Table Manners: Kelvin O’Bryant Interview

11th September 2014

Kelvin O’Bryant is a regular on the sitcom Table Manners. The upcoming 30-minute laffer tells of a young therapist, Natalie, who is in way over her head when she goes to work the evening shift at a men’s group home for the mentally challenged. O’Bryant plays Reggie. O’Bryant’s other credits include Jodie Foster’s The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Midnight Meat Train.

What is Table Manners?

Table Manners is a half hour Sitcom pilot written by: Betty Sullivan. The show is about a young therapist who is in way over her head when she goes to work the evening shift at a men’s group home for the mentally challenged.

Does it have an official network behind it?

We aren’t backed by any particular network at the moment. I recently had lunch with one of our producers and while she couldn’t get into specifics, she was extremely excited about the meetings she’d been having.

How does doing a television sitcom differ from doing a movie, say The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys (which you were in)?

In my experience, the biggest difference is the speed of the production. Television shows are shot very quickly while films like Alter Boys aren’t shot nearly as fast. I remember having a lot more time with the material before the first day on set of Alter Boys than I have had with any show I’ve ever worked on.

Is there time for error on a series? I hear it moves fast?

It does move very fast, but I think a lot of honest moments are found in TV from the time crunch. Especially when shooting a sitcom. When you have actors who do their homework, a director who knows the world he wants to create, and a crew that works together it creates a space where “errors’ aren’t necessarily a bad thing. A flubbed line can elicit an honest reaction from the other actor, which in turn gives the director a take he might not have had otherwise. I hope that made some kind of sense.

Can you tell us about some of the other cast members on the show?

I truly loved working with every one of these brilliant actors: Monica Barbaro (It’s not about the Nail), Cody Saintgnue (Brett on MTV’s Teen Wolf), Manu Intiraymi (Star Trek), and Alejandro Patino (Cesar on FX’s The Bridge). We had an instant chemistry that was blatantly obvious during our first table read. They are all very open actors that aren’t afraid to play. I learned so much from each of them individually and as a group.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career?

There are countless people that I have crossed paths with that have profoundly impacted my life and career. But I am going to have go with my family. Is that allowed? My mom, my dad, and my younger brother. They have believed in me from the very beginning. There is no way I would have been able to move from South Carolina to California by myself without the unconditional love and support of those three people. They check me when I’m tripping, they make me laugh when I am down, they inspire me by just being who they are. Evans, Alice, and Maurice O’Bryant have been, and will always be the biggest influences on my life and career.

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