Exclusive interview with Yvette Nicole Brown

June 8, 2012 | About a month ago, the NBC comedy "Community" started airing in Germany. We had the opportunity to have a very nice and interesting little phone chat with Yvette Nicole Brown who plays the character of Shirley Bennett. She told us about her special relationship with Joel McHale and her love for music and she revealed to be crazy about TV shows.

Foto: Yvette Nicole Brown - Copyright: Mitch Haaseth/Sony Pictures Television Photo
Yvette Nicole Brown
© Mitch Haaseth/Sony Pictures Television Photo
Note: © myFanbase 2012 - The interview is exclusive to myFanbase and may not be published on other websites or the like. You may share the first 2 questions or up to 160 characters if you link back to this site. Translations other than English and German may be posted with full credit including the writer's name and link to this site.

The first season of "Community" just started in Germany. If you were asked to explain to a potential viewer why the show is streets ahead of its competition, what would you say?

It's streets ahead because every type of personality is in it, every type of personality flaw is in it and everybody chooses to stay together, even though they may not get along all the time. And I think, though the show is set in a community college, that's what the word "Community" really means. That we're gonna love each other no matter what, even though we're all a little weird. So I think whoever watches, they can see either themselves or someone they know in all of these whacked characters and I think that's why we're streets ahead.

Let's talk a little bit about your character Shirley. Every once in a while we'd get a glimpse of Shirley's darker side, for instance her former alcohol addiction or her anger issues. Would you as an actress like to explore these issues further or do you prefer playing the nice and reasonable version of Shirley?

I like seeing Shirley's dark side because Shirley is a Christian on the show and I'm also Christian in real life and Christians have problems. That's why they choose to follow God. So I like that they show that she's flawed and that she's not better than anybody. I think sometimes that people with faith seem like they think they're better. And Shirley is surely not better than anybody. And I love that we get to see that she's had problems and that she still has a little bit of rage in her and she's a little judgmental. There are a lot of things that she can work on to be a better person but again: everyone in the group has issues and we all are working through it, so I love getting to see the good and the bad of her and the other characters as well.

You just said that you are also a Christian like Shirley. Are there any other character traits you and Shirley have in common?

Well, when I first read the pilot I was overjoyed because Shirley calls someone "pumpkin" and I call everybody "pumpkin"! I call people "pumpkin" and "sweety", so when I read that I was like "Oh my god, this might be MY role!" So, that's something we have in common. And I am very maternal! I don't have kids yet, but I'm very mothering and maternal, that's another thing that we have in common. I think that's it. Apart from Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who plays my husband on the show – we share that. Those are the three things, I think.

Have any of the running gags from the show become a part of your everyday life? Has Shirley's "That's nice!", for instance, become your standard reaction to pleasant situations, too?

I tell you a secret: Shirley's "That's nice" is actually my "That's nice"! I said it the first time in the pilot. I didn't know they were filming and Joel McHale did something that I, Yvette, thought was really nice. And so I, Yvette, said "That's nice" and the camera was rolling and caught it. So that's actually something I say myself. And it just became part of Shirley's vernacular, sometimes it's scripted when I say it, but most of the time it's not. They give me freedom to say it every time I feel something is nice. That's why I say it so often.

Let's talk about Shirley's friendship with Jeff: it has grown a lot stronger since they bonded over their childhood memories in the foosball episode. Do we get to see more of this pairing in the future?

The third season shows a lot more about Jeff and Shirley's relationship, I think there are maybe four or five episodes in total when you get to see them hanging out and exclusively working together which I think is great. I really enjoy working with Joel McHale and I think that the relationship you see between Jeff and Shirley really mirrors my friendship with Joel McHale. We're like brother and sister, we pick on each other and joke with each other, so it's kind of the same energy and it's great that it's captured on film.

Judging from her well thought-out plans for a new sandwich shop at Greendale, Shirley seems to have developed a good sense of business over the last three years. Do you think she'll eventually get to run her own little bakery, as envisioned at the beginning of her studies?

That would be great! I love that Shirley started off wanting to sell muffins and baked goods and now after three years of being in college it's morphed into having her own sandwich shop which I think is great. I hope the endgame of the show for Shirley is that she gets to be independent, because the show began with her husband leaving her and her trying to find her way. And I think over the last three years in this friendship with all these interesting people, she's kind of coming to her own and I would love if she ends up having her dream. And her dream besides her family and her husband is to have something to call her own and I think that would be her bake shop. So I hope it works out for her.

Is there any member of the study group you would like to have more scenes with in the future?

I never worked with Donald Glover who plays Troy. We've been in scenes together but we've never had a story together. And I'd love to work with Donald, I'd like to see what the dynamic is between Shirley and Troy when no one else is around, it's never been seen. I'd love to work more with Jeff and I used to work with Gillian and Alison more in the first season and it's kind of gotten away from that as they pursued some romantic entanglements with some of the others and we lost the buddy aspect of our relationship. So I'd love to go back to have more scenes with Gillian and Alison, that would be great.

Do you have a personal favorite among the supporting characters and guest actors?

This is easy: Malcolm-Jamal Warner is my favorite. He plays Andre, my husband on the show and I kind of campaigned for him to be on the show as my husband from day one. It was wonderful that he was able to do the show and that he said yes and that the producers also agreed that he would be great as Andre. So he's my favorite guest actor that we've had. But you know, we've had Betty White and John Hodgman and John Goodman, so it's hard to pick one. But if I had to it would be Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

"Community" has paid tribute to many different movies and TV shows over the last three years. Is there any film you particularly enjoy and would like to do an homage episode to?

I would love to have a "Community" muppet episode. I would love to see the study group in muppet form and the whole world to be transformed in that way. Or a homage to a romantic comedy, where the school is all colored in pink and yellow and rainbow colors and hearts and flowers. Like "When you were sleeping" or "When Harry met Sally".

If you had to pick a favorite among all the high-concept episodes of the show, what would you go for?

The "Law and Order" episode in the third season has been my favorite. I don't know if it's really considered as "high concept" because it's more of an homage to that show but I think it's a very faithful homage and one of the most fun times I had on set with filming that.

Read the second part of our interview with Yvette Nicole Brown...