Jason Segal And Ali Wong On Blending Humour And Tragedy: ‘I’ve Been Through Some Tough Stuff In My Life’
16.06.2023 - 19:07
/ etcanada.com
Jason Segal and Ali Wong say comedy is the best way to work through tragedy.
The stars are part of two of Apple TV+’s biggest series on the platform: “Shrinking” and “Beef” – which both manage to blend comedy and drama to effectively tell their stories.
It’s a strategy that Segal has been trying to perfect throughout his career, from his early days on “Freaks and Geeks”.
“I first saw [Segal] on ‘Freaks and Geeks’ on the VHS tapes that my boyfriend at the time’s father bought on eBay,” Wong recalled in an interview with Variety.
READ MORE: Ali Wong Holds Back While Addressing Controversy Over ‘Beef’ Co-Star David Choe’s ‘Really Upsetting’ Behaviour
“I was a kid. I started out acting in high school, then comedy found me. I did ‘How I Met Your Mother’ for nine seasons,” he explained. “At 33, that ended. I felt like, ‘Boy, I used to think I could do anything, and now I just do comedy.’ I had this nagging itch — like, ‘I wonder if I can do other stuff.’”
Following his successful sitcom career, the actor made a hard pivot into drama, to try to experience the other side of the spectrum.
“I did drama for a few years, but I swung really hard in that direction and started to feel like, ‘Let’s try to integrate these things,’” Segal shared. “At the same time, Bill Lawrence called me out of the blue and was like, ‘Hey, I want to make a show. Do you want to do it together?’”
That was how the 43-year-old found himself co-creating “Shrinking” and starring opposite Harrison Ford, where he plays a widowed father dealing with the monotony of his life as a therapist.
Wong agreed that the combination of the two aspects was what helped the show succeed.
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