Chapman alumni writing for “Black-ish” encourage new genre of comedy

Alumni Ben Deeb, left, and Graham Towers, right, wrote the Oct. 4 animated “Election Special” episodes for ABC’s hit television show “Black-ish.” Photo courtesy of Jamie Ceman, Chapman University vice president of Strategic Marketing and Communications

Someone sitting down to watch a sitcom might hope to see some sort of a relatable family and embarrassing, hilarious and arguably private instances portrayed on screen.

That’s exactly what Chapman alumni Ben Deeb and Graham Towers hoped to convey in co-writing the two-part “Election Special” for the ABC hit television series “Black-ish.” The two also tied in systemic societal issues into the same narrative, which aired live on ABC Oct. 4 and is available for streaming on Hulu. 

Towers, who graduated in 2008 with a degree in screenwriting, met Deeb, who graduated in 2009 with a degree in political science and philosophy, when they were both members of Chapman University’s Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. After bonding over a shared love of humor, they have been writing together ever since.

“We really liked making each other laugh,” Deeb said. “From pulling pranks on campus and being goofy guys trying to make each other laugh to now actually getting paid to make other people laugh for a living is a very cool experience.”

They were able to take their friendship to the next level when both got the opportunity to join the writer’s room for “Black-ish.” Towers originally started out as a writer’s assistant on the show in 2018 and after Deeb was introduced in 2020, the duo began to write several episodes. Those included  “The Gauntlet,” which aired in February 2020 for Valentine’s Day and the two-part “Election Special.”

In writing the latter two-part special episode, Towers and Deeb had to work in a different medium in order for the episode to pass COVID-19 protocol: animation. Enduring the struggle of Zoom writer meetings, Deeb and Towers were able to enjoy the benefits of creating an animated episode, including cameos from voice actors like Stacey Abrams, former Georgia House of Representatives congresswoman, and Desus and Mero, late-night talk show hosts, who may not have been able to otherwise do a live-action appearance. 

“My favorite part about animation is that you can have way more jokes per minute than you can have with live-action because of the nature of the animated process,” Towers said. “We wrote the script, recorded it, started working on it and then we would say, ‘We need more jokes for this area’ and then you can just bring the actors back in to re-record.” 

The plot of the “Election Special” breaks down into two separate stories. “Part 1” consists of the character Junior, played by Marcus Scribner, going down a rabbit hole and realizing how problematic the history of voting rights have been in our country. “Part 2” focuses on the character Dre, played by Anthony Anderson, and his plan to run for Congress while finding out the prevalence of dirty money. 

Overall, the focal point of the hour-long special was moral ambiguity in politics. While they were not legally allowed to be overly specific due to rules set by ABC during an election season, they were still able to integrate their main goals as writers: to entertain their audience while also informing them on issues worth discussing.

“There are enough people making just funny comedies, but we want to have something to say; give people new ways to think about things and have a strong message to try to make change,” Deeb said. “We want to give people something serious to think about and give them an accessible way into it.”

Towers and Deeb are thankful for their collegiate experience in helping them succeed in their dream of co-writing together. 

“It’s really nourishing to work on a show that addressed hot-button issues, cultural themes, what it means to be an American and what it means to be a Black American,” Towers said. “It’s edifying because we talked about how it’s kind of like being in a college seminar where people talk and try to reach universal truths together; in that way, the Chapman experience really prepared me for that sort of thing.”