The Headliner: Korey Washington
"At the end of the day, yes, it's curtains and drapes and all those kinds of things. [But] I've done so many different specials; I love when it is a thought, and it is a perspective."
Korey Washington, Production Designer
Comedy is about more than the person on stage; there's a whole team of producers, artists, and designers who work to make the show as amazing as it can be. Among those roles is that of a production designer, which I have always been intrigued by. Maybe that neglect by viewers is because it's hard to know what a production designer even does — especially if they do their job well. It's the kind of attention to detail and care that Korey Washington, a production designer and art director who has worked on a number of both stage and screen-based comedy sets, aims for in his work. "I say to my students, 'I've done my job well when can't see the work," he said. "Meaning, you walk in, you're like, 'Of course the house is blue and the wall was painted orange.'"
But with experience like Washington has, there's no way you can miss his work. His production design has been seen in shows at The Staples Center, Madison Square Garden, the Kodak Theater, and more. Currently, he's the production designer for Nick Cannon’s Wild 'N' Out Tour and the in-house production designer on Kevin Hart's LOL Network. He also recently did the set design for the Netflix comedy special David A. Arnold: It Ain't for the Weak. Perhaps one of his biggest jobs, though, was as the production designer of the iconic Kings of Comedy tour, a late-1990s tour featuring Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, and D.L. Hughley.
I had the absolute pleasure of chatting with Washington about how he got into production design, how he approaches his work, and whether it's hard to deal with both comedians and directors. Read it all below!
Can you describe a bit about what production design, well, is?
Production design is really the entire environment that you see. If you take all the actors out of the film or television show — that's production design, everything. So the idea is that I love the environment, not just this particular set. …
Sometimes it's those normal things that you don't think need to be designed. [It’s] all about those things that we don't think about. … In your house you have things on your refrigerator from nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles that have been there for five years. You don't explain it, and they don't have to make sense, but that’s their character. And that's part of it.
It came from theater, because theater is—really, you have one lens, which is the human eye, and people can only see things which you show them. And so, that's how I started to get into production design: to see how that would translate from the space to film or television.
What got you into production design?
Well, I started in theater. I am an old theater dog — not old, I'll say seasoned theater dog. When I was in high school, I worked on the school plays, and I really took a liking to the set design and the production design at that point. … That's where I started to get my bug. Going into undergraduate, I did all of the stage productions for my school, and then it kind of segued into doing a lot of specials. Like, I started doing my very first — when I didn't know how to do production design — but my very first venture was an HBO comedy special for Sinbad. I'm dating myself. …
My very first tour I was on was … Kings of Comedy — and I did that back in ‘97 — and then Queens of Comedy. Then, those production teams, I would go out and do the tours for them, or I would do a special.
Comedy special sets are typically a curtain and a stool — maybe a water bottle. How does the production designer fit into the look, and how do you approach a comedy special’s set design?
I always start with, “What are they trying to say?” When I did Gary Owens, … he really wanted to focus on his education. … The set allowed him to have kind of a clip environment. He would tell a joke, and there was a picture that reflected to it, that kind of thing. And so, I really want to go into what the comedians really want to portray in the special, because at the end of the day, a good joke can be told on a bare stage [with] a spotlight and a microphone. But if you want to create an experience, especially if there's something visual, you want to be able to capture the audience and beyond that. …
I did a special for Miss Pat, … and she really wanted to be in a club environment, so I took a club in Atlanta that literally did not work — clean the bottom of your shoes kind of thing — and I made it into like a speakeasy. I made a huge chandelier. I moved the stage over. Everybody had lit tables, because it was an environment that she always wanted to be in, but never got there. And so, that's what you do. …
At the end of the day, yes, it's curtains and drapes and all those kinds of things. [But] I've done so many different specials; I love when it is a thought, and it is a perspective.
And what about on tour? You’ve worked with, say, The Kings of Comedy tour — how do you work to make that more than guys on stage with a mic?
The Kings of Comedy tour is four kings, and they each have their own kind of influence, but the stage is kind of generic. And that was really about the style that the guys wanted to portray on stage. I don't know if you remember that, but it was very specific. Everybody wants custom suits; it was a whole thing. I mean, I even had a custom suit, right? And it was like we wanted to try to portray that it was not just a whole bunch of people and a mic on a stage, it was an experience that you would come to — and that's what we gave. That's why the show was so successful, because people felt like they were going to an event.
Do you find it’s a weird dynamic to work with directors as well when you’re already working so closely with comedians?
No, no, it's not a weird dynamic. … I think that I'm in protection of what the artist wants, and I think that I'm in support of what the director needs. It's not even about a conflict. … [It’s] having an opinion, standing on it strong and saying, “These are the reasons why.” … I think the high road is about teaching and educating and not trying to railroad all of those things. But part of that is giving the design ideas to the director so that it becomes theirs — that's the goal. I want to be a support staff, but if I support it correctly, then people will say, “Oh, the production design is great. You guys made a good choice.” … It's always been collaborative — and I make it a point. My two most important collaborations when I do a special is the artist and the director.
What percentage of the work that you do would you say is big picture versus detail work?
I pride myself that everything is details. Let's say [on] Wild ‘N’ Out, in particular, I find out that there's a tour going. The first thing that I ask [Nick] is, “What type of venue are we going to play?” Say we're going to amphitheaters, so then I design to the worst venue. What I mean is, it does no good for us to design in a place, and it has to stay in the truck, because I didn't think about how to get it on stage. For example, the Chicago [Arie] Crown Theatre has this weird ramp in the back. I know I got to make the set fit that. It’s always going to fit at the Staples Center. Another example is Madison Square Garden. No one really knows that it is seven levels of a spiral staircase — a spiral ramp — which is used to get sets to the top. … I remember doing Kings of Comedy, and I had to cut down steps, because they couldn't make the turn. …
The big details and the small details to me are equal. I usually paint a very broad picture about what it is I do. I do a lot of rendering, I do a lot of pictures, and I sell them on the idea, the package, of what it is. Then, I break the details down to, “How do you build this?” … I just need to know what the visions are and how we put those two together, and I hope that they're always thoughtful and beautiful and all those kinds of things. But I pride myself to be a designer that thinks about logistical design, as well as physical design.
Has working on productions changed the way that you look at situations and places that you go in life — either on stages or just around you?
Yes, it is different. I mean, I know that I can't really enjoy a stage show, a movie, a vacation, because I'm looking at everything. This is the interesting thing: I did not know, seven or eight months ago, when I was driving across the country with my kids and taking pictures in the valley of the antique stores, that it would be the thing that got me The Wonder Years. … In your life, you pass things on your way to work and everything, but you don't notice it until you need to stop. So, the reality is, I'm starting to absorb things that, if it catches me, if it’s that important, [I know] to take a picture or note of it, because it will come back, and then you're like, “Oh, this is why I needed to stop here or see this or whatever.”
From working with Kings of Comedy to Wild ‘N’ Out to now being an in-house production designer for Kevin Hart, I was wondering if your work with Black artists and productions specifically has been a conscious decision on your part, or if that’s just the path you found?
Well, let me say it this way: Conscious is probably the wrong context. When we're coming up, and we're trying to make a space for us, a lot of times, it's the opportunity that presents itself. That's really the truest statement. … Part of it, too, is that it is my goal, and it is more important for me, to be known as a designer who is Black, rather than a Black designer. And there's a difference in that. It's just like, you are a journalist. You do not want to be known as a female journalist, right?
Absolutely, yeah.
As I get to the point where I can start to discern how I take projects and how projects define me, I want to make sure that I'm doing it because my skill stands above my culture. And if my culture can help me with my skill, excellent. Case in point, I know it's not in the comedy thing, but I did The Wonder Years. The pilot for The Wonder Years, was the idea of this is — I know, we're talking about comedy — that everybody has their wonder years. … [The show takes place] in 1968. Great; I grew up in that era. I felt like I could have my culture to help tell that story, so that's why I took that. I was like, "This is the time where it's all right to be who I am, and I can share that," and it made a difference. ...
Now, I feel like it's an asset, because I think that I have spoken to a lot of things. … One of the first television shows that I did was I did Blue Collar TV, with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy. And we did it in Athens, Georgia. I went to the University of Georgia for grad school, and I remember talking to the production designer who was from LA. He was just looking for a guy who can help move stuff on the stage. … I said, “You need me.” He's like, “Why?” I said, “Because you don't know how to do this part.” I said, “I know; this was a theater thing mixed with television,” and he hired me, and I became an art director. And so, I found that there was a mixture of those things. But the reality of it was that it was great because I could use those resources. … But to see executives come around the corner and see me, all of this melanin-coated person, on Blue Collar TV — I don't know if they weren't ready, but they couldn't say anything, certainly, back then. That's when I first knew that my talents stood above my culture, and I appreciated it.
So it's never a conscious [decision], but I got to the point now where I am choosing things. … I can't do an all-Black thing, because then you'll start getting known for that, you know? So right now, I'm at the point where I really want to kind of diversify my own things that I do so that my talent rises above the fact that I'm this Black guy who does these things. It's an interesting time right now, and I really am excited about it. But those are the reasons why those things weren't choices made for me, but now, I do think about those things.
Is there anything else you wanted to add, about comedy production or otherwise?
I do want to say it is important and imperative that we look at the creative space, especially for comedy, as a collaborative effort between creatives and the writers or the talent, and I strive to continue to do that, and I really encourage comedians out there to know that they have somebody who will listen to them about what they want. ... That comedy special lasts a lot longer than any joke that people remember from your standup, so you have to be very protective of how you memorialize your work — and I'm here to help do that.
You can see posts about Washington's production designs (and just his life in general) on Instagram and Twitter.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Comedy Showcase
1. Whose Line is it Anyway? will officially (actually this time?) to end its run on The CW after its 12th season.
2. You must watch Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
3. Another TV show win! Hulu's This Fool was renewed for a second season.