny. The show makes me laugh a lot, but it also has a depth to it that comes out of these unexpected characters,” Alvarez said. “It is something we spent a lot of time on, trying to surprise people regularly.”
The first two episodes of “English Teacher” premiere on FX Sept. 2 at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes will premiere on Mondays. Episodes will be available to stream on Hulu a day after their FX premiere.
The post How FX’s ‘English Teacher’ Defies Comedic Expectations at Every Turn appeared first on TheWrap.
