LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Being a teacher right now can be really hard. Resources are limited. Sometimes books are banned. The country's history is being relitigated. Parents can get way too involved. All this impacts how you teach and what you can and can't teach, yet a new show on FX and Hulu is finding humor in it all. "English Teacher" follows a gay educator in Austin, Texas, trying to navigate an ever more complicated school environment. In this scene, Evan, played by Brian Jordan Alvarez, is in the lunchroom with fellow teacher Gwen, played by Stephanie Koenig.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ENGLISH TEACHER")
BRIAN JORDAN ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) You know, the kids this year, I feel like they're less woke. Did you notice that?
STEPHANIE KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) Oh, I know.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) They're not into being woke anymore.
KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) It's circled back around.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) It's circled all the way around.
KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) Yes.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) And now they're, like, for what they say they're against.
KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) Right. And they're saying the R word again.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) Like, you have that kid. What was he saying about the Spanish Inquisition?
KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) He - I had to teach both sides of the Spanish Inquisition.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) It's so insane.
KOENIG: (As Gwen Sanders) He got upset. He started crying and saying...
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) And I have these kids that are showing me AI porn of Oscar Wilde having sex with women. He was gay.
FADEL: (Laughter) I spoke with Brian Jordan Alvarez, who's also the creator of "English Teacher," and I asked what he found in high school that made it such fertile ground for comedy.
ALVAREZ: It's an environment that is implicitly so interesting because it's a lot of people from every different part of life coming together to do the best job they can for a common goal, which is educating these students, and everyone's got a different opinion about how to do that, you know? And you've got the teachers, and then I'm sure there's plenty of disagreement even among the teachers, as you see in the show. And then you've got the parents, and you've got the administration. And it's just - there's so much there to look at. And not to mention the opinions of the students themselves and how they want to be taught and what they're learning elsewhere, and, you know, it's a lot.
FADEL: Now, the show walks this tightrope when it comes to finding comedy in the culture wars. I mean, it could go very, very wrong, and yet you find hilarity and kind of the ridiculousness of the right and left in the U.S. and really the different ways we think about what we say and who we are. How do you do that?
ALVAREZ: Well, I think it's mainly two things, which is we're trying to approach these things with intelligence - you know, at the highest level of intelligence that we can muster - and with empathy toward all the characters. Everyone we're writing, we're trying to write them as a real person, and, you know, most real people are trying to do their best.
FADEL: There's a key relationship in this show between your character and the PE teacher, Markie, and he's played by Sean Patton, and he couldn't be more different than Evan. You know, he's pro-gun, super politically incorrect, seems to be right-leaning politically.
ALVAREZ: Yeah.
FADEL: And yet, they have this friendship. What are you portraying there?
ALVAREZ: I think it's just, you know, some love between two people. And the joy of that relationship and of writing that relationship is that it's definitely unexpected that these two characters would have such a - not just a symbiotic relationship but a genuinely loving relationship...
FADEL: Yeah.
ALVAREZ: ...And even a relationship where sometimes on the surface it looks like they're not getting along, but you can see from their actions that they do get along, that they do understand each other, and not only that, but they can help each other through the - you know, the stuff of life.
FADEL: Yeah, even when they don't totally - I mean, my favorite scene is when Markie is trying to protect your character, Evan, 'cause this mom is angry that you kissed your boyfriend in front of the kids - like, gave a peck to your boyfriend.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ENGLISH TEACHER")
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) You talked to the mom. This is incredible.
SEAN PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) Oh, dude, yeah. Don't even sweat that. I've actually known loud-mouth Harrison for years. We used to call her bass mouth. You want to get a hook in there, don't you?
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) This is phenomenal. Oh, my God.
PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) Not a problem. Not a problem.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) The relief I am feeling.
PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) You help me. I help you.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) What happened? What did you say to her?
PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) I walked into the country club where she frequents...
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) Uh-huh.
PATTON: ...(As Markie Hillridge) Caught her three Martinis in and said, hey, back off. I'ma (ph) tell everyone here that your son is gay.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) You what?
PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) I mean, he is gay. It's not lying. You know, it's just hitting her with the truth, man. Some people can't handle that.
ALVAREZ: (As Evan Marquez) No. You can't use homophobia to fight homophobia.
PATTON: (As Markie Hillridge) We work with the tools we have.
ALVAREZ: That scene I love because even though Evan disagrees with Markie's methods, he's grateful for the help that Markie was happy to give. And Markie is basically saying to Evan, you've got to approach life on life's terms, and you've got to do things that work, you know? The different characters are teaching each other. And there are scenes where the students are teaching the teachers how to move through the world, and I like that about the show. People are learning from each other...
FADEL: Yeah.
ALVAREZ: ...You know, wherever they can get it.
FADEL: When you were writing this, and you were thinking about the audience that would watch this, I mean, what did you imagine the audience would be? I mean, because you do find humor in the ridiculousness of so much of what we are as Americans across the political spectrum and identities.
ALVAREZ: I mean, our aim was to make a show for everyone, to make a welcoming show that just feels like real strong comedy, where you can all laugh together and laugh at each other. And, you know, I hope we've done that.
FADEL: What about the music in this series? Were those your choices? I mean, they lean hard on songs from the '80s, '90s.
ALVAREZ: Yes, it makes the show feel so classic. You know, I grew up on "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost," you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ETERNAL FLAME")
THE BANGLES: (Singing) Close your eyes. Give me your hand, darling.
ALVAREZ: The Bangles' "Eternal Flame" is just a song that has always - any time I've heard it has just moved me nearly to tears, and we got to use that song, I think, twice. The lead singer of The Bangles then posted about it and said, this is so cool that the song is in the show, and it just meant the world to me.
FADEL: What responses generally have you gotten to the show so far? And are some of those responses from teachers?
ALVAREZ: Oh, people are loving it.
(LAUGHTER)
ALVAREZ: Not to brag, but we do have a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.
FADEL: (Laughter).
ALVAREZ: People are liking the show. But, yeah, actually the most meaningful responses are from people that say, hey, I'm a teacher. You guys are nailing this. And it means so much to me because we also - you know, I'm - I was saying one of our main goals with the show is to write our characters with empathy, and we really have so much empathy and respect for teachers that are out there actually doing this job. And to hear that we're getting it right means the world to us.
FADEL: Brian Jordan Alvarez is an actor and comedian. You can watch his new show, "English Teacher," on FX and Hulu. Brian, thank you so much.
ALVAREZ: Thank you so much, Leila.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ETERNAL FLAME")
THE BANGLES: (Singing) Am I only dreaming? Or is this burning... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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