Dear Gossips,

Sam Richardson will be one of Seth Meyers guests tonight on Late Night. He’s promoting the new series The Afterparty, now streaming on Apple. High school murder mysteries are having a moment right now but this is a comedy, and a rom-com, and sometimes a musical, and I’m not sure it’s for everyone, because the show can feel high-concept and offbeat, not always an accessible combination. I watched the first episode last night on Sarah’s recommendation – and she’s been observing the buzz about it which is steadily starting to grow. By the time the series wraps at the end of the month, this could be the comedy of the season.

But even if that doesn’t happen, it’s still great to see Sam Richardson’s name show up first in the credits. As Sarah noted a few months ago, Sam has been scene-stealing everywhere over the last few years – you might not know his name but I know you know his face and his performances because, again, he shows up all over the place, from Veep to Promising Young Woman to Curb Your Enthusiasm. And now he’s leading an ensemble and getting featured in The Hollywood Reporter with gushing quotes from people like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Sudeikis.

This is a good profile, an overview of Sam’s career so far, and it also feels like a prologue. Because Sam is getting busier and busier and there’s a sense, there’s been a sense for some time now, that he’s just on the cusp of big time Hollywood success.

What’s interesting is that it keeps coming up how likeable Sam is – both Sam the person and the characters he’s known for. This is true, he is super likeable… but he can also be deceptively likeable, which is the angle Ted Lasso gave him an opportunity to lean into. This is the kind of work he tells THR he’s more interested in right now. He wants to play the asshole, and it’s not a bad idea to put that out in there in a trade publication that’s read by many industry insiders.

As for The Afterparty, while you may have not started watching it, you’ve probably seen some of the marketing around “Xavier”, the dead popstar played by Dave Franco. This is not a spoiler as the whole premise of the series is about his murder. Xavier’s final music video was just released, part of his new four song EP. The video itself is funny but what’s cracking me up even more are the things people are saying in the YouTube comments to extend the joke. Whether or not they’ve been planted there or it’s just people who’ve been watching the show and participating in the parody, it still works as part of the promotion and the hype for the series.

Rest in PerfeXion, LOLOLOLOL.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Sam Richardson Gossip

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