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For an actor whose onscreen persona is built around being the nicest guy in the room, Sam Richardson is audibly angry over the fate of his first series, “Detroiters.”

“I should be more careful how I speak, I guess, because we’re still trying to sell the show to whoever we can, and I guess I don’t want Comedy Central to nix the deal because of my loose lips,” Richardson said in an interview with IndieWire. “But at the same time, I’m also very frustrated.”

There is no evident salvation awaiting “Detroiters.” Despite Comedy Central’s attempts to sell the show, support from various critics, and even an open letter from Seth Meyers, a last-second renewal is a long-shot six months after cancellation. What’s left is a show with a legacy worth preserving and an actor, producer, and creator who deserves to create more projects of his own.

Sam Richardson, a Detroit-born improviser who broke out on “Veep” as the ebullient political enthusiast Richard Splett, is primed to dominate the entertainment industry. His colleagues describe him as “naturally gifted,” “a great actor,” and “funnier-than-anything-I’ve-ever-seen funny.” He’s already EP’ing another comedy series (YouTube’s well-received “Champaign, ILL”), and starring in everything from Sundance selections (“Bootstrapped”) to big-budget studio movies (Melissa McCarthy’s upcoming “Superintelligence”).

But Richardson’s talents go deeper and weirder than audiences have yet to witness. An incredibly watchable performer — the kind of guy who can hold your attention with just his posture and a smile — Richardson’s enthusiasm is addictive offscreen, as well. He skews away from cynicism, even as he’s tempted to show off more sides of himself. “Detroiters” was our most thorough look yet at what he has to offer, and that’s only the beginning.

The Fate of “Detroiters”

“Detroiters,” co-created by Richardson with long-time friend and “SNL” writer Tim Robinson, was axed by Comedy Central in December 2018. The forced exit of a show Richardson called  “a tribute to my hometown, my city, with my best friends” is deflating enough on its own, but what made it worse was waiting: The duo knew “Detroiters” was dead in August — just days after Season 2 wrapped — but couldn’t say anything.

“I think Comedy Central wanted to take it to another [network], and that’s why they didn’t announce it right away,” Robinson said. “[But] it went on, and on, and on, and we weren’t hearing anything. It got to the point where it was frustrating for Sam and I to be asked all the time if it’s coming back, and then having to be dodgy about that question because you can’t say it’s canceled.”

They were told the show just didn’t have the ratings it needed to earn a third season. (A spokesperson for Comedy Central said “multiple factors” were considered, but “low viewership levels were the primary reason” not to pick up Season 3.) Richardson, however, said those ratings were “indicative of decisions” made by the network. They had shot and edited the entire second season in time for a February release, in order to minimize the time “Detroiters” was off the air, but Comedy Central decided to push the release to the summer.

When told the news, Richardson remembered thinking, “That seems like a death dagger.”

Comedy Central

“I feel Comedy Central was using old tactics for this new show,” Richardson said. “Part of the argument was, ‘Oh, we have to compete with sports.’ And I was like, ‘Well, who’s deciding between sports and a Comedy Central sitcom?’ I mean, that’s not how people watch TV anymore.”

Richardson said despite the network’s insistence that the move wouldn’t affect the rollout, “Detroiters” never received its promised advertising budget.

“Nobody thought the show was back,” he said. “People, even fans of the show, didn’t know the show was back. Citing the positive reviews and high audience scores as evidence, Richardson said quality wasn’t the issue so much as awareness.

“I feel the problem wasn’t that the people saw the show and didn’t like it. I think the problem was people didn’t see the show,” he said.

And those who did know had trouble watching.

“The most frustrating thing about it [is] you can’t find it anywhere,” Robinson said. “People don’t really watch TV in real-time anymore. People go to their streaming platforms to watch what they watch. People, right now, don’t go to the Comedy Central app [and] get past the paywall. It was just impossible. […] Someone’s like, ‘How do I watch it?’ And you say, ‘It’s on the Comedy Central app, and you can watch the first one for free, then you have sign up and pay for the app.’ That’s like a nonstarter of a conversation.”

Even though Robinson said he’s guilty of similar behavior himself, his primary concern about the show’s future lies in its easy availability. “Now, I just want it to get somewhere that people can access the first two seasons, so people can see it.”

From Detroit to “Champaign”

So far, exact viewership figures have been a comfort from Richardson’s new show, “Champaign, ILL.” Produced by Richardson and co-star Adam Pally, the YouTube original series follows two best friends who are forced to move back to their hometown after living large for the last decade. Though YouTube Premium requires a subscription to see the full season, it’s accessible without an app and the first three episodes are available for free. More than 6 million people have watched the premiere.

“It’s the first time in my career where I can literally, tangibly see the evidence that 6 million people have seen it,” Adam Pally said. “It says it right there on the viewer that 6 million people have seen it, so that’s a lot of people. […] Would I like it to be this enormous, ‘Titanic’-level hit, where people are chasing me down on the streets? Yeah, that’d be really fun, but 6 million people? That’s a lot.”

“It’s been pretty great rollout,” Richardson said. “The ability to have people see a show because you can link to it on your phone [is great]. Like in an Instagram I can say, ‘Swipe up,’ and it will link you to the pilot. How incredible and how different of a rollout than other networks.”

Mark Hill/YouTube Premium/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television

Pally said their roles — playing a rapper’s ex-crew members — were “somewhat tailor-made” for the offscreen hip-hop enthusiasts, and their unplanned introduction couldn’t be better suited: Pally and Richardson met a Run the Jewels concert, through their mutual friend Timothy Simons.

“It seems like a pretty ‘Champaign, ILL’ thing to do to take credit for ‘Champaign, ILL’ like that, so I’m gonna start to say definitively that the only reason ‘Champaign, ILL’ exists is because of me,” Simons said. “Nobody else had anything to do with it. It’s mine. […] I also feel like I should be entitled to somewhere between 30 to 35 percent [of the royalties].”

Pally said he and Richardson immediately “spoke each other’s language,” which partly stems from their background in improv comedy. Richardson joined Second City Detroit out of high school (where he and Tim Richardson became close), before moving to Chicago and joining the company’s theatre there, while Pally is a longstanding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade. That common ground helped them build chemistry on screen and off.

“This is gonna be a cheesy thing, but in improv, whatever situation you’re given, one of the ways to succeed on stage is to say you’re the best at that situation,” Pally said. “If someone says you’re a doctor, then you’re the best doctor. So when your job is to be best friends with someone, it’s very easy to be open to that when you already have so many shared friends and shared interests. You’re just like, ‘Well, if we’re gonna make this work, we should be best friends.’ And then you are.”

Friendship is a core theme of Richardson’s productions. In “Champaign, ILL,” he’s part of a two-person buddy comedy. “Detroiters” uses the same structure, but the friendship runs even deeper. Even in “Veep,” which he’s been a series regular on since 2015, Richard — the series’ kindest character — shares a special bond with the series’ most despicable character, Jonah Ryan, played by Simons.

“Everything that I got to be in with him was so much better because we both work as such a good foil for the other,” Simons said. “Jonah’s intense, furrow-browed negativity and sourness beat well against this really positive person. And they really found a good friendship and a good connection despite their differences.”

“I do gravitate toward things about friendship, you know,” Richardson said. “My friends are so important to me, so the idea of portraying friendships in my work is something I find fun.”

Colleen Hayes/HBO

The End of “Veep,” and The Start of What’s Next

David Mandel, “Veep’s” showrunner since Season 5, said Richardson kept pushing the writers to do more.

“People always comment on the very lovely long insults and what not, but Sam was already doing this very fast cadence thing when we got there.” Mandel said, adding that Richard would speak so quickly he would often have to correct himself or add surprising revelations at the end of his monologue. Mandel then described a scene where Richard went from quoting his Grandma — “‘Boasters are roasters,’ is what Grandma Splett always said” — to clarifying she had a rhyming disease called “Lyndrome Syndrome” to realizing, right then, that dear ol’ Grandma Splett made that part up.

“And I mean, that’s Sam,” Mandel said. “We keep making it that much more complicated, and [Sam] just keeps hitting them back out.”

“That is Sam’s performance to a T,” Pally said. “He’s everything you want and then he surprises you at the end.”

“He has new moves you haven’t seen,” Robinson said. “Even though I’ve known him for decades, he still has new moves I haven’t seen.”

“Veep” wrapped its final season in December, and it was an emotional goodbye for everyone. Richardson said he kept him busy over the holiday break so he wouldn’t have to deal with the show being over, and he was one of many cast members who showed up for the final day of shooting despite having wrapped his own scenes days earlier.

With that and “Detroiters” ending so close together, Richardson is thinking about the future. Along with “Champaign, ILL” rolling out, he co-starred in the Sundance pilot “Bootstrapped” (created by Danielle Uhlarik) and has the New Line film “Superintelligence” (starring Melissa McCarthy) dropping on Christmas Day. But a lot of what he’s thinking about are projects he’d produce, create, or otherwise shepherd, and his experience with “Detroiters” and “Champaign, ILL” has shaped how he thinks about projects.

“I wish it didn’t, but it makes you a little bit more realistic on your pitches,” he said. “I try to not think of things that way. I just try and come up with things that I think are funny or what I think is best, instead of thinking of reviews or how well it’s gonna sell or how expensive something’s gonna be. […] I haven’t done a show where I’ve had a limitless budget. I hope to. I hope to make movies that, if I come up with a whim, I’ll be able to make it. How great would that be?”

Richardson knows he has to “prove himself” before he’s given that kind of leeway from a studio, but his colleagues are already sold. There were multiple requests for Richardson to take on a superhero role — the actor is a bit of a fan — and that may not be too far of a reach.

“I believe that Hollywood will eventually [come around], and he’ll be able to do whatever he wants,” Pally said. “I want to be directed by him. I think he’s a fantastic writer and director. […] When the town really starts opening up to him and giving him money and power — whoa. It’s gonna be some next-level stuff.”

“I hope he writes and directs,” Mandel said. “I gotta say, I loved ‘Detroiters.’ I was a huge fan of it. I really miss it. […] What I loved about it [is] he wasn’t Richard Splett, because obviously he’s not Richard Splett in real life. To his credit, he can be so many different kinds of people.”

“I think because he’s so good at playing Richard that there’s the assumption that he is this sort of amazing, ‘buoyantly positive all the time’ guy — and he really is; he is a good man in his heart, but I’ve seen a couple times where people tried to fuck with Sam, and Sam is not [going to be fucked with]. Sam is going to straighten his back and let you know that you are not going to fuck with Sam. And it’s awesome to see. So I kind of want to see somebody explore that side of it.”

Richardson may be ready for just that. This is the same guy who handed out random compliments for a full day on Twitter, but he’s ready to leave Richard’s benevolence behind for a bit.

“I am trying to step out of that role,” he said. “Given the opportunity, I’d like to do some more solo stuff or antagonistic stuff. However, I also feel that antagonism and cynicism are so common and rampant, and I don’t like to have that [in my life]. Like even on ‘Veep,’ my character is the least cynical person in that universe. ‘Detroiters,’ we are not cynical. And ‘Champaign ILL,’ these guys [can be] jerks, but they’re really not cynical.”

Whatever Richardson does next, it’s clear there’s even more in the tank than what audiences have seen thus far. And if he wants to get a little angry, that’s OK, too.