Finale of ‘The Afterparty: The Killer Speaks!”

This post contains Full spoilers for the season finale of Apple TV+’s The AfterpartyParticularly The identity of the killer.

Sometimes, actors in serialized mystery shows don’t find out they’re the killer until late in the process. With The Afterparty, Ben Schwartz found out right away, in an email pitch to take the role, written by the show’s creator, Christopher Miller. Schwartz was delighted to work with Miller (of the) and Phil Lord (of of the). 21 Jump Street And Lego Movie Franchises are one example. Schwartz would be a wannabe musician star Yasper and would have to make a big confession in the finale. He would also get to sing several songs during the Yasper spotlight episode. For an actor who is more known for playing sillier roles, like Jean-Ralphio, it was an exciting task. Parks and Recreation, or voice work in matters like the Sonic Movies or DuckTales.

On Wednesday night, Schwartz spoke about the finale via Zoom, from the hotel room where he’s filming a supporting role in the Nicholas Hoult-Nicolas Cage Dracula movie Renfield.

Hi, Ben. Hi, Ben.
It’s going great. It’s going great. I heard you saw the final episode of the television show. The Afterparty.

I watched the finale.
Are we ready to discuss the similarities between Tony Soprano & Yasper?

Sure, let’s start there. Who’s the more ruthless killer?
You’re right. You know it’s Yasper. Tony has too many heart. He’s going to therapy, he’s working on himself. You don’t know if Yasper’s working on himself yet. Tony has a child! Tony is blessed with family. He has family. Yasper doesn’t have that system. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?

Was this your first reaction to Chris Miller’s offer of hosting the show?
Lord and Miller were my only chance to see me, as I was playing a banana in The Lego Movie. Chris emailed and said that he believed me. “Hey man, I wrote this role with you in mind for a TV show.” So I’m already in. Lord and Miller are a great duo. I loved their animations, and I also love their live-action content. Then the email says it’s going to be a murder mystery, and I’m like, “I love Knives Out, I love Columbo, I can’t wait.”He said then, “Every episode’s gonna be a different genre, and yours is going to be a musical.”Oh my God, I was so excited but also scared. “Oh, I have to sing and dance, and I have to do it well. Not as, like, a cartoon character pretending to do it.”The email was then closed with “Also, you’re the killer. Hopefully that makes it more exciting, so tell me what you’re into.”We pick up the phone and I answer. “I’m so excited. My favorite parts of those whodunnits are the confessions: [old-timey, Jimmy Stewart-esque voice] “I did it! Yeah, it was me!”And that was exactly what I got to do! I did that throughout the show. I wanted you not to believe it was me. And then, to really get in his head, I took a lot of dramatic turns. My favorite villains are the ones who don’t know how delusional they are. Yasper is like that. “This is why I did it! Can’t you see?!?!?”It was an amazing moment.

How aware were you of how you played it so that it would make sense that it was the killer without tipping your hands too much?
There’s a couple of big moments I did. Sam Richardson is told about it at the end of the second episode. [who plays Aniq]There is a camera in this Private Eyes movie poster. You can see me realizing this if Yasper is rewatched in that moment. “Oh my god, there’s a video of me killing somebody!” And then Aniq looks at me, and I have to make it look like I’m reacting to him. If you look back, you’ll see that I blew my cover and tried to save it. This is very nerdy, but throughout the whole show, I had Xavier’s phone in my left pocket and Yasper’s phone in the right pocket, and sometimes you see my character by mistake start to go for the phone on the left and then quickly pull out to pick up the right one. Chris Miller is an absolute genius. When I’m in the shower, I sing a little song [singing]: “I’m just a boy in the bathroom…”Chris also kept the phone in the thing for just five frames. If you pause it, you can see that.

Are you familiar with many people who, over the past few weeks, have shared their ideas about the murderer?
I’m in a hotel right now, so I’m barely seeing anyone. I will occasionally see people outside my hotel. “Watched Episode Four. I think it’s Walt!”But most importantly, I get text messages from friends saying things like: “I think it’s Walt.”Chris said to me not tell anyone. My parents don’t know. My agent and manager don’t know. My manager literally said, “Well, I know it’s not you, because we would have known while you were filming.” So tomorrow night’s going to be really fun. I’ve been basically playing werewolf with all my friends for the past few weeks. I’m pretending that I’m not the killer. But it’s been fun to be a part of a show where people are talking to me and it’s not just about the comedy, but them being really into what comes next and who did it. It’s been really exciting.

You’ve sung before as Jean-Ralphio or as Dewey on DuckTales. This was different for you.
Everything I have done before. “What’s a fucking animated duck sing?” Or, “What if Jean-Ralphio is sing-songing?” But he’s not a singer. But Yasper thinks he’s great and the one to crush it. We hired a vocal coach as well as a choreographer. Fiora Cutler was my vocal coach and Jon Lajoie (who you may know from). The LeagueThese are the songs Jack wrote with, [Dolgen]Chris. Then Kat Burns did it all. Crazy Ex-Girlfriendchoreography. I did the choreography. Then, I recorded the songs at a real studio. I’ve never done choreography before. In high school, I was in the school choir, but that’s it. It’s insane that I now have songs on Spotify and iTunes. It’s a whole different thing from when I’ve sung before. When I do Dewey, I can get away with murder; it doesn’t matter. Or when I’m doing Comedy Bang! Bang! Scott [Aukerman], it’s just me being foolish. I don’t have to be on pitch all the time. So this was the first time ever where I really wanted it to sound like I’m nailing it, and I wanted to hit those choreography moves.

The song “Two Shots”You owe a lot Hamilton, and you’re friends with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Have you ever consulted with Lin-Manuel Miranda about this?
Lin had sent me a text, but I believe he was actually directing. tick, tick… BOOM!Writing Encanto songs at the same time, so he didn’t get back to me. Alex Brightman was my rock song request. [was on Broadway in] School of Rock And Beetlejuice, He went over the songs and helped me to rehearse, and then he contacted me. Lin then texted me as I was getting ready for the show. “Hey, just so you know, there’s a song that parodies Hamilton.”He goes. “Really?”And I said: “Yeah, I rap it.”He goes. “Oh my god!”I was texting him. [Hamilton composer] Alex Lacamoire. I haven’t heard from them yet. It’s a great idea. It’s a great idea. [Lin will] be very proud of me, because he’s so supportive. But he’s doing so much that he has no time to watch a television program. But I’m so excited for him to watch it when he can.

While your most popular roles are comic relief, you do have a genuine motivation and a confession scene. This appealed to your?
It appealed to me very much. It appealed to me. [have gotten to do some drama, but]Chris mentioned that one of his coolest comments was ” “People won’t see it coming. They’ll just be assuming you’re a Jean-Ralphio goofball.”

I think it’s going to be such a fun turn when you break it down a little bit. The original scene was much longer than it is now, but Chris and Phil made the wise decision to reduce it a bit. Originally, Tiffany’s character accuses me of having Xavier’s phone, but when she tries calling it, nothing happens, and I then go off on everybody, in real anger. Like, “I can’t believe you tried to do this to me! Aniq, I tried to exonerate you this whole fucking time,” etcetera. And then Tiffany’s character goes, “Check his phone, see if the ringer is off,” and they see it’s on vibrate, and that’s when you get to the moment that’s in the show. And there’s a version where I looked at Zoë Chao, and she’s almost in tears when they say I’m the killer, because she knows I’m going to jail. I would look at her and get emotional and start to cry at the beginning of that scene every time, because she’s such a good actress, and she is playing it like my character’s life is over. So we had takes where I’m crying the whole way through. And some where I’m angry the whole time. Chris combined them to create a stunning little edit. It was amazing. I was counting down to the day. Because I love him, I wanted to make him proud.