The 2nd season of Night Court on NBC recently promoted a new hilarious regular, Nyambi Nyambi, as court clerk Wyatt Shaw.

Nyambi's versatile acting has led him on a journey through theater, drama in The Good Fight, Samuel in Mike & Molly, and numerous other roles. However, he currently feels right at home with the comedy Night Court. The part “has been perfect” at this point in his career.

ClutchPoints had a fun discussion with the star over the phone. Nyambi chatted about how he didn't think he'd be an actor, some bitterness of being a Sooner for life, a stage mishap that truly led to some impressive improvising, the welcoming cast and crew he admires on Night Court, the Big Bang Theory connection, and more.

This was even before his green tea kicked in (you'll see what we mean).

Night Court's Nyambi Nyambi interview

Nyambi Nyambi on Night Court.

As you'll notice, Nyambi covers the full spectrum of being a professional actor — which he truly is, as he's studied his craft thoroughly. And he's had to adjust and pivot throughout his life and career.

ClutchPoints: I had to kick things off with this — I lived in Kansas for a while, and I know you're from Norman, Oklahoma. So, I had to ask if you got your acting chops from Norman. I just know there's not much for aspiring actors out that way.

Nyambi Nyambi: Well, no, I grew up with other interests, with acting being one of them. My interests were in basketball, tennis, and then making the people that were closest to me laugh. And then, you know, I spent a lot of time at the church, standing in front of audiences and speaking….so I was always comfortable in front of crowds.

But I never thought I'd be an actor. And we moved around a lot, so there was always me having to react to make myself get used to, you know, sort of ingratiating myself into a new environment.

I moved from Oklahoma to Houston, to Dallas, to Virginia, DC, so…no. But I do say that, you know, being that we're a Sooner household. I was Sooner born, Sooner bred, and when I die, I'll be Sooner dead. It's hard to say that from somebody from Kansas this year that we lost to them in football. And then I'm still mad about the 1988 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in basketball.

CP: Oh yeah.

NN: Yeah. So whenever I hear Kansas, I immediately think of basketball. And then, of course, it's very fresh losing to the football team this year.

CP: Sure. I totally understand. I can't blame you at all.

NN: Oh my gosh. Yeah, that one hurt. Really hurt.

CP: Ultimately, I moved to Ohio, so I became a Buckeye.

NN: Oh, okay. So that hurt. My goodness.

CP: So yeah, I've had some pain this past year, too. I'm also a Browns fan.

NN: Oh my gosh. That playoff game…goodness.

CP: I don't think I'll see any kind of Super Bowl or anything in my lifetime with them, but you know.

NN: We'll see, man. With that defense, that defense is great, except for that playoff game. There hasn't been any consistency with the offense. So, when they take a step back and hopefully get Deshaun Watson back to playing at the Texans level, they'll make noise.

Everyone was excited to see them play against Baltimore, but they had to get there.

CP: Diving into Night Court, one of the first questions I wanted to ask was: Did you watch the original series at all? Were you a fan of it?

NN: I did watch the original series. I watched the original series because I was a huge fan of Marsha Warfield. I don't know what came first — Police Academy came first for me or it was seeing her on Night Court. Because I love Police Academy, I immediately [watched] any time Night Court was on because I loved watching Marsha Warfield.

So all those characters, all those guys, I was so familiar with, having watched growing up. And then, you know, once I knew I was going to do this job, I watched all nine seasons of the show. And it all just sort of came back, that nostalgia. But not realizing that the character Roz (Warfield) didn't show up until the 3rd or 4th season. So I was like, “Whoah.” There was so much Night Court before Marsha Warfield even showed up.

It's surreal to be on that set, because it was something I grew up loving.

CP: I imagine. So, you basically started off as a guest star, and when you got promoted to a regular on the series, what was your reaction like? I'm guessing obviously excited just to have that call for the second season.

NN: Yeah, no, my reaction to it was not excited, it was elated. See, I was trying to use a different word from excited.

CP: (Laughs) That's okay!

NN: See, now I'm going to give him another word than elated.

CP: (Laughs)

NN: Yeah, no, it was great. We had a meeting before it just started. They had this character that they were thinking about for me and we talked it through with [Creator] Dan Ruben, Melissa Rauch [Judge Abby Stone], and John Larroquette [Dan Fielding] over a Zoom meeting. And from that, just knowing how generous they were in terms of their time, and also how honest they were as far as where they were with the project and what they aspired for the project to be. They were really, really trying to find this new voice.

I pride myself on being someone who's very versatile, and I felt like this would be something that we could find. And Melissa is someone who I've known since The Big Bang Theory days when I was on Mike & Molly. Our stages were right next to each other. Literally, we'd park at the same time, on opposite sides, and meet in the middle of the street. Cars would have to drive around us because we'd be like, “We're not moving.”

Just to find joy in each other. She's such a heartwarming person. And the chance to get to work with her, there's no way you can say no to her. She's not only a brilliant actress but a brilliant human being.

CP: It's interesting that you guys were parking right there by each other for a while.

NN: It's so weird because they were there before us, but they welcomed us. They were like, “Hey! How you all doing? Welcome!” And then, we finished before them. “Well, nice having you,” and then we left. They were on for like eleven to twelve seasons while we were on for six. But it was six glorious seasons.

Some of my fondest memories were visiting those guys over at The Big Bang Theory. Finding fast friends in all of them, really.

CP: Well, you are such a versatile actor, and I was going to ask about acting in front of a live studio audience with Night Court compared to the theater. Do you have a preference or is there any kind of major difference? What's the dynamic like between the two?

NN: Single camera — no live audience, right? So you're, you're just sort of out there without knowing whether or not….it's a highwire act, where if you fall off, you don't know if you died or not (laughs). Because no one responded. There's nobody to gasp or laugh or anything. So you just have to trust that you stayed on the wire and did amazing things on it.

Then multi-cam, you feel like…you get an instant response from an audience that lets you know whether or not you're funny, you know? “Okay, that worked. That didn't work. Let's bolster that up. Let's try something different here. Let's try something different there.” But there's the safety net of it's being recorded, so if there's a mess up you can do it again. Or you can say, “Hey, I think I can make that funnier.” Or, “Can we try this?” So there's that safety net of that.

Theater? There's no safety net.

CP: True.

NN: And you get the instant response of whether or not something worked or something didn't work. They also let you know what kind of play you're in. Whether you're in a comedy or drama. Now you hope that you're in the play you say you're in. Like, you don't want to tell the audience, “Hey! You're about to see a comedy,” and then, you're up there, and you feel like you're in a drama. You wanna do the play that, of course, the people came to expect. They came to laugh. Hopefully, they laugh. They came to think and cry and, you know, have a good time, hopefully you give them that. But you get that instant gratification. Even when someone messes up, you have to cover it. You have to find ways to sort of deal with things in the moment all the time. 100% ready for anything.

Any medium, the same thing. You have to be 100% for anything. But each one of those, when you get to in front of the camera, you do have the opportunity for a mulligan. We're using golf terms.

CP: Yeah, no, that makes total sense. You can have that little do-over, but on stage, it's kind of opposite. You gotta wing it sometimes if something goes bad.

NN: Yeah. But those are the most thrilling. I had a crazy one when I was doing a show…Well, two things. Of course, there's the time when I was an understudy and the person I was understudying lost his voice halfway through the show.

CP: My gosh.

NN: Man, you have to step in and give the show. There's that, you know, sort of craziness that can happen. I did this other show where the woman I was working with, working opposite from, who's the star of the show — she lost her voice. But we had no understudies. And we had extended a week. And, of course, the theater needed, you know, the money, right? Because it's theater.

So we went out there with the stage manager, reading the lines off-stage. And the actress basically sort of mouthed the lines. Not even mouth it because it would look weird, right? But living through her body. Living the play through her body. So the exercise there was to respond, not only to her physically, but to respond to what was being said offstage. And then to the audience as far as what they were responding to and all of that. That was a highwire act. And every night we did it because we did it for a week. We got a standing ovation.

Theater is definitely the most thrilling experience.

CP: That's crazy you guys kept that up for a week doing that. I would lose sleep over that.

NN: There was only four of us in the play. So she lost her voice, the other one was a kid, and then there's me, and then there's an old man. But the majority of the stuff was between me and her. So it was such a…it was an exercise for her on having to sort of express what was happening in the play through her body without the ability to speak. It was…I definitely learned a lot. And it also bolsters the confidence. Because then I'm like, “Man, I just went through that. I can go through anything.” Theater is the highwire act. If you're looking to be on a crazy…I'm trying to think of the craziest rollercoasters. The kind that sort of starts you up high and then drops you — that's theater.

CP: Well, speaking of jobs and everything, you play Wyatt Shaw. If you stepped into a courtroom, do you think you could pull off being a clerk?

NN: Yeah, I feel like the important things about being a clerk are being organized, being able to put together not only the dockets but the calendars, being able to protect the evidence in question, all those things. I feel like I could, but you drop me in a real situation, I also feel like I would be nervous that I screwed something up. Whereas Wyatt is just like, no, he's on point. He's like, “I got this.” My details got details. Wheares me, I'm like, “Aaaaarghh…I don't know! But I'm gonna act like I know.”

So yeah, to make a long story short — no.

CP: I was just curious, and that led me to my question on how similar you were to your character. I know there are some massive differences, obviously, but you know, having an approach to being an actual clerk, it sounds like it would be one of them there.

NN: I do feel like, I mean, I feel like a clerk has to be, I would imagine, even in a real situation, always on point and very clear about anything and everything. Because you're assisting the judge, and there are all of cases. You're assisting all of the players involved, and you have to be absolutely clear about the information that you're sharing, so that everyone can do their jobs to the best of their ability.

And if you're not, then, of course, chaos can ensue in the real court. Now one of the things that John had said to me was that everyone was really good at their job as far as Night Court. So I was like, “Okay.” In the same way, where I have to make sure, I imagine a court clerk has to be sure that everyone gets clear information and allows them to do the best work that they can.

That's how I felt. Like I had to come in as somebody who was just coming in literally on the runway, naked, just out there ready to having to play. And make it seem that I was with the cast from the beginning. I felt that it was important that I be clear with my intentions, be clear about who I am, make strong choices, listen, and play. I told John I want to figure out what instrument this guy is to what everyone else is playing, you know? What music is this guy compared to what everyone else is playing?

And so, for me, I listen to a lot of '80s and '90s New York hip-hop. Certainly blues. But for Wyatt, I think he's more hip-hop, more R&B. So that was my way of trying to find him, because I think he talks faster than I do. He thinks faster than I do.

CP: That's awesome. You guys have such a great dynamic on the show, and it's fantastic and funny. It seems like you all get along. And your character seems like a perfect fit like he's been along for the ride the whole time.

NN: I'll say this real quick: My angle to jump in and play and find this character would not have been possible without the generosity and cunning spirit that everyone on that set brought. From the crew, to the producers, to the cast. I mean, I'm learning stuff from all of these actors.

I have a good sense of timing and fun and the music of comedy, but like, being able to hear it and how different it is from each actor like Lacretta [Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous], what she brings. And what, of course, India [de Beaufort as Olivia Moore] brings. And John and Melissa, and some of our guest cast that come in, like Gary Anthony Williams. But hearing the music and how different they are, but how funny each one is with what they play, I not only have a blast playing beside them, but I'm also learning.

And having the joy of learning from what I think is a great cast, and these scripts they get better and better as we go, and it's a lot of fun to play. Everyone on that set has been so generous and kind and playful. The timing of this role has been perfect for where I'm at in my life.

CP: Well, it's a hilarious, fantastic show. I love it.

NN: Thank you. If only this call started 23 minutes later. The green tea just kicked in.

Catch Nyambi Nyambi in Night Court on Tuesdays at 8 pm EST, and it is available for streaming the next day on Peacock.