Silver-throated stage actor Keith David has been working professionally since 1979. However, with over 450 credits across theatre, film and television, he still has dream roles that he wants to cross off his bucket list. Join the cast of FX’s new comedy, Inside informationwhere in 2025 private investigator Marty Brunner allowed him to check on one of them.
“One of the things I’ve wanted to do as an actor my whole life, or at least in my adult consciousness, is play a TV detective,” says David. “I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m here. That’s it.’ ”
Sterlin Harjo’s screenwriting credits include the five-time Emmy Award-nominated comedy-drama Reservation dogsis a collection of love letters to his home state of Oklahoma. His latest series, led by Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, the “historian of truth” and book dealer inspired by Oklahoma citizen journalist Lee Roy Chapman, is another affectionate treatise that honors Tulsa through the absurd and the historic.
According to David, his character, Marty, is a loose amalgamation of men in “Harjo’s range.” The stoic detective with novelistic aspirations is the Sherlock-style straight man to Lee’s twisted and prickly deception. The first season of the series, part mystery, part crime thriller, follows a couple’s investigation into a land conspiracy involving the Washburg family, one of the city’s most powerful and corrupt families.
When it came time to finally make his mark on the classic detective archetype, David placed great emphasis on grounding Marty in his intelligence, adaptability, and sense of justice.
“I still have a great challenge finding things [Marty’s] “Uniqueness, what makes it special, what makes it special,” says David. “There is this element of being a principal investigator [that’s] What attracts me is the fact that you can mix and mingle with all kinds of people. “Obviously I’m not in an Eddie Murphy movie, so I’m not going to dress up as an old white guy in the barbershop, but he should be able to go to different crowds and blend in. I love the diversity of that.”
Inside information It is Hawke and David’s third project together, having co-starred in the 1994 romantic comedy Reality bites and Showtime’s historical drama The good bird of the Lord In 2020.
“I’ve been a fan of Ethan for a long time,” David says. “He’s really a great actor. As my good friend Johnny C. McGinley says, ‘You like the guy who throws the ball to you!'” We just had a ball. I don’t know if we’ve ever said the same thing twice. Sterlin always gives us some alternatives. [lines] This ends up making great sense.
The season’s defining moment comes at the end, when Marty is shot after Lee attempts a citizen’s arrest at a rally for the white supremacist cult One Well. He and Lee ransacked a local feed and supply store to get medical help, which led to Lee doping Marty with bovine vaginal muscle relaxants as a painkiller. “Animals take medicine too,” Lee tells Marty calmly, to which he replies, “You don’t know shit about shit.” As Harjo said earlier THR“There’s something about Keith David getting frustrated and cursing.” The joy of the scene, which was largely improvised, is a testament to David’s stated dedication to not taking himself “too seriously.”
Inside informationElsewhere, which made the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 best shows of 2025, faces serious Emmy competition in the comedy categories, including best supporting actor for David, who won three Emmys for his voice-over and narration work in 2005, 2008 and 2016. The prospect of receiving his first Emmy nomination on the heels of his 70th birthday, June 4, remains unlikely. Intimidate the veteran performer.
“It’s always at the right time. There’s your time, my time, and there’s God’s time,” he says. “And when you think about timing and ‘how long’. [it’s taken]”And all that… time It is a magazine. “It happens when it’s supposed to happen.”
If anything, Amy’s chatter is fuel in David’s tank, who says, “I’m not done yet,” referring to his wish list of roles, another one he might pitch for himself, and revealing that he’s developing a story about formerly enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass. He would also like to have Denzel Washington’s adaptation of the August Wilson novel Cycle of the century plays, citing his love of “language work,” and says he will join his “best friend” and “hero” McGinley in the second season of the HBO series. Rooster “In a New York heartbeat.”
As for the projects already on the docket, David will soon appear in his second role on NBC’s half-hour workplace comedy PI My sunset Along with Jake Johnson and Langston Kerman, as well as adult animation Rick and Morty spin off, President Curtiswhere he will voice the titular character and the black comedy feature My new friend Jimco-starring Rob Lowe. In addition, there is the second season of Inside informationWhich is being filmed in Tulsa.
“I wanted to be a preacher,” David said as he reflected on his career. “But acting is my ministry.”
This story first appeared in the June standalone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To obtain the magazine, click here to subscribe.
