The popular Black-ish franchise is going strong! Although the flagship show ended after eight seasons earlier this year, it launched the spinoff Grown-ish, and the short-lived prequel series Mixed-ish, and there was even a spinoff called Old-ish in development for a bit. The core Johnson family is sprinkled in throughout these shows, thus connecting the universe, but one character outside of the family who also appears across multiple shows is Deon Cole’s eccentric and popular Charlie Telphy. Many fans are waiting for Charlie’s own spinoff, and not only did he give us an update, he gave us some hilarious potential titles.
I recently spoke with Cole about his new stand-up special Charleen’s Boy on Netflix (opens in new tab). When the idea of a Charlie spinoff came up, he said this:
I think more fans wanted to see that than anybody else. I don’t know why that would be, but he was in both universes. He was in Grown-ish and Black-ish, and he was the one guy that connected as well as like, you know, Anthony (Anderson) himself or whatever, and Tracee (Ellis Ross), we connected those worlds or whatever. A lot of people always, people always ask me that. ‘When are you gonna get a spinoff?’ I’d be like, “ask them!” I don’t know what the ish would be, it would be like, Work-ish?… Crazy-ish.
Perfect! If you watch the show, you know that these are some solid options. Charlie is a college professor in Grown-ish and works at the high-profile advertising firm Stevens & Lido in Black-ish. Despite all of this, he is rather childish with wavering levels of competence, making Work-ish a fitting title. One look in his eyes and you’ll see where Crazy-ish comes from, so even though there’s no traction on a spinoff, if it ever comes to fruition, we have options.
Despite the cast of Black-ish bidding the show an emotional farewell, Deon Cole has plenty going on outside of the ish universe. He’s been nominated for two Emmys as an accomplished television writer, he starred in Netflix’s The Harder They Fall (which is rumored to have a sequel on the way), and he has a substantial following as a stand-up comedian, which brings us to Charleen’s Boy. The new Netflix special is great, and as the comedian revealed to us, it serves as a touching tribute to his late mother, which is why it departs from his trademark stand-up special titling that usually riffs on his name.
You can watch Charleen’s Boy on Netflix (opens in new tab) right now! The streamer is crushing it with original comedy specials, as the platform also released stand-up superstar Gabriel Iglesias’ record-breaking Stadium Fluffy just last month. If stand-up isn’t your jam, not to worry, as there are a slew of new Netflix TV shows and Netflix movies popping up throughout the rest of the year.
