Before Community, you might have known Yvette Nicole Brown as “that lady who shows up in a lot of commercials,” or “Dwight’s mean Staples co-worker”, or maybe even as Helen from Drake & Josh, if you were born sometime after 1990. But now Yvette Nicole Brown is most definitely best known for her role as Shirley on Community, the group’s cloying, motherly conscience, always at hand with her omnipresent purse and a high-pitched, “Oh, that’s nice!” But what’s really nice is that Yvette was willing to sit down with us and discuss all aspects of her role as Shirley — from favorite episodes, to her religion, to love interests — and much, much more.
Shirley is an unusual role. She’s a black woman who is a main character, not a supporting role, and she doesn’t fit in easily with any pre-defined stereotypical roles we normally see black women play. How important do you think it is that we see characters like Shirley on television?
I think it’s very important because there aren’t many black women featured as series regulars on network television, at least not network comedies. I think Retta and Rashinda Jones on Parks and Recreation, Cleo King on Mike & Molly, and I are it. With that small, current representation it’s important that the images we present are positive. At least that’s the hope. I’m glad that Shirley is a fully-formed individual, with flaws and virtues and everything else in between. She’s a constant joy to play.
Before Community, you were probably best-known for two things: being Dwight’s co-worker at Staples during an episode of The Office, and being a recurring character on Drake and Josh. Is there anything you miss about those shows (or any of the other work you did before Community) that you’d like to bring to your role as Shirley?
Every show or movie I’ve worked on has been a blessing, just because as a curvy chick with natural hair from East Cleveland, Ohio, with no connections, it’s a miracle that I’m working in Hollywood at all!
The thing I miss about Drake & Josh in particular is the people. I worked with that cast, crew and staff for four years. It is still my longest, consistent gig in this industry. So you do, after all that time, become a family. I miss that. But what’s great about Dan Schneider (who created Drake & Josh, iCarly, Victorious, and many other shows), is that he keeps the same staff and crew and a lot of the same actors so every time I visit the set the gang is all there. I was also blessed to do an episode of Victorious this year, so I’m still with that family.
And as for The Office and all the other shows I got the chance to guest star on, I see those actors and crews all the time. We’re all like gypsies in this industry. We are constantly running into each other over and over on other sets or at parties and such, so it’s never a true goodbye. And you never have to miss anyone for long.
I try to bring the heart of me to every role I play, so though the characters may each come from different circumstances, I hope there’s a little twinkle in each of their eyes that you can pinpoint as me.
What was the origin of Shirley’s magical Mary Poppins purse that’s become such a defining visual element of her character?
It was a character choice at its core. Shirley’s a mom of young kids. And most moms keep random things to quiet, feed and/or entertain their child if needed. I figured that was the character reason to keep it close. But the choice to have it appear recognizably at all times, that was just for kicks and giggles. It was a gag I began in the first season. I wondered how long it would take for the fans of the show to notice that no matter the situation, Shirley always has her purse. I think there’s only one scene/episode where it’s not seen and that’s the zombie apocalypse episode (“Epidemiology”). I imagined in my mind that she had it strapped to her ankle under her pink gown. Shirley’s purse is pretty much a character on Community now!
Since the study group is so large and it’s hard to explore every single relationship, is there study group member you’d like to see Shirley’s relationship with explored in greater depth?
I’ve said this before, but I’ve never had a storyline exclusively with Donald Glover’s character, Troy. I’d love to see how Shirley and Troy relate apart from the study group. If my memory serves me, there’s actually only been one scene, more like a moment, in the three years of the show where Shirley and Troy have talked separately, and that’s the first season paintball episode (“Modern Warfare”), which feels like forever ago! It’d be great to get the chance to really work with Donald.
Both you and Shirley are very strong Christians (though obviously Shirley is more devoutly judgmental about her religion). Was that a coincidence or a trait that developed organically?
I’ll have to ask Dan Harmon, the show’s creator about this, but think it’s something that just developed organically. If memory serves me, in the pilot there wasn’t anything written in the script about Shirley’s religion. The first I heard that she was a Christian was in a random Greendale flier I saw on one of the corkboards in a scene once the series had started shooting. I think they posted little “Get to know the students” fliers on set and also maybe on NBC.com.
Anyway, I saw that and was like “Oh, she’s a Christian!” I loved the idea of a Christian playing a Christian. And though I pray I’m not as judgmental as Shirley, (HA!) I do think it’s wonderful that a Christian is on network television and she’s accepted–flaws and all–like everybody else. She’s not an outsider in this group, in spite of some of the views she has, which to me is a wonderful thing. She’s just one of the misfits like everybody else.
Since Season 1 there seems to be a conscious decision on the part of the show writers to move away from the Greendale campus and the study room and out into the world. Is there anything you miss about being in the study room, or is it a relief to get to work in new locations?
It’s a relief to get out and work in new locations. I love our study room table and the familiarity of looking around at everyone’s faces. It’s like our home base. But it takes forever to shoot the study room scenes, like 6-8 hours for 3 minutes of camera time. So when we see a long study room scene scripted there’s a collective sigh, like, “here we go guys!” The blessing is that we all love each other and enjoy each other’s jokes and silliness so it makes it fun in spite of it all.
What has been your favorite episode so far, either to watch or to act?
The flashback episode (“Paradigms of Human Memory”) is still my favorite episode to act/shoot because we were on location at Universal Studios and had such a fun, fast moving week trying to get it all in. There was something like 72 scenes or bits of scenes we shot for that. I loved filming it and watching it knowing what we all, as a cast and crew, accomplished in 5 days. A close second in regards to favorite to watch is the Halloween episode from this year (“Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps”). I wasn’t on set for a lot of the stories so I got to watch that episode strictly as a fan and enjoy the skill of my cast mates. They’re all so ridiculously talented.
Both you (and Shirley!) can really sing, as we’ve gotten to see in multiple episodes, most notably in this season’s opener. Are we going to get to see Shirley sing again in the future?
Wow, thank you! Shirley sings again in our Christmas episode, which is the last episode that’s going to air before our mid-season hiatus. That whole episode if filled with music. It will be a fun one for sure.
Now that Shirley is back with her husband, it seems that your Season 1 campaign to have Isaiah Mustafa as Shirley’s love interest will probably never come to pass. So if Isaiah came on the show now, what role would you ideally like to see him in?
[Laughs] I really wanna clarify the Isaiah Mustafa thing. I always said from the first season the following two things: if Shirley ever has a love interest on the show, I’d like for it to be Isaiah Mustafa, and if Shirley’s husband is ever seen — and she reconciles with him — my hope was that he would be played by Malcolm-Jamal Warner. It was always a two-pronged casting wish list!
Now that said, Shirley and Andre (the fabulous Malcom-Jamal Warner!) have reconciled, so the new love interest is out of the question since Shirley is a good, Christian woman. But who says Isaiah can’t still come on the show and have a wicked, unrequited crush on Shirley? That’s my new wish! Isaiah or you know, Michael Ealy. I’m not picky!
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Dec 06, 2011 @ 13:27 EST5EDT
I love this lady! Great interview, Julia.
Interviews with Yvette always make me smile. Great job! Shirley is my favorite character on the show, and I’m so happy the writers gave her a significant episode this season with the latest one. Here’s to hoping the Shirley/Troy plotline comes to fruition, too. I’d love to see how those two interact together.