Season 3 of NBCโs The Night Shift is filled with tension, comedy, and important social commentary you might not expect from a medical drama.
Robert Bailey Jr., who plays Dr. Paul Cummings, opens up about his experiences on the show, what he hopes people will get out of it, and his burgeoning career as a musician.
Q: How did you get involved with Night Shift?
A: Itโs a bit of a funny story. Iโve been working in the business for 20 years now, and we did the pilot in 2012, and I remember I was in a fantasy football league with a bunch of buddies, and it was on a Sunday. I was eating a plate full of loaded nachos and feeling like I was at a low point because I just couldnโt eat anymore. I got an email for this audition to play a doctor, and I was like, โIโm not going to go to that, Iโm way too young to play a doctor,โ and one of my buddies was like, โAh, just go in.โ And so on Monday I go in and you have to juggle in the audition scene, and I donโt know how to juggle, so I bought two tennis balls and just mimed it. Monday I go to the audition, I get a studio test Tuesday, Wednesday I audition for the network for NBC, and then Thursday Iโm on a plane to New Mexico to film the show. Still have no clue what the showโs about, and I just know Iโm playing a doctor all of a sudden. So it was really a whirlwind, and itโs kind of something Iโve always loved about being in the business. No matter what youโre doing, literally the next day you could be in a completely different part of the world shooting a new project. You never know, so itโs always a fun roller coaster.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your character.
A: I play Dr. Paul Cummings, and weโre in the third season now, so the first episode of the show ever was his first day on the job. Heโs a young intern, very awkward, very eager, and very brilliant, but just socially terribly awkward. And so the first couple of seasons, heโs kind of grown into his own. You find that heโs actually a brilliant doctor and has come from a very privileged background, has never really been around people. And our group of doctors, this renegade group of ex-military doctors, he particularly didnโt fit in with this group at first, but you come to form a family, and so heโs really trying to take on more responsibilities. This year, heโs become a rather gifted surgeon, taking on a lot more responsibility, and just looking to be respected by the rest of the group. Heโs still really socially awkward, but I think heโs starting to find who he is as a man and as a doctor, and to find his comfort zone. Youโre going to see him in some really, really interesting situations tonight and this season. Tonight is one of the biggest ones where he has to go out into this riot thatโs going on around a trial of a potentially racially motivated shooting, and so he finds himself in the middle of a very tightened, divisive situation, and he finds out who he is in that moment. Itโs a big moment for my character, so Iโm really excited for people to see it.
Q: Do you find that you relate to your character at all?
A: I do, and there are certain things about my character that I admire and try to emulate, really. I think Gabe Sachโs and Jeff Judah, our creators, try to take little bits of who we are as people and kind of implement them into our characters, and then eventually our characters surpass us so youโre like, โOh crap, I need to work on that because heโs way cooler than I am.โ But I think he has a certain openness and earnestness to him that maybe I have a bit of, but the way he kind of carries that no matter what situation heโs in, no matter who heโs dealing with is definitely something I would strive for because itโs something I really admire. Heโs just a person with a huge amount of empathy. He can always put himself in other peopleโs shoes, and I think that really complements and enhances who he is as a doctor, because he can really get to the bottom of things, and not everyone can. He sees people and has an open heart towards them. Thereโs no judgement, thereโs no anything, and that I really admire in the character, and I love playing that. Heโs just a big, open heart, and itโs a lot of fun to bounce that off of other people.
Q: Whatโs been the highlight of working on the show?
A: First of all, you donโt often find a cast that is as tight knit as we are and were from day one, so getting to go to work with my family, my best friends every day is obviously a bonus. And then we just have brilliant actors that come onto our show, whether itโs the cast we have or guest stars. I started the show when I was 22 and Iโm 26 now, and itโs been the best form of school you could possibly imagine, getting to go to work every day. Iโve grown mentally as an actor but also just as a person in all different realms of my life, so itโs been an amazing experience for me, and itโs something I certainly wouldnโt trade for. I know a great deal of medical jargon, but I have no clue what it means, so thatโll come in handy during dinner parties, Iโm sure. I think thereโs just been a lot of amazing benefits of being on the show, and in tonightโs episode weโre dealing with race, which is not always an easy thing to talk about. Thereโs a moment on the show that Iโm supremely proud of, and it might be my favorite episode that Iโve seen of the show since we started. Iโm just really proud of the growth weโve had on the show. From Season 1 to Season 3, it almost seems like a completely different show, and yet the bond we have as a cast has always been there, and so weโve just kind of grown into our own, and Iโm so proud of where weโre at right now.
Q: Itโs great that you get to explore so many different issues on the show.
Fresh out of med school, Paul is still finding his confidence in the ER after spending last season being pranked by the other doctors. Now he’s ready to prove to himself – and his famous neurosurgeon father – that he’s on the right track.
A: Absolutely, especially since weโre a medical show, and not all shows like that are able to go into deeper issues, but I think the fact that we have such a diverse cast means thereโs going to be separate issues that we can kind of pick up on and different perspectives within those issues. I think itโs really amazing that weโre able to go certain places that people might not be expecting from us. So if people watch this episode, even if they havenโt seen an episode of the show, I think theyโre going to be shocked and surprised about some of the real things weโre able to speak on.ย
Q: Is there anything you hope the audience takes away from tonightโs episode or The Night Shift in general?
A: I would say for The Night Shift in general, really and from this episode, especially in the climate today with the elections going on, I hope that people can see so many people from different backgrounds, different races, and different economic situations coming together and working as a team and becoming a family. Even when you have disagreements, and even when they can get rather large and it seems like itโs the end of the world if you donโt have your way, thereโs always a way back as long as thereโs respect and you can have a conversation with each other. I think we find that in tonightโs episode, but I think that goes in any of the issues weโve discussed on our show. At the end of the day, thereโs a family working together, and we work that stuff out, and I hope people can take away from our show a little tiny microcosm of what hopefully is going to go on in the larger world. It doesnโt matter what divisive issues weโre speaking on, we can always come together and have differences of opinion but still have respect and love for each other.
Q: Is there anything you think people wouldnโt expect to know about you?
A: Iโm really over 6 feet but Iโm just a terrific actor. I play my roles at like 5โ8โ or so, so thatโs something that people wouldnโt expect. But Iโm a musician as well. Iโm a singer, I write music, Iโll probably be working on a project most of this summer, hopefully releasing something later this year. So if you follow me on social media, Iโm Robert Bailey, whether itโs Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Youโll start to see me putting out more and more on there. I have some older videos of me just kind of singing, but youโll see more of that in the future. So yeah, Iโm a musician. A lot of our cast is multi-talented, whether itโs in writing, directing, music, and so I think people will start to hear more and more from the rest of us doing our other things as the show progresses and we get a chance to branch out.
Q: What kind of music do you make?
A: Well thatโs the funny thing is that I write for all different genres. I used to write for other artists, and so itโs really just been a project of figuring out exactly what I want to make a project about because I write songs all over the place. I would say my sound is more so R&B/soul/pop, but itโs definitely got some singer-songwriter aspects to it. Thatโs how I write, so itโs just a combo of a lot of different things Iโm excited for people to hear.
The show will air tonight on NBC at 10/9c.
