Chris Perfetti On Jacob’s Earnestness and Playing a Teacher Amid ‘Don’t Say Gay’ for ‘Abbott Elementary’

Has any freshman sitcom this season made as much of an impression as ABC’s Abbott Elementary? If you log onto your Twitter or social media for five minutes, you will discover how Quinta Brunson’s comedy series has latched onto viewers, and it has gone from little show that could to full-blown phenomenon. As Abbott’s most well-to-do teacher, Chris Perfetti has easily become a fan favorite. His Jacob is one of the most endearing characters of the season.

Jacob could’ve been a really annoying character. He reminds me a little of Superstore‘s Jonah Simms in that he is the show’s most well-intentioned, woke member of the gang. Instead of becoming intolerable on screen, Perfetti has managed to walk that tricky tightrope to become a cheerleader for his fellow colleagues.

“There is a bit of a trap in a character like this, and, for me, coming from a stage background with a susceptibility of the serotonin of getting people to laugh at you could lead to someone to go for the low-hanging fruit. Jacob could be falling on his face a lot. He does put his foot in his mouth, but he also has a strong desire to appeal to people. The writers and Quinta [Brunson] did me a favor in crafting Jacob in a way so there are things to really get behind. He’s not just a clown, but he’s not not a clown either. I feel that’s where I try to keep my focus and obsess myself with what Jacob is actually after. Whose eyes is he trying to look good in, and who is he trying to succeed for?”

Every week, one of the most thrilling sequences is when the teachers of Abbott are in the teacher’s lounge before their day truly begins. There’s a sense of anticipation in the air–it’s palpable. Perfetti gushes about how those were some of his favorite scenes to film, and the camaraderie between his fellow actors was really a training ground to make each other better.

“There are many aspects of Abbott that are jockeying for first place in my mind in terms of why I love this job. Chief among them is that aspect of the show. It locks into something unique, especially in those group scenes and how this show is shot. There is a storytelling with the camera, and if it can bop around to achieve this ballet of our looks to camera that is very successful. To speak to the ensemble element to it, that’s where I feel the most comfortable. I am surrounded, especially in this case, by a group of geniuses and consummate professionals. Getting to work with them has not only been a joy, but it’s been a learning experience for me. They are all at ease and very confident, and it’s challenged me to really show up as an actor. It’s a real joy. I live for those scenes where you catch us in the teacher’s lounge.”

In a way, teaching is like performing. You stand up in front of a group of people and you try to instill something true and honest within your audience. There are a few glimpses of Jacob in his classroom, but Perfetti acknowledged how studying to play a teacher allowed him to tap into Jacob’s emotional state as a person.

“Through that end, I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time between when we shot the pilot to when we shot the rest of the season dreaming of what Jacob’s everyday life would be like. Jacob, in many ways, would be performing when he’s not in the classroom. He’s one of those people who is constantly putting himself out there, and he’s a little bit of an extroverted introvert. That’s how he connects with people. He knows that that’s how he will get the best out of his students, and a lot of insecure people tend to overcompensate in a lot of ways. He can overextend himself, and he’s a social puppy. That’s a coping mechanism for feeling out of place. Jacob thinks he’s a bit of a star in the documentary that is being made about this school. In all those talking heads, Jacob thinks that this is a doc about him, and he’s very eager to talk to the crew about it.”

Everyone has a favorite teacher. Whether they looked after you when your parents weren’t around or helped you sort out messiness with a bully, teachers can be an unexpected guardian in your life. For Perfetti, it was a trip to think that he was playing a character that could make a meaningful difference to someone’s life.

“It’s bizarre to be in this position right now. There were really two teachers that changed the course of my life when I was the age of the kids I teach now on Abbott. Furthermore, my mentor from drama school is somebody who was one of those figures that goes way beyond the job description of a teacher–a person who is looking out for you in general. The teachers in Abbott are the same way, I think. There are so many people who guided me, and it’s really weird to play a character that is on the other side of the coin. I didn’t expect it.”

Yes, Abbott Elementary is a comedy, but it’s hard to think of Perfetti playing an openly queer character without connecting it to several Don’t Say Gay bills that are circulating around the country. It doesn’t appear that Brunson’s sitcom would confront the issue head-on, but Perfetti definitely admitted that it was hard to ignore it. Just having a queer character among the school’s staff was a landmark in Perfetti’s eyes. Because Abbott Elementary is written with its heart and its head, it is able to introduce serious topic by weaving in character and clever writing.

“That’s a great question. The way that Abbott has handled having a queer character among the main cast…there’s something so beautiful in how little of a fanfare it gets, if that makes sense? Quinta has talked about this generational thing that the show is asking people to catch up to. Part of the success of the show is that there is an unapologetic way of handling the subject matter and humor. That’s certainly revolutionary for network television to have an openly gay character whose function is not entirely centered on his sexuality. It’s not Jacob’s defining characteristic. That’s incredible. Writing characters like that is something that, certainly on network TV, continue in that direction.”

Jacob’s sexuality is an afterthought in that the show doesn’t solely identify the character by who he is in love with. If this was twenty years ago, Jacob’s sexuality would be the focus of every story, but we are now living in a space where Jacob just happens to be gay. He is more than his sexuality.

“That’s something that I would lay on Quinta. Her character’s response wasn’t, ‘What? You’re gay?’ It was, ‘You have a boyfriend and you haven’t told me.’ When she and I were first discussing the character, she pitched this idea to me in formulating where Jacob would go. She mentioned how she wanted to handle his queerness, I thought it was very smart. What you said about the bill in Ohio right now, as depressing and galling as that is to think about in 2022, I do think these things go hand in hand. The only reason it’s happening is because progress is being made. We can talk about queer characters and talk about how it’s not their defining characteristic, and we can talk about how these awful bills are being created in Florida and Ohio and other places. The zeitgeist is changing and that encourages and invites a lot of people, and it scares a lot of people. As devastating as that is, I feel like it’s a harbinger of us getting close.”

Season one of Abbott Elementary is streaming on Hulu.