Adult Swim’s "Black Jesus" returns on September 18 for
what the network calls the "Second Coming."
The second season of Aaron McGruder and Mike Clattenburg’s live
action series finds Jesus (Gerald "Slink" Johnson) back on the
streets of Compton after a brief incarceration, only to find his band of
disciples has fallen on hard times. Jesus wants the gang to go straight – earn
legit money and spread the word of God to the masses. Easier said than done,
and it isn’t long before the Most High and his apostles are back to their old
ways.
Black Jesus himself, Slink Johnson, recently made time to tell
S&A about the series and what to look forward to.
What audiences should expect from Season 2:
Laughter, calamity, hijinks, fun! Did I mention
laughter? A great time, great surprise guest appearances. It’s going to be a
magnificent show.
Season 1 was more of an introduction, whereas in
Season 2 we’ll be able to get a little bit more into each of the characters’
lives, personalities and the things they’re dealing with as individuals. It’ll definitely
surprise you.
How the concept of "Black Jesus" has changed since starting as
an improvised sketch seven years ago:
It just kind of expanded from the original
three or four-minute long improvised sketch. The
people were real. Boonie is a real life friend of mine and the real Boonie was
in the original sketch. Jason is my real friend who introduced me to Aaron McGruder.
So we took that and created a world around it. We
got together Aaron, myself, Robert Wise, Meghann Collins and Mike Clattenburg and
brainstormed, got in the think tank and put together scenarios and ideas. We
were given the ball and told to make a show out of it.
Working
with Aaron McGruder:
Aaron is a great dude and I thank him so much
for giving me so much input in the creative process. As far as fleshing out the
character as a person, Aaron gave me the ball. A lot of doing Black Jesus was
easy for me because he just said, "Hey, imagine if you were Jesus. What
would you do? What would you say?"
How his background relates to "Black Jesus":
I was born and raised in the Bible belt, in a
little bitty small town called Dumas, Arkansas. My earliest years, I came up in
a very sanctified and holy church with my grandma, in a real small God-fearing
town. So I say that to say that I identify and believe in God. The same God that everybody might say I’m blaspheming
against is the same God that gave me the job.
How "Black Jesus" has
influenced his thoughts about spirituality:
It definitely reinforced some things that I
already felt, because I’ve always believed that God has a sense of humor. If
God is in us all, He definitely has to have a sense of humor. I read a post on
Black Jesus’ Facebook page that somebody made, it was tight, it said something
like, "God is the ultimate comedian and the world is afraid to laugh."
So it reinforces my belief that humor is good,
humor is for the soul.
What this
season offers that’s real and relevant:
Compassion, and the humanity of Jesus. In the
show, Jesus lives in Compton. Jesus is here and he’s preaching these messages
of love and compassion and tolerance. I think if people just watch and laugh
and focus on our similarities a little bit more than our differences it’ll draw
us together, and I think that’s what Jesus does. He draws people together via
our similarities, because we all have the same desires. There’s a few of us
with circuits that are off-balance or whatever, but for the most part we all yearn
for the same things, and I think Black Jesus is conveying that awesomely.
On Compton as the ideal location for the
series:
It represents an impoverished area that so many
great people come from, you dig? There’s so many roses growing from concrete in
Compton and there’s so much love to be had in spite of the notorious image that
it has. Because at one point, Compton was considered the most dangerous place
in the world. So why not put Jesus there, in the midst of the danger, where the
people really need him?
The
phrase that encapsulates this season:
"In God we trust."
"Black Jesus" Season 2 Premieres
Friday, September 18 at 11pm on Adult
Swim.
