Zach Woods on shooting for ‘The Afterparty’ Season 2 and why he finds controlling characters funny

Even before I could start my interview, Zach Woods is apologetic, “I am sorry Tiffany Haddish was supposed to be here, but she is stuck on a plane… so, you are going to have to be content with me and I am as heartbroken as you are.” In an instant, I am reminded of Gabe Lewis and Jared Dunn, some of his memorable characters from The Office and Silicon Valley— morally upright and heartbreakingly honest. People who have fantasies of control are funny because they are setting themselves up to slip on the banana peel of their own life.” But Zach does not want you to look at him as the definitive authority about his characters or career choices, so he immediately dismisses his analysis and quips, “Maybe it is just my limitations as an actor or the conservatism of Hollywood, we will never know. My mom was a Jane Austen fascist so it was nice to be able to fulfil one of my mother’s dreams by occupying a pseudo 19th-Century world.” When asked if he could adapt to the world of The Afterparty in their second season, he vents, “There’s a vicious hazing process where actors from the first season did a lot of weird frat rituals. Ben Schwartz made me chug Natty Ice until I had alcohol poisoning, Ayden Mayeri put my head in the toilet — it was horrendous and I encourage people to stand up to that kind of bullying in a way that I did not.” Watching Zach nail his comedic timing in an unscripted interview, I could not help but ask how he aced it with a giant ensemble on the set.