Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein appeared on NBC’s Today show on Monday (January 23) morning to discuss their upcoming Apple TV+ series, Shrinking, which stars Harrison Ford in his first major television comedy role.
Today show’s Hoda Kotb asked Segel if Ford was familiar with his “body of work” before accepting the role. Segel, who plays therapist Jimmy Laird in the series, laughed as he revealed that the Indiana Jones actor familiarized himself by watching Segel’s 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
“You really set me up for this,” Segel told Kotb. “[Ford] watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall to familiarize himself again, and he forgot that I did full frontal nudity and sent me a very flattering text about it.”
“I remember that scene,” Kotb laughed as Segel said he didn’t want to reveal what exactly the text said. “But I now have it framed on my wall,” he joked.
Jason Segel & Brett Goldstein are here
They talked about their upcoming show Shrinking, how Harrison Ford forgot *that* Segel scene in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall,’ how Goldstein really is as a boss, and more!
(Plus, imagine a Roy Kent and Marshall Eriksen spinoff…) pic.twitter.com/im0wltwLeS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 23, 2023
On a more serious note, Segel said they felt “very lucky” that Ford accepted. “You offer something to Harrison Ford, assuming he’ll say no, but it’s fun to make the offer,” he explained. “And then he said, ‘Yes,’ so all of a sudden we’re scrambling, like, ‘God, he’s gonna show up.’ And he just kills it in the show.”
Goldstein, who also writes and stars in the hit comedy Ted Lasso, said that he didn’t think about casting himself in Shrinking, despite co-creating it with Segel and Bill Lawrence. “When you’ve got Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, you’re like, ‘Err, I think they can handle it,’” he quipped.
Shrinking follows grieving therapist Jimmy as he starts to break the rules and tell his clients exactly what he thinks. Ignoring his training and ethics, he soon finds himself making massive, tumultuous changes to people’s lives… including his own.
Goldstein said he wanted to create a show about grief that made people laugh. And, on the topic of grief, Kotb and Savannah Guthrie said they’re grieving the end of Ted Lasso, though Goldstein remained coy over whether the upcoming third season will be the last or not. “I believe… think… in something,” he said with a smile.
Guthrie asked about a potential spin-off based on Goldstein’s character Roy Kent, to which Segel suggested a crossover with his How I Met Your Mother character Marshall Eriksen. “Roy and Marshall,” said Segel, “People are begging for it.”
Shrinking, Premieres, Friday, January 27, 2023, Apple TV+
