Lil Rel Howery Recalls "Funnier" Improv Version Of Jay-Z’s "Moonlight" Music Video

If you take a glance at Lil Rel Howery’s IMDB page and see the list of projects he has lined up, it’ll become immediately clear that he’s one of the busiest actors in Hollywood at the moment. The next project we’ll have the opportunity to see him in is The Photograph, a romantic comedy/drama that arrives on Valentine’s Day. Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield star as the movie’s leads and it will not be their first times working alongside Lil Rel – they all appeared in the music video for Jay-Z’s 2017 song, “Moonlight”. 

Lil Rel served as the guest on the latest episode of Complex’s “Watch Less” podcast. He was asked about his experience shooting the “Moonlight” video and he revealed that Jay-Z could have gone with a more humorous alternative. The final product was a word-for-word reenactment of an actual Friends episode by a cast of black comedians. However, according to Lil Rey, before they shot this version, the cast – which consisted of Jerrod Carmichael, Issa Rae, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, Tessa Thompson and Lakeith Stanfield – had improvised their own sitcom skit. “There was one rehearsal where we all talked like how we wanted to talk,” Rel explained. “And it was funnier than that episode of Friends.” He also said that the actors had even requested to go with that idea for the official video, but they ultimately opted for the remake. 

When Stanfield spoke about the music video on The Tonight Show, he confessed that he had never seen an episode of Friends before participating in that project.