‘The Afterparty’ Star Ben Schwartz Reveals ‘Scary’ Moment While Filming Apple TV+ Series (Exclusive)

Ben Schwartz made a name for himself after appearing in TV shows such as House of Lies and Parks and Recreation. Now the 40-year-old actor and comedian can be seen in the new Apple TV+ series The Afterparty, which premieres on Friday. PopCulture.com caught up with Schwartz who detailed how one of the biggest moments in the series, was also one of his scariest. 

“Man, it was scary at the beginning, I’ll tell you that much,” Schwartz told PopCulture. “When I found out I was singing and dancing, I was like, ‘Oh!’ It felt so exciting, and then when it’s like, ‘Okay, you got to record next week,’ I was like, ‘What?!’ but it was really fun. Also, I got to play different genres of music in there and I got to do one with Sam, and so it was heaven.  

Schwartz continued: “I had this incredible vocal coach called Fiora Cutler and then I had Kat Burns do choreography because I had to do both, which is crazy. I’ve never done either of those in a professional fashion ever in my life, so to do them both and to do them at the same time, which was very difficult, was a blast. It’s so much fun. I feel very lucky.”

Schwartz is just one member of the all-star cast of The Afterparty. He plays Yasper, an aspiring musician looking for his big break and thinks it possible when he runs into Xavier (Dave Franco) at their high school reunion. Xavier is a big music star and actor who invites everyone back to his mansion for the afterparty. But after Xavier is murdered, Yasper is left as a a suspect, telling his story to Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish). Yasper’s story is featured in Episode 3, which is where Schwartz also performs his multiple songs and dances. 

The Afterparty is created by Christopher Miller who also serves as showrunner, executive producer and director. When talking about the show, Miller said, “Everybody’s story in sin a different genre that matches their personality. So we have a rom-com, an action movie, a thriller, an animated episode a teen party one and a musical.” The Afterparty is eight episodes and stars Schwartz, Franco, Haddish, Sam Richardson, Zoe Chao, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou, John Early and Genevieve Angelson.