Sam Richardson

17th August 2021

On the latest episode we welcome back Sam Richardson! 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, a show about two buddies working for an advertising firm in Detroit. Sam Richardson has a brand. He typically plays cheerful, friendly characters who are usually so nice they end up getting in their own way. Recently, he’s been trying different kinds of roles. He has the lead role in horror comedy Werewolves Within, and he starred alongside Chris Pratt in the sci-fi action film The Tomorrow War. He joins Jesse Thorn to talk about branching out, Detroiters, and what it was like growing up between the United States and Ghana. Plus, they’ll discuss some of his funniest bits from Tim Robinson’s sketch comedy show I Think You Should Leave.

Episode notes

(Photo: Valerie Moffat / Maximum Fun)

Sam Richardson on Werewolves Within, Detroiters, and being terrified of spiders 

On the latest episode we welcome back Sam Richardson! The comedic actor 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 Saturday Night Live alum Tim Robinson, together they co-created and starred in Detroiters, a show about two buddies working for an advertising firm in Detroit.

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

Recently, he’s been trying different kinds of roles. He has the lead role in horror comedy Werewolves Within, and he starred alongside Chris Pratt in the sci-fi action film The Tomorrow War

He joins Jesse Thorn to talk about branching out, Werewolves Within, Detroiters, and what it was like growing up between the United States and Ghana. Plus, they’ll discuss some of his funniest bits from Tim Robinson’s sketch comedy show 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. 

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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  • Sam Richardson

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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