When Brandon Micheal Hall first meets me at the cafe inside his hotel, he envelops me in a huge bear hug. His mother immediately follows suit, telling me, "I'm a hugger too," before settling into a separate table with his publicist. I'm not surprised by the warm welcome—in preparation for our interview, I watched a clip of Hall professing his love for his mom on Jimmy Kimmel Live—and after our introduction, I feel like a member of the family.
Hall is the face of ABC's new half-hour comedy The Mayor, a promising entry in an otherwise alarmingly bleak TV season. He plays Courtney Rose, an aspiring rapper who runs for mayor of his small California town as a stunt to promote his music, and he unexpectedly wins. Desperate to prove he can handle the responsibility, Courtney tackles the job with his signature enthusiasm while also trying to keep his rap career afloat. He gets some behind-the-scenes help from Tony-winning Hamilton star Daveed Diggs, who writes the show's music and also serves as executive producer. Hall himself even got a chance to show off his writing skills in some of the scenes. In fact, there are very few things the 24-year-old, Julliard-educated actor can't do. "Makeup! I can’t do makeup!" he says with a laugh, citing interests ranging from drawing to improv comedy and producing.
As far as casting new faces goes, ABC hit the jackpot with Hall: multi-talented, charming, and utterly genuine. "I know that if a little kid watches this and sees someone who’s the same hue as him, or sees someone that’s doing something that they want to do, then I know I’ve impacted one person and that’s enough for me," he says. Hall opens up about The Mayor, his artistic influences, and finding his comedic chops below.
Do you get to bring yourself to the role?
I get to bring every inch of myself, actually. This is like doing musical theater, in a way, [where] you have to sing, dance, act. In this, you have to rap, act, and know about politics and have comedic timing. There’s so much wrapped in there. And Courtney and I, our lives are very parallel in that way. I am an up-and-coming actor who just wants to get his spot and get the opportunity to tell really amazing stories, and Courtney was an up-and-coming actor who just wanted to get his story out there. We’re both in these new positions of responsibility. It’s a very thin line of actor versus character.
You show off a lot of different talents. Do you consider yourself a rapper in addition to actor? What do you bring to the role?
Tell me about working with Yvette Nicole Brown, who plays your mom, Dina. You have a great rapport.
I just wanna stay working with her for the rest of my life. I say this in all honor of my real mom, but Yvette is my on- and off-screen mom. And she is that for both me, Marcel, and Bernard [who play Courtney's friends, T.K. and Jermaine], and also for the set. Yvette has this maternal truth about her, where when she looks at you, you feel like you can just tell her everything. And it shows onscreen. It makes sense why she’s playing Dina—she’s Courtney’s best friend. And Yvette is that [for me]. She’s teaching me how to take on this new thing of “celebrity-ism” or whatever. She’s teaching me to always humble my reality. To always remember this was not here a year ago, this was not here three months ago, so honor that. Honor the people that want to hear your story. It’s a forever-fleeting thing. But she is also the funniest person to be around. Yvette can crack a joke and will clap back so quick. We have the most amazing banters and fun time on set. It’s an honor to work with her. Also I have to plug working with Bernard and Marcel. Those are my brothers on the set hands down, every day.
I loved the scene in the first episode where Dina yells "fire" and T.K. and Jermaine just lose it.
That was improv. What we have to do, and this is in honor of Jeremy and his writing, we have to get it in a take where what Jeremy wrote is down in a take, so he can hear it, the flow is there and they have the cuts. But after those couple takes, they’re like “all right guys, you can play.” Oh, man. We go in. So that scene, improv. Marcel running to the door, Bernard turning around and hitting the piano, Marcel being like, “I’m skittish!” That’s all improv.
When did you know you wanted to pursue acting?
I grew up in an artistic household. My sister’s a singer, my mom’s a performer. My mom used to sing in a music group and we would travel from North Carolina to South Carolina to Georgia back up to South Carolina, and then go to school the next day. And she’s also a minister, so we grew up in the church. Performing in my family, on both sides, the arts are huge. I knew I wanted to be in the arts when I was in this program called Explore the Arts when I was a kid, and I was a visual artist. I still do visual arts. I remember [laughs]... this is so messed up. I knew I wanted to be an artist when someone was like, “This is the way you’re supposed to do it,” and I was like, “No. I’m gonna do it my way.” That’s when I knew I found something that no one can have control over but me. Something that I know personally, I’m doing this right because it’s coming from a truthful place.
When people come in and are like, “Do this, do this”—I love taking notes but I like to cultivate things specific, from the ground up—kind of method, in a way. I knew I wanted to be an actor when I would watch preachers in the church use this ancient text and impact an entire room of people, and people would go out and talk about it for days and weeks and quote the Scripture. It would live in their bodies and change their mentality. I was just like, “I wanna be able to do that.” I didn't know [then] what venue I should go into to do that, but I want to do that. And when I got into the Governor’s School, I was doing Romeo and Juliet, and when I looked down into the audience there were two people watching and I was like, “I got ‘em. This is my moment. I’m doing something honest, I’m giving them something, they’re giving me back something,” and afterward the young fella came up to me and was like, “I wanna be an actor too, I wanna do what you’re doing.” I was like finally, I found my impact, I found something that is impactful for me that I’m giving back.
"I knew I wanted to be an artist when someone was like, 'This is the way you’re supposed to do it,' and I was like, 'No. I’m gonna do it my way.'"
Young people will probably be inspired to participate in the political process because of this show.
One of the quotes I live by is, Tupac Shakur said in one of his interviews, in a heightened, ecstatic moment, “Look, I might not be able to change the world, but I will spark the brain that will change the world.” And if I’ve done that, then I’ve done something. That’s how I feel. I’m not out here to try to start a movement, but I know that if a little kid watches this and sees someone who’s the same hue as him, or sees someone that’s doing something that they want to do, then I know I’ve impacted one person and that’s enough for me. I can die a happy man. Because that’s what someone did for me, and I wouldn’t be in this position now if that didn’t happen for me.
My first is Denzel Washington. When Denzel comes on the screen, you’re like, “I wanna be Denzel.” I wanna be able to walk down the street and be like, “Okay, all right.” My second was Sidney Poitier, because of the opportunities he opened up. Will Smith was a huge influence for me. And right now, Childish Gambino. Donald Glover, for me, is like Lin-Manuel [Miranda] for theater. Lin-Manuel was like, “Okay, you got musical theater, I’m gonna make people act, I’m gonna make them dance, I’m gonna make them sing. You know what, let’s put a twist on it—I’m gonna make you rap. I’m gonna bring you a whole different line of culture to a group of society that’s like, ‘What’s rap?’” And that’s what Donald Glover did. He was like, “You wanna be in this game? I’m gonna produce, I’m gonna direct, I’m gonna write, I’m gonna make my own music. I’m gonna cultivate a culture around being your own self employee.” Kanye West was huge for me in that vein, too. I know he has a lot of spark around him, but the way that Kanye did what he set out to do was bring culture to the masses. Everyone’s walking around with cut jeans now. They’re bringing the ‘80s style back. That was his passion and he found a way to bring that to people and do it on a mass scale. Tupac Shakur was a huge one for me. James Baldwin, everything he wrote sinks into my body and I want to find a way to bring his words back out.
Is it weird to see your face plastered on billboards and the sides of taxis all over town?
I’m never gonna get over it. I enjoy it because my mom loves to see it and my sister gets to see it and my friends and family get to view it, but I’m okay. My thing is, it wasn't there before, and I honor the fact that it is there. It's very beautiful to see it, and also it's kinda like, "That's me looking at me? That's weird." I just hope that someone looks at it and says, "I want to try that, I want to do that." Because that's what I did when I looked at Gambino on a poster. I was like, "I wanna be up there in Times Square."
The Mayor airs Tuesdays at 9:30 PM EST on ABC.