Vince Staples Swears He Isn't Funny

Erik Carter

This week, Vince Staples and Netflix released the first five episodes of The Vince Staples Show, a half-hour series that follows the everyday exploits of a modestly successful Long Beach rapper. The “Vince Staples” of The Vince Staples Show (as played by Vince Staples) has to navigate a serious relationship, lingering friends and enemies from his formative days in the LBC, family he’s always on uncertain terms with, and a music career that’s doing well enough to keep him comfortable, but not big enough to make life gilded, all while reacting to life’s randomness with wry disaffect.

Each installment is a day in the life. But don’t call it a day in his life. It’s a Larry David versus Curb's “Larry David” situation—and it’s off to a great start. Each episode is better, more assured, and funnier than the last, all while giving the single-camera-celeb-sitcom model a fresh spin unique to Staples’ sensibilities—you’ve never seen a surprise bank robbery go down like the one T-Vince finds himself in the middle of.

This all marks the culmination of Staples’ years-long fascination with film and TV, from bit parts in movies like Dope to wooing Quinta Brunson in a recurring role on Abbott Elementary, and of course a YouTube series that was essentially a dry run for the show we have now. Comedy is the common denominator—as it is in most of his interviews, where he often deploys whip-smart dry humor—and it’s the driving element on the series, which throws a lot of offbeat situations at the wall. Staples swears he isn’t actually ever trying to be funny—and that his pivot to filmmaking is less of a swerve and more of something he’s been working towards even before music.

To that end, this isn’t a lark for him between albums. Staples, who co-wrote the series and created it with Kenya Barris and Ian Edelman (How to Make It in America) has grand designs. “I can't wait for people to just digest it, see what they feel like we could have been done better, and keep going," Staples tells GQ, with more emotion than he usually exhibits in interviews, “because we plan on creating many, many more episodes of this show.”

This was one of the first times in a while where I watched something and got to the end of it wanting more.

Yeah—knowing we’re in the time of oversaturation, it was very important to be refined and more thoughtful about the choices we made. So we wanted to make sure every episode felt like a ride, and to utilize singular storytelling, really strip back the narrative vision and create something that lived on its own, and didn’t have too much serialization or inactivity between episodes. It’s almost an animation-esque approach. We were able to do something that I feel like a lot of people are going to finish, which is rare nowadays.

Take me back to the beginning. Was this career pivot something that you always were interested in pursuing?

I've always had a strong relationship with film and television, even more so than music.

Really?

Growing up, yeah, that was something that my family was more into than music. I spent more time watching than I did listening and I feel like as time went on, and [I went] through different phases of creativity and different levels of creativity within music—you kind of see the connective tissue there, and it [made me] wonder what would happen if I tried my hand at this.

At the beginning, we tried to take a couple meetings and there wasn't really much bite from networks, but [from there] we tried to take it upon ourselves to get more within the space and start doing more auditions and that led to some short-film type projects in music. The first one being the Prima Donna project, going out to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to film that. And then that led to more meetings and we got to where we are now.

When did you come up with this concept, for it to be a Curb Your Enthusiasm type thing where you're playing a heightened version of yourself, plus the idea of each episode being a day in the life?

That's kind of how I always saw it. I feel like we all have a unique perspective. Everyone's perspective is different, but everyone's perspective is special. And I think highlighting the nuances of that set perspective is how we get to the point where we see people as visionaries. So I think it's important to lean into how you see the world. I think I've done it a lot throughout my career with music and just my outlook on the world. And as you get older and you do more and people begin to champion you, praise you for it, you think, Okay, what are the limits that I can take my worldview to?

There's push and there's pull with creativity, especially with creativity that requires other people's involvement. So a lot of the small subtleties and a lot of the big ideas were just trying to work within the system and still come out with my own ideology that I started the thing with. And that's kind of how we got to the place that the show ended up being. You'll [start] with This is what I want to do, and then [face] the reality that this might not work for TV, or this might not be made for the medium. You have to be malleable. And then we got to where we [ended up], just based on trying to make a very rudimentary idea of appreciation and perspective into an actual television show.

You're not just in front of the camera—you were in the writer's room on this too.

I think it's very important to create your own vision. This is The Vince Staples Show and I think it's important for me to be a part of it. Calmatic, who helped me come up with original blueprint for the show, told me one day, “The show's not going to be the way that you want it to be unless you write it. So download Final Draft and do X, Y, Z.”

It was a perfect storm, the timing of where I was as a writer in general—because writing is writing, right? So I was sitting on the phone with one of my producing partners saying, ‘How do you use this [script software]?’ So [it was me] coming up with the pilot and outlines for the [other] episode and then having a strong writing team to pass it off to and complete the vision and then me coming back around and cleaning certain things up. It was a very unique process, especially coming from music, where I've basically done everything myself. I was very grateful to have people who were able to execute the vision that I had without bastardizing it.

In your music, you kind of keep to yourself. How was it like learning how to adapt your creative process to something more collaborative, where you’re kicking ideas around, taking notes from the network, but still maintaining the purity of your vision?

It was never something that bothered me, to be completely honest. It's just the job. So I just tried my best to do the job. Everyone's notes come from good intentions. When you're creating things with people, there will be a time that they will be wrong and then there will be times where I'll be wrong and that's just how it goes. There was nothing wrong with the notes—sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, but they all come from the right place.

Which episode are you the most proud of?

Honestly, man, I don't really think about things in that regard. I think we just overall came out with something extremely unique, something that was specific to itself. It's not probably what people will even expect from me and I'm just proud of that in general. I think we did a pretty good job. Singularity is very important to me, and every episode stands on its own. Every episode is different, at least from my vantage point, so I'm proud of all of them.

To that point about comparisons, when people see an artist, in a TV show, playing a fictionalized version of himself, the first things they’re going to cite are Atlanta and Dave. Is that something that you're bracing for?

I know, because those are great shows. Those [comparisons] let me know that people assume that this will reach a certain level of success, and that's a great place to start, especially when you have people that are as creative as those two and shows that are successful as those two. But there have been a lot of artists who have had shows [about] their version of themselves. For [people] to name the two contemporary ones that are successful and say that that's what the expectation is, that just means they have high hopes for the show and they're looking at it optimistically. We can live up to those expectations and turn them on their head. I think it's a win-win situation.

You have a very specific tone and wry sense of humor that comes out in a lot of your music and your interviews. What was it like trying to adapt that in a totally different medium? Something like the bank robbery episode is a very specific line to tow.

I know people think I'm funny, and I really appreciate that, especially making a comedic show. I feel like the things that come natural to me seem to be funny to others at times, but I think that allows me to just create within the natural progression of the show, if that makes sense. Whatever makes sense in the story, whatever makes sense in the narrative.

Trying to make sure that we have unique storytelling while still having a traditional foundation for people to digest the show was really the focus, more so than translating the humor because the humor's going to come—because life is funny. We find humor in all kinds of things. So [it was more about] making sure that the stories felt unique and complete—or just felt like what they were supposed to be, even if they do feel incomplete, because we don't always get answers.

Obviously it's a fictionalized show and “Vince Staples” is a character that you're playing, but to some degree, did you find it a little bit therapeutic to dramatize some real-life experiences within the music industry, like getting denied a loan from the bank even though you’re a successful artist, or all the family stuff?

No, it's honestly never personal. I've never tried to start a business in my life, in all honesty. I'm not even that financially motivated as a human being.

But I think it's important to take the things outside of yourself and create those situations, use yourself as a vessel to speak to the things that people go through in day-to-day life. I think that's even more important than pulling from our own story. We all have our own, I guess, path. And sometimes it gets lonely, sometimes it gets difficult, and we use art as a medium to escape from those moments. And if we can utilize the things that we create to help other people—I know sometimes when I was younger, I would see things and they would mean something to me, and I don't necessarily know the intent of the artist.

So I had that in mind when trying to create this show—how do we take a show that is about someone we view to be an artist, a celebrity who’s rich, and show the realistic problems that we all have? We have this notion that once you reach a certain level of success, everything changes and everything's good, and that's not necessarily true. I wanted to make sure to show that we all have the same problems, it's just at different levels.

What were the kinds of shows you mentioned earlier in regards watching stuff with your family that informed your tastes and set the tone for everything that you wanted to make later? And once you were in the weeds really making the show, did you have different inspirations and reference points?

I have older parents and older grandparents. So growing up I was seeing Twilight Zone, The Andy Griffith Show, M*A*S*H, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, I Love Lucy. But when it came to make the show, I thought more about little weird moments, things that made me think, okay, this is different. And that would be David Lynch’s stuff.

That would be Roy Andersson, that would be films like Chungking Express. So it was about doing a combination of both of those compositions and trying to make sure that we're creating something that is both elevated and grounded. And when you have shows like Atlanta, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Barry, which I really, really love—[they made me feel like my] ideas are possible because even in my music, contrast and composition have always been important to me. How do you make a song that is supposed to feel bright? How do you highlight the darkness? How do you make something that's supposed to feel short and sweet? How do you elongate these moments? What's the definition of a song? What's the definition of an interlude?

So [the show] is playing with those [ideas] in regards to how we utilize our act breaks, how we utilize monologues, how we utilize dialogue.

Episode five has this indie film vibe, but what I really loved about the script was how it held back on exposition or explanation for what’s going on.

Sometimes life is like that. Sometimes we don't know why these things happen. We’re just stuck within these moments. There's a lot of Easter eggs, a lot of deeper meanings to a lot of those things. But the main narrative of the episode is the simplest part. A lot of the stuff we tackle in these episodes—self-reflection, survivors, existential crisis, schizophrenia, the prison industrial complex, redlining, capitalism, socialism—you can do those things while still having fun or still telling a simple story.

You mentioned music itself being a writing and creative exercise that's analogous to film and TV. I think about a song like “When Sparks Fly” and wonder now if that was its own narrative exercise, preparing you to get here.

I mean, everything matters. So I would say yes. But was that intentional? No. I did that song in three minutes. It wasn't even that deep of a thing, but everything matters and everything that you do is a step towards the next thing. It all matters because you're exercising your brain to learn how to be expressive, and the more expressive you are, the further you'll push yourself.

While you were making this the series, you also did some episodes of Abbott Elementary, which is a great example of modern day TV in that it has these classic elements adhering to the network sitcom form, but it also updates that storytelling to feel modern and contemporary. It’s also one of the first majorly successful Black-led sitcoms that we've had in a while. What kind of game did you soak up on that set sharing from Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams?

Just being there and being able to ask questions, being able to have questions answered—to this day, Quinta gives me advice, helps me, always motivates me. Same thing with Tyler. Even being on set for White Men Can't Jump and getting information from Myles Bullock, who plays the bank robber in episode 2, being on set for pilots with Naté Jones and Melvin Gregg. There’s just so many people who have helped us over the wall. Eery time I run into people, I just ask them questions. Cord Jefferson, who just released American Fiction. Jack Berger, who's done a couple of my videos and just released his film at Sundance. Donald [Glover] has helped me a lot.

Sometimes it's cool to hear, “This shit is good.” That's what Quinta said: “It's actually good.” But being on [the Abbott] set was amazing. Just seeing how to run a set, seeing how to lead, making sure everyone feels seen and heard. Quinta does a very, very good job at that. And of course, she gets a lot of love and praise, but it's understated how much she cares about the people working on these projects.

And that's definitely my biggest takeaway: even though it's professional, even though it's a well-oiled machine, there's a lot of love and care on that set, and that's very important, especially when you're making something with that content because that's not something that they take lightly. They know their audience and they know the weight of their show, and I think that's very important for us to know why we create these things. It's just something to keep us going.

I know you insist that you're not funny, but it seems like comedy is a bag that you excel at. I think back to some of the laugh lines you got on Abbott or even something like your cameo in Dope. Do you feel like comedy is a well that you find yourself drawn to?

I'm just drawn to the experience. Surprisingly one of the best experiences I've had was shooting a pilot for [an adaptation of the Black cinema classic] The Wood on Showtime that didn't get picked up, but that had some comedic parts and also had some dramatic parts to it. And [the drama] was actually easier than the comedy, to be honest, because I'm not like a jokey type person. And I do understand that people appreciate my humor and I'm happy that they do because things are funny, but I'm not like an outwardly emotional person.

It just makes you ask questions, like what is this performance supposed to be for me? Whether it's comedy or drama, I think it's just about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. How would your character translate discomfort in this moment? In comedy you really get to let that thought process shine because a lot of the time you're being put in uncomfortable situations in the narrative, and then you have to learn how to react to that in comedy.

You've been working on this show for a couple of years now, it's finally about to come out. It’s like being back at that debut-album moment. How does it feel getting ready to put this out into the world?

It's cool, man. It's easy. I'm here for the creative part of the journey. And that's the hard part. Everything else is just what people like or what they don't like. Those are just line of notes for the next time. It doesn't make or break the experience because to me the creativity is about creating and then the digestion is a whole other thing that just helps you learn how to create further. So I'm excited to see how people feel.

What have you been watching? Who do you got for the Oscars?

I'm going to be honest, man, I've never followed any award show ever, but I pretty much see everything that comes out. I saw Poor Things the other day. Dream Scenario, Holdovers. What else have I seen recently? I just watched Fargo. Anatomy of a Fall. Oh, a bonus one: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I'm trying to think of anything that stuck out. Theater Camp was really interesting to me.

Do you have a Letterboxd account?

Oh, no, man, I don't even know what that is. Tell me what it is.

It's a social media app where people log their movies and shit, every movie that you see and then at the end of the year it gives you a wrapped, like Spotify.

That's funny. I mean, hey, maybe one day. Maybe one day.

Originally Appeared on GQ