Hot Brit Comedy Export Jamie Demetriou Talks ‘The Afterparty’

One of the UK’s hottest comedic talents, Jamie Demetriou, is rapidly transitioning from being that guy you recognize from that thing to being a bona fide big name.

The acclaimed and award-winning British comedy Stath Lets Flats put him on the map; however, performances in Fleabag, Paddington 2, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and Cruella have also allowed the actor and writer to showcase his talents.

His latest project is The Afterparty, the Apple TV+ murder mystery comedy series created by Christopher Miller. He plays outsider Walt who, along with a bunch of his former classmates, finds himself a potential suspect when a post-high school reunion bash turns deadly. The ensemble cast also boasts Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Ike Barinholtz, and Ilana Glazer.

 I caught up with Demetriou to talk about the show, his international star rising, and how alien the high school experience was to him.

Simon Thompson: You’ve already had great success in the UK, but you’re starting to make an impact in the US in a big way. How does that feel? 

Jamie Demetriou: It isn’t easy to introspect about scale. I’m still going to the loo and doing all the things that I did before, but in between, I’m fortunate to be able to work with some pretty amazing people that I never thought I’d get the chance to work with. It’s about just taking it one job at a time and hoping this journey continues in the right direction. For me, a big part of this career is trying to add a few months or a few years onto it. If you’re too focused on the future, you’re not focused enough on the task at hand. Focus on the jobs you are doing, do your best stuff, and hopefully, you’re bringing the thing to it that you always wanted to. When you’re working on these bigger productions, you kind of feel like you have to bring something else because it’s on a different platform or different size stage. 

 Thompson: Can you give me an example?

Demetriou: I was fortunate to have a small part in the Disney film Cruella and even luckier to be working with Emma Stone and Emma Thompson. I remember turning up and thinking, ‘Right, I have to perform in a new way, a professional way. This isn’t a sitcom, this is a big film, and I have to behave like a big film actor.’ I did my first few takes, and I just felt like I wasn’t even remotely accessing like a single muscle that I knew to be the way that I work. I saw everyone looking really bored, and I was getting a bit frustrated. I thought to myself, ‘I’m just going to try and just act as if this is like one of the things that I’ve written in the past and throw a bit more of myself into it.’ I did, and it unlocked the door for me that I don’t think I ever want to close, which is true to what made me laugh when I was first doing live comedy. It reminded me to stick to the foundations of my comedic beliefs and ability in the future.

 Thompson: I can imagine the Emma’s looking at each other and thinking, ‘Well, he was a lot funnier in Stath Lets Flats.’

Demetriou: (Laughs) I would have been lucky if they’d have seen it at that point. Strangely, I think the lockdown was the thing that allowed more people to see it because they were like, ‘I’ve watched everything else, so let’s try the thing with the title that I can’t remember and won’t remember even after I’ve finished watching it.’ That seems to be the case with so many people who come up to me and tell me they like it.

Thompson: A high school reunion is the catalyst for The Afterparty. Growing up in the UK, high school reunions were never a thing for us, but they are a huge deal here in the US. I’m assuming you’re mostly aware of it from films and TV and American stuff, but it was otherwise pretty alien to you. 

Demetriou: It’s so funny to say that because the whole experience of being in an American high school was bizarre, period. I felt like someone had put some colored sunglasses on me. It was so strange to step into that thing that I’ve only seen on TV in movies. Down to carrying a tray with Jell-O on it, with layered t-shirts and a backpack on, and having the tray knocked out of my hands, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m in Saved by the Bell.’ It was almost like being in a theme park of Americana. It was wild. As far as high school reunions are concerned. I have no experience of that whatsoever. The contemporary British high school reunion is just being on Facebook. You end up seeing more about what’s happening in these people’s lives than you would have done when you were at school anyway.

Thompson: I don’t think you could pay me enough to attend a high school reunion.

Demetriou: I don’t think my school had one. If they did, I wasn’t invited. I wonder whether I’d be up for it? I think I would? I’d find out if the five or six people that I knew pretty well were going and if they weren’t, I don’t think I could brave that. No way.

Thompson: Even though the US high school experience was alien, did you see elements of your own school experience in some of the characters in The Afterparty? Everyone had the jocks, the hot and popular ones, the nerds, and the dicks.

Demetriou: Definitely. The strange thing about it was seeing the cast in real life and the dynamics. They all felt like striking representations of the people I love at home. It was truly unique. There are things about The Afterparty that are universal. Of course, there were dicks at my school, and there were people like my character, Walt, who didn’t know how to interact. I think it’s pretty cathartic to know that those are such universal ideas of the general school population.

Thompson: Apple TV has become the home of these comedies like Ted Lasso that take things you might not know or like and make them relevant and appealing. What do you think they get about these things that others might overlook?

 Demetriou: From my point of view, the Apple TV+ brand is very much about being a completely open door, and I’m all for that. With shows like Stath Lets Flats and Channel 4 shows in general in the UK, there’s such a great history of cult shows that they instinctively feel that they are for serious comedy fans. The best thing you can do is try to make something accessible and cool for everyone, which is very high quality. I think that’s what makes them special.

 The Afterparty lands on Apple TV+ on Friday, January 28, 2022.