Sam Richardson

Episode notes

(Photo: Valerie Moffat / Maximum Fun)

The comedic actor Sam Richardson was born in Detroit, and he has a Ghanaian mother. His childhood was split between the two places.

After college, Sam moved to Chicago to pursue comedy through The Second City improv theater. He then moved to LA where he landed a couple of small roles in TV comedies like The Office and Arrested Development.

But his breakthrough role came in HBO’s Veep. The political satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus where everyone is terrible, mean, incompetent, and they all hate each other. Everyone, except Sam’s character, the cheerful, incorruptible Richard Splett.

Sam is also a writer. With the help of SNL alum Tim Robinson, together they co-created and starred in Detroiters. It’s show about two buddies working for an advertising firm in Detroit. Sam is also a frequent presence on Robinson’s hilarious sketch show I Think You Should Leave. These days, you can catch Sam in The Afterparty on Apple TV+ alongside Zoë Chao and Tiffany Haddish. 

Sam Richardson has a brand. He typically plays cheerful, friendly characters who are usually so nice they end up getting in their own way. 

He joins Jesse Thorn to talk about branching out, Detroiters, and what it was like growing up between the United States and Ghana. Plus, Sam discusses some of his funniest bits from I Think You Should Leave. But if there’s one thing you should know about Sam, it’s that he really hates spiders. We get into it and so much more.

A version of this interview originally aired in August of 2021.