Chris Perfetti wasn't surprised at all to learn his Abbott Elementary character, Jacob Hill, used to be part of a traveling improv storytelling group, Story Samurai.
"It makes total sense," he tells EW of the performance troupe, which visits the school in season 2's third episode. "Absolutely, of course, yeah, that is definitely how Jacob spent his summers between college or high school."
The episode centers squarely on Mr. Hill, who is invited by the group to perform with them during the visit to Abbott; Ava (Janelle James) can't wait to capture potentially embarrassing video for her socials, while Janine (Quinta Brunson) tries to persuade him otherwise to spare his feelings. Ultimately, he takes the stage, owning his nickname, Mr. C — a.k.a. Mr. Corny.
"It's definitely a bit of a reckoning for Jacob. I'm just so glad that our writers took it on so early in our season. I think it opens up a world of possibility for him, when you realize why he is the way that he is," Perfetti explains. "There has been some catharsis, some growth, some dynamism in the sense that he's slightly in on the joke now and he's going to embrace that."
Below, Perfetti breaks down the pivotal episode, one of his (and Keke Palmer's!) favorites of the season, and Jacob's journey so far.
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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Take me back — what do you recall about first reading the script and seeing what Jacob — and, in turn, you — would get to do here?
CHRIS PERFETTI: Quinta had told me about it, so I knew it was coming. I didn't know it was going tobe that early in our season, which was a pleasant surprise for many reasons. The first time I read the episode, my mind immediately went to my early days in New York City and going to Drama Book Shop and hearing the Story Pirates rehearsing in the basement as they did. I was really impressed by how specific our writer's room goes — it's out of that specificity and finding a maybe not-typical story line for a school that I feel ends up being our universality.
If we just did a basic episode about an assembly, we wouldn't get the mileage out of the show that we do. So I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with the way that they handled this subject matter. Our writers and producers, obviously led by the brilliant Quinta Brunson, have at every turn averted expectations or ways in which the characters could be two-dimensional. Learning why they are the way they are — why Mr. C is called Mr. C — gives us so much fuel for the future. And as an actor, it's a way more interesting thing to do, playing a real person and not a cartoon.
Was there anything in particular that made you nervous about the episode? I know you have a lot of stage experience — did you look at it as getting to fuse stage and screen into one episode here?
Yeah, definitely. To address your first question, one of the joys of playing this character is that it forces me to jump out of my comfort zone. Jacob is always speaking before thinking and acting before speaking, and always sort of putting his foot in his mouth. Especially as it pertains to this episode, which is all about being vulnerable and putting yourself out there and making something up on the spot, I feel like I'm in very good hands. I knew that Quinta would surround me with other great actors, when we had to do the performance aspect of it, which she did. That stuff is really thrilling, and I am coming to learn in my work on TV and film that my favorite things are things that a camera captures that can't really be planned, the intricacies of human behavior. I knew that when we had to come up with whatever this performance would be that we would be able to do that.
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So you did get to improv a bit in those Story Samurai performances?
A lot of it was scripted. We spent the week coming up with what the performance might be, and then a lot of it is just made up on the day as well.
Did it surprise you at all that Jacob was part of Story Samurai, or did it make complete sense to you that this is something he was involved in years ago?
It makes total sense. It's amazing working on a character for this long — in theater you spend a couple months at the birth of a new play, figuring out everything that's happened up until this point and maybe what happens in between, and then you become the authority on that material. Working on a series and working on a character for many years at a time is a blessing and a curse. You're really kind of co-creating the entire time. And our show shoots very quickly, so I'm learning about him at the same time our writers are. I have been very blessed with talented people who have always written things where I'm like, absolutely, of course, yeah, that is definitely how Jacob spent his summers between college or high school. [Laughs]
Josh Gad gets name-checked a couple times — and then he actually tweeted at you guys the next day, asking if that was an invitation to come on the show. Has that been happening a lot at various events and awards shows, actors talking to you about the show or expressing their desire to be a guest star?
Yeah. It's kind of remarkable. The magnitude of the last year, just in and of itself, has been a pretty wild ride. For the most part, it's been overwhelmingly loving. Being in a community with people who understand what you're doing and maybe who you met five years ago doing that thing that didn't go anywhere, and now here you are both nominated for an award or something, it's really bizarre and cool. It's been so fabulous to meet people who I've admired for so long because they've connected to our show.
When I spoke with her a few months ago, Keke Palmer cited this episode as one of her favorites because of its message about how being corny isn't bad, it's fun. In the episode, Ava is trying to make fun of him but Janine is trying to protect him. Ultimately, Jacob really owns being corny and is proud of it. Tell me about getting to explore that aspect of Jacob.
It's definitely a bit of a reckoning for Jacob. I'm just so glad that our writers took it on so early in our season. I think it opens up a world of possibility for him, when you realize why he is the way that he is — that said, for the sake of comedy, it wasn't a revelation that's going to change Jacob overnight. But there has been some catharsis, some growth, some dynamism in the sense that he's slightly in on the joke now and he's going to embrace that. He's okay with being called Mr. C. To be honest, a vital piece of the puzzle of playing this character is realizing how diametrically opposed Jacob's environment is with his true nature, his personality. And that's very juicy to play. There's always an obstacle there. And as Keke Palmer said — I can't believe I'm saying that — it's not necessarily a bad thing and it's a larger metaphor for embracing yourself and your flaws.
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So if Jacob is Mr. C — Mr. Corny — Chris Peretti is Mr. What?
Hmmm. [Long pause] If Jacob is Mr. C, then Chris is…right now Chris is Mr. G. I'm feeling an unbelievable amount of gratitude and luck for my life right now. There's a lot that's going wrong in the world, but I'm feeling really happy about the fact that I get to go to work with these people every day.
What kind of reaction have you gotten in the aftermath of the show revealing that Jacob has a boyfriend, that he's gay? Has it been mostly positive or did you get any unfortunate comments?
No, I haven't heard anything unfortunate. I think the fact that Jacob is an openly queer character and that his romantic relationship is explored a bit on the show is giving a lot of people life and giving a lot of people a sense of meaning and a sense of belonging. That has been what I have heard, and I think that's incredible.
As I'm uttering these words, it feels stupifying to acknowledge that we live in a world in which that is something that has to be acknowledged. One of the many brilliant decisions that Quinta made early on was to handle Jacob's sexuality in the way that she did, which is ostensibly by not handling it and just letting people catch up and interact with the show the way that they interact with the world, which is like, people be gay. I'm just so pleased that he exists.
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