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February 17, 2025 • 13 mins
From Superstore to the courtroom! Paul talks with Nico Santos about his guest-starring role on Night Court, exploring his character, the experience of working with the ensemble cast, and what it's like to step into the world of this iconic show.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
H average entertainment show more than entertainment, and it was
on the screen connecting dots on what you see.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back to the entertainment Zotos, Meet Paul. I'm a
Daya Slaine. Thank you so much for coming back. I
kind of tease this before we went to break. We're
going to be joined by one of the guest stars
of a recent episode of NBC's Night Court, Nico Santos.
He plays doctor and night Life and if you saw
that episode, you know how funny this episode was. Well,

(00:29):
I had an opportunity to talk to him about him
preparing for this episode. What was it like working with
all these amazing stars and really is in action that
he had with Gerds Lacreta and what it meant for
him to be a part of this show. So sit
back and enjoy this conversation that I had with Nico Santos.
Tell me what was it like being on Night Court.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
It's a lot of fun. You know, it's been a
while since of done a multicam sitcom. A multiam sitcom
is actually like like the first jobs ever gotten in Hollywood,
and coming from a stand up background, you know, like
I forgot about that sort of like being able to
play off the energy and the laughter of the audience
while you're filming, because you know, Superstore was a single cam.

(01:14):
We filmed it for six years and so this has
been like, yeah, quite sometimes since I've done it, and
coming into it, I was actually pretty nervous. I was like,
I don't know, like, is it like riding a bike?
Am I going to remember like how this is going
to be? But it was great. You know, like the
thing about multiicampit is kind of like just doing a play,
so once you're once you start, you gotta make it

(01:35):
to the end, and you just gotta focus and make
it to the end. There's no like can I take
that again, which can be sort of like a safety net.
But yeah, it was not only like the multicam sort
of aspect. It was great, but the cast and accrued
everybody was like so nice and really just sort of
was very very supportive, and you know, because I was nervous,

(01:56):
like I said, and they were just like, we got
you whatever you need, just let us know we have
your back.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
It was beat and Nico, your character, what did you
have to do to kind of uh, you know, do
your homework?

Speaker 4 (02:12):
Man?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
I had to I had to call like my nieces,
my nephews. I'm just like, what do you what do
you do with this? I mean, like, of course I
know what TikTok is. I'm not on TikTok social media.
It's not one of my strong points, one of the
skills that I have. But truly, when they were just
like we want you to play this annoying idiot, I'm like,

(02:33):
I got you.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
Don't worry. I got you. And Nico, were you a
fan of Night Court before?

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Did you watch the kind of binge watched the old
episode the one point I had.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Seen, Yeah, I had seen some of the original episodes
from the from the from the original show. You know,
I grew up in the Philippines, so we didn't have
Night Court back in Manila. But once I moved to
the United States, and you know, I saw some of
the reruns on nick Night or wherever they we run it.
It was definitely like on air. Yeah, and you know, everybody,

(03:04):
I've always loved sort of like the court room setting
of this of this comedy. It's it's a really really
unique setting. You never really see it anywhere else. So
I think they they've got the market cornered and this
for this particular genre cork froom comedy.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, you know, a Nico, I got to give you
my official Tagala greeting Camusta, I know a.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
Little bit of it.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, that's great.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Definitely, And Neo talk about just the interaction with the
cast and if what was it like, you know, maybe
maybe some of the moments we didn't see on camera
and some of the things you can share with us.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
Just working with all the great casts.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
They were so so so nice. I think that's what
I really appreciated because you know, on Superstore we were
just a super tight knit family and walking into seths
you just don't know what the dynamic is going to be,
especially if you our guest star, you just don't know
how these people are. And walking into a set that

(04:03):
was like completely warm and supportive and yeah, it was
just like just like super super nice because I've walked
into some sets where you don't necessarily feel welcome, so
being in that set, you know, like obviously Melissa Browsch
is already a legend, but John Lewercat, like I mean,

(04:23):
he's it's John lower Catt, right, and so sort of
like in between takes just talking to him, and he was,
you know, sort of like he was someone who initiated
a conversation. I was like, oh, okay, great, that's great.
Usually I try to give, like, you know, people like
him sort of like the space that they need sometimes.
But you know, he was so friendly and sort of
just chatting me up, and yeah, everybody on set was

(04:45):
like great, you know, like I wish I could work
in that environment all the time and makings easier.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, you never know, you know, because Nami was a
guest star and now he's a series regular, so you
never know, you know.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
True that is.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
I know.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
I mean I would love Yeah, I would love to
come back to Night Court. It was such a fun
character to play. It'd be really interesting how they would
reintroduce him. And I hope they find a way to
sort of bring him back, because yeah, it's it's like
you just tell me to like be as unhinged as possible,

(05:22):
and I'm like, great, I got you.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
And that's one thing I appreciate about about Night Court,
just having the the the different guest stars come in
and adding some great flavor, you know, to the show.
And one thing that I really appreciated was your interaction
with with Lacreta, and it was like she was like,
had that I can't stand you. I'm gonna get you back.
And then you're sitting up there like You're like, Okay,
I'm gonna get you.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
So we all go home. We don't have this little
different tat through this whole episode.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
I love the creator. She is so amazing, I mean,
funny and just like one of the sweetest people you
ever meet. And yeah, we had fun off and on
camera she was just like to be around. But I
did I agree. I did love that dynamic of just
like are you going to get me? Am I going
to get to you?

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Now?

Speaker 3 (06:07):
What's going to happen? And then at the end, you know,
when when all my sort of plotting doesn't work out
and I'm just like completely defeated, I'd like you to
be like you can't, You're not You're not bothering me.
So I'm like, yeah, And.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know what, Nico, we see you on camera and
what you do seems seamless. You know, from Crazy Rich
Asians to Superstore, it's a lot of other things that
you've been in and talk about just how you have
to prepare for different roles you talked about sing, a camera,
multi camp, stand up. What are those things you have
to do in your mind to prepare yourself, especially for

(06:44):
this role right here, to be like okay, let me
make sure I do and do it well.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
I mean there are different types of actors and different
types of performers. For me, the way I sort of
see my performance skills is, you know, I really have
to tap into something that even though it's a bad
trait of a person, like what would be my connection.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
To that trait?

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Like, because you know, all of these things exist in
everybody on some level, so you sort of have to
tap into that and just sort of like for me,
like I sort of like start with I love starting
with the costumes. Like I actually like one after I
read the script because I have a degree in costume design.
I not a degree, I studied costume design another I

(07:31):
dropped out to be an actor. That's a huge part
of how I sort of like piece together the character
after the fitting and then you sort of like after
we do the script, you do the fitting and you
sort of like you know, it's a puzzle. You sort
of like pick pieces, you know, one by one after
you have the table read and meet with a production
designer and sort of piece together up until they say

(07:54):
roll camera and you have sort of like fully formed,
hopefully fully formed character. But it's definitely like a lot
of fun to sort of like, yeah, sort of try
and put that puzzle together, you know, Like I just
this show of z Week just premiered on TV where
it was actually written by a friend of mine, and

(08:17):
that character is also maybe just as unhinged as Doctor Knightlife.
So it was really fun to sort of like, oh,
I get to play this flavor again. It's great.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
You know.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
It's one thing I like to I really loved about
Doctor Knightlife was just how that's how influences are you know,
I've I've been around influencers, TikTokers and everything, and it's
like that is just there, the way that they act
in and you pulled it off masterfully. And what was
kind of like the biggest challenge in playing Doctor knight Life?
Where was there some areas you had to work a

(08:51):
little harder at to make it come across as real?

Speaker 3 (08:54):
I think, you know, I think it was just the
whole TikTok of it all, because I'm not a TikTok
you know, like social media, it's not one of my strengths.
So I think it was like I remember there was
like a scene where I said like, please like and
follow or something like that, and I was saying something
else I think they were saying. I was saying, like
and subscribe, I think, and they were like, is this

(09:16):
in YouTube? It's TikTok and say subscribe on TikTok, And
I was like, I don't know. Is it all the
same thing. So that was that was definitely the biggest
challenge I think, just understanding the TikTok world.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah, now, well, were there any behind the scene moments
that that we didn't see that that you want to share?

Speaker 4 (09:36):
Some funny moments? Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I mean you saw that courtroom scene and how crazy
it was with all the clowns and it was a
literal circus, and it was really fun to sort of
like see everybody sort of like once they yell cut
because you know, clowns are people too, you know, they'll
be clowning around on camera during the takes and then

(10:00):
they out cut and just like, oh, you know, I
really got to go pick up my drive planing after
this whatever. I was like, this is such a surreal world,
and I was just looking around, like I have this
straighteous job on the planet.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
You know what, you go.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
One thing that amazes me about Night Quarters. Have you
have these various different storylines, you know, throughout the whole show.
Now as someone who's acting in that episode, do you
find yourself, you know, follow along with those different storylines
and trying to keep yours straight?

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I mean yes and no. Sometimes, you know, when I
work on an episode, like there are times where I'm
like following along in my head, but sometimes I actually
keep the other stuff out because you know, your character
is not really supposed to know everything else that's going on,
So sometimes I'm like I just sort of shut out
all the other stuff. Also, like to get a break

(10:51):
for myself, you know, while working I kind of just like,
not my scene anymore. So shut that OC curtain now.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
Definitely get that.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Definitely that anka when you look at just how how
the twenty two minutes comes together in the episode, How
long is that shooting day for you all?

Speaker 3 (11:11):
It's long?

Speaker 4 (11:12):
You know.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
The thing is multiicam is actually like the shortest work
week you could ever have. So you know, Superstore is
always single cam, and there were days and for a
single cam. We actually that was a really well oiled
machine where we rarely went over twelve hours a day
of filming. You know, there are some shows that will

(11:35):
go up to like fourteen sixteen hours a day of
filming with a multiicam, like because it's filmed in front
of a live audience. You just have the table reads
and the rehearsal and the blocking. So like the taping
day is long, you know, it's pretty much the whole day,
like like a nine to five kind of thing, maybe

(11:56):
even longer, but like the days leading up to it.
I mean there was a day where like I got
in at like nine am and I was out by
one pm. I was like, I didn't get used to
this well, working like this three times a week. It's great.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
I love it. I love it.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
And Nico, before I let you go, can I get
that doctor Nightlife? You know, can you give me a
doctor night Lifefore I.

Speaker 4 (12:18):
Let you go Life.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Oh, it's gonna be correct easy, it's like, and pall
subscribe whatever they said.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
I love it. Nico's great. Cop that catch the number
you Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
My friend, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
That was the awesome, the amazing Nico Santo, So wasn't
that something.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
He's not even a social media guy, but the way
he played that part, it was hilarious.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
If you haven't watched yet, make sure you check it out.
And if you haven't started watching NBC's Night Court, make
sure you start binging it. You can check out our
own Peacock or you can watch it on NBC A
thirty on Tuesdays a thirty pm. Make sure I say
that because there's a lot of eight thirty shirt around
and everything. But really enjoyed chatting with him and also

(13:00):
the rest of the stars from NBC's The Night Court,
and also our look at the final installment of Cobra
Kai on Netflix.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
So stay tuned for our next episode.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
We're gonna have some more great guests, more great stories,
and some more great laughs. So till next time, do
me a favorite, Stay healthy, stay safe, and remember I
love you all of life.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Take care of folks.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Ain't your averaging the teament show more than theertainment. Then
we're on the screen, connect than dots on what you
see
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