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This is Knights first television credit, but he didnt come out of nowhere.
Hes been a cartoonist with more than two decades of work to his credit.
Knight recently spoke with Vulture about translating that vision to television.
How did you end up making this TV show?The producer John Will approached me.
He really dug my stories.
John started working with the actor Eric Christian Olsen fromNCIS: Los Angeles.
Marshall Todd came in, and he was one of the guys who co-wroteBarbershopback in the day.
His script resonated with me because it was very different.
Silly stuff like that.
I just remember calling John up and going, I think this is the guy.
We just went from there.
Marshall really infused Clovis with this personality, because hes not a character like that in the comics.
It was important to show two very different Black men.
He worked on theHarvard Lampoon,Seinfeld,SNL, he still writes forThe Simpsons.
Hes like the Forrest Gump of classic comedic television.
He made it sound doable in ways outside of what I was thinking.
I think everybody who came on the show did that: expanded the idea of what it could be.
I didnt want that.
If it was going to get wrecked, I wanted to have a hand in the destruction of it.
Its this fine line that I thought I needed to be there to make work.
I dont think that my sensibility would have translated if I was not there.
The same thing with Mo Maurice Marable the director-producer.
I think more than anybody else on the project, he understood what I wanted to do.
So the bottles that come to life are real bottles.
The trash cans are real trash cans.
Its so much better than it would have been if it was just 2-D animation.
When he suggested this Michel Gondrytype of style, that just made me go Yes!
It just made me excited.
You have to show them the finished thing so they get it.
Its got to be a hole in the wall.
They painted it some cool colors and the owner was psyched.
I just remember walking into the production office in the warehouse.
It was so fun to know youre giving work to all these people.
Was it hard to hire writers and allow them to write you?
Im spoiled I only know a writers room that consists of mostly women of color.
It would be nice to have an even more diverse production crew.
I think its important, because Hollywood is all about who you know.
To break in, youve got to give somebody a break.
Were not out to change the world with the show!
When we got interviewed recently, this guy said, Ive never seen anything on TV like this.
Youre mixing magical realism with Black characters.
Its a nice combination of bringing Black culture and nerd culture together.
Were at a point where these ideas and concerns youve been writing about for years are suddenly everywhere.
What is the role of humor in these conversations?What its role has always been.
Cartoonists are the modern-day court jesters.
Humor helps folks deal with serious issues.
Thats the important thing to me.
Because if you dont, someone else will, and theyre going to screw it up.
The other thing is just be nice to people.
People want to help you if youre nice.
You want them to do well.
So, be nice, and tell your story.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
