NYCC 2014 Recap: ‘Black Dynamite’ EXCLUSIVE Interviews

After more than two years, and a change in production companies, Adult Swim’s Black Dynamite is set to return for a second season on Saturday, October 18th. Promoting the series at the 2014 New York Comic-Con was writer/director Carl Jones, creator/writer/actor Michael Jai White, creator/actor Byron Minns, and actors Kym Whitley and Tommy Davidson.

For those unaware, the inspiration for Michael Jai White’s titular character is an amalgamation of martial artist/actor Jim Kelly and football players/actors Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. “They were heroes of mine growing up,” White said. “And this character is a composition of those three people.”

Not surprisingly, the show’s unique characters were a big discussion topic, as Byron Minns explained the origins of his character, Bullhorn, who draws comparisons to Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolomite persona. “As an actor you bring what you have to the table,” Minns said, before adding, “But of course he’s also inspired by Rudy Ray Moore.”

Another popular character, antagonist (and Kermit knock-off) That Frog Kurtis, wasn’t represented at Comic-Con, but it was noted that he’s actually based on the voice actor who portrays him. “It was really heavily inspired by J.B. Smoove,” White explained. “We had this idea to do a parody of Kermit the Frog, but as soon as we said ‘J.B.’ it all made perfect sense. He just does something naturally while improv-ing. It’s just magic. It was a good casting choice more than anything.”

Even the pimps got a mention, specifically Cedric Yarbrough’s Chocolate Giddy-Up. “He’s in the second season. He’s a regular character,” Minns said. “And you’ll see [the pimps] more in this season. This season we get a chance to explore the community a little more. We get to see the world expand.”

The second season will also see some famous people portrayed in this expansion. There’s a Bill Cosby episode, a Bob Marley episode (in which Honeybee falls in love with him), and even a Black Panthers parody called the Black Pumas.

Speaking of Kym Whitley’s Honeybee character, she’ll be seeing some more action this season. “Honeybee is fighting more,” Whitley said. “Honeybee has a storyline of her own.”

Can we expect any holiday storylines this year? “We do have a Halloween episode,” Carl Jones revealed. “It’s called ‘The Mean Queens of Halloween,’ and it’s actually a Warriors parody.

Interestingly enough, Tommy Davidson’s Cream Corn character barely got a mention, but that’s okay, because Tommy himself is enough of a character already. The guy was constantly yelling, cracking jokes, and distracting people every chance he got. At one point, while being photographed, Tommy broke into a rendition of “Carry On Wayward Son,” because someone in the room apparently looked like they were from Kansas. One of the other Black Dynamite guys shouted out in response: “Where’s my taser?!”

Of course with such a quick and electric personality like Tommy’s, it’s natural to wonder how much improv makes it into the show. “It’s the most I’ve ever had,” he said. “Carl has such an understanding of what he’s doing, that it’s already done by the time you get there. He just wants whatever you have to give. He directs you in the direction of basic. He just says, ‘You’re scared right now.’ You can do scared however you want to. He just lets you loose. It’s very simple directions.”

Michael Jai White was quick to clarify, though. “You have to be supportive of the story; that’s the skeleton,” he said. “If improv takes you toward the paradigm of the story, so be it. But too much improv, and you don’t know where you are. Everyone has got to follow some kind of a structure.”

Byron confirmed that sentiment. “We’re more structured than you may believe,” he said. “When any of us steps into the booth – and Carl is definitely a stickler – we follow the script word for word. We make sure that we get our original vision before anything else. Then afterwards if there’s other things that come naturally, we draw from those things.”

“Of course I ask them very nicely,” Carl said, laughing.

Is there ever any concern that the show will push the envelope too far? “No, not from the creative end of it,” White said. “We’re going to push it all the way there. If we have to back up a little bit, it’s going to be because of a network thing.” If people thought the premiere season was edgy, they better hold onto their hats.

“Wait until they see season two!” Kym exclaimed, implying that there will no doubt be controversy, even from blacks themselves, as in the past some questioned the representation of their race. “If it’s in the truth, it’s the truth,” she said. “If the image [portrayed] is true, and it exists, as long as we are sticking true to honesty – and not exploiting or being really negative, but showing it really light and funny – then I think it’s okay. There’s so much going on in this world. We need to laugh.” However, she did emphasize the need to be respectful of certain historical details, specifically the tremendously difficult plight of blacks in this nation. “It’s hard to connect with that [in the show],” she said. “You got to know that it existed. You got to be sensitive to that. It really depends on where it’s coming from.”

Tommy backed her up by emphasizing the importance of portraying real cultural elements. “Without culture we ain’t got comedy. Everybody has their take on everything; this is our turn. Black Dynamite is finally a chance for us to take the Blaxploitation era and really just blow it out of proportion and have some real fun with it.”

Tommy also stressed the value of having the series air on a mainstream network like Adult Swim, and not a black-centric channel. “This is the world, right?” he asked. “Africans aren’t outside of humanity.” It wouldn’t be right “if you were to put us in some little box outside of everyone else. Last I looked, the world was composed of Irish, Italian, African, Philippino, Chinese, Korean… We’re a part of humanity; we’re not outside of it. So we get cartoons and everything else.”

Everything else includes films like Black Dynamite, and its potential sequel, which Michael mentioned. “Our intention was to do three Blaxploitation-ish movies, Black Dynamite being the first of them. And so, [if] the second one that we choose to do precedes Black Dynamite 2, so be it. It’s something that we’re very excited about, and we think it’s going to be really funny. We [just] don’t know which one is next.”

At the very end of the interview, Kym mentioned that the new season of Black Dynamite will be premiering on Adult Swim October 18th at 10:00pm, before someone corrected her, saying it would, in fact, air at 10:30. Kym exclaimed that she’d been telling everyone the wrong time up until now. As we all shared a laugh, I remarked, “We got an exclusive: the right time,” drawing a chuckle from the reporter sitting next to me. Just then, in a much louder voice, Tommy cracked: “Hey, you guys got an exclusive: the right time!” – drawing raucous laughter from the whole table.

That’s right: Tommy Davidson stole my fucking joke, and I have the audio to prove it!

[photos by Becca Green]