Colin Robinson is rarely the life of the party, but in the latest episode of What We Do in the Shadows, he finds himself in high demand when his friend’s wife tries to persuade him into an unusual arrangement.
“I think in this case, Colin is the forbidden fruit,” Mark Proksch exclusively told Us Weekly of his character’s turn on the Monday, November 25, episode. “Joel and Colin’s relationship is such that Becky feels maybe a little left out at times, but she also sees him as an emotional support. And sometimes that can bleed over into a sexual tension.”
It’s rare that Colin, an energy vampire, is the target of romantic attention, but “P.I. Undercover: New York” sees him become a lust object for Becky (Kim Quindlen), who is the wife of Colin’s pal Joel (Zach Woods). When Colin and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) go over to Joel’s house for a dinner party, they discover that Joel and Becky are having some marital problems, which Joel believes could be solved if Colin would just sleep with Becky. Colin declines — but not before he and Nadja experience a truly awkward night out (even by Colin standards).
“You don’t really know what their motivation is for anything,” Quindlen told Us of Becky and Joel. “They’re just a couple of weirdos, and that’s what made it so fun. … It feels like it could be a thousand different reasons that they’re doing anything that they’re doing. It’s almost more fun to not narrow it down and just be like, ‘Whoever these people are, we’re just gonna play them for a second and then let them go on their merry way.’”
Proksch has been playing Colin since WWDITS debuted in 2019, but this episode was special because it allowed him to film plenty of scenes with Demetriou, who’s not one of his usual onscreen sparring partners. (It’s also one of the show’s final episodes, as FX confirmed last year that the comedy will end with season 6.)
“This episode is probably my favorite of the season,” Proksch told Us. “Natasha and I are very close friends and we rarely get to film together. I would argue she’s my favorite to film with. I love ’em all, but she’s my favorite just because it’s so rare. And she is honestly one of the most brilliant comedians right now. We make each other laugh and we have such a nice rapport. You get very close to people after spending six winters in Toronto with each other, so I hope that dynamic comes through.”
While the core cast has been working together for a long time now, Quindlen, a Chicago-based comedian, had no trouble fitting in while filming her guest role.
“They made it so easy for me,” she told Us. “It was intimidating as hell, not because of them, but just because it’s such a funny, clever show, and coming into it as an outsider, you feel like a new kid on the first day of school. Everyone at school is really nice, but you’re still like, ‘I don’t wanna screw anything up.’”
She definitely didn’t screw up, as Proksch described her as “so damn funny” and showrunner Paul Simms praised her talents in a statement.
“Kim Quindlen’s online videos are incredibly funny, and I couldn’t believe she hasn’t done more TV or movie work,” he told Us. “One of our goals this season was just to use the funniest people we know, and even though Kim might not be as well-known as the others, she is now one of my favorites.”
Quindlen, for her part, appreciated the cast’s ability to improvise. (They usually film each episode as written before shooting another version that’s full of their own ad-libbed jokes.)
“That’s something that I’m going to miss so much about this show, is each take coming up with something new,” Proksch told Us. “Having that freedom to come up with your own lines and do it each take is incredibly rare in this business. And so fun.”
For this episode, Proksch got to flex his improv muscles when Colin learns that Joel has forsaken his baseball fandom in favor of Top Chef. As a Top Chef fan himself, Proksch was able to throw in plenty of fun facts he knew from his own viewing.
“It was about 50/50,” he said of the breakdown between the script’s Top Chef tidbits and his own improvised ones. “That was really fun because I love Top Chef. Any time I get to go off on something I love, it’s a bonus for me. Keeps me interested.”
Like Colin, however, he’s not that into baseball. “My nephew is a great baseball player. He plays for Duke, and I love to watch his games,” Proksch explained. “I played baseball until I got bored. But I cannot make it through a regular series game for the life of me.”
What We Do in the Shadows airs on FX Mondays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Hulu.
