Hey, it's Yara Shahidi.

And I'm Nikki Novak for Young Hollywood. And we are co-hosts today on the set tour of Blackish.

Wait, we're co-hosts? I'm taking a part of your hosting job. Wait, was that improv? I think it was. Success. Come with us.

So, where are we now?

Um, right now, we're in the main room, and this is like a living room, slash dining room, slash kitchen. And this is where a lot of the scenes take place. Um, this couch we're actually not allowed to sit on unless we're shooting. I just heard that. So it's a lot of fun to be able to sit on it for the interview. Broke all the rules. We just came in and sat down. No one said anything. No one kicked us out.

It's comfy, right?

It is really comfortable.

We're here on the set of Blackish with my wonderful TV Mama, Tracee Ellis Ross.

Thank you. I was gonna say I was Anthony Anderson, but you introduced me before I could do it. I'm on set with my wonderful TV Mama, Anthony Anderson. It's lovely to see you. My name is Anthony. Now, this is my area. This isn't so much my wardrobe because that's held in somewhere else. Okay. Anything that I'm about to wear. But I have a ton of socks. Like

You do. And you're wearing them.

A massive amount. Yes. These actually extend all the way up.

Those are cool.

And I have so many different socks.

First of all, I wanted to address your Twitter, because you hashtag in your profile, Young Olivia Pope, is it? And where did that come from? Obviously you like scandal. You like yourself.

I am Young Olivia Pope. I like the flashback. Oh my gosh. I didn't even know that. Oh my gosh. Can I touch you?

You know, it's really fun to love what you're doing and love the work part of it, but it's even more exciting when people are actually enjoying it and watching it. You know what I mean? The TV Mom part of it, the thing that I think is really fun. I am loving working with you guys. There's only so bad a day can be. You guys have a really, um, fresh perspective, but you're all like all four of you are like really wonderful people and it's been really fun.

Are you guys cracking jokes back here or what are you doing?

We are, which is hard cuz then you come out laughing and they're like, what's happening? Cut, go back. Because Anthony will tell jokes or in one scene he had to push us out, but I didn't know that I forgot that he was actually going to push us. So then I'm waiting and then all of a sudden I feel this push and I'm like in the middle of the scene and there are cameras rolling and I don't know what to do. Love.

Wait, will they fit my foot? I'm about to steal your shoes. No, too small. Lucky you. The wardrobe would get mad at me. The one thing about Blackish was from the moment I read the script, I really wanted to be a part of it. There are times where it's like, yeah, I'd love to be a part of it, but then it's like, either way, I'll be fine. This one I was like, I would love to be a part of this.

Around in this room, what's interesting is we have a surplus of Buddhas. Um, there's one Buddha head right there.

Yeah, I see it.

Then there's one Buddha statue right behind uh right in front of us right there.

Let's go check out these family photos, too.

Yes. There are no baby photos of Zoey in here. You end up seeing some in the show. Right. But I'm pretty sure she wasn't a teenager. I don't think she ever went through any other phase.

There are so many good moments. I have to say that's the other thing that's been so much fun, is we shoot the show every week, and we read it, and we know it, but I even love it when I see it. And I see moments that like I missed or I wasn't there during shooting and it's really cool. So all of this hard work is satisfying. Finally seeing the the final product.

Well, that's a question I have for you, Yara Shahidi, is do you find the work satisfying? Are you happy with it?

I find the work very satisfying.

Do you?

Yes, cuz I do.

Yes. Do you?

I do. I do.

This is the staircase up into our rooms. Now, our rooms aren't actually up there. It's just a wall. A nice fake staircase.

Should we should we take the stairs and see where it leads?

Yes. Come have a look at what's down here. And this is my nice little hiding place. Whenever we do scenes, um, because then I'll come down the stairs, but then I can peek and spy on everybody from up here if they're doing a good job with their acting that day.

What is sort of either from, you know, any any of your cast members, like a good comedic, um, trick? Like if I wanted to learn comedic timing.

Ad-libs. A lot of ad-libs make it into the show. And the best part is, you think the scene is over, but it's not over until they yell cut. And that's one thing that I've learned. You could just keep going. Cuz yeah, the dialogue might theoretically stop, but that's when the scene comes alive, and then it just becomes like an ongoing conversation of randomness between you and whoever you're in the scene with. And that sort of comes down to talent, too. Cuz the more talented people are, the better they are at ad-libbing, I think. And that's why Anthony and Tracee are absolutely fabulous at it.

Yeah. Should we try one?

Okay.

Oh, I really like your dress.

Thank you. I got it yesterday.

Did you?

I got it at the Croc store to match my pink Crocs.

Do they sell dresses at the Croc store?

Yes, they do. They're quite high-end.

Are they? Are Crocs still cool for kids?

They are very cool. I'm very surprised that people aren't wearing Crocs more often, given that they're a very serious, nice piece of attire that matches everything and come in every single color.

Do you prefer them over Oxfords or do you think the Oxfords are the are the jam?

I think they're tied depending on what you're looking for. If you're looking to be um, taken as a professional, then I suggest Crocs and then if you're just kind of messing around on set, then Oxfords are the go-to. This is the pro look. Yes.

So, was that an was that an improv?

No. Not really. I don't think I have the hang of this yet.

I think you do. So here's something that people don't know about Yara. Yara is extremely intelligent.

Thank you.

Loves school. Can you tell them, what did you do over the break? The summer break?

Over summer, I went to Oxford for a month and I took two history classes at Oxford University, Oriol College, and it was so cool cuz I did one on conspiracies, which was amazing, and then English history and culture. Yeah. I drink a lot of tea.

English history and culture. She went to Oxford. For just a little moment. That's Yara.

So this is a fun room to sit in when you're waiting to go out for the next uh scene because we just have fun in here. It's like a meeting place.

This is your hangout spot.

Mhm.

So I should mention that you guys were named one of 10 um of Variety's 10 best comedies.

Oh yeah. That was so cool. That's hugely flattering. I know. I mean, it's so crazy. One, we didn't know how people were going to react to it. It's like, we find it funny and we think it's a great show and I really like the cast and crew, but we didn't know how everybody else was going to react. So just to get so many positive responses is absolutely awesome.

I think we're off to shoot our next scene. Yes. But we're going to say bye to everybody and thank you for letting me interview you.

Thank you.