On January 16th NBC’s Night Court aired “Just the Fax, Dan that introduced viewers to Wyatt Shaw, a new clerk played by Nyambi Nyambi (The Good Fight). In the episode, the courthouse server gets hacked. But, before anything can be solved, the group must meet their new colleague who has quiet the resume.
“I’ve probably run into all of you at some point. I’ve had a million jobs: Spin instructor. Hotel bellhop. For a while, I fixed granddaughter clocks—there wasn’t much of a market.” The group, aside from Dan (John Larroquette) explaining the terrible pay and lack of career growth, took to him instantly. “Don’t listen to him,” Abby (Melissa Rauch) insists. “You’re gonna love it here. It’s just a breezy, fun, totally normal place to work.”
Since then, fans and maybe even Dan has grown to love Wyatt, who was upgraded to series regular on February 6th. The court’s new quick-witted and sarcastic clerk has seen it all and, as a recently divorced, overprotective father of two young girls, he’s determined to make sure his daughters see way less than he did.
In celebrate of season 2 and Nyambi’s promotion, The Koalition spoke to him to learn more about the show’s group dynamics, the power of saying ‘Thank you,’ and what episode he’s looking forward to the most.
Fresh off the drama, The Good Fight, Nyambi’s versatile acting perfect fits into the lighthearted comedic nature of Night Court, which came at a perfect moment for him and the writers. “This is a character that’s very important to the courtroom of Night Court. It was a voice [the writers] were trying to find, and we had a conversation about it when I first met with them. They were like, ‘Hey let’s see how this goes, let’s see if it works.’ They really took the pressure off of me because they were like, ‘We know you’re great and if it’s something, it’s not, you it’s me.’ They were already breaking up with me before we actually got together but once we started working, they threw everything at this character which has been awesome, and I’ve just embraced it all.”
“As a guy who is a Jack of all trades, master of none, sometimes I say Jack of all trades master of one, he’s just trying to figure out which one. Hopefully it’s law [and] to become a lawyer to better take care of his kids. It’s been great journey to try and find it and their willingness to their generosity has given me the freedom to just jump in and play. It has allowed us to figure out and develop a character that’s been really fun to play. [I] listen to the other characters and find my instrument that plays alongside the rest of this merry band. It’s been great as Wyatt.”
In the ‘Taught and Bothered’ episode, Wyatt found himself in a sticky situation after asking Dan for a simple thank-you. What starts as a seemingly innocent request quickly spirals into unexpected and comedic chaos, leaving Wyatt with more than he bargained for. Not only did this moment leave audiences in stitches but it revealed a very crucial thing about Wyatt. He doesn’t feel appreciated and when people don’t acknowledge his hard work, it makes him questions his importance. While Dan makes a good counterargument thank-yous shouldn’t be handed out for simply doing your job, Wyatt views thank-yous as a sign of respect and being liked.
“For me in general, the way I grew up if I give you someone even the smallest task, you say, ‘thank you.’ Even for the smallest thing because even the smallest gesture deserves some sort of gratitude. But the fact Dan never says it and in fact goes out of his way to not say it, in some ways, it makes Wyatt wonder, ‘Is there something wrong with me? ls there a problem with me?’ I wanted him to like me, which is a big part of Wyatt. He wants the people around him to like him. It goes all the way back to his mom in the text chain or his ex-wife. There’s this wanting to be loved and the fact Wyatt had an opportunity to speak up and say, ‘Hey listen, I don’t like when Dan doesn’t say, ‘thank you.’ Then of course him going overboard with it, which was ridiculous. It’s just really mean, just the smallest gesture all you have to say is ‘Thank you for the file.’ That’s it. I put some thought into it, I put some work into it. Just throw a ‘Thank you’ my way. It makes the job easier for me.”
As for upcoming episodes Nyambi is excited for viewers to see how Wyatt navigates through, the upcoming ‘Chips Ahoy’ episode brought him much joy to film. In this episode, Dan finds himself embroiled in high-stakes action as he cunningly inserts himself into a legendary underground Navy poker game during Fleet Week. Expect some thrilling moments as Dan’s schemes lead to hilarious consequences. Meanwhile, Abby, portrayed by the talented Melissa Rauch, creates chaos for Wyatt. Abby rules against the ruthless PTA president of Wyatt’s kids’ school, resulting in an entertaining clash of personalities.
“There’s an episode coming up where you get to a character who is the head of the PTA at my daughter’s school, and she goes out of her way to make life very difficult for Wyatt. I think it’s going to be fun for people to watch how I try to navigate that. It’s an episode I look forward to, it’s an episode with Melissa Fumero who people should know from Brooklyn 99 who’s absolutely amazing and such an amazing actress and at the same time an amazing human being.”
To learn more about Nyambi’s role on Night Court, check out our full interview in the video above. Night Court airs Tuesdays on NBC.
Check out he gallery below for images from ‘Chips Ahoy.’
