Saved by the Bell breakout star Josie Totah is putting life at Bayside on hold as she makes a hilarious guest appearance on Mr. Mayor. On the series created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, she plays a “tour de force, iconic Kylie Jenner-esque influencer” named Titi B who causes trouble for Neil Bremer (Ted Danson) after an unexpected encounter on the final three episodes of season 2.
“Titi is sort of an amalgamation of every problem that has come from social media,” Totah tells ET about the wildly unhinged role, which is not only inspired by the likes of Jenner and others, but also “people that I see giving hot takes on TikTok.”
When compared to her other roles, including mean teen Lexi on Saved, Totah says Titi is the farthest she’s gone on screen “as far as being a caricature.”
While she normally tries to ground her characters with some humanity, “this is the most full force I’ve ever been,” she says, explaining that it works because it’s the polar opposite of Ted Danson’s character. “That dynamic between us is just electric. It’s so much fun to play off of him.”
And speaking of Danson, “he’s everything you want him to be and more. Like, he is literally just a perfect human being and inside and out,” Totah gushes.
Not only did Totah get to act opposite of the TV legend, but the Saved star also got to work with Fey, who personally wrote her to ask if she would appear on Mr. Mayor.
In fact, Totah was out and about when she got an email from her agent with an attachment from Fey “basically just telling me about this character and the arc of the character and the idea for the show and that she enjoyed Saved by the Bell and really liked my character on it.”
After reading it, “I nearly threw up,” Totah says of being so excited that Fey reached out about a role on the series.
While she (and fans) eagerly await news on Saved by the Bell season 3 (“I hope that we [get renewed], but I haven’t heard anything”), the only thing in the way of Totah doing the arc on Mr. Mayor was college. Not only that, but finals were approaching.
“I was like, ‘We just need to figure out a way to do this,’” she recalls, explaining that she had doubled up on classes this semester after taking time off to film the Peacock series. “I could literally only do it if we were able to shoot around that.”
And in the end, “I didn’t miss a single class and we were able to shoot me out while I was also going through finals, which was amazing,” she says, proudly revealing that she “passed everything.”
“That was the hardest semester of my entire college experience, but it was made perfectly with a bow on top of it because of Mr. Mayor,” Totah concludes.
Mr. Mayor airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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