6 Degrees of ‘You People’: Here’s How All The Cast Is Connected - Netflix Tudum

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    Let’s Play Six Degrees of ‘You People’

    The stars of the new opposites-attract rom-com have more in common than you think.

    By Bill Keith
    Jan. 27, 2023

In Kenya Barris’ new opposites-attract romantic comedy You People, two married couples (one played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny, the other by Eddie Murphy and Nia Long) from very different worlds collide when their kids (played by Jonah Hill and Lauren London) fall in love. But in real life, the film’s sprawling cast of comedy greats has been working together, in some cases, for decades. For example, Louis-Dreyfus and Murphy were both cast members on Saturday Night Live back in 1982. Speaking of SNL, Duchovny hosted the show in 1995 and 1998 while Hill did the honors in 2008. Small world, right? Hold on, we’re just getting started with what we’ll call Six Degrees of You People.

The in-laws meet: Louis-Dreyfus and Duchovny (left) and Murphy and Long.

Though Long and Murphy had never worked together prior to their new movie, You People is the second time that Long and Mike Epps have played in-laws. Want to guess the other? Good luck. We’ll just tell you. They co-starred in the short-lived 2016 TV adaptation of Uncle Buck. For the record, Epps also appeared with London in 2009’s equally obscure Next Day Air

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Want more? OK, how’s this: Long, who has more than 70 acting credits on her résumé, appeared in the dognapper comedy Keanu with Rob Huebel, who just so happens to pop up in You People as London’s potential boss. Meanwhile, Huebel starred in the comedy series The League, which also featured Andrea Savage and Barris’ black-ish regular Deon Cole, who, let the record show, play warring wedding planners in You People. Then there’s Louis-Dreyfus’ Veep co-star Matt Walsh, who not only shows up as Hill’s boss in You People, but also appeared on… The League. To make the whole snake-eating-its-own-tailness of it all even wiggier, Walsh also portrayed Hill’s would-be stepfather in 2010’s dark comedy Cyrus

Emily Arlook and Hill

Getting the hang of Six Degrees of You People yet? Good. Now onto the more advanced course. No opening that IMDB tab, please. The woman that Hill’s on-screen alter ego goes on an ill-fated date with in You People is Emily Arlook, who also appeared with him in the 2008 indie film Just Add Water. Arlook’s seemingly serendipitous turn in You People may not be all that surprising, though, given that Barris previously cast her in his series grown-ish, which (deep breath here) also featured You People actor La La Anthony in a cameo, and was a spin-off of black-ish, which starred Anthony Anderson, who shows up as Murphy’s barber in You People

So where does that leave Duchovny, you’re no doubt wondering? We’ve got some surprising answers. On the surface, he would seem to be a sort of odd man out in the You People Venn diagram. After all, the actor had never worked with any of his You People co-stars before. But!  his character in Barris’ orgy of overlapping stars makes a point of his affection for the rapper Xzibit — a comedy bit Barris and Hill wrote into the script before they discovered that Duchovny and Xzibit actually appeared on the big screen together in the second X-Files movie, I Want to Believe

The truth is out there indeed…

Watch Sam Jay of You People Interview Eddie Murphy & Julia Louis-DreyfusThe comedians talk about their time together on Saturday Night Live, earliest comedy memories, and more.
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