The “Jury Duty” Cast Shares the Absurd Moments That Made Them Break Character on Set

There were so many absurd scenes on this show – which moment made you break character the most?

We broke character every single day, multiple times a day. We just did it when [Ronald] wasn’t looking. . . . It was hard. There were times when the pressure was on, Ronald’s there, he’s right next to you, and something crazy happens, and you just have to eat that. Sometimes, I kid you not, I would think about stuff that would make me mad or annoyed me because Vanessa, my character, was kind of over it with everything, but things around me were happening and they were funny, so I would be thinking like, “OK, I’m in a long line at the DMV.”

The one thing that almost everybody who was on set broke over was the defense’s animation video where it gets all glitchy. They didn’t show us that video beforehand. All we knew was that it was gonna be not good. The plaintiff’s attorney was gonna be fabulous, her animation was gonna be on point, and his was gonna be busted – that’s all we knew. When they showed that damn animation, we all lost it. I could not pick my head up; I was laughing so hard.

So much of the dialogue was improvised on the spot. Is there an improvised line or moment you’re proudest of creating for your character?

We were on camera for hours and hours a day, and they’d cut it down to 10 minutes for that day. One episode is maybe two full days, and it’s cut down to 20-25 minutes. We would do the group interviews, and it’s funny when you cut it and go from person to person, but at the time, it may not be funny.

The funniest one – and I wasn’t proud of it when it happened, and I was surprised they put it in – was when Vanessa’s like, “I just wanted to fight her,” when she’s talking about Genevieve [a witness]. They’re cutting from Genevieve talking to Vanessa’s response, but that’s not what happened in real life. . . . It was hours later during a post-day interview, and everyone was like, “What do you think of Genevieve?” and that’s when I said I wanted to fight her, I wanted to punch her right in the throat. I tell you what; it got awkward. I was like, “Oh, I think that was too violent, I don’t think they liked that. They’re not gonna keep that one.” And they put it in.

How has your life changed, if at all, since the show came out?

I think I would be flattered to be recognized, but I would also be like, “Please don’t notice me. I have no makeup on, I’m in sweats, I have spit-up on my shirt. Please just see me as a regular ol’ person.” I have that because Vanessa, her hair was braided, and when my hair is my natural curly hair, I look very different, so people don’t really put two and two together. The most that my life has changed is that I’m actually somewhat paying attention to my Instagram. Before I was just posting once every three months, it’s mostly just my kids. Now I’m like “Oh god, I have to do something. I have to work on this.”

What was your all-time favorite moment from filming the show?

I think it was the day when we revealed to Ronald. First of all, it was like a weight off our shoulders to finally be able to tell him, “Hey, we’re actually just regular people, and most of us are pretty nice.” Being able to get relief from the burden . . . I didn’t have to pretend to be anything. I could just be like, “Ronald, I like things! I enjoy things! I’m a happy person.” Just being able to talk to him as a real person, that was the most relaxed I felt.

Which moment made you break character the most?

Any scene with Barb [Susan Berger]. I’m so goofy in real life, so having to tap into an authoritarian, you’re in charge of these people and also you’re law enforcement, I had to really lean in because then you have Barb, who really is a hippie grandma. She was very free-spirited. For episode eight, we were in rehearsal and she would say stuff like, “I wanna go now. I wanna go to the bathroom,” and I’m like, “Barb, you cannot. You’re killing me.” It’s her voice, it’s this bewildered, I-don’t-care look that she would have, but anything with her would make me personally be like, “Come on, Sheedz. Don’t do this today.”

And then obviously, as the world saw, with Cassandra’s bag, I had a moment where my lives were doing this [crosses fingers in front of her face]. My EPs and the showrunner were like, “What do you need to keep this up?” And I said, “In real courts, the bailiffs have an office. Where am I going when I’m walking them around? I need an office so [Ronald] knows this is no game.” I was very perceptive on stuff like that. The cast would come in my office to check their phones. One day, the real Cassandra came in and wanted to check her phone, and in those little moments, we get to be ourselves, so right after that, I forgot to flip that switch. . . .

Those were two of the times I had broken. I think it’s very human to laugh from time to time. Barbara made me smile harder than I wanted to.

Is there an improvised line or moment you’re proudest of creating for your character?

There’s a couple actually. I got to show who I am and where I’m from. Oftentimes Black people, specifically Black women, get put in this box, but we’re all different; we’re multifaceted. I love who we are. Nikki was an around-the-way Black girl. I myself am from Chicago – that’s a very special breed of Black woman. An around-the-way girl is a Black woman from the hood who’s made it, and I showed a lot of that. It was a lot of Todd and Nikki moments.

One of my proudest was the whole hotel bit when I’m checking them in. I was leaning into that officer who’s done this for so long, she’s over it. Then [Todd] is behind me and I’m like, “Stop doing that sh*t. I don’t like people behind me.” That one, then the “low-key genius” part because it was so sweet yet funny, and now you’ve got people everywhere saying “low-key genius.” It was just a genuine moment of like, “For real though. Lean into that, [Todd]. Someone’s telling you some beautiful sh*t about yourself.” Ronald’s genuine smile at the end of that is a callback to the things he was pouring into Todd.

And then, of course, [Nikki’s line], “Ever since you got that new outfit.” . . . Nikki got to show that Black woman who’s like, “Y’all not gonna play with me, but I got y’all. Also I’m gonna treat you well.” That’s what Black women are about. We go so hard. We know what we want, so we want it for everybody.

How has your life changed, if at all, since the show came out?

I’m grateful. I always knew that stuff was about to pop off. I just truly didn’t know this was gonna be the one. I write and was on hit shows, “South Side” and “Sherman’s Showcase.” . . . But it has really done what it was supposed to do and it’s exploded because it’s good TV, it’s hilarious, and it’s something everybody needed. It’s that wholesome, funny show like “The Office.” As a comedic writer and a human being, I was so proud to bring all of that. To have such an ensemble, it’s beautiful. . . . Everybody did so well and supported each other.

My life has always been in position to do what it’s doing, but I appreciate the “man, you’re a natural.” I’m not a name-dropper, but I’ve got celebs inboxing me. This is cool. I receive it, and I’m praying for it to continue doing everything it needs to do and praying for spinoffs. The characters are so dope, and you can do so much with them. We also can’t ignore what’s going on in the industry with the writers’ [strike]. You would not have a “Jury Duty,” you would not have anything if you don’t do right by the creators who create.

What was your all-time favorite moment from filming the show?

This is tough. I would say Margaritaville. My friend [played] the bartender. I had to get him hired because they wanted me to flirt with a bartender, but the one they had before – no shade – I was like, [Nikki] is a very strong woman; she’s not gonna flirt with a teenager. So me sitting there, it was my friend and we were really just talking about some sh*t. We knew we were working, but also I say that was my favorite filming moment because you really got to see Ronald calm down and be him. I was like, “This dude is really kind and really sweet.” It made feel bad because I didn’t wanna yell at them about this bill.

And then certain sh*t [Ronald] would do off camera when I would ask what he needed for his hotel, and he would literally only say two things every time because he was being mindful about everybody else. We had our moments. . . . I hope everybody’s life continues to flourish from this, and I’m very, very grateful.

Which moment made you break character the most?

It’s probably most visible in the edit of the show, but that first defense animation where Evan [Williams], who played Shaun, showed the video that his nephew made. We didn’t see that beforehand or know what it was gonna look like. For me in general, when doing a bit myself, I didn’t find it hard to stay in character, but when you’re watching somebody else be so funny, it’s impossible.

What improvised scene are you proudest of?

I love doing improv, and everyone was doing improv all the time on this. The things that I feel the most pride about were engineering moments that Ronald would come up with, but that we planted the seeds for. Bringing him in on the joke in a way that’s not making fun of him and growing it together unbeknownst to him was the most fun thing. My character got a makeover at the mall and he helped pick out some clothes. We sort of planted the seed of that idea for Ronald to do that, and then it was like when we go to the mall, I’ll just go for the wildest clothes I can find. That was a ton of fun.

How has your life changed, if at all, since the show came out?

My younger more with-it cousins are letting me know how the show’s doing on TikTok. Getting messages from people I haven’t talked to in a long time from elementary school has been wild. People very helpfully on Instagram are sending me other companies that make chair pants in real life and asking for feedback on designs and stuff.

Do you have an all-time favorite moment from filming the show?

Maybe this is a cop-out, but I think because everyone on the show was so funny and talented and hardworking and nice, the longer it went on and the closer we got to the reveal, the more it was like, “What if we don’t make it across the finish line? What if he finds out early?” Or any sort of other reaction he could’ve had. Going into that last day when we revealed it to him in the courtroom, I was so nervous, and predictably, as with everything else, it wound up that he was so nice and so happy. He was talking about how much he loves comedy and was excited that it turned out to be a comedy thing that he was a part of. That reveal was maybe the most scared I’ve ever been in my entire life and then the happiest I’ve been after.

Which scene made you break character the most?

Thank god my character was light and fluffy and not a crazy hardcore chola that was gonna gouge your eyes out, because then you would really be able to see the differences. Mine was lighter, so I was kind of able to play it off at times. But my gosh, it was every freakin’ day that we [broke character]. . . . I had to pinch myself. I would have bruises on the right side of my leg. But there were other times when I had to turn around the other way.

What is the improvised line or moment you’re proudest of creating for your character?

The one that stands out to me was because I honestly don’t even remember saying it. The air conditioning completely broke, and it was so hot. It was the end of the day, and they were asking us how we felt about Jacqui [the plaintiff]. So that whole part where I’m like, “She’s a bitch, but she’s beautiful. I hate her, but I love her,” I don’t even remember saying that, but it went viral.

How has your life changed since the show’s release?
Getting called my character’s name by random strangers at pickleball, it’s surreal. Before, it’d be like, “Wait, you look familiar.” This is like straight out, “Are you Inez?” It’s really bizarre and surreal and exciting and exhilarating.

All-time favorite moment from filming?

Darn it, I have so many, and you’re making me only pick one. . . . It was very scary in the beginning because I didn’t know anybody. Usually you kind of work with the same people from working in this business, but I didn’t. Meeting Cassandra [Blair], it was like magnets. It was almost like we had an ally because I’d be like, “Oh my god, I’m so scared,” and she’d be like, “Oh my god, me too.” . . . So to have that in the beginning where we could ping-pong back and forth like, “Oh my god did you feel this?” it was honest to god, as a person and as an actor. . . . such a huge sense of comfort because we didn’t know what the hell we were doing.

Did any moment make you break character?

Some of the testimony that the plaintiff’s and defendant’s lawyers brought up, those characters really broke me because we never saw that part. We weren’t privy to those actors coming in and giving their testimonies, so I was watching it as intensely and in shock as everybody else and I was like, “Oh my god, this is crazy.” The major thing that broke me is that sometimes we would call each other our real names because we were all just so close, and we all kind of blended together. I would catch myself calling someone their real name and then I’d have to come up with something on the spot to pretend that I was talking about something else.

Is there an improvised line or moment you’re proudest of creating for your character?

Everything was pretty much improv, but obviously we had guidelines of what we had to do. There’s a scene where James [Marsden] sits next to me [after also getting picked as a jury alternate] and I turn to him and say, “Ooof.” He was trying to make fun of me, and I just gave it right back.

Has your life changed since the show came out?

My life has been pretty much the same. There’s not people coming up to me and saying they saw me, but I have been getting a lot of texts from family and friends saying they’ve watched the show and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s crazy because you go into this thing, and it’s a small little project and you have no idea what it’s gonna be like when it goes out into the ether. Especially with this type of show where we’re playing different characters and we’re all in on the joke and we’re bringing somebody in, there’s a plethora of things that can go wrong. Thank god we pulled it off, but it’s just a shocker that people enjoyed it because you have no idea how people are gonna receive it.

What was your all-time favorite moment from filming the show?

When we would do the one-on-ones with a producer, the talking-head section of it, they’d ask us questions. It was an intense process, and sometimes we’d be so tired of the whole thing because we filmed during the summer and it was so hot, and we would answer questions to get underneath the skin of the producers just to play around with them a little bit. We had to stay in character as we did that, so it was funny messing around with them and giving them crazy answers and they had to play it off. Looking at Ronald’s face, he’s like, “What the hell is going on?” Some of those questions and answers made it on the show, too.

The scene where we’re at the warehouse and I have to get [Ronald] upstairs to the mannequin part, he didn’t wanna go because he was stuck on the rules. I had a thing in my ear with the producers telling me, “You gotta get him up there.” I was just sweating bullets like how am I gonna get him up there? That was definitely a challenge. It was fun, but I honestly didn’t think that was gonna work because he was not trying to go up there.