With Atlanta’s third season now being rolled out, complete with a pair of Hiro Murai-directed premiere episodes, star and creator Donald Glover stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to give fans some insight on how his creative process has changed over the years. Expectedly, Glover was also asked about Will Smith’s Oscars slap, as well as the possibility of a new album under the Childish Gambino moniker.
Asked around the 1:49 mark where he watched this year’s Oscars ceremony, Glover revealed that he was at the Vanity Fair party.
“Everybody was kinda just, kinda chatting,” Glover said. “I think it felt like you were in someone’s living room. And it just kinda happened. To me, I don’t even really wanna get into it. It’s like, whatever. People are already tired of it. People are like, ‘Dang, I gotta read another article. It’s been eight articles already.’ And also, like, I’ve had a lot of stuff happen to me while I was telling jokes on stage, that kind of thing.”
Asked to elaborate, Glover recalled what he joked was an “emotional attack” that occurred years ago when he brought a date to an improv show.
“I was dating someone and I had brought them to an improv show. … We didn’t know each other that well,” Glover told Kimmel. “Maybe I had dated her for, like, two weeks at most. This was maybe a third date or whatever, maybe second. And we’re [performing improv] and she’s drunk and she’s like, ‘What’s going on? Who are those people?’ She’s super loud and people are like, ‘Who is she?’ and I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’”
Eventually, Glover’s fellow performers told the woman to leave the performance, at which point he continued to act as though he too had no idea who she was. Later, Kimmel told Glover he was “like Will Smith and Chris Rock combined” due to his status as a preeminent multihyphenate.
“Yeah, I can’t choose sides,” Glover said around the 3:44 mark in the video above. “I love ‘em both. I love both of those guys.”
Deeper into the chat, Kimmel offered Glover praise over the first episode of Atlanta’s new season, which—as fans already know—doesn’t give viewers a look at any familiar characters until close to the end of its 36-minute running time. Speaking generally about how such releases are designed to feel like an “event,” Glover explained how the knowledge of people waiting for the show’s return had an impact on the first episodes back.
Per Glover, such a return “should be something harrowing and cinematic,” with Kimmel then pointing out how this approach also extends to how the actors deliver their lines. “I feel like if you keep everything at a 2, when you do a 10 it feels like a 100,” Glover responded.
As for music-centered talk, Kimmel asked Glover around the 9:27 mark if he was currently working on another Gambino album. Instead of getting too specific, Glover pointed to the volume of music he’s made, which led to some inspiring insight on how he carries out his artistic process these days. “It used to just flow but now I have kids so nothing flows anymore. … Nothing’s as easy as it used to be so I do block off time now,” Glover said when asked how he approaches making time for each of his creative outlets.
See more from Donald Glover and Jimmy Kimmel up top. The latest episode of Atlanta premieres this week on FX.
