Warning: contains minor spoilers for The Ms. Pat Show season 2 and some adult language.
J. Bernard Calloway and Tami Roman star in The Ms. Pat Show alongside Ms. Pat herself. The Emmy-nominated BET+ original sitcom focuses on a fictionalized version of the life of legendary Atlanta stand-up comic Ms. Pat. In it, J. Bernard Calloway appears as Terry, Ms. Pat’s husband, and Tami Roman plays Denise, Pat’s sister who was dramatically ousted from the household at the end of The Ms. Pat Show season 1.
While the season 1 finale left Denise’s future on the show up in the air, The Ms. Pat Show season 2 trailer revealed that Tami Roman’s character would indeed be returning to the show. Terry and Denise play an integral role in Ms. Pat’s journey, but now their own struggles are coming to the forefront. With The Ms. Pat Show season 3 already confirmed, J. Bernard Calloway and Tami Roman’s characters are set to return in ever more important roles.
Screen Rant attended a set-visit and live taping for The Ms. Pat Show last month, then took part in a round table interview with Roman and Calloway. The discussion dove into the struggles that Denise and Terry each face in season 2, what the actors have taken away from the series, and how The Ms. Pat Show stands out among representations of Black families on TV. The Ms. Pat Show season 2 will premiere all 10 episodes on BET+ August 11.
Screen Rant: How does it feel to be wrapping up season 3 today?
J. Bernard Calloway: Feels great. We’ve been here since January 15th, shooting season 2 and season 3 with just a two-week break. So, it’s great to be going back home to the family, but it’s great to feel that we conquered and accomplished what we came to do. Bring out the balloons and the party song, and let’s do it.
Screen Rant: Season 2, both of your storylines get very heavy in very different ways. You’re both grounded around Pat in season 1, and then season 2, you very much split off in your own directions. How was it to go through that transition and to be working with addiction issues and therapy, and then obviously, the season two finale is the whole thing.
J. Bernard Calloway: Okay, so healing. Healing is the word that was moreso with me – with Terry, and the material with my parents, particularly my mom and what that represents to me, as far as women are concerned. So, definitely healing. Definitely healing also, with the father I didn’t know, and trying to figure that out what that is, and still trying to understand that even coming into season 3.
But season 2? Communication, feeling, understanding. Being a sponge, and being able to soak things I’ve been receiving and give back out.
Screen Rant: Has that role, and working through those things as Terry, affected you in your personal life as well?
J. Bernard Calloway: Oh my God, yeah. Very therapeutic. Because I had issues with my own father – not issues where I can’t talk to him, but there are gaps and spaces of things that I just didn’t understand; that I was never told as a child. You grow up thinking that there’s one thing, and it’s totally another. But when no one tells you, you react a certain way as a kid, or you act out. And then when you get older, you’d be like, “Oh, I see why Dad did it,” or “If mom would have told me this back then…” Maybe I would approach them differently.
I think that’s where there’s a gulf of distance between parents and children these days. There aren’t things that parents tell their kids to help them to understand why they’re doing what. I have a five-year-old, so when I reprimand him for stuff, and I’m just like, “Jacob, when you wet the bed, you get up.” And, you know, “Why, Daddy?” “Because you have to be a body pirate. You have to get up, use the restroom, and come back. And if you do potty in the bed, you come tell Mommy. We’re going to take care of it. You’re not doing anything wrong, okay? You’re fine. But this is what you have to do if you want to come out of that. And this is why Daddy and Mommy talk to you this way.”
That didn’t happen for me. I believe when that happens – and I know Tami can attest to because she has two beautiful daughters herself – is when that communication happens. There’s an understanding for a child that he or she knows, at least, how to communicate with their parents or the comfortability of being able to tell them certain things and be themselves. Yes.
Screen Rant: I’m sorry for the heavy question right out of the gate.
J. Bernard Calloway: No, no, no, no.
Tami Roman: Yeah, you started right off! Can’t we have a little foreplay first?
No, I think with Denise it’s just about being human with nuance, you know what I mean? She’s not trying to be anything other than what life has put in front of her. And so, dealing with the addiction aspect, I feel like at the end of the day it’s the vicissitudes of life that make us who we are. Denise has been through a lot; her and Pat have been through a lot, and so that has made her the person that the audience is seeing. Now she has to figure out how to evolve and grow from that.
And the unfortunate part is that most of us in our lives, we respond or react and deal with things in direct correlation to how we were raised; the morals and things that we were brought up on, you know what I mean? To figure out how to change that narrative, to shift that perspective, is what Denise is dealing with. Because she doesn’t want to be just a victim to her past; she doesn’t want to be held hostage by the situation and the upbringing that her and Pat have gone through.
That’s what you see her dealing with in season 2, figuring out how to dig herself out of that hole and be what Pat represents to her – which is someone who went through that sh*t too, but ended up with the husband and the beautiful family, the kids, the career and all this other stuff. She’s just trying to be like her sister, and to be a support for her sister at the same time.
I just want to talk about the fact that this show was about a Black family. I feel like there are so many critiques of television and what is or isn’t on television, especially in terms of Black family portrayals. And this family, in a lot of ways, is a typical Black family. But in a lot of ways, it isn’t. I was hoping to start there and see what you guys had to say about that.
J. Bernard Calloway: Perspective. I’ve said before that this show, for me, represents the true human condition. And that you can put any ethnicity to these shoes, and they can all relate. Because we’re dealing with issues that everyone deals with, obviously, from an African American Negro perspective – mainly a past perspective of what that is.
So, if we represent the Black culture? Okay, we represent the Black culture. But it’s from a perspective, but because she handles it a certain way, or the way it’s been for us to handle it, doesn’t mean that every Black family handles certain things like that. I think that’s what it’s more about; it’s more about perspective, and people watching to understand that, “Oh, this is how they would handle this.” Or if you saw an Irish family or a Portuguese family, or anybody. They’d be able to take these situations and be like: “Okay, how do we go about handling this?” And then people be surprised, like, “You know what? Damn, they did it just the way we would do it.” But in a different way, because we’re culturally raised in different regions of the world and everything.
Tami Roman: I think when you when you phrase the question, what I perceived the underlying context to be was that with this particular type of show, not everybody’s gonna be supportive of it. Because they may feel like, “This don’t represent me.” You know what I mean? And I think that the Black culture is the only one that does that. We’ll watch something and go – I’m just gonna tell you like what I’ve seen in comments – “Why they gotta be a fat Black woman telling jokes? Being serious, so stereotypical.” I’ve seen it all, you know what I’m saying?
And at the end of the day, it’s about relatability. But here, again, relatability is subjective. You may have never experienced a family like this, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t support this type of show, because there’s someone out there that has experienced a family like this. And what we need to do as a Black community, as our culture, is to support our own. Because, okay, Ms. Pat doesn’t represent you. Her show is not something that you can identify with. But if you don’t support Ms. Pat, how many more opportunities you think they’re gonna give us to have our shows and have our stories on TV to the point that we get to one that you actually can identify with?
The underlying context was that I had seen comments criticizing the amount of shows that have queer characters, and saying that it’s influencing kids, and there’s not enough shows where you show Black families in a traditional way. But they’re picking and choosing what to look at, because there are shows that do have this dynamic, and they might also have other dynamics. And that’s one thing I love about this show because you have a strong queer character, and you have a strong heterosexual marriage. You also have the family, you have siblings who all support each other, even though they’re very different.
Tami Roman: And that wasn’t by some people sitting in a room and going, “How can we get it all in there?” This is her life; this is how her world is. You’ve got to look past it – you’ve got to look past whatever your qualms are about not just this show, but whatever you’re looking at, and whatever you identify with, because that is that person’s story and perspective and the way they’re choosing to tell it.
I made a joke, and I said, “Oh, we’re better than the Upshaws.” It was a joke, but that’s a different Black story and family and dynamic and what they’re choosing to tell. What we’re playing is authenticity. Listen, you know what our writing room consists of? Pat sitting down going, “You know, I had a friend…” and then she’ll tell this whole story, and Jordan’s taking notes, and then that becomes an episode. This isn’t fake. We’re not trying to be funny. We’re not trying to make stuff that we think is going to shock the audience. This is her real life. And then we bring it to life.
Can you guys talk about the improv elements? What it’s like working, when you might do two takes and they’re totally different because you’re playing with the line?
J. Bernard Calloway: We listen, and it’s not even so much we’re playing with the line; it’s more about understanding the story. And if you understand the story and what’s going on, you can play. And they allow us to do that versus having a stranglehold on, “You have do this, like the show.”
Tami says she worked on a production where it’s like, “No, there’s an ‘and’ there.” That you have to use that conjunction; if you don’t, this is going to change everything. Here, they allow us to truly, truly play. And if it doesn’t work, they come and let us know, you know what I mean? But to me, that helps us understand that every person on that set has a true understanding of who they are and what the story is for them.
So they go, “You know what? I’m gonna give you the green light to go ahead. And through you all, we’re going to understand how to write better for you.” As each episode comes it’s like, “What is this? Terry wouldn’t do this,” or “Denise wouldn’t do this.”
Tami Roman: But we’re also wanting to do the best and be the best and be supportive of each other. We’ll even have moments where… Vince Swann is a comedian, right? He does impersonations and stuff like that, and he’ll come over and go, “[You can] do this.” Or you’ll think of moments where it’ll make the scene pop.
J. Bernard Calloway: And nobody gets defensive about it. I can be working on a moment, and Tami will be like, “Well, J., what if you start over there instead?” And I’m going, “Okay, let me try.” You know what I’m saying? I trust Tami. And it does ebb and flow; it does. Every take is the same, but it’s different. Especially when working with a cast like that.
Tami Roman: And when we get in front of the live audience, we don’t never know what it is gonna be, because they kind of fuel certain reactions and responses. It’s good, it’s good.
Screen Rant: There’s an interesting dynamic, where it’s The Ms. Pat Show, but a lot of it seems to be her having to learn about some things. And your two characters sometimes provide an interesting balance with the way that you are the voices of reason. When Ashley came out, Ms. Pat has a negative reaction to that and, in your own ways, you’re much more supportive and understanding. How does it feel to be on the show and in that role, where you’re providing that counterpoint?
Tami Roman: I think Terry is always the voice of reason. Denise is just more liberal and free-spirited. Not necessarily because she supported it or not, but like, “It might be a good idea.” You know? She’s just like, “I don’t know, but I’m open to try.” But he’s definitely the voice of reason for the family.
J. Bernard Calloway: Terry can be the uniter. There’s friction between Ashley and her mom, we found out, by that moment about her coming out. Then I bring her outside on the porch and be like, “Hey, listen, you know your mother’s this way about this. Because of this. She started when she was 14 years old. When she had you, she was young. Give her some grace. Have some understanding, listen to her here. And I think if you do that, she’ll open up to it.”
And then I go have that conversation with [Pat] about it, and the next thing you know, they have this moment where they’re talking and Terry is just sitting in the back.
Tami Roman: And I love that episode, because it was so real. You understand what I’m saying? Like, Pat was me when my daughter came out. That’s how I [was] like… “I don’t know how to handle this s*it, like, f*ck that. You’re supposed to be with a dude,” you know what I mean? Just being able to address that, because everybody always acts like you’re supposed to understand, you’re supposed to be receiving, you’re supposed to just jump right in. And that’s not really the truth. That’s not some people’s truth.
I love that, on this show, we do address things like that. Even with the episode with the pronouns, and all of that. Just trying to educate.
J. Bernard Calloway: With Janelle’s friend.
Screen Rant: Absolutely. I use they/them pronouns myself.
J. Bernard Calloway: Yeah, there you go.
Tami Roman: And that’s it. Being able to educate, sh*t, I learned something about myself on that episode. You know what I mean?
J. Bernard Calloway: See, this is what I was talking about by relatability. It surely speaks to everybody, every demographic.
Screen Rant: Those episodes were very real and very painful in a way, as well as hilarious at times. But I think it’s very easy for sitcoms to shut down in one episode and go, “Okay, this is the episode where we’re going to address the fact that Ashley is gay.” But through season 2, we continue to see that, and no issue gets left behind. How are you feeling about heading into season 3? Is there anything you’re really excited about that you can give us hint at? With some of those things coming back around.
Tami Roman: I can’t give away too much about it. But I will say I am so excited for people to see what J. Bernard is going through for season 3, like on some for-real stuff. Because I’m coming from a place of, in the Black culture, we don’t address certain things with our Black men. And we tapped it; we tapped it with the therapy aspect, right?
But season 3, what he’s dealing with – and them as a couple, and what it causes within their relationship – it’s so good. It’s so good. And I can’t tell you but… Whoo!
J. Bernard Calloway: I’m like Tammy, and there’s stuff I want to say, but I can’t see. Man, it’s hard not to mention things without saying it. But… Meat and potatoes, season 3. The meat and potatoes.
Tami Roman: Yeah, and even with the kids. The things that they’re going through, from a young perspective and the issues that they’re having to address with their own personal things? Man, it’s just so good.
J. Bernard Calloway: Everybody is eating. You guys get to really see each character have a great storyline in season 3. It’s really… The mustard is spread, let’s put it like that.
Screen Rant: What’s been your favorite thing across the first two seasons to film, perform, or see someone else do?
J. Bernard Calloway: Learning – honestly, for me – comedy. I learned about the timing and placement, because I’ve done mostly dramatic. Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen, and all these people and stuff. But, especially for that, being in front of an inanimate object was very different than a live audience on the boards. So, I’m really learning a lot about myself as an artist, and how to be entrusting. And not waiting for a validation if it was funny or not or anything. If I’m just being honest about moments, and that’s happening, then that will come out of it.
Tami Roman: Just all of it. All of it. All 20 episodes were an experience. But Tommy Davidson comes in, and he’s always amazing.
The Ms. Pat Show Synopsis
A woman from Atlanta finds herself in conservative middle America where she lives her life as a reluctant suburban mom.
Check out our interviews with The Ms. Pat Show creators and the kids from the cast, as well as insights from set down the line.
All 10 episodes of The Ms. Pat Show season 2 will premiere on BET+ August 11.