More from the set of Psych, this time with pictures! Jason the TVaholic posted our interview with James Roday on Monday so I’m going to jump ahead to meeting Dulé Hill.

What’s there to say about Dulé that I didn’t cover already? I like Gus but I love Dulé. And, even though you can see a bit of Gus in there, the two aren’t really anything alike. What was weird about that – because I don’t generally expect actors to be like their characters – was that Dulé was decked out in Gus attire during our chat. It’s Gus! But not…

Not that Gus wouldn’t walk into the room with a smile for everyone the way Dulé did, making us all feel right at home with the first words out of his mouth…

Dulé Hill: Are you all enjoying sunny Vancouver? This is actually the sunniest day of the year right now.

Panel: I thought we were in Santa Barbara.

DH: Yeah. No. No.

Panel: Do you guys get caught in the rain a lot, does production have to slow down and–?

DH: It isn’t that we slow down, we just figure out a way to get by. Mike McMurray’s a great cinematographer. So, he puts the lights up and you put like a kind of tarp over. And as long as-as wide as the camera-the shot is, that’s how far the tarp goes. We just do what we have to do.

Panel: It doesn’t rain too much around here.

DH: Yeah. No. No. Just the odd-you know, just sixty days in a row sometimes.

Panel: All right. So, I told them all I would start with the important question…

DH: Okay.

Panel: James says he’s the best at Mafia…

DH: What!? And, again, James is a liar. That’s why I beat him at Mafia. You can ask-go ask Steven Miner right now who the best impersonator is; it is me. I’m by far the most supreme player in Mafia. He’s good though. I’ll give James that– like he’s good. And we are the best tag team. When the two of us are together, we’re knocking everybody out. If the two of us played Mafia right now, all of you would be dead, you know?

It’s a fun game. I love that game. I mean I’m addicted right now.

Panel: They told us all about it at dinner last night.

DH: Oh, okay, yeah, it’s great. It’s great. It’s too bad we couldn’t play a game while you all were here because it would be a lot of fun.

Panel: Can you tell us a little about your Tap background and was it easy to transition from Tap to something like this?

DH: Yeah, it was pretty—a pretty easy go because—well, first with, I’ve been acting since I was ten years old. Like my first show I had to act, sing and dance, so I’ve been cultivating at least the acting and the dancing since then. Singing more recently now with the ‘Psychos’ and things like that. But dancing is all about playing off of somebody. It’s the same process of—especially when you—when you improv it. Improvisation you– I go off a word you give me, and then I kind of respond the answer back to you. It’s the same thing with acting, I have to feed off of what you’re giving me. So, I don’t really know where I’m going. I just see– when I put my shoes on, I see where it takes me.

And it’s the same thing with acting. So, it’s just a different avenue. To me, it’s the same type of expression. It’s a different avenue that you go down.

Panel: Were you in Bring in ‘Da Noise when it came through town here or were you just on Broadway?

DH: No, I was just did it in New York. When you say here, it never came to through Vancouver, did it?

Panel: Yeah, it came through Vancouver.

DH: Oh, really?

Panel: Yeah.

DH: Oh. Yeah, see, shows you what I know. You know, I just did it in New York though.

Panel: So, Ebony and Ivory– what was your experience working on that?

DH: It was a lot of fun. I mean we got a chance to re-enact Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder. I mean you don’t really get a chance to do that too often. We actually had just learned it that day off of YouTube. We were doing other promos the first part of the day. So we started watching it on YouTube while we were doing the promos. But what’s amazing is you realize how– like how high Stevie Wonder was singing. Gosh!

And I thought at first we were going to lower the key but then they had like a little thing in our ear so we could hear the music in the exact key of what it was in. It was like, “Man,” especially at the end. I thought what the line — I can’t remember exactly what the lyric is now — the one high thing at the end. I was like, “Wow.” By the end of the day… [we all laugh]

Panel: It was a really high note.

DH: Yeah, yeah, it was! And, you know, it was all in the studio, and we just did it right there.

Panel: Well, it’s gotten a great reaction online. You go and look at it at Facebook or on YouTube, comments aplenty.

DH: Oh, really?

Panel: Yeah.

DH: Good. Good. Good.

Panel: So, you’ve got a singing background. What about James?

DH: I think James was in like a rock band or something like that when he was in high school or college or something like that.

Panel: Did you have to give him some pointers to get him to stay with you or—

DH: No. No. He’s a pretty good singer. You know, he’s a pretty good singer, you know.

Panel: Now, the character of Gus plays a straight man on the show, do you have a difficult time keeping a straight face when James starts going off?

DH: Not often. A lot of times, I think out of the cast, I’m one of their best at keeping it together. A lot of times what– how I look at is if I think it’s funny, and I break it up, then the audience is not going to have a chance to see it. So, I try my best to keep it there, you know? So, most of the time—most of the time—I’m pretty good.

He does– he tries hard though, because sometimes you’ll see where I’m like, “Damn you.” [we all laugh]

Panel: Do you generally know what he’s going to be doing, or does he sometimes just kind of throw in something?

DH: It’s a lot of times, he’ll just– he’ll go someplace else, and he’ll just drop something in there that you’re like, “What?” But, overall, I have an idea of where he’s going. I mean there is a certain level of predictability. He’s not going to all of a sudden just drop his pants and moon us either. You know what I mean? [we laugh] I have an idea where he’s going to go. But most time, it’ll be that he’ll say something crazy. Like one of his lines will be just– he’ll come up with something just really out there that will make you take pause for a second.

Panel: So, those nicknames? Do you have a favorite?

DH: Do I have a favorite? Probably Gus Silly Pants Jackson. That’s one I remember. That was like from early on. I think that’s one of my favorites so far. And then there’s another one that I was in, “Homicidio,” which is called Lavender Gooms. That is actually my great-aunt’s name. She lives in Fort Lauderdale. Her name is Lavender Gooms. He was like, “What?” I was like, “That’s her name, Lavender Gooms.” He was like, “That’s her real name?” I said, “Yeah.” [we laugh]

And so that’s what he put—that’s what he put in that—in that piece, which actually we call her Aunt Tit, which, you know, is a whole other story.

Panel: Another day, another time.

DH: Yeah, probably a lot of my cousins, when they read this, when they find out that it’s Aunt Tit, because Lavender Gooms, wouldn’t even realize that’s her real name is Lavender Gooms. I know that because of my wedding. When I went through the wedding list, I was like, “Who the heck is Lavender Gooms?” My Mom was like, “It’s Aunt Tit.” “Lavender Gooms?” [we laugh at the incredulous way he says it]

Panel: Well, Gus has got a pretty cool family, too. John Amos, Ernie Hudson, Fletcher Richard.

DH: Yeah, I got the cool family, boy. I got a Ghost Buster. I got the Dad from Good Times and I got Mrs. Huxtable. Gus has got the cool family. You know, I can’t be too mad at that.

Panel: They coming back?

DH: I think so. I think– I don’t know if they’ll be back necessarily this season. Originally, there was thought of bringing them back once the story started breaking. But they’ll definitely be back. But the parents will definitely come back around. I think we’ll get a chance to see more of my family, too.

Panel: James told us to ask if Gus is going to get any action this season or not?

DH: Is he? I hope so! I hope so. It’s like, you know, Gus is a lot of talk with no follow through, because I would like to see Gus get some kind of interaction. The only kiss he’s had so far has been a flashback, so that like from college years. So, that’s a—he came close to that same episode with Kerry Washington. So, hopefully, he’ll get a chance to have some kind of something. He dresses nice. You know what I mean? He’s a smart dude. He handles his business.

Panel: He should be getting something! [everyone laughs]

DH: You know, he has a 40l-K going on. You know what I’m saying?

Panel: And he’s certainly in a better place, job-wise, than Shawn.

DH: You know what I’m saying? It’s like, “Wow.”

Panel: Do you have a favorite episode that you worked on so far?

DH: Probably “American Duos” because I got to be Michael Jackson– just because of the ending. There are so many episodes that I like but that one I had a great time doing. I mean you’re there dressed up as Thriller, yeah, Michael Jackson and Thriller, you have this audience— Landis got the whole audience to come. And then you had the guy who directed Thriller directing you. I mean I get to move up on a stage and smoke and…=

I used to– when I was growing up, I used to dress up all the time. This is just like– I’m a big Michael Jackson fan. So, that was just great. My hair was all wet so when threw back my head it would spray out. [mimes throwing back his head and we laugh] I loved it. I loved it. I think that would be my top one so far ust because of that moment. But I love all the episodes.

Panel: Is there something that you’d like to see Gus do?

DH: I would like to see Gus do? I want to see– I want to see a dance episode. We have to figure out a way to organically work it in there. There’s a friend of mine named Jason Samuels Smith, who’s one of the greatest tap dancers out there, who I really want to have on the show. I’ve mentioned it a few times, and we’ve talked about it. So, just when the time is right, hopefully, we can get it worked out.

If anything it would be like a Gregory Hines episode, we each had a dream one day, that’s when we’ll know show’s about to go off the air though. But I’d like to see Gus, you know, dance—get the tap in there somehow.

Panel: So the last script that says, “Gus Will Tap,” on it.

DH: You know what I’m saying? [we laugh]

After that, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’d like to see Gus do. I want him to get– I want him to get obsessed about the environment. I think I’ve– I’ve been talking to them about it. I think that’s something that Gus really get into. He would know all those facts. That’s right up his alley to know like—

Panel: Isn’t he already kind of there with the car and the—

DH: Yeah, he’s already kind of there anyway. But I want to know the facts. Him getting on Shawn about throwing the piece of paper away when he could recycle it— Everything. I want him to get green about everything, you know. Like turning off all the lights when he comes in the office.

Panel: Yeah, but what about him working at pharmaceutical company with all their packaging, etc.?

DH: And that’s probably what they’d show Shawn coming back with and then I’d have some kind of response to it.

Panel: Have you got some career conflict going on this season?

DH: Some career conflict? There is some career conflict going on this season. Yeah, you know, I kind of—I’m at a place where I have to start making some choices—at least trying to do my dance a little better anyway. But the season starts off with me being in a real tight situation. But, of course, it has to work itself out. But my boss is starting to breathe down the back of my neck, which is raising the stakes a little bit– you know, allowing me to have to sneak around a little bit more.

Panel: So, Gus running away screaming like a little girl?

DH: I don’t know if that happens that much this year. It hasn’t happened yet.

Panel: Oh, in “Scary Sherry” when you guys were…

DH: Yeah, oh, I loved that. Whatever role Dave writes, he’s always going to give me fun stuff like that to do — that started off camera.

Panel: Oh, really?

DH: Even with “American Duos,” the shot number was me and Roday just bugging out, you know, off camera in first season. And that’s how we started to come up with that idea. And then he had to come up with this story in order to make it happen o n the show. And that screaming in “Scary Sherry,” that was just one of our things first season. I’d like to see Gus scream some more. I mean you don’t want to overdo it too much, but—

Panel: Every once in a while.

DH: Yeah, like, you know, every once a while is nice. Like I said, we’re in episode six now. So, probably in the next seven episodes, he’ll scream at least once, you know, go running off screaming. I know what Steve likes to do now is just to disappear like [snaps fingers]

Panel: Oh, yeah, where the chair is spinning or something?

DH: Yeah. He’s just gone. So, we’ll see what happens.

Panel: Do you know of any other quirky talents that Gus has? We learned about the whole Spelling Bee fascination…

DH: You know, I don’t really– like I said, there’s so many that it becomes a blur to me, like I mean because it’s like little lines that are dropped in there. You’re like, “I didn’t realize that-that Gus did that.” But pretty much, the spectrum is so wide, nothing surprises me anymore with Gus. I don’t really know off the top of my head of just another little thing he had in his back pocket, but I’m pretty sure that more and more things will come up.

Panel: Have there been any skills that you’ve had to learn while doing episodes?

DH: Any skills that I’ve had to learn?

Panel: Like were you on skates this episode?

DH: I was on skates this episode. That’s right. See what I told you about it all blurring? I actually forgot that one. I forgot we’re doing an episode about roller derbies, but I was on skates. I didn’t have to learn that though, because I used to skate when I was younger, growing up.

And about when I was doing Bring in ‘Da Noise in New York, I used to go– me and my cousin would have like these nostalgic Sundays. We’d meet up and go roller skating. And then about five or six years ago, Sarah Michelle Geller had a birthday party that I went to at a roller skating rink in LA. And I kind of had like a big flashback then because I hadn’t done it in years up to that point, too.

And I went there and I had these– you know, the rental skates are terrible. And I was on rental skates then. I was like, “Man, this is wild, man. I can’t even find the key.” [we laugh] I couldn’t do any tricks. So, I went and I bought roller skates there– I had to get some roller skates. Then I was thinking, you know, “Freddie [Prinze Jr.],” I said, “I got some skates. We’re going to start skating.” I told him, “We’re going to start skating, man. This is the coolest place. We’re going to come like every couple of weeks, come skate…”

Those things have been sitting in my closet— They’re still sitting in my closet in LA! You know, and I got the black skates with the green wheels and yellow laces, because I’m from Jamaica. So, I wanted Jamaican colors.

But I can skate though. So, when this came up, this is the first time I skated since then.

Panel: Are you going to bring those skates out of the closet now?

DH: I think so. I started talking about it again. I think when I get back to LA, I’m going to start skating. I love skating. It’s a lot of fun.

Panel: Are you going to watch the Derby Dolls now?

DH: I want to go see the ones in LA, because Sydney Bennett is a part of it. Yeah, I definitely want to go. She said the next season that I’m back for is in October. That’s probably when we finish. So, I’m going to try to go see it then.

Panel: How long do you guys spend up here?

DH: About six months, with two weeks off in July.

Panel: Are you going to do anymore campaigning?

DH: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean if they ask me, you know what I mean? Either way, I’ll be doing campaigning on my own just like getting trying to get out the word to vote, just I want to talk to people. But I do intend to go back out in the general. I think it’s too important of a time.

Since I’ve been here, I’ve only gone once since I’ve been back at work because it’s just too much, trying to work thirteen hours a day, and then fly on the weekend. I went to Oregon because it was close by. But before that, most of the time, I was doing it in the off-season. And I had a lot of free time then. This is the first campaign—I campaigned for Al Gore in 2000 during the general election, and I was a big—and I’m still a big fan of Al Gore. But the main reason why I went out-when I first took the first step out was because Martin Sheen came knocking on my trailer saying, “You’re coming with me. We’re going to campaign for Al Gore.” And you don’t really say no to Martin Sheen, right? And I was a big fan of him anyway. It wasn’t like he was asking me to go and campaign for the devil. [we laugh]

But then as I got out there, I started to see—I was inspired by the people throughout the country and how much they—how much throughout the country people are really involved in democracy. You know what I mean? Just being involved, door to door, and just standing up for what they believe and—

Panel: What policy is most important to you?

DH: It’s a couple of things. The war in Iraq. There’s, obviously, the economy. The lobbyist– the lobbyist was a big thing to me for Senator Obama, you know what I mean, because I think that’s a big issue to sort of getting the people’s business done. And I think we’ve seen too much over, I don’t know how ever long you want to say where our business as citizens of the country is not being handled. It’s like what is going on here? We’re the greatest nation in the world; why can’t we– we should be able to take care of our own. You know what I mean? At least give us all a reasonable playing field to be able to succeed whether you’re black, white, man, woman, rich, poor, you know, Hispanic, Native American, whatever, we should all have a reasonable chance…

Panel: We need our basic needs met before we should be out in the world worrying about what other countries are doing?

DH: Exactly. I mean I do have big issues with—I mean this is getting off on a whole tangent. A big issue is we’re spending so much money on a war. I just have a real big issue with that. There’s so much money to spend on a monthly basis-on a weekly basis out there, we could be spending at home or even spending throughout the world helping people. I’m like we find money to—

Panel: Different topic. [we laugh]

DH: Not to mention that my aunt’s name is named Lavender Gooms. [we all laugh]

Panel: So, how was your experience on The West Wing?

DH: It was great. I think it was—for multiple reasons, I mean one, because of the experience. I mean John Spencer would always say, “We wouldn’t be doing this if we want a cop show,” because all the stuff we got to experience. I played basketball with the White House in the background, you know what I mean? I was able to tour around the White House. I was able to watch the last President’s State of the Union from the White House. You know what I mean? Some of the cast was able to play basketball on top of the Supreme Court. Just like all of these experiences were just absolutely amazing when you think about it.

But for me, it was pretty much a night and day thing because this stuff started happening after the first season. And the year before that, I was an out-of-work actor, you know, would have had a maybe another month and a half worth of rent to pay. I told Freddie, Freddie Prinze Jr. who is a good friend, I said, “If I don’t get a job soon, I’m either moving back to Jersey, or I’m coming to live with you, because I don’t have any money.” [we laugh]

But the night and day change was just like, “Wow! I just got dropped by my agent four months ago. And now, I’m—”

Panel: And now you’re working for Aaron Sorkin?

DH: Yeah, now I’m working for Aaron Sorkin and I’m in D.C. like what? And talking to presidents and things like that. It was great though. And I said– I don’t know if because of my age that I got more involved in what was going on in politics and in the world or if it was because of the show or a mixture of both, but the timing was absolutely perfect. And as an actor, you know, I’d studied two years in New York under William Esper when I was doing Bring in ‘Da Noise, and then to have a chance to put that in action…

You study and you get all your tools like if you go to college or wherever, and you get all your tools. At a certain point, you got to start putting it in action and making your own. And The West Wing was the perfect– I mean you couldn’t ask for a better place to go to as a young actor. You work with Aaron Sorkin, Martin Sheen, Brad Whitford, John Spencer, Richard Schiff, Allison Janney. You know, Tom Schlamme’s directing. You have all these great actors coming in like Glenn Close, Karl Malding…

Panel: John Amos.

DH: [nods in agreement] John Amos, Alan Alda, you know, and all these people just coming through. It was a great experience. I mean I couldn’t ask for anything more. I actually miss the show. I miss– I don’t miss being on the show. I miss having the show around, you know what I mean? I wouldn’t mind being able to go back and do an episode here and there; just being able to go back to LA and drive by and see everybody. I mean you drop by the studio now and it’s like, it’s gone. We had a portico out there. You know, our own White House, it’s all gone but it’s great to see everybody.

So, I see Allison. I speak to Martin. I saw Rob not too long ago— Richard Schiff, Joshua Leaman. Joshua Leaman taught me poker on The West Wing. He taught me poker to take my money, that’s what he did. [we laugh] That’s exactly what he did.

Panel: After so many seasons on sort of like such a serious show, were you looking for something like completely different like Psych?

DH: Yes. I was. Psych is exactly what I’d asked for. I mean I told my managers, my agents, it was always like if I had to do another TV series, what I’d like to do would be something on cable, a comedy and I would have more of a leading role, because I thought if I did a drama, I would only be compared to a West Wing type thing. I didn’t think I’d– one it’d be hard for me to get cast in a role completely different from Charlie. I thought that, for myself, I thought it would be a letdown because I was very much aware that I was in a very unique situation with the show winning so many awards, and having a writer like Aaron Sorkin and the level that they wanted to be at every week.

I know that a normal television week, you don’t really—it’s not the same. And if I did a drama, I would feel let down. I would be like, “Is this it? Is this the dialogue?”

So, I figured it’d be better for me to take a step back from that line. And, as I said, I wanted to have more of a leading role, and do comedy, because, you know, you don’t always want to come to work with all your– putting your heart out there. There are some times you just want to have a good time. And this came along. And I read the script, and I thought this was a great opportunity. I thought if we could develop the characters and keep with it, it would be a really funny show. The audience is going to love it. And they do.

Panel: Do you guys have as much fun on set as you do on screen?

DH: Yeah. Yeah, probably even more. We probably actually have more fun on the set than we do on the screen.

Panel: Is there anyone that you would love to see do a guest spot on the show?

DH: I still would like Martin Sheen. From the first season, I’ve been wanting to get him on. So, hopefully, at some point, I’m going to get him on. Any of the West Wingers, you know, I just want to have all of them come through at some point, just because of the nostalgia. And as for who else I would like to have come through… anybody really. I mean there’s so many wonderful actors out there. There’s so many people that-the more, the merrier, you know, especially like all of my friends.

Panel: Are there any shows that you want to do a guest spot on?

DH: I wouldn’t mind doing a guest spot on Heroes. I love Heroes, though more Heroes from the first season, and, hopefully, the third season.

Panel: What power would you want?

DH: That’s a good question, too. What power would I want? Maybe I can have my super-fast feet. [we laugh]

Panel: Well you’ve already got the magic head!

DH: Yeah. [we all laugh] But I don’t know. I mean I would like to do Heroes. I like that show a lot. I think that’s good, and Dirty Sexy Money. Yeah, I would like to be on that show because they’re just interesting fun characters.

And what else? What’s another show? My number one would be Heroes, then it would be maybe like Dirty Sexy Money, and then either Nip/Tuck, which I like a lot, or Mad Men. With that set back in time, I’m not sure what kind of roles there would be for me. So maybe not Mad Men. [we laugh]

Panel: You may not like it.

DH: [laughs in agreement] Maybe if I do Heroes, then I’ll do Mad Men and it’ll balance out.

Panel: For our last question, what Charlie would think of Gus?

DH: What Charlie would think of Gus? What would Charlie think of Gus? I think Charlie would respect Gus a lot because he’s handling his business. He’s not– he’s not a slacker. He would not be feeling Shawn at all. He would not let Shawn anywhere near the president, and that I know. I think Gus he would have a lot of respect for him because he’s handling his business. He’s on top of things.

And I think he might even be a little envious of Gus because Gus is able to laugh and have fun, and he’s really–Gus, you know, his challenges are so— is such a light affliction compared to what Charlie was going through with his Ma passing and raising his sister and things like that. I think they probably would eventually become friends and maybe even start to help Charlie lighten up a little bit, you know?

Panel: Cool. Thank you so much.

Yes, Dulé, thank you for taking time out of your day to chat with us (twice, if you count the time spent with us during filming) and being so warm and welcoming. It truly was a pleasure.