‘Night Court’ Star Nyambi Nyambi On How ‘Mike & Molly’ And ‘The Good Fight’ Prepared Him For This Role: ‘A Blessing Because Of Its Timing’

NBC’s latest installment of Night Court isn’t your average reboot.

The return of the beloved sitcom has tapped talented actors like Nymabi Nyambi to lead the charge.

“For me, having done series like Mike and Molly and then six years on The Good Fight and having, especially on The Good Fight, instances with some of the episodes that they were writing, especially Seasons 5 and 6 where they gave me a lot more to do,” Nyambi said, “I  was really hoping that the next thing I did would be something where I could lead and be number one, especially having been blessed to have worked with amazing number ones and just learning from them how to be on set and how to lead.”

“I’ve always felt like that was going to be the next thing, but this one sort of came across my table out of nowhere and it was a blessing because of its timing,” he continued. “It may not have come in the form of what I was hoping, but it certainly has been the perfect job for me. Everything that I’ve learned from my time on Mike & Molly and The Good Fight has served me well on this show, to just be able to jump in and play and be a part of an ensemble that really advocates a family dynamic.”

His character, Wyatt, is what Nyambi describes as a  “jack of all trades, master of one,” on a mission to figure out what exactly that trade is.

“The biggest misconception I had about Wyatt was that I didn’t know how sort of self-centered he could be,” Nyambi explained. “I feel like he’s a very nice, generous person, but there’s a vanity about him in terms of how he feels about how he looks and how he dresses. He really feels like he’s the best thing since sliced bread, he just wishes everybody else could see.”

Additionally, Nyambi opened up about Wyatt’s desire to be the best father to his daughters through leading by example.

“Wyatt wants to be the best father, and so that’s why he’s taken on so many different jobs. I mean, like, so many. To list them off, there were so many, like the SoulCycle instructor, who worked at a Trader Joe’s, a male strip club. … He was the store manager for a hand puppet theater and a doorman, he’s addressed so many different things and now is trying to find a long-term hustle — that hustle of being a lawyer and wanting to do something that will make his daughters proud.”

And despite him doing all of this with his daughters’ best interest at heart, Nyambi talks about how Wyatt’s actions don’t always land how he envisions due to his overbearing nature.

“He ends up doing his daughters’ homework for them, so that’s where it gets him into trouble,” the actor shared.

For Nyambi, his work as an actor has a few similarities to how basketball was a huge part of his life; he played four years of Division One basketball for Bucknell and made ESPN Dick Vitale’s “All-Name Team,” a nod to the best of the best in college basketball.

“Basketball was a huge part of my life, and the parallels that I found between basketball and theater were sort of revelations for me in terms of rehearsals versus practice, blocking versus the play, and of course the work that you put in,” he said. “That’s what acting feels like to me. You do the work, put enough work in, and eventually you can just play and rely on your instincts. I pride myself on how much work I put into it and the joy that I get out of just being able to play and listen and discover new things — especially new things that other actors bring to the table, learning from other actors, and doing my best to be a joy not only as an actor but as a human being.”

As a first-generation Nigerian American who took his love for theater and the arts to the next level, Nyambi is also lifting others as he climbs, serving on the board for the Almasi Collaboration of Arts, an organization with a commitment to helping emerging African artists develop their skills and talents.

Night Court airs Tuesdays on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.