Over the computer screen, Michael Che looked beat. That’s not shade; the man was in full grind mode. While Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota is the third special the Saturday Night Live cast member has done for Netflix in a decade, it’s the first thing he’s ever directed, and after a batch of press interviews he would rather not sit down for, he had work to finish.
“I think I'm going to a color mix after I do this,” Che said over Zoom. “We’re going down to the wire.” That’s what happens when, because of your day job, you have to fit completing the first stand-up comedy special that you directed (ever) into a teacher’s summer schedule.
In conversation with Complex, the 43-year-old Che dove into why he chose to make Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota his directorial debut, what was left out of the special, his future directorial aspirations, and much more.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
This is your third Netflix special, and your first one dropped 10 years ago. When are you like, "Yo, I got it. This is the special"? It's been like five years since the last one. Was there a certain point when you were like, "I guess I got to do another one?”
It was about two years ago. The special was sort of what I thought was pretty ready. And working SNL is kind of like a teacher schedule, where I don't really get free time until the summer, and it's a lot of two weeks on, one week off. With a special, you sort of want the real estate to be able to really, really test it and work it out and tweak it and take it on the road. You need an extended amount of time to be able to build it. It was just a matter of trying to find that real estate, trying to line up the dates to make sure I got it right. So it took about two years to really where I felt like, all right, this is something that's ready to go.
Then I noticed that you directed this. Correct me if I'm wrong, is this the first time you directed anything?
Yes, my first directed piece, and it was a lot of fun. One of the tricks is getting a really good DP and taking a lot of his advice. I kind of just knew what I wanted it to look like, what I wanted it to feel like, and you just let good people do their jobs.
I saw it was recorded in August, and we're in October now; it's about to drop. Were you taking September to sit and go through the content, or did you just say—
I'm still going through it. I'm literally, I think I'm going to a color mix after I do this. We’re going down to the wire. We really wanted it to come out soon.
I feel like comedy is like bread. It's good fresh. We wanted to get to people as soon as we could, and Netflix gave us a date, and we want it to be as good as it is; working at SNL for years, we're used to working fast.
How recent is some of that material? You start with Charlie Kirk, so at least a year.
Yeah, at least a year, right? Yeah, that's pretty new. There's a lot of tags in there. There's some stuff that I've been doing for five years that just makes sense for the story of the special.
I'm not too sure what's the newest, but a lot of it is just literally tweaked up until the day. Even before we taped, I did maybe four shows there, just at some bar, just trying to tweak and try little things and different segues and different tags. And yeah, it kind of came down to the wire. That's just how I like to work, though. I'm sure there's a more efficient way to do it.
On Instagram, you wrote, “October 13th, set a reminder. It starts behind the eight ball and stays there.” Is that how you like to start your sets? Not easing into anything?
Yeah. I mean, if you want to see a trick, let's do a trick. Anybody could go up there and do some layups. Let's see why you're a professional. Let's see how good you actually are. How you going to land this plane? That's what makes it fun for me. It keeps my brain alive.
I ask because I was crying over how many times you threw Karl Malone references in there. You end the special in a phenomenal place, but I was waiting for one more “Karl Malone” at the end. Were you trying to throw one more “Karl Malone” in there at the end?
There was an ending that was Karl Malone. [laughs]
That's amazing.
My assistant actually preferred that ending. I mean, it is what it is, but there was definitely some more Karl Malone in there, for sure.
I want to ask a weird question, just because of how your brain works in the scenario with Charlie Kirk, Captain Kirk, and Karl Malone. You work at SNL; you're around a lot of white people. I'm assuming there are moments where somebody mentions a redheaded actress and they'll say a name, or you'll mention a name, and they're like, "No, it's..." Do you ever have white people calling you racist for things like that?
No, they kind of know, and it happens all the time.
I imagine.
I shouldn't say this, but even sometimes with hosts and guests and I'm like, "Who?"
It's a lot of people out there!
I'm also not a super pop culture guy, where I know every show. I like six things. Most of it is sports or wrestling or whatever, hip-hop from about 15 years ago. Yeah, it happens all the time, but I think they know I mean well, so they don't hold it against me. But hell yeah.
I've been working here 12 years. When I first started here, I was the only Black writer, so there were times where I didn't know what the fuck was going on. There'd be a sketch at the table that we rehearsed or somebody wrote, and it's killing, but it's about a show. There was a show, a documentary everybody was watching. It was the biggest thing. It was called, I think it was The Jinx, something like that.
Ah, with the white dude that killed the ladies.
White dude that killed the lady, and Kate McKinnon was playing [him]... Now I know what it is, but at the time I was like, "What?” This felt like a trick. It felt like it was just making it up and trying to... “Let's confuse the Black guy.” I didn't know what the fuck was going on. And when I found out about it, then it made me appreciate the sketch so much more, but that happens all the time. And I'm sure there's shit that I write that they're like, "What?" What the hell's going on?” Definitely. Certainly.
You do a couple of impressions in the special, and you make a joke about not being in sketches because of the one impression that you really do. Is that just a joke? In 12-plus year, do you ever step up like, "Put me in this. I got something for this”?
Never.
Never?
Never. I don't like doing sketch comedy. I just truly don't like it. I love writing it. I love being part of the puzzle. I love fixing it. I love watching it. Doing it makes me very uncomfortable. I don't think it's my strong suit, and it's just taking away time from a motherfucker that really wants it. I'd rather let the pros do it, but it is what it is. I've definitely been asked it, but it's just always like, "Don't put me in that shit, bro." [laughs]
How much content that’s not Shot In Minnesota did you want to get into the special?
It's probably 20 minutes that I've just stashed away just to make it fit. There was a version that we was doing on the road that was an hour-15, something like that. I think now it's maybe 55 [minutes] or something like that.
To me, 50 minutes is usually the sweet spot with a special. It's just a nice sampling. It's not too long. People can get tired from laughing. You could kill for too long if people are like, "I need to take a break..."
“I need to go to the bathroom,” yeah.
Yeah. So that's when you want to pace different. You want to start to tell longer stories. You want to be a little bit more thoughtful, just give people a chance to catch up. 50, 55 minutes to an hour is the sweet spot. You don't want to just keep forcing shit.
Do you have director aspirations?
Yeah. It's something that I've revered for so long that I didn't really feel confident in trying. And so taking the risk on myself, it was kind of like, "All right, well, if you want somebody to hire you, then you got to be willing to hire you, too." So trying it, I realized that there's still a lot to learn, but I feel a lot more confident than I did before I tried.
Damn. So, not next summer, but maybe in a couple years, we may see a Michael Che film or something that was pieced together on summer vacations.
Jordan Peele, you know what I'm saying? Coogler, Spike, everybody started somewhere.
Why not? Why not? I love telling stories. I love film. I love my peers. I love the people that I'm around all the time that are just dope artists and that don't get all of the opportunities. And I like Black stories that don't feel like homework and just feel like, man, “we also have good days”. We also laugh. It ain't always got to be about somebody getting shot. Some horrible tragedy. So I would love to make movies that kind of celebrate what it is to just be a regular dude and be Black, but you know what I mean? Just a regular fucking person.
I think there's room for all of us. None of us have to take on the responsibility of doing everything and being everything. And I think, as artists, we just got to do what we want to do and talk to our people and get out of everybody else's way. I think there's room for everybody.
Michael Che: Shot in Minnesota is streaming now on Netflix.
