Stephanie Koenig is always trying to find ‘the most surprising thing’ on ‘English Teacher’ to make you laugh
Stephanie Koenig always knew one aspect of “English Teacher” would work. The FX comedy was created by her BFF Brian Jordan Alvarez, who stars as Evan Marquez, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. Koenig, who also serves as a writer and story editor, plays Gwen Sanders, Evan’s BFF and a history teacher. “I’d work with Brian previously, so I knew that was going to feel lived-in,” she tells Gold Derby. “We already had chemistry. We’re best friends in real life.”
What surprised her, however, was the immediate chemistry they had with the rest of the cast: Enrico Colantoni, who plays Grant, the principal; Sean Patton, who plays Markie, the gym teacher; and Carmen Christopher, who plays Rick, the counselor. “It was like, ‘Wait, you guys all…'” she continues. “It just felt very lived-in from the start. And I also think there’s also something with the production design — it all felt very real. Everything with the costumes — it just felt like everything could actually be happening and everybody’s such top-level actors that you knew you could throw something out to Sean and he was gonna pick up on it and riff on what you’re saying. I think it was just a product of really good writing and really good casting that it felt like instant.”
That instant chemistry allowed “English Teacher” to find its footing from the jump, drawing viewers in to spend time with a group of people who feel like they have years of history and inside jokes together. “Which is fun for the audience to keep up,” Koenig notes. “English Teacher” is not a traditional sitcom with jokes and setups and punchlines. Most of the laughs are derived from the characters’ relationships and the show’s uncanny ability to subvert expectations when tackling hot-button topics. It never feels like homework. How can it when you’re doubled over laughing? Koenig attributes this to the online videos she used to do with Alvarez, during which they would always try to find an unexpected way to go out on a joke.
“I think Brian’s ability to do that has translated into real-life, grounded work. And what’s really important in the room is we’re always saying, ‘How do we make it the most funny? What’s the most funny thing we can do? What’s the most surprising thing and what would actually happen in reality?’ Because you can always heighten a joke where it’s like, ‘Well, would someone really do that?'” she explains. “In the room, we’re always just trying to find the most funny, the most surprising thing. And with these hot topics, there’s a lot of care that goes into it, like making sure we’re seeing it from these characters’ perspectives. Really, wait, how would this person take it? And how would it be surprising? In real life, who would we expect to have these opinions but they don’t? And it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s fascinating. I would make this assumption about you that you would see it this way.'”
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Case in point: The second episode “Powderpuff,” written by Koenig, in which the school’s powderpuff tradition comes under fire over concerns about the football team dressing up in drag. One might assume the complaint came from parents, but it was from the students in the LGBTQ+IA2S+ alliance.
“That one, in particular, I felt very excited to do because there was such a fantastical element to it with the dancing and the guys dressing in drag. And I love drag queens so much and I jumped on it really quickly, like, ‘Let me tell this story. Let me add little jokes that’ll keep it working,'” Koenig says. “We really worked on those turns very hard for weeks in the room. One of my favorite turns is the drag queen being a klepto. That was so funny. That particularly made me laugh so hard. It was an honor writing that episode and it felt really easy.”
For the first half of the season, Gwen is portrayed as Evan’s cheery, supportive bestie who’s in a rocky relationship with her boyfriend Nick (played by Chris Riggi, Koenig’s husband) and who obsesses over things she shouldn’t (her collapse on the students’ hot teachers list). Their friendship gets tested in the fifth episode, “Field Trip,” in which they have their first big fight. Evan is peeved to learn that Gwen had invited Markie and Rick over the night before to help Nick build his pool. She says she didn’t invite Evan because he doesn’t help people. They make up when he saves her life because he knew something about her only a really good friend would know, after which she promises that he’s always invited to everything — both of them fully aware that he won’t come to all of them.
“I think what that episode does so well is it makes them three-dimensional, but specifically Gwen because she is so, ‘I support you, yes,’ always clapping for Evan. But it’s nice to have her call him out on his sh– a little bit like your best friend maybe does,” Koenig says. “What I love what that episode does is a really good friendship can go through a fight. A really good friendship can work through it and realize the fight is less important, and it’s about how much you care about the person. Or whatever miscommunication happens, you go through it and you get stronger as friends.”
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Plus, getting FOMO over a non-invite to a group hang is something everyone can relate to. “Oh, my gosh, the FOMO! It is the most basic friend fight and yet I don’t know if we see it too much with friends, where it’s like, ‘I just wanna be invited even though I didn’t really wanna come.'” Besides, Gwen is frankly justified in not inviting Evan because she knew he wouldn’t help. “You’re like, ‘I know you, I know you so well,’ but maybe she’s like, ‘I didn’t know how much you cared. You are so cool and involved in everybody’s life — why would you care that you’re not invited?’ … She was justified but maybe underestimated his care and maybe his insecurity.”
In the finale, Gwen breaks up with Nick and gets drunk at Evan’s 35th birthday party at a leather daddy bar, where she does sloppy karaoke (the lyrics to “Gay Town City” were fully improvised). But by the end, she gets back together with Nick after considering Markie’s offhand comment about relationships: “You gotta let people be who they are.” It’s a cruel twist because Markie has been crushing on Gwen, unbeknownst to her.
“Unaware, like totally unaware,” Koenig says. “At least in the first season, I think it just wouldn’t even come up for her. It’s very, very subtle what he does. There’s the moment where he’s like, ‘We’ll look over the footage over drinks,’ and she’s like, ‘Huh?’ I think that’s maybe a second where she’s like, ‘Is that a joke?’ But I don’t think she knows at all, which is fun.”
Evan, however, now knows. Will he share that information with his BFF though? “That’s actually a good point. I imagine that would be something that he’s like, ‘Oh, I dunno if I should share this.’ That is tricky too because he is friends with Nick,” Koenig says.
FX has not yet picked up the show for a second season, but the team is already rife with ideas.
“Here’s what I’ll say: It’ll be funnier. I think the relationships will get deeper. I think the kids will do more crazy stuff and the parents will do more crazy stuff,” Koenig teases. “Way more needle drops. Brian can’t help himself. He has such good taste in music. But what we’re finding when we think about future episodes is that it’s kind of endless what you can do with the character dynamics, with the students, with the teachers, with the school boards. It’s just juicy.”