HBO’s late-night sketch show, PAUSE with Sam Jay, is back for a second season. The show returns to HBO on May 20 and tackles more serious issues than the first with Jay’s brilliant comedic undertones.

The Bust Down co-creator spoke with Shadow and Act ahead of the Season 2 premiere on all of the success she’s been having and how she’s balancing it all. 

Sam Jay says ‘Bust Down’ and ‘PAUSE’ allows her to show two different sides of her

Jay currently has multiple projects happening simultaneously. The critically-acclaimed comedy Bust Down’s first season is available on Peacock and PAUSE is returning to HBO. Though having such a busy schedule, Jay enjoys what each project allows her to showcase.

“I feel like Bust Down is such a labor of love and I got to make it with my friends and so to just see it happen at all was amazing. And I’m glad people think it’s funny. And it’s cool to be able to show a different side of funny, which is what I really like about it. The show is pure silliness and it doesn’t really try to be anything but goofy, and that’s cool. And then it’s nice to have Pause on the other side of it, which is a little thoughtful piece of work. So it’s just good to be able to have all these different avenues to create right now,” she explained.

At times, she was hesitant to push the envelope on ‘PAUSE'

On PAUSE, Jay uses the sketch comedy series to highlight serious issues within the LGBTQ+ community, address racism, sexuality, and more. She says she’s been given true freedom from the network but has often questioned if she’s doing too much.

“I’m lucky to be at a place at HBO and it’s been such a good place, at least it has been for me as an artist,” she noted. “And they really haven’t gotten in my way too much as far as if I have an idea or a topic that I want to explore. If anything, it’s been more of my resistance in that regard of asking myself, ‘Am I doing too much?’ Or me pulling back or when I’m starting to explore something very personal, I ask myself, ‘Do I want to get this personal?’ But beyond that, there really isn’t any resistance in any kind of way.”

On whether or not there will be a Season 2 of ‘Bust Down’

With Pause in its second season, fans are wondering if they’ll get another season of the funny foursome on Bust Down. Jay is waiting to learn the fate of the show.

“We hope so. I’m not 100% sure either way yet, but hopefully, it all works out. And I think if so,  we just want to be dumber than we were last season. I don’t know that we set really lofty goals,” she admitted. “We just sit down and try to outdo each other and write the funniest thing on the page and then bring it to life. So I’m sure that we’re just going to do more of that in season two.”

PAUSE with Sam Jay airs Friday nights on HBO.