Charlie Brooker cant help but go there. The Black Mirror creator is wrapping up a story about testing the reflexes of self-driving taxis by stepping in front of one Disappointingly, it didnt try to kill me when I bring up a more recent rideshare innovation. Protector, a car service with armed guards for executives and others rattled by the December shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had launched in Los Angeles that week. Jesus, OK, thats dystopian, he says. But surely its a perfect service for anyone who, you know, wants to assassinate somebody? Just sign up to work as the guard and then youre in a car with a gun and somebody important. Brooker knows dystopia. For seven seasons, the latest dropping April 10 on Netflix, Black Mirror has reflected some of the darkest places technology could take humanity. But the writer behind almost every episode of the anthology is only disarmingly funny over breakfast in West Hollywood during his recent trip to the States. The London-based satirist, who has two sons with wife and TV presenter Konnie Huq, spent the bulk of his career in comedy (see U.K. originals The 11 OClock Show and Cunk on Earth). As Brooker explains it, theres a thin line between what makes him laugh and what scares the hell out of him.

Its remarkable how quickly you can take any subject to an even darker place.

Oh, I go there. One of the reasons why I have to ration my news intake is because I jump five lily pads over to dystopian horror. My background is in comedy. I think this is why lot of comedians end up doing horror Jordan Peele, Zach Cregger. Comedy and horror are two sides of the same veil. Im going to say its because there are a lot of neuroses and worrying about horrible but logical consequences. I cant look at anything without thinking, How could that hurt me?

Which is why I didnt expect to read that you use Alexa.

I do have Amazon Echo at home, which surprises me. I think Ive sort of given up. It was probably back when I bought a fucking electric toothbrush, which wanted me to sign up to, I dont know, tell Putin how long Ive been brushing my teeth or something. The Echo is a laziness enabler, but it is good for yelling at the kids to come downstairs and eat their dinner. Originally, it played a slideshow of our photos. Quite nice. Then it started showing adverts in rotation. Theyve completely removed the ability to switch that off.

What was your reaction to seeing all of those tech CEOs on the dais at Donald Trumps inauguration?

Unsurprised disappointment, I suppose. It does feel the bad guys are rolling a six every day. But heres the thing: If Im on a plane thats got turbulence, Im a fucking bag of nerves. Curiously, when things get worse [for all], I get a little calmer because Im not the only one worrying.

The name of your show has become shorthand for anything thats darkly prophetic, at least as it relates to technology. Do you think Black Mirror has inured some of your audience to all of the change were seeing?

The thing that I always find odd and I understand why they do it is when people say that Black Mirror is a warning. I dont see that thats my job, and thats not what Im trying to do. Its me worrying out loud. There are certainly things weve done in the show that Im surprised by how quickly they become real. We did an episode with Hayley Atwell and Domhnall Gleeson called Be Right Back. Theyre a couple. He dies, and shes offered this AI service that will emulate his personality. He sounds so similar, but hes also a blander version of the real thing. And thats worse than nothing at all. Theres now a service that kind of does that. The cynic in me says, We should have fucking monetized that.

In season seven, Cristin Milioti returns for Black Mirrors first sequel episode, USS Callister: Into Infinity Courtesy of Netflix Last season, there was an episode that featured an evil streaming executive who dressed like, kind of looked like and whose name even sounded like Bela Bajaria, Netflixs chief creative officer and your boss. How did that go over?

Ill be delighted to clear this up. In the original script, it was a bloke a slightly cartoonishly evil CEO. At some point, we decided to switch up the genders and cast Leila Farzad, because I thought shed play it more plausibly evil. I come up with a name that suits her background and it doesnt clear. Im sent a list with other names, by Netflix, and Mona Javadi was one of the options. It was only when we got to the edit where I thought, Does this look like her? (Laughs.) She had a sense of humor about it. And I did offer to send the email chain where the original name wasnt cleared. It looked more targeted than I intended.

When youve described yourtwenties, you this picture of a guy smoking 60 cigarettes a day and tilting his TV on its side so he could more easily watch it whilelying in bed. These are not

The hallmarks of a winner? (Laughs.)

I was going to say the traits of somebody as prolificas youve been for the last 25 years. What changed?

You would call me a slacker in my twenties, a bit directionless. I always wished I was writing TV comedy, but I didnt know how to get into it. I didnt go to Oxford or Cambridge. I didnt know people. And I was stoned a lot of the time, working in a video game shop and drawing comic strips. Somebody said, If you do a small thing and stick to it, people may catch on. So, I started this parody of The Radio Times, our TV Guide in the U.K., and it just took off. That was the thing that changed my career. I kept getting offered gigs.

A few years back, you said you were getting ready to call it quits. Do you still feel that way?

I was really knackered when I said that. (Laughs.) During the pandemic, I got a jet washer. I went outside to clean the patio and it was like scraping a lottery ticket. I remember thinking, God, is this more satisfying than my actual life? Is this what I should be doing? I lost that feeling after about 25 minutes. I think Id go nuts pretty quickly. You need to keep chucking wood into the wood chipper or it starts working against you.

So, no retiring to the country?

Im from a small village in Oxfordshire called Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, and I did have fantasies about moving back. Theres one big mansion with a moat, and my mum was excited at these rumors that Daniel Craig was going to buy it. The egomaniac in me was a bit sad. Id no longer be the most significant living person associated with that village. But James Bond didnt buy it. Boris Johnson did. Its like hes wiped his ass on my childhood memories.

Issa Rae joins Emma Corrin in Hotel Reverie. Courtesy of Netflix What about the future of Black Mirror?

Theres a degree of freedom within the format. Weve done a sequel for the first time this season. Were now looking at old episodes and thinking, How could you revisit that idea? As long as its interesting, Im allowed to make it and people continue to fucking watch, Id like to keep making the show.

How many hours do you spend deliberating the order of episodes each season?

Oh, quite a fucking a lot. And Im often not the best judge. When we did the first season for Netflix, I thought San Junipero or Playtest should be the opener. Netflix was like, No, we think it should be Nosedive.' I felt like it was, I dont know, quite gentle? So, I tested it out by showing a friend of mine. About ten minutes in, she went, Oh my god. This is an absolute fucking nightmare. Turns out it was accessible, and it was the best choice. But theres an element to ordering these thats like sequencing an album. You need tonal breaks.

Ever feel conflicted about working for a company you parody?

No, which doesnt mean that I shouldnt. I have way more creative freedom than I wouldve expected if you told me, Youre going to Hollywood now! I wouldve assumed Id be in some sort of straitjacket. But Ill probably walk away feeling conflictednow.

There is, at least ostensibly, a difference between Netflix and the tech companies whose CEOs were up on the deus. Would you ever do business with an Amazon or an Apple?

Its like, Would I accept a lift in a a cyber truck? I havent thought about it, because Ive been where Ive been. I did a show for Sky in the U.K. a few years ago. And, at the time, I was quite conflicted, because it was Murdoch-owned channel at the time. Until then Id only done things for public service broadcasters. But, I had full creative freedom to do this very silly comedy show. Does that make me part of the problem? I dont know.

There are two songs you repeat in your work: Irma Thomas Anyone Who Knows What Love Is on Black Mirror and Technotronics Pump up the Jam, a music video you cut to in almost all of the Philomena Cunk series and specials. If you could only use one of those tracks for the rest of your career, which would you pick?

The Pump Up the Jam joke makes me laugh every single time. Wed done a series called Cunk on Britain, which never made it to Netflix. There was a similar running joke on that but it was the opening titles of a U.K. sitcom. Since we knew Cunk on Earth was going out globally, we needed something more universal. And I remember seeing the Pump Up the Jam music video on YouTube and thinking thered just be something so funny in cutting to that. It really cheers me up. So, maybe that. But we have to get permission from Technotronic every time we run the funny captions during the clip. They have to clear the text that accompanies the music video.

Whats the last show you watched that made you jealous?

Theres certainly a show I havent watched thats made me jealous. People keep telling me to watch Severance, and I havent let myself do it because they also say to me, Oh, youll love it. Its a bit Black Mirror-y, but its much better.

This story appeared in the April 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.