Perhaps the funniest sitcom on television right now, English Teacher finds much of its humor in the generation gap between high school teachers in their 30s and up, and students who survive on a diet of social media and bear the scars of experiencing school on Zoom during the pandemic.
But the show goes even deeper than the Gen X vs. Gen Z divide thanks to its creator and lead actor Brian Jordan Alvarez who knows that the best humor comes from character. We sat down with Alvarez to find out more about his comedic point of view and how he’s achieved so much success.
Alvarez plays Evan Marquez, an English teacher who’s also a fully “out” gay man in Austin, Texas. As a writer, Alvarez loves exploring the grey area between idealism and reality, self-righteousness and self-awareness. He says his favorite humor comes from putting Evan Marquez in situations where he’s both right and wrong at the same time.
“He often has some self-righteous opinion that’s right in some ways, but misguided in others,” he says. “That’s where the drama, and the laughter, comes from.”
He and the other writers lean into those shifting perspectives, letting ideas ping-pong between characters to reveal the absurdity in everyone’s point of view. By grounding every joke in emotional or ideological truth, the series finds humor that feels fresh, current, and human.
The Call to Adventure
Before English Teacher became a hit FX comedy, Alvarez was pursuing an acting career with some success. After appearing on Will & Grace, Jane the Virgin, M3GAN, and 80 for Brady, he had an urge to make something that felt entirely his own. Using the resources he had at hand, he created a 5-episode web series in 2016. It was a hit.
“I made The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo with everything I had,” Alvarez says. “The editing, the writing, it was all done with this focus of putting the best thing I could make out there.” The web series didn’t just go viral, it eventually caught the attention of veteran comedy producer Paul Simms (Girls, What We Do in the Shadows, Atlanta), who first watched a clip on Twitter before watching the entire show. Simms reached out, asking Alvarez to write a new show, one that would hopefully make it to network TV.
But Alvarez, who was a bit burned out from the grand hustle of writing, directing, producing, acting and marketing Caleb Gallo, wanted to focus mainly on acting. Starting another huge project sounded daunting, but Simms wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Paul said, ‘We’re going to do this. We’re making a TV show.’ Well, I’d read my Joseph Campbell and I knew when I was being called to adventure.”
From YouTube to FX
And just like that Alvarez was back in the driver’s seat. But a network TV show is a much different beast than a web series, with a lot more people and money involved. “The biggest learning curve was technical,” he says. “Paul showed me the ropes of the writers’ room, and [executive producer] Jonathan Krisel taught me what it’s like to direct at that level.”
Still, the transition from YouTube to FX required a different kind of communication. “When you make stuff yourself, it’s all in your head. But on a show like this, there are so many brilliant people helping you bring your vision to life. You have to describe things out loud: how you want it to look, the tone, even tiny details, because everyone needs to be inside your mind.”
Writing with an Actor’s Instinct
For Alvarez, his background in acting is inseparable from how he writes. “I love writing dialogue I’d like to act,” he says. “We aim for hyper-natural dialogue on English Teacher, that’s always been my thing. Acting makes me think about how a line feels coming out of someone’s mouth.”
That understanding of rhythm and performance fuels the show’s creativity. “We have a really free set,” Alvarez says. “If one of the actors says, ‘Can I try something?’ I say, ‘Anything you want. The camera’s rolling.’ I want the edit to be full of those magic, spontaneous moments.”
Write Down All Your Ideas, Big or Small
The first episode of season two, “Covid in America,” is one of the best. Alvarez’s character, Evan, directs his students in the play Angels in America that deals with the AIDS crisis. But the students can’t relate so they write their own musical called Covid in America where they sing about Fauci and the horrors of going to school on Zoom. It’s hilarious.
Alvarez says that episode came from a single, absurd note card in the writers’ room: The students perform Angels in America, but it’s about Covid. “We wrote that idea down years ago, thinking, ‘We’ll never actually do this,’” Alvarez laughs. “But Paul Sims taught me to keep everything. We go back to those note cards, and sometimes timing just makes an idea right.”
Advice from Paul Simms
When asked about the best advice he’s received from Simms, Alvarez’s answer may surprise you.
“He said to me, ‘Don’t be afraid to be funny.’ I know that sounds obvious but it’s easy to get serious when your comedy starts being taken seriously,” he says. “But that reminder to lean into being funny helped us a lot in Season 2. You can take your show seriously and still push for laughs.”
Authenticity as a Creative Engine
For Alvarez, success came from doubling down on his own uniqueness. “That thing that’s so you, that’s your greatest asset,” he says. “When I was younger, I tried to be the ‘normal hunk’ because I thought that’s what would get me jobs. But the truth is, the kaleidoscope of who you are, that’s what actually works.”
He credits his early web work for allowing him to embrace that individuality. “I thank my lucky stars I wasn’t more successful through traditional auditions,” he laughs. “Because then I never would’ve had to tap into my deeper gifts.”
Season 2 of English Teacher is currently airing on FX and streaming on Hulu.