My guest this week is Jason Segel.
In his new show Shrinking—co-created with Ted Lasso‘s Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein—Segel plays Jimmy, a bereaved therapist on the brink of a breakdown.
One day, Jimmy cracks and decides to tell his patients what he really thinks of them. His fellow therapists, Paul and Gabby, played by Harrison Ford and Jessica Williams, are skeptical of his new methods, but Jimmy might just be onto something. The show also stars Christa Miller as Liz Jimmy’s neighbor, Luke Tennie as his client Sean and Michael Urie as best friend Brian.
Here, we chat about Segel’s search for happiness and peace of mind and why achieving success at an early age caused him to look elsewhere for meaning in his life. Plus, we get into an early embarrassing run-in with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, how Harrison Ford approached Shrinking with the humility and collaboration reminiscent of his early carpentry career, and why The Muppets is always up there with Segel’s proudest working achievements.
To hear more musings, childhood memories and future dreams from Segel, check out this episode of 20 Questions on Deadline above, and listen and subscribe on Spotify and Apple podcasts.