This article contains spoilers for episode six of Shrinking.
For years and years, Jason Segel was a familiar, comforting comedy mainstay. Whenever you looked, there he was: committing to a fully nude breakup scene and an elaborate Dracula puppet musical (Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Bro-ing out with Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man). Bro-ing out with Kermit the Frog (The Muppets). Then, about a decade ago, he shifted gears and leaned into drama instead.
With the new Apple TV+ series Shrinking, Segel makes his return to comedy. The show, from the minds of Segel and Ted Lasso creators Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence, has the actor playing a therapist named Jimmy. In the midst of grieving the unexpected death of his wife, Tia, Jimmy decides to start being brutally honest with his patients. Harrison Ford, in his comedy television debut, plays Paul, the senior, ornery therapist at the practice, while Jessica Williams plays his cool, straightforward coworker, Gabby.
Episode six is a turning point for Jimmy. He agrees to host a party for his friend Brian, played by Michael Urie, so that he can propose to his boyfriend. Jimmy is meant to serenade the room with “You Are So Beautiful to Me.” Stuck on the nagging thought that he and Tia were not in a good place before her death, Jimmy gets too wasted and projectile vomits all over the piano—a memorable Segel musical performance in a career filled with memorable musical performances.
Segel talked to GQ from his home in Ojai, California about filming the piano vomiting scene, his best Harrison Ford story, and his dream Dracula-related musical project.
GQ: You purposefully stepped away from comedy for a number of years. What did you miss about it and what about Shrinking made you want to return?
Jason Segel: So much of this stuff is sort of unconscious. Because of this embarrassment of luck, I worked every day for a decade, between doing How I Met Your Mother and writing a movie and shooting it over the summer—which is, I want to be clear, such an amazingly fortunate position to be in. But I never stopped to think if I was enjoying myself. Which is maybe what your twenties are all about.
When How I Met Your Mother ended, it was the first time I had a chance to breathe and I was like, “I’ve been doing so much of this that I’m not really surprising myself anymore.” Also, to my benefit, comedy was changing right as I was starting to feel this way. There was just this natural moment to take a minute. I would look at all these [dramatic] performances that I admired and I would think, “I wonder if I could do that?”
The universe gives you … I’m not hippie dippy at all, but it’s funny how things work out. Right as I’m having these feelings, the script for End Of The Tour came to me. I sat down with James Ponsoldt, the director, and I said, “Listen, I’m really flattered you offered me this, but I don’t understand why you’re offering it to me.” And he said, “Because David Foster Wallace was very funny and he was also very unhappy. And every time you do comedy, I can see in your eyes how unhappy you are.”
Wow.
I was like, “Oh my God, he sees me.” I showed up as ready as I possibly could, and I did all the things that I heard quote-unquote a real actor does, and I did my damn best. And when they said, “That’s a wrap,” it was the first time I thought to myself, “Okay, my job is done. I did the best I could.” I spent so much time in well-charted territory that I had forgotten that there’s something about the point of doing this that should be personal exploration. If no one’s taking any risk, what’s interesting about it?
So you saw some of that opportunity in Shrinking?
Yeah. As time went on, I swung pretty hard into dramas. Another friend of mine who’s a great director named Charlie McDowell kept saying to me, “But don’t only use half of yourself. You’re also funny. Don’t throw that part away.” But I didn’t quite know how to reconcile those two things in terms of material. Then Shrinking came my way and it was like, “Oh, here it is. This whole twisty turny seven years finally makes sense.”
Sure, you can see how those two impulses are reconciled in the show. In episode six specifically, we get something that’s been part of your most memorable performances: a musical scene. How did this one come about?
It started with an idea in the room that was very light on the piano. And I’ve been doing comedy for a long time. So I know some of the stuff I can do well, maybe better than somebody else might. I was like, “No, I can do this really, really, really funny.” And then I pitched throwing up on the piano.
There are moments in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I Love You, Man that I missed. I really, really missed doing scenes like that—that take a minute to unfold and then it’s worse than you think it’s going to be.
I think those movie moments work best when they are rooted in something that is really painful. This is what I’ve always felt like with comedy: it really works best when you feel like that is you. If you can create the sense, leading up to the moment of, “Oh, in this moment, I’m that guy.”
We’re all that guy projectile vomiting on the piano.
We’re all the person who sets out with the best of intentions and isn’t able to do it at that moment.
Of course, I thought of the “Peter, you suck” piano scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. And you wrote and starred in The Muppets. Is there a dream musical project you still want to do?
Yeah. I have an idea that I’ve had for a long time that I just need people to be excited about doing. I would like to do a special of [my Forgetting Sarah Marshall character] Peter Bretter bringing A Taste For Love to Broadway. Almost like what Lin-Manuel Miranda did with Hamilton, that special about the making of. I would love to see that, but for Peter Bretter taking the Dracula puppet musical to Broadway.
Oh my God. Starting pitching that around immediately.
Yeah, deal.
In this episode, it’s revealed that Jimmy and Tia actually weren’t in a good place before she died, and that’s one of the things contributing to him holding onto his grief the way he does. What went into writing that revelation?
Life’s complicated. I venture to say that in almost any relationship if, all of a sudden, a partner died, there would be a lot of, “Oh no, this was still on the table.” It was really important to hit that part. We wanted the show to feel honest and complicated, and I’m really proud of it.
I don’t reflect on the stuff afterwards very often. I try to retreat back here to my little country town where acting isn’t the headline of my life. But I’m feeling increasingly proud of it. There’s a lot of real world on-the-street feedback and it’s all been really nice and appreciative of how complicated the show is.
Have you heard from any therapists about it?
I had a therapist come up to me at dinner the other day and say, “Hey, I’m watching the show. God, I love it.” And I was like, “Yeah, sorry about some of the unorthodox therapy methods.” And she was like, “No, it’s how all of us feel. We wish we could just shake them.”
Were you guys always planning to have him and Gabby unexpectedly hook up?
Yes. I feel like, given our compatible heights, it was almost impossible not to. When you put two people of compatible age who are single in a super close dynamic on screen together, it’s always going to be part of the energy.
This is Harrison Ford’s first comedy show. And it has a ton of un-Harrison Ford moments. For instance, when you make him say the words “rawdogging” in this episode. What’s your favorite Harrison Ford story from filming?
Harrison Ford is a legend and has every right to behave that way. And so when Harrison Ford is getting ready to arrive, we’re all conscious of, “how do we treat Harrison Ford?” And then he arrives and the first thing he tries to do is break through any awe or pretense that might be around him. Because he knows. He’s been Harrison Ford for a long time. He knows what it must feel like when Harrison Ford’s going to arrive and he busts right through it and makes you feel like he’s there to be your teammate. He goes around and he compliments everybody on their work. He takes the time to watch your shit and then tell you he liked it and cite specific things. It’s so generous.
This thing happened where the limitations of your imagination in the writers room are that you’re going to have a bunch of us doing comedy around Harrison Ford and he’ll be gruff. And you can kind of feel that in the first couple episodes. And then this episode six comes along, and you saw it. Harrison Ford’s doing moves. You know what I mean?
He is.
Harrison Ford is doing comedy. It’s not comedy happening around Harrison Ford. I was in awe. It’s like, holy shit. This guy, he’s a weird comedy savant. It’s like Peter Sellers all of a sudden walked through the door. There was this moment when he got a really big laugh. He walked by me and he said, really quietly, “I knew I was funny.” And then he kept walking.
Do you have any favorite fictional therapists?
Shit, man. I mean, I remember loving Frasier when I was a kid.
Frasier, of course.
It’s been a long time since I thought about Frasier, but it was perfect, that show.
This has nothing to do with therapy, but I read that your nickname in high school was “Dr. Dunk.”
Oh my God.
What I want to know is: can you still dunk?
No, man. I’m 43 now, so that was—get this—25 years ago and easily 40 pounds ago.
I could not put weight on at that age because I was six four since I was 12. It all happened so, so fast. My limbs, they didn’t work the way a normal person’s limbs worked. It really was Gumby or some shit. It really does feel like a different human being. I occasionally will see pictures of myself when I’m a young, lean high school athlete. It could have been a whole different life.
This interview has been edited and condensed.