Jason Segel on Growing With ‘Shrinking’ and the Moment That Everything Changed: ‘I Wasn’t Sure That I Could Write Anymore’

EXCLUSIVE: Ari Graynor has joined the Season 2 cast of Adam McKay’s Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty in a major recurring role.

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Jason Segal and Ali Wong say comedy is the best way to work through tragedy.

It’s no surprise that Jason Segel hit it off with Ali Wong, given their common backgrounds in comedy. And yet both performers don’t want to be boxed in by humor — they’re contenders in the Emmy race for playing characters who are far from happy-go-lucky. In Apple TV+’s “Shrinking,” Segel (also a co-creator on the show) plays a widowed father dealing with his monotonous life as a therapist, while Wong stars in Netflix’s “Beef” as a business owner caught in a game of revenge. ALI WONG: I first saw you on “Freaks and Geeks” on the VHS tapes that my boyfriend at the time’s father bought on eBay. JASON SEGEL: 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. 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.”

told EW. “I don’t want to continue to do it until people are so exhausted that they roll their eyes when they see me come on the screen as that character.

More in store? Nick Mohammed weighed in on whether Ted Lasso fans can expect a spinoff in the future.

On their latest shows, Brett Goldstein and Theo James have created characters who unpeel deeper truths beyond their hunky appearances. Goldstein, who’s won two Emmys for portraying soccer player and coach Roy Kent on “Ted Lasso,” returned for the Apple TV+ comedy’s third season. (He’s also a co-creator and writer on “Shrinking,” about a therapist played by Jason Segel.) James joined the second season of HBO’s “The White Lotus,” set in Italy and from creator Mike White, as a chiseled, privileged vacationer. THEO JAMES: How did you end up writing for “Ted Lasso”? BRETT GOLDSTEIN: I’d done a pilot for Bill Lawrence. The pilot didn’t get picked up, but we stayed in touch, and he knew I was a writer as well as an actor. When people ask me for advice, I’m always like, there’s no magic phone call. It doesn’t happen. But I did get a magic phone call here, from Bill, out of the blue, saying, “I think you’d be good for this football show.”

This story about the casting of “Shrinking” first appeared in the Comedy Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.Say you’re casting a thoughtful comedy about the world of psychotherapists, and you need a seasoned veteran to support the sharp young cast in a potentially scene-stealing mentor role. And then you land one of the biggest movie stars in the world, an icon who has been in two of the largest movie franchises in the last 50 years.This was the reality for “Shrinking” casting directors Debby Romano and Brett Benner when the AppleTV+ comedy was being put together.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The documentary “This Changes Everything” is getting a Canadian adaptation. Geena Davis and New York-based production house CreativeChaos will again partner for a new edition of their Gracie Award-winning film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in U.S. cinemas in 2019 and globally distributed by Starz and Netflix. The doc included interviews with top women in Hollywood discussing discrimination and the #MeToo movement, which was still in its nascent stages at that time. Actors involved in the original film included Davis, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Taraji P. Henson, Reese Witherspoon, Cate Blanchett, Tiffany Haddish, Jill Soloway, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Chastain, Yara Shahidi, Chloe Grace Moretz, Amandla Stenberg, Alan Alda, Sandra Oh, Anita Hill, Rashida Jones, Rose McGowan, Judd Apatow, Rosario Dawson and Maria Giese.

Hunter Ingram For nearly 30 years, Christa Miller has been the epitome of a comedic presence that never misses.  As Kate on “The Drew Carey Show,” she held her own as more than a love interest in the boys’ club cast. On “Scrubs,” she confidently sauntered into every scene as the hilariously venomous Jordan, striking fear in the hearts of the Sacred Heart Hospital denizens.  On “Cougar Town,” she gave audiences Ellie, the fiercely protective rottweiler best friend to Courteney Cox’s Jules. In each project, she served as the consummate comedic aside that could land a hilarious jab only to her turn seconds later and offer something in the vicinity of heart. 

We’ll be seeing more of Jimmy Buss in the upcoming season of Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty. McCabe Slye, who guest-starred as the character in the Season 1 finale, has been promoted to series regular for Season 2.

Legendary! How I Met Your Father has yet to reveal who the father actually is — but fans are beginning to speculate the answer  may not be who it first seemed. 

In Apple TV+ series Shrinking, Jason Segel stars as Jimmy Laird, a therapist desperately in need of therapy. Following the death of his wife, Jimmy has dissolved into drugs and self-destruction, to the disgust of his teen daughter (Lukita Maxwell). And yet, he is curiously likeable and redeemable — such is the magic of Segel. Then comes Jimmy’s revelatory move: he decides his patients need a dose of the unvarnished truth. Disaster and hilarity ensue. In tandem with Ted Lasso’s Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein, Segel co-created and produces Shrinking. He stars alongside Harrison Ford, who apparently enjoys a little improv with the best of them.

Today, Outfest announced the Opening and Closing Night gala film selections for the 41st edition of the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, taking place from July 13 – 23 in Los Angeles, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America. The festival will open with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, and the 11-day event will close with Chasing Chasing Amy, directed by Sav Rodgers. The Opening Night Gala will screen at the Orpheum Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala screening at The Montalbán Theatre.

A difficult balance. Jason Segel reflected on his attempts to pursue other opportunities while filming the final seasons of How I Met Your Mother — and revealed how his mental health was affected.

, an HBO Original documentary offering an intimate glimpse at the artist's life on and off stage.Brooklyn Sudano, one of Summer's three children, teamed up with Oscar and Emmy-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams to direct the documentary exploring the highs and lows of her mother's fame, giving fans a deeply personal portrait of the Queen of Disco before her death on May 17, 2012.«I had just become a mother. I didn't have my mom.

Jason Segel is opening up about his time spent on, revealing that he was «really unhappy» with his life and career during the final years of the show. The 43-year-old actor, and current star of the Apple TV+ series, reflected on the hit CBS sitcom during a roundtable interview for.

Steven Yeun stopped by THR for a roundtable discussion with Jason Segel, Tyler James Williams, Mo Amer, and John Mulaney last month to discuss their careers and upcoming projects.

Harrison Ford doesn't share much about his family, but he admitted he has had some parenting regrets.  He revealed he thinks things may have been different for his family if he was not a famous actor. "I can tell you this: If I’d been less successful, I’d probably be a better parent," he told Esquire.

took its final bow on Wednesday, as the series finale found Jason Sudeikis' titular coach on a plane back home to Kansas, and the rest of its main characters on new journeys of their own.But is this the end of the road for the AFC Richmond Greyhounds? Sudeikis and the show's cast and creators have long insisted that the show was always planned as a three-season run. But that was before they dominated the Emmys' comedy categories two years in a row and became one of the most beloved streaming series.Brett Goldstein, who plays Roy Kent on the Apple TV+ soccer comedy in addition to writing on the show, told the  last summer that, as far as the writers are concerned, the third season would be the show's last.«We are writing it like that.