'Psych' actor Dule Hill

Psych is the funniest show on television today. No, really. No, it isn't subjective. Hyper-observant Shawn Spencer (James Roday) works for the Santa Barbara Police Department, his status as a consultant being based on the extremely-untrue supposition that he has psychic powers; he is a slacker and a goofball and the most entertaining character on basic cable. I would be amiss, though, not to give credit where credit is due: the show would be nothing without Shawn's best friend and sidekick Burton Guster (better known as Gus)—played by Dule Hill, with whom I got to talk about the show the morning before the premiere of the fourth-season finale episode. Enjoy.

Hey, it’s great to meet you. How are you?
All is well.

God, I can’t believe the fourth season is ending already.
Time flies by. I can remember when we weren’t even sure if the show would be picked up, and now… here we are, finishing the fourth season.

I heard that someone is gonna bite the dust on tonight’s episode…
You heard that someone’s gonna bite the—now I’m trying to remember! We filmed the episode about five months ago. Let me think. Someone is going to bite… the dust… OH, YES! That’s right! [laughter] I forgot a little bit! Yes, someone does bite the dust tonight. I can tell you that it’s… someone who… has been there before. It’s not someone who just came in for this one episode; it’s someone who has been there before.

Am I gonna cry?
Are you gonna cry? Uh… maaaybe. Maybe. Depends on your mood in the moment. You may cry. You might cry a little bit.

I’ll brace myself.
But you’ll also laugh. You’ll cry, but then you’ll laugh a little while later.

You’ll do your best to bring us out of funereal spirits?
Yeah.

That’s good. Have you already started filming the next season?
No, we go back at the end of April. We’re on a break right now, and then we go back to Vancouver at the end of April to start on the next season.

Sweet. I know James Roday has been writing quite a few episodes for the show lately, especially the more serious episodes. What about you—do you have any interest in writing any episodes?
Well, James actually wrote and directed the episode that’s gonna be airing tonight.

Oh yeah! I know he did the first episode with the Yin Yang killer, too.
Yeah, he did that one as well. But I don’t really have the ambition to get into it. I have no passion for writing. I don’t see myself trying to write an episode of Psych. I think it can be dangerous; a lot of the time, if you’ve been on a show for a while, you might feel obligated, but I think you should really only do it if you have a passion for it. Same thing with directing. I mean, maybe I will direct, possibly, when I know the show is canceled; maybe I’ll do one of the last few episodes. When you see me behind the camera, that’s when I’ve started looking for a new job. [laughter] That means we’re going off the air. But even then I don’t know if I would do it. I like doing what I’m doing, what I’m passionate about.

Right. Speaking of which, I know there’s a lot of… ad-libbing when it comes to thinking up new Gus names or eighties references. Is that all James, or do you dive in there too?
Oh, yeah, no, it’s definitely a collaborative effort between myself, Roday, all the cast, and the writers. We definitely all participate, especially with Gus’ names. I mean, if somebody writes a funny name, we’ll use that; if somebody comes up with something different… sometimes we use the names of people we know. The whole show is very collaborative. Some of the tangents Roday goes on are made up on the spot. It’s a very free-flowing environment. For example, Roday and I could be doing a scene, and we’re in the scene but we’re also kind of observing it. We’re seeing if it’s funny and a new idea would overdo it, or vice versa. Everyone is pretty open to giving and taking suggestions.

Yeah. And I know you guys have a lot of fun with in-jokes; my favorite was that episode where you named the villain Ken Tucker.
[laughs] Oh, yeah! That was a little inside… Ken Tucker is a TV critic who didn’t like our show.

[laughs] No, trust me, I know. That was good. That was funny.
[laughs] Yeah. Yeah, we do have some fun on this show. Yeah. That was fun; we actually enjoyed that one a lot.

Every time his name came up you guys always said his full name and enunciated it very clearly!
[laughs] Right! Oh, man. Everyone just had fun acting like a fool.

Are there other bits that you think you’re going to work into new running gags? Like, for example, I know the pineapple thing started on the spur of a moment, and now I can’t look at a pineapple without thinking of Psych.
Well, every once in a while something comes up. I can’t remember how many seasons it was ago that I started going [in a high-pitched voice] “Whaaaaat!” but we wove it through the whole season, and, like, we never planned for it to happen, but that’s become one of our things for a while.

Well, you mentioned not having any particular ambition to write and direct, but you have been producing. I know you’ve produced some episodes, and you’ve also produced the play that James Roday is doing off-Broadway right now. Extinction.
Yeah, I do enjoy that. I would hope that I get to do more; I enjoy working that whole angle. I finally get to put to use that whole finance major—almost a finance major that I had. I didn’t graduate; I left during my junior year.

So it’s the putting-together that you enjoy.
Exactly.

Psych airs Wednesdays at 10pm EST; the fourth season ended last week, and the fifth season begins shooting at the end of April.