Brian Jordan Alvarez on his new high school comedy ‘English Teacher’

For Brian Jordan Alvarez, creator and star of FX’s latest comedy series, English Teacher, it all goes back to high school. Specifically, it can all be traced back to a certain English teacher who changed his life.

“I went to a very English-forward high school called St. Andrew’s-Sewanee in Tennessee for three years of my high school experience,” Alvarez told ABC Audio at the Disney Upfront event in May. “I had [a teacher] named Claire Reishman in high school, and she really taught me to write in a really meaningful way. I always think back on that.”

In the new sitcom Alvarez plays Evan, a teacher at the center of many different competing energies.

“The parents, the students, the administration. Everybody wants something different,” Alvarez said. “Everybody has a different definition of what’s right.”

Alvarez said he owes “it all to my high school English teacher.”

“Now I’m out here playing a high school English teacher,” Alvarez said. “I always think when I’m writing, I go, ‘Maybe that’s where I learned how to write,’ because I didn’t formally study screenwriting or anything.”

While Alvarez couldn’t disclose if his viral character TJ Mack will make an appearance on English Teacher, he did tease it happening in the future. “We can only hope. Well, maybe the energy of TJ Mack will infuse English Teacher. Maybe we can get a TJ Mack cameo in season 2, season 3,” Alvarez said.

And he couldn’t let the interview go without sneaking in a Lady Gaga reference.

“There could be a hundred people in a room and all of them would be watching English Teacher,” Alvarez said.

English Teacher premieres Sept. 2, on FX. You can also stream it on Hulu and Disney+.

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