Drew Williams
Kristen Anzelc
Eric Scott
Jeff Silverstein
Samba Schutte knows how rare this moment is.
The actor and comedian has managed to land a key role in one of Apple TV’s hottest shows, Pluribus.
SWAGGER caught up with him to talk about stepping into his role as the colourful Mr. Koumba Diabaté, and what it has been like working with the creator of the hit show, Vince Gilligan.
After years of paying his dues in comedy, television and film, the actor has found himself at the centre of one of the most talked-about shows on television — the kind of show people debate, binge, dissect and rush to catch up on. For Schutte, the enormity of all became apparent almost immediately.
“I’ve never been on a show where the premiere date crashed the app,” he tells SWAGGER. “I had no idea the show would be this big.”
In Pluribus, Schutte plays Koumba Diabaté, a sharply dressed gentleman from Mauritania who enters the show’s changed world with charm, confidence and an appetite for the good life. He is one of the series’ most instantly recognizable and intriguing characters, partly because Koumba does not seem interested in resisting his new reality — in fact he rather enjoys it.
For Schutte, however, the stylish script carries a deeper, more profound personal connection. “This is a story about outsiders trying to belong or trying to find their place,” he says. “And that’s very on theme with my life.”
Schutte has had a colourful life to say the least. He grew up in Ethiopia with a Mauritanian mother and a Dutch father, in a home where language shifted depending on who he was speaking to. “I speak French with my mom, English with my brothers and sisters, Dutch with my dad,” he says. “And Ethiopian because I grew up in Ethiopia.” Acting was already the dream, even before the path looked possible. “Hollywood could not have seemed further away,” he recalls. “But I always knew I wanted to act and I didn’t know how I’d get there.”
He eventually moved to Holland to study theatre, and before graduating, won the Leids Cabaret Festival, one of the biggest comedy prizes in the Netherlands. The win led to three comedy specials, the Dutch version of The Daily Show, and work across television, film and stage.
By any measure, it was a successful career, but Schutte wanted to work in English and establish himself in the much sought after world of Hollywood. When he moved to Los Angeles in 2011, it essentially meant starting all over again. “I had to start from ground zero in America because those credits did not matter at all,” he says.
As luck would have it, that reset put him outside The Comedy Store one Tuesday afternoon with roughly 100 other comedians, hoping for three minutes on stage after years of touring internationally.
Schutte calls it “the most humbling experience ever,” but he kept soldiering on. He won The Comedy Store’s March Madness competition, became a regular performer, and slowly started building on screen. The Tiger Hunter earned him his SAG card, while Sunnyside gave him his first major American series regular role. After Our Flag Means Death was cancelled, Schutte had a one-month-old at home and was in that familiar limbo of wondering what would come next. Then an audition arrived for an untitled Vince Gilligan project.
Gilligan, the creator behind Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, kept the story tightly under wraps during the audition process. Schutte was given dummy sides, meaning the scene he read had nothing to do with the actual show. All he knew was that the character was a well-dressed gentleman named Mr. Koumba. He sent in the audition, heard nothing for five months, and eventually got called back. “Of course I’m a huge Vince Gilligan fan,” he says. “Who’s not, right?”
After the callback, Schutte booked the role and got word that Gilligan wanted to speak with him directly. “I was like, what?” he says. “Of course I’m fanning out.” On that call, Gilligan explained the world of Pluribus and told him he wanted Koumba to be Mauritanian, with a Mauritanian name and background. He also invited Schutte into the process of shaping where the character was coming from. “I was so moved that he was open to authentic representation,” Schutte says. “That was a dream come true.”
Without giving too much away, Pluribus takes place in a world that changes overnight, leaving only 12 people immune to what has happened around them; Koumba is one of them. Before the world changed, he came from poverty. Afterward, nearly everything he wants is suddenly within reach. “He is all of a sudden like a kid in the candy store,” Schutte says. “He has a genie at his disposal.”
Koumba is not trying to turn the world back. He is enjoying what it has become, which is part of what made him so interesting for Schutte to play. “My character represents the hedonistic lifestyle that maybe some people would turn to if this happened in real life,” he explains. “Kind of live it up to the fullest because you never know when it’s going to be over.” Costume designer Jennifer Bryan put Schutte in over-the-top suits and shoes, while the props department brought out watches, necklaces, rings and even Super Bowl rings. Once he had the full look on, the character started to make sense. “As soon as I put the wardrobe on, I knew who this guy was,” he says. “It was like, boom, he is the king of the court.”
That feeling became even more surreal in Las Vegas, where production shot at the Westgate, the hotel where Elvis Presley performed when it was still known as the International. The poker scene was filmed inside Elvis Presley’s actual suite, in the room where he slept. “His suite where he stayed was where we filmed the poker scene,” Schutte tells SWAGGER. “So literally, his headboard, where his bed was, is where the villain sits in the poker scene, and I’m sitting across from him.”
The location even came with its own energy. Schutte says the hotel felt “definitely haunted,” with showers turning on in the middle of the night, televisions switching on, and crew members noticing lights flickering during production. “We were like, it’s Elvis,” he says with a smile. “It’s OK. Relax, guys.”
While Season 2 of Pluribus is already being mapped out, Schutte confirms he’ll return in a bigger way. “All I know is that they plan to go back to work in the fall,” he says, adding that he heard the writers have “some really wild things up their sleeves” for Koumba.
The fan response has been overwhelmingly positive, and Schutte does not take it lightly. “It’s an honour to be a fan favourite,” he says. “But then to be a fan favourite on a Vince Gilligan show is a whole other meal,” he says with a smile.
Catch Samba Schutte as Mr. Koumba Diabaté in Pluribus on Apple TV, and follow him on Instagram at @sambaschutte.
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