Quinta Brunson, a “Child of the Internet,” Revives the Sitcom

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

News, David, Books, Arts, Storytelling, Wnyc, New, Remnick, News Commentary, Yorker, Politics

4.2 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Quinta Brunson made a name for herself as a master of meme comedy and is a self-described “child of the Internet,” yet her ABC mockumentary series “Abbott Elementary” is an unabashed throwback to the sitcoms of her youth. Doreen St. Félix talked with Brunson at the 2022 New Yorker Festival about her influences and the everyday comedy of the workplace. St. Félix believes that Brunson has found “freedom in formula” when it comes to “Abbott,” which documents the lives of the beleaguered staff at a Philadelphia public school. “There is nothing that I could do,” Brunson says, “or [that] anyone can do that is more triumphant than someone going to their shitty job.” Writing in the wake of shows like “Black-ish,” Brunson relishes being able to center her story on Black people without addressing topical issues about race; the school is its own self-enclosed world. Just surviving, she thinks, provides its own form of liberation. “So much has happened to Black people,” she says. “Why are we still here? . . . We really could have called it quits a long time ago, and somehow we just keep going. It’s crazy to me.”

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNWC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:11.1	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'm David Remnick.
0:14.0	The program Abid Elementary on ABC is giving audiences a lot to be thankful for.
0:19.4	It takes the form of a mockumentary, but it's really a warm-hearted ode to beleaguered
0:26.2	public school teachers in Philadelphia.
0:28.7	The character's earnest determination under difficult circumstances is very much the
0:33.4	point.
0:34.4	Abid finds its comedy in the everyday.
0:37.3	Teachers at a school like Abid, we have to be able to do it all.
0:42.1	We are admin, we are social workers, we are therapists, we are second parents, hell sometimes
0:47.8	we're even first.
0:49.6	Why?
0:50.6	It's showing the money.
0:53.2	I can make more work in the street.
0:56.4	Easy.
0:57.4	Now in its second season, Abid Elementary is already being pegged as a modern classic.
1:02.2	The show stars Quinta Brunson, who writes and produces the show as well and Brunson
1:07.8	has emerged as one of the sharpest and most sought after voices in television.
1:12.1	At 32 years of age, she recently signed a multi-year development deal with Warner Brothers.
1:18.4	And she joined us at the New Yorker Festival last month.
1:31.5	I'm Doreen Sifiliks and I am the staff writer at the New Yorker.
1:35.6	I'm joined on stage by the inimitable Emmy Award-winning writer, actor.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios and The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.