Exclusive Interview: Henri Esteve Talks Primo, Collaborating with Shea Serrano and Mike Schur, and More

Henri Esteve is a dynamic storyteller who is best known for his transformative performances in projects including Revenge, Homecoming, and Grown-ish.

This spring, he stars in the must-see new series, Primo. The coming-of-age, single-camera comedy, inspired by Shea Serrano’s life growing up in San Antonio, TX, follows Rafa Gonzales, a wide-eyed sixteen-year-old being raised by his clever mother, Drea, and his five overbearing uncles (Rollie, Mike, Ryan, Jay, and Mondo) as they live their lives on the southside of San Antonio. Henri shines as Mike, the second youngest uncle who has a heart of gold and means well, but doesn’t always express himself in the best ways.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to talk with Henri about Primo, landing the role of Mike, collaborating with Shea and Mike, building the chemistry with the cast, and more.

PC: You’ve got a new series out now on Freevee. Tell us about Primo and your character on the show.
Henri: Primo is a half-hour comedy brought to you by Shea Serrano and Mike Schur, the creator of The Good Place and Parks and Rec and who was also an EP on The Office. Shea created this show based on his life. It’s semi-autobiographical with a lot of creative liberties taken. It’s a Shea-verse version of his life, but it’s about family. It’s a coming-of-age story about a sixteen-year-old boy being raised by his single mother and five uncles who are extraordinarily flawed. They’re really trying hard to be a positive influence on his life.

Mike is the second youngest uncle. He’s toxic masculinity in a human without the harmful side of it. He has an allergic reaction to vulnerability and always feels like he needs to be the “man” in the situation. He’s trying hard to be the best that he can be.

PC: Extraordinarily flawed is a great description of your character. You’ve brought so many dynamic characters to life on the screen. What was it about this particular story and Mike that resonated with you?
Henri: When I got the initial audition, they wanted me to read for Mondo, who is the hippie brother. But as soon as I started going through the script, I called my manager and I was like, “Have they cast anyone for Mike?” He was like, “No.” I was like, “Cool, can you get me those audition scenes? I am going to send in two tapes. As soon as I read Mike’s dialogue, I just wanted to say it. Mike is really funny to me. I love how he’s really mean, but it comes from love. He wants everyone to be the better version of who they are. I wanted to say some of the mean stuff that he says to his brothers. I was like, “This is hilarious. I hope I get cast in this part and get to say it.”

PC: He definitely has some hilarious one-liners. Speaking of that, how much of it is scripted versus improvised?
Henri: A lot of it was scripted, but as the season progressed, Shea really wanted us to ad-lib and improvise more. He gave us free rein to try things. He would come up to you and be like, “Okay, say whatever you want in this monologue.” We would be like, “It’s a monologue, Shea!” [laughs] He would be like, “Yeah, try anything. Let’s see what works.” I think some of it stuck at least from what I’ve heard. I haven’t been able to see the show yet. I heard a lot of it stuck. The stuff that didn’t work, they would be like, “Great, we were just taking shots to see what lands and what’s funny.” The script itself was so funny anyway that we didn’t really need to add anything.

PC: The chemistry among the cast is incredible, especially between the five brothers. How were you able to build that brotherly bond?
Henri: We got really lucky. We had a great group of guys. I think that speaks to Mike Schur’s ability to know what’s going to work because he’s done it so many times. Shea is also such a great leader. He put us on a text thread early on and would always send us messages. He started building that camaraderie between the cast very early on. So when we got to Albuquerque to start working, everyone felt like they were part of a team.

PC: There are so many moments when I was busting out laughing. How challenging was it for you all to get through a take?
Henri: Hard. [laughs] We were breaking a good amount. You start to find little tricks for yourself to stay in it and not break, but yeah, it happened. Besides, having a little giggle attack where you’re slowing down production for ten minutes…it’s okay to break once in a while and get back into it. But those were some of my favorite takes. There’s a scene with me and Johnny Rey Diaz (who plays Rollie) in the forest that we never got through. There was such a good version of that scene, but I don’t think we ever got through it without one of us breaking. They had to use something else. I wish we could have gotten through that without one of us breaking into laughter.

PC: There are so many incredible people behind this show. What was it like getting to collaborate with Shea and Mike as you brought this story to life?
Henri: It was great. Like I was saying before, Shea is a great leader. He’s never done this before. He came in with such humility, which you can see on Twitter and when he talks about the show. He’s always like, “I was just the cheerleader,” which was not the case. He was running the ship. There were moments when he was like, “You’re better at this than I am. You try to tell me what you want to do.” That lack of ego that he has just helped create really good material, and it also trickled all the way down.

The cast was really supporting each other. There was so much support. There was a scene where it was me, Carlos [Santos], and Johnny in a car. Shea came to Johnny and said, “Say whatever you want on this one.” Johnny came to us and was like, “Guys, I don’t have anything. You got anything?” I was like, “No, I got nothing.” Carlos was like, “I don’t have anything.” It was two in the morning. So Johnny just ended up trying whatever. But an hour and a half later, Carlos came up to me and he was like, “I feel so bad that I didn’t have a joke for Johnny.” I’ve never seen actors thinking about other actors’ performances hours later and being like, “I wished I helped him more.” That all comes from Shea and Mike.

PC: This series tackles so many universal themes through a comedic lens. Why do you think this genre lends itself to this type of storytelling?
Henri: All of the shows that Mike has been a part of have the undertone of flawed people trying to do good. Everything from Parks and Rec to The Good Place. These are broken characters trying to do good. That can be super heavy-handed if it’s not done this way. When it’s done with such a light-handed approach, people’s defenses drop. They get to feel that love and sense of family. If this was a drama, I think it’d be very hard to watch.

PC: This series is going to resonate with so many different audiences, especially those from marginalized communities who have rarely seen their stories represented authentically on screen. What has it meant to you now that you’re playing a part in that movement?
Henri: I’m really lucky to be a part of it. I feel really lucky to be a part of it right now. It’s still shocking to say that we’re still in the early days of that movement, especially for Latinos. Not to throw too many numbers out there, but Latinos are like 7.7% of speaking roles on TV. They’re 19% of America in the census. We’re still so far away from getting to a place where we’ve succeeded in representation. I’m happy to be a part of it right now. I’m grateful for that.

PC: You’ve brought so many dynamic characters to life already in your career. What’s left on that bucket list?
Henri: I feel like I just got in the room. I just want to keep telling important stories and to get better. I’m really just starting to scratch the surface, craft-wise. There’s a lot of room for me to grow and I’m trying to do that.

To keep up with Henri, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch the first season of Primo on Freevee today.

Photo Credit: Christopher Michael Diaz