A Conversation with Director Jake Kasdan

Our first guest is the incredible Jake Kasdan. He directed the first two episodes of New Girl and even received an Emmy nomination for his work on the pilot. This week, he'll share his version of the auditioning process, what it was like breaking the first script with New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriwether, and he'll dig into the back of Nick's closet for his favorite memory of his time on the show. Jake also walks us through what it was like to bring back Jumanji as a series and his time on Freaks and Geeks! If you'd like to ask us a question, please send an email to [e-mail]. Follow us on Instagram @welcometoourshowpod.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Ring ring ring ring. May I please speak with Zoey Oh, hello, Lamar,
Let's patch in Hannah. God, I forgot what it was
like working with you guys. Hello everybody, and welcome to

(00:29):
our show with Zoe, Lamarn and Hannah and Um, we're
just so excited today we have the most wonderful director
person um all around great guy. Jake kasd in here
directed our pilot and many episodes of our show and

(00:51):
also had a huge hand in creating the tone, developing
the show just from the ground up. So we're very stoked,
a very stoked. So good to see you guys. How's
your how's your how's your time away from the show?
Be treating you? It's been a nightmare? Are you kidding me?

(01:16):
I will say. Um. Jake has directed written so many
things that everybody loves, UM from Zero Effect to Freaks
and Geeks to Jumanji movies, Um Bad Teacher, so many
great things that I love. And I think, yeah, and

(01:37):
I think that. The question that's been burning the fans
for ever at this point is will Jumanji return that
lovely repairman? Make another came? And if so, are you
in it? That's the question we get all the time,
and we're so satisfying that when we would show that
movie and Lamaren would walk to Lamar in that uh

(02:00):
second of the two Jumanji movies, and we would show
the movie and in the theater there was always like
an audible excited reaction, like a little audience freak out
when Lamore would walk in right at the end. It
was one of my favorite things. It's always the reaction
when the walks always, even when it was it was

(02:24):
a bold but strategic move. You knew you'd get a
reaction if you entered the end of the movie with
no pants, and it worked exactly. I've since been canceled.
But they were wearing a very long shirt. It um
so so Jake, you you were you were born in Michigan? Yes,

(02:48):
that's true. Is that a comedy town? Is that a
comedy It's a great town. I left Detroit area. We
moved away when I was like a baby. So um
pre comedy. Yeah. So where'd you get your comedy roots from? Where? It?

(03:13):
Is it a family? I will say this? Okay, So
the Kastan's have played a huge role in my career
because I actually did my first movie with Jake's dad
Lawrence Kasin, who's a legendary writer director who can do
is one of those people that can do everything. And

(03:36):
I also went to high school with his super talented
brother John and just love the Kasin family. So I mean,
I feel like maybe you got a little comedy from
the family from me. That's right. Zoe has an amazing

(03:57):
long history with with with our whole family, and that
is a great and I love you too, yeah, yea,
love him all love him. Yeah, Zoe went to high
school with my brother John, and that was how the
very first way that we met. And then, um, yes,

(04:18):
so we we have this great sort of long long
road together. But I think that I pulled into the
lead on the Zoe race when we did this show
together for many many years. Yeah, yeah, I will say
that we have done the most extensively. But so we

(04:40):
I think one thing we were all curious about is like,
so I was the first cast member to get involved
with the show, but like, what was it like before
we were all what happened? Like how did you meet Liz? Yeah? Sure,
how you can get involved? Yeah, absolutely, I can tell
you my um my journey with it started, um just

(05:05):
a few weeks before yours. Um, you know, it was
a wild thing where, Um, Liz who I had met
once or twice before, and I was a big fan
of hers because she'd written some scripts that I'd read
and loved, and I just thought she was such a
funny writer. We didn't know each other well. Um, she

(05:30):
wrote me a note and said, would you think about
directing this pilot. I had been a bunch of years
since I had directed a pilot, so it was kind
of a little bit out of nowhere, and we had
some bunch of common people. She sent it along and
I read it and just immediately said, yeah, absolutely. And

(05:53):
it was actually one of these things where I had
sort of almost decided that before reading it, like there
was just I've had this happened once or twice, very lucky,
fortunate thing where somebody calls and says, do you want
to do something? And you just know that it's the
right thing to do. And Um, hearing from Lez about

(06:18):
the pilot that would become New Girl was definitely one
of those moments where I just sort of had this
instinct like this is gonna be great. She's so funny,
and from the description I could tell that I was
gonna love it and then I read it and I
just thought it was brilliant, you know, um And it
was kind of the way that can be sometimes with

(06:41):
what we you know, if you if you're lucky enough
to do this, sometimes you you make a decision like
that quickly and it ends up being like a giant
thing in your life. And for me freaksing gigs or
something like that, where it was similar like Judd called
up and said, do you want to do this? And
by the time I got off the phone, I was like,

(07:02):
I think I want to do this. And I had
never worked in TV before, you know, I hadn't read
it yet. And like about a little more than ten
years later, it was a very similar thing with Lizer.
I just sort of had this feeling like this is
going to be something great. I don't know if you
remember this, but you and I had lunch in Chicago
and talked about freaking geeks. Do you remember? Yes? I

(07:24):
do remember that. That's all right. This was I dropped
out of college to assume my dream of being an actor.
But you came and you were like, do you want to?
I really would love it if you auditioned for this. Um. Right,
I was going to college at Northwestern. I was in

(07:44):
the theater program, and I had basically like just started
and you were like, hey, I've got this you know, pilot,
like you know it's going to be a TV show obviously,
and I was like, I just started school up to audition,
but I was like, I just I gotta see what

(08:05):
this school things like. And then of course, like six
months later, I dropped out, but I remember, I was like,
I remember that vividly and I haven't thought about it
in really a long time, but that's right. That was
another like turn in the in the road for Freaks
and Geeks. Yeah. Yeah, it's usually opposite from me director

(08:28):
to sit me down and say, please don't read from
my thing, and I think it a lunch I would
like to make sure part of this project. Yeah, I mean,
I I don't remember which UM role I would have
been up for in Freaks and Geek. It was probably
like Freaks and Geeks, it was probably like all the
female right where they were like a lot of female
roles in that show. Yes, I'm I'm trying to remember it. Uh,

(08:53):
I'm not sure. I mean, we were casting that show
in a in a um sort of unusual way. That's
right where we were kind of, um it was we
were open to the possibility of expanding and kind of
shaping the cast um around beyond sort of what was

(09:17):
in the script. So there was there was who we found.
We were kind of building it to the ensemble, although
it ended up being very close to what was in
the script. But you know, with some big kind of
casting swings on that show where it's sort of changed
the shape or what it was, and in a lot
of ways to some degree, we extended that approach into

(09:38):
what we were doing when we were casting New Girl,
which was a really kind of comprehensive and intense, uh process.
But you know, similarly like, um, you know, it's one
of the great casts that I've ever been fortunate enough

(09:59):
to work with, and was like we went through yeah, yeah,
that's what I meant, and one of the you know,
it was it was one of those situations where like
we we worked really it was a big process, but
it really worked out. You know. I feel like when

(10:21):
I talked to actors, especially for the past ten years,
I would say of them in this town, go, you know,
I was almost in the cast of New Girl, And
it makes me feel like a single person in this
town read the show, and Jake and I know because
we were like, I as soon as I got cast,
I was like, oh, I really really want to be

(10:42):
a part of the casting process because I just know
how it is to come in for shows or movies
and it's it's hard, and you it's I was like,
you know, I can kind of be someone that maybe
can make people feel comfortable. Also we can see chemistry.
So as soon as I was cast, even though against
my lawyer's advice, was like, well, the deal is not done.
You can't do work before your deals then, and I

(11:05):
was like, I know, but I'm just gonna do it.
I'm a rebel. I'm a rebel. So I joined the
casting process and we saw a lot everybody in Hollywood. Yeah,
we we saw a lot of people. And I think,
you know, part of it is that it was the

(11:25):
you know, the whole thing. One of the parts of
it that's so interesting is just like the whole world
of television has changed so dramatically in the ten years
since we were doing this, and you know, it was
sort of towards the end of an era where the
conventional pilot season worked the way that it had for

(11:50):
like the whole history of TV, you know, up until
quite recently where um, you know, you developed. The whole
television development cycle is very kind of rigid and like
you sell scripts during one period and then they decide
what they're going to pick up and then everybody makes
the pilots exactly the same time, and there's this formal

(12:11):
you know, kind of like pilot season casting period where
everybody's running around from audition to audition. I don't know,
I mean it still exists in some form or at
least did you know before the the current world that
we're living in, but not nearly too in the way

(12:32):
that it did then. And so it was sort of
towards the end of the period where like within the
group of people who are out and auditioning and really
getting out there, you know, they're going from thing to
thing to thing, and you're seeing really a lot of
people and we and we did see a lot of
a lot of people, although you know, and like you say,

(12:52):
I mean, Zoe was before any of that even started.
Zoe was in and uh gonna play this part, and
that was kind of the you know, first definitive um
like decision about like what you know, that that's a
lot of the show. It starts to get become visible

(13:12):
to us, like from that moment, Okay, it's Jerry Dost
was this character, and we're going to surround her with
you know, brilliant people. When I knew that you were
directing the UM pilot, that was like the deal stealer
because I was like, this is a hilarious script. I didn't.

(13:33):
I knew Liz like I didn't know her personally. I
had read a play of hers years before and stuff,
and I knew she was really talented, and I had
friends that were friends with her and could vouch for her.
But like, you know, I was like, but the tone
of the show, like everything kind of rest on the
directing and setting the tone for the show because I've
never done, you know, more than like an episode or

(13:55):
two of TV or you know, I did. I've done
like I did, like a episode ARCS. But I was
never like a serious regular you never held down a
show like this, which is a whole different, the whole
other thing. When I knew you were directing it, I
was like, I am in that's nice, that's that's true.
That's nice to hear. I mean, it was it was

(14:18):
you know, I think when you're especially transitioning from you
were making you were working a lot in the period
leading up to that already you've been making all those movies. Um,
but it is a very different sort of it's just
a different process. I mean, there's a lot related about it,

(14:40):
but you know, there are many aspects of it series
television that are really different. And it was it was
you know, I loved being able to roll into that
with you. Well just it was such a gift to
be able to like make something where you know, you
have you and then other real, really amazing directors that

(15:01):
you know, came on this show. And I really think
that you being on like attracted a lot of other
really good directors as well. But but the fact that
we were doing television. You have to make a show
every week no matter what, like you have we have
to and and there's something so nice about that. Like
on a movie, there's like something kind of drawn out

(15:24):
about it, and it's like with television, you know, you're
just gonna make it no matter what, and it's kind
of exciting. Yeah. Yeah, And you know the I always
feel like that when you're doing the pilot, you know,
you're as that if you're directing a pilot, you're you

(15:47):
have a lot of opportunity to kind of help build
with the thing is going to be and sort of
getting there, and uh, you know, I always it's always
feel like directing a pilot is like being uh, member
of a band. It's like being the bass player in
a in a really good band if you're lucky, you know,
and where you're trying to position everybody else to not

(16:15):
only be great, but to set up something that they
can keep doing for a really long time. You know.
That's the cast, it's whoever you're working with behind the camera,
the actual camera, all of that, you know. Um, And
and as you the further you go, I mean it

(16:37):
starts with the pilot obviously, but by the time you
you know, sort of get into series, it's just incredibly
clear that the whole thing is completely contingent on the
writing and the cast and there's and you can and
we did bring in great directors, and we had great directors.
It's not to diminish that fantastic contribution that a bunch

(16:59):
of pole came in helping us figure it out. Um.
And then you know, throughout the series we had great
people Um, but you're it's a different kind of building
right at the very beginning because you have nothing to
refer back to, so you're doing it for the very
first time. And then you know, as it continues, Uh, you're,

(17:20):
you're it really everybody else sort of assumes the what
it is in a great way. And that's like really
satisfying and fun to see, you know. Um, and we
did between this incredible cast we had and just such
a funny group of writers, like the it was like

(17:41):
week after week and hard working and like constantly punching
and how can we make it funnier? And you do
the table rate and it's just like a joke for
joke like they were. It's just like a stealth team
of brilliant comedy people that were working on that show.
So it's just a lot of firepower. It was really
like an exciting, cool thing to be part of. Yeah, questions,

(18:02):
so let's keep it. I want to stick to the
beginning or stay on the beginning for a little bit.
I know when you talk about the beginning of the process,
how how fun it could be. You're seeing a bunch
of actors come in, the writers are writing like dope shit,
like what what's the most frustrating part about that process
though in the in you know, start coming from the beginning.
What what makes you pull your hair out? For those

(18:25):
at home who don't know about this process, I know
it's it's not all fun, it's not all games. I
just want to add to what you're saying, Lamar in
that like directing a pilot's probably like like other like
directing episodes like is obviously ah, you know it's a feat.
But directing the pilot, because you're establishing the tone, it's
a really really important job. Every decision is a big decision. Yeah.

(18:51):
And and there's you know, I guess I don't know,
it's like pull your hair out. I guess what I
would say is, you know, there's famously in making TV
and making TV pilots, there there can be a lot
of voices outside of the simple creative process of it.

(19:12):
There's you know, um, the classic thing, and I made
a movie about this called the TV Set, is you
know that there's sort of like all of this external
kind of like executive pressure on something that can mess
it up, either with you're not allowed to hire the actor,
or the notes are not good, or there's something about it.

(19:34):
That makes it really fresh and different. But that makes
people nervous and so they want you to change that
thing or you know, there are a lot of ways
that a pilot can get messed up. And well, we
really did not have a lot of that kind of
interference here. I have to give credit to those people.
It was not a they loved it from early on.

(19:58):
People loved the script. They got increasingly excited as we
would bring them, bring you guys to them. You know,
they would just look at the cast and I mean
just they got pretty psyched. And so well, Liz, you know,
certainly went through a development process and have notes and
wrote many different drafts. Like all pilots, Um, we didn't

(20:20):
have a lot of interference on this. All of that said,
you're always kind of worried about it, Like I'm I
just go through everything like in this sort of defensive stance.
It's like you're going to get that football to the
end zone, and the end zone is getting picked up
the sport football and the sport you're talking about those

(20:41):
for those who about this thing I put in my shoes.
Yeah exactly. Yeah, you know that there's that there's this
um wanting to deliver it for everybody you know, and
make sure that you that you do the work and
get the products so it gets on and then it
can have its life. Right. I just wanted to talk

(21:03):
about casting for a second because I feel like that's
a question I get asked a lot, which is how
did you guys get chosen at the end for the show.
And I don't know if I know everybody's story about
if you remember first meeting Jake and Max and the more,
and we know you've known Zoe for a really long
time myself, did you know from the beginning, how did

(21:25):
it all come together? That chemistry? We knew that, Um,
well we knew that we as I say that, like
the very first conversations I was having with Liz about this, we're, um,
you know about process? How's this going to work? Um?

(21:46):
And the very first thing we and that I do
remember like saying, because I had sort of picked up
from m chad Apatow working on the Freaks pilot, his
thing was always everybody has to read. You just always
building a show like this, if you need an ensemble
to work together this way, it was like, everybody has

(22:06):
to read. And Liz was like, yeah, absolutely, that totally
makes sense. We'll get into it. And she said there's
one thing, though, which is we think we should approach Zoe.
And I said, well, I know Zoe. I love Zoe.
That's obvious. No breaker, Yeah, she'll do it. That would
be different. And then she hopped in. And from that point,

(22:28):
and Zoe had done all this work, we knew she
was a known quantity. We knew that we would build
the show around her. And from the time that Zoe
pop got into it, like as she's describing, she was
then part of a lot of the casting we would do.
Sometimes we do sessions, um, you know, without Zoe and

(22:49):
then bring back people to read with Zoe. Sometimes she
was just there, I mean she was. My memory is
you were really in it with us, was there every
day doing it? Every day I would volunteer do I'd
be like, you guys eve me, I just come in
like because I just really like wanted like in case
somebody would be maybe like on the off chance that

(23:10):
somebody would be like maybe not good in a pre
read or something, but good with me. I was like, well,
let's just like you had a great instinct that this
is critically important because in some ways as I like
I was saying, it ends up kind of being more
important than like the longevity is what you're looking for, right,

(23:32):
It's like more important than what just what happens in
the pilot um because you know, you can have somebody
have three scenes in a pilot, but you're gonna be
working with them if all goes well for years, you know.
So like with with Hannah, for example, that's the thing,
like like CC's big in the pilot, great in the pilot,
but in the rest of it, but by a few

(23:55):
weeks later, she's much more dimensional and expanded and has
story and we're off right, And so there's a little
bit of like what you're trying to find is beyond
what is just in these thirty pages, what does it
seem like it's going to be in the you know,
long term. The other thing about that I would say

(24:16):
was key to this and uh so impressive to me
was Liz realized quickly that, you know, in order to
really feel the scope of that, we would need to
keep updating the sides what people are reading, well beyond

(24:38):
what's in the script, because you can't necessarily make a
decision of that magnitude from based on you know, two scenes,
and also you've heard the same two scenes four times.
They're just not as funny to you anymore. It's like,
you know what the jokes are, and you know, so
you might do those two scenes, but we're also gonna
do two other scenes. She would go home pretty much

(24:59):
every and right and craft and punch up sides with um.
You know, Brett Baron, Dave Finkel, who were running the
show with her, who are also brilliant guys, and who
are around on the pilot as well, which is a
little bit unusual to have more writers on the pilot
than just the It was a very fortunate thing, you know.

(25:22):
She just had the They had this sort of great
working thing that really made each other laugh, and so
we always had a new side. So it was like
new stuff every day, you know, which was kind of
a cool thing. And then you start to discover what
people are capable of. Um, I think in terms of
everybody else. You know, my memory and she would have

(25:45):
to confirm this, but my memory, I know that Liz
and Jake had worked together before they had that. She
she was aware of his brilliance and had I think
had him in mind as a possibility for that character,
and he came in and owned it right away. I

(26:07):
got several emails from friends like Max Winkler and Jeremy
Connor director friends of mine, recommending Jake, So I was like, Okay,
this guy is probably going to be pretty good. Yeah.
It was a well known secret at that point. He was.
He was somebody that that people knew was super funny
and talented and versatile, and and and and he and

(26:32):
Liz had had worked on something together. Yeah, they worked
on in her movie. Yeah. Yeah, he was in No
Strings Attached. Yeah, yeah, which was the first thing I'd
ever read of was, Oh my god, that was such
a funny script. It was at that time called funk Buddies.

(26:57):
Everybody was in that mor the titles of so many
great people in that movie, original titles. She always did
so Liz when she writes the first I mean, I
don't know whether it still stands, but like when um,
when I signed on to New Girl, it was called
Chicks and Dicks, and she'd written this script um that

(27:21):
ended up being called No Strings Attached, And it was
originally called fun Buddies. So kind of reading, what wasn't
it called sluts? No, it wasn't that was different play,
but yeah, it was a documentary. I'd have to go

(27:41):
back and look at the title. But but I remember
I actually didn't connect it that I had read a
play of hers until I somehow was searching her name
and then I found this play that my friend had
sent me because we're going to do a reading of it.
I guess I never ended up happening happening, but I
had remembered reading it and how funny it was. Yeah,
it Zoey's origin story, Jake's origin story, keep going Max.

(28:05):
I was at this in these very first weeks. I
was in New York working instantly else and I was
not in those very first casting sessions. But my memory
of it is that like the first week they had located,
they had sort of been knocked out by Jake and Max,
and I was watching him remote and I think he

(28:31):
just kind of came in. I mean, Max was somebody
who you know, had been around a little bit and
had done other pilots. People were aware of his work
and how funny he was. He'd never had anything quite
like this, obviously, but it was he came and it
was a similar thing where I was like he read

(28:53):
Schmidt and it was like, oh, yeah, that's it. These
two are the first two guys. It's like this is
this these three or where it starts? And we had
we we kind of knew that really early. Um, and
then you thought we need two Vjsut listen, we sud

(29:14):
rounded out by making sure we have a Canadian one
and that's right, all North America represented in the VJA world.
He Fox is really adamant that we got I am.
And then basically, as is often the case, when that happens,

(29:39):
and that's now we're talking about. But ironically, it was
a very similar thing with Freaks and Giegs, which was
like half the cast fell into place like in ten days,
and then we spent three months figuring out who is
going to play the rest of the parts. Um And
so similarly, uh, you know, we started to have a

(30:00):
the core and needed to fill it out and figure
out who the rest of the everybody was going to be,
and it just became more um, you know, just we
saw a ton of people to see remaining remaining characters.

(30:20):
I will say, Hannah, I remember that like with you,
you and I remember being like that Hannah is just
the most like somebody who would be my friend and
like that comfort level, you know what I mean, Like
you were just like I had the most ease with you.
I feel like that played a huge part. I mean,
other than your performance was great, but I remember that

(30:44):
are ease together played a big part in your casting
for sure. And then and there's I think that there's
also just this thing when you've been you know, sometimes
when you've been looking for who's going to play a
character for a long time, you've been in those rooms
for days and days, and it can get you know, exhausting,

(31:07):
or you can think like, is there something wrong with
the scenes or the character? What do we meant? What
can we do differently? Is that? Like why is this
so hard? And then somebody comes in and you're just like, oh,
it's not hard anymore. It's that person. But you know,
it's just like a kind of a bell rings and
you all they walk out, and you all look at

(31:28):
each other and you're like, huh, look at that here,
you know, and I think that that it um that
can happen, and it can, and it's really exciting when
it does, you know, And I do think that that's it.
Sometimes they just don't walk in right at the very
beginning and it takes them at for for the right

(31:49):
people to walk in and and and Lamourne was part
of that early process as well in a big way,
and was, um, you know, some that we loved from
the moment we met him. And another one of those
things where it was, uh, you know, oh yeah, this

(32:10):
guy's really really funny. Um and went through quite a
bit of process. You could probably remember it better than
I do, but but basically, yeah, well, how would you
go ahead? He took a show with Heather Lockleary like
the word explain how you took a show with Heather
lock Well we can take it from there. Well, because

(32:33):
because the process and I've talked about this before, but
it's it's the I want to say. This is the
first time I'm talking about this with with one with
one of the decision makers, you know what I mean. Um, So,
I it was my first pilot season. I was reading
for a lot of stuff and testing and so I
had the tests around the exact same time. But I
remember being at the at the callback, just the general

(32:56):
callback for the for CBS, the CBS show the assistant
starting Heather Locklear and t J Miller. So I said
I was like they had said, hey, we hear you're
testing for that show has crashed and that's bissled out
a decade ago. Um, And so I they had said

(33:18):
when I was at the audition, they said, hey, we
hear you're testing for a New Girl tomorrow. I said, yeah,
they go, can we ask you to tank that audition?
And I was like, I don't know how this process works,
but whoever makes me an offer, it's like, whoever makes
me an offer? And so I remember us going back going, hey,
this network is gonna make him an offer. Hey New Girl,
can you guys make him an offer? And the answer

(33:38):
from casting was no. And so I went to the
test anyway, and I decided I'm going to the test
no matter what. I want this show. And then a
call came in when I was right before you signed
the contract, a call came in from my agents saying, hey,
don't sign the contract. It's like what what? Why not?
They're like, well, you just got an They've made an

(34:00):
the off. You can't say no because you can go
and read for all these things and and get passed on.
So just take the offer. Yeah, well, I mean that
makes makes sense. And that's it's like it's you gotta work,
and I mean that's a big deal. You know that
was with with that character, which was coach at that

(34:21):
you know that we were casting in the pilot. Um,
I do you think with that character probably the most.
We were trying all different ideas of what that what
it ended up being with with with Damon was just
a little different than what it was in the original script,

(34:42):
and so there was some of that exploration and that. UM.
I have to say, I can't remember exactly what was
leading that Liz would remember better than I do, but
there was a you know, there was an evolution to
what we were. We were kind of reading people on
trying to figure it out and changing the sides and

(35:02):
all of that. And I do remember that you the
one I remember thinking you were so funny and we
there were, and then there was some moment I remember
where we were kind of in it and then suddenly
you were no longer. It was hot gossip in the
actors who had been cast circle because I remember talking

(35:24):
to Jake and that's really like we we saw him
like we all came in for the test and we
saw you. We saw outside him outside, and then he
was yeah, but I do remember this about that part
and every time, every time, every time I would come
in to be you, Liz, I think you want to

(35:46):
say Bretton, Dave, Um Zoe, And I remember I remember
one time in particular, Um, every time would come in,
everyone would be so like, hey, what's up the ward. Hey,
we're on first name basis at a first name basis
at that point. And I remember I remember taking the
offer and sitting in the Fox courtyard and you guys
walking to go do the test, and I remember going,

(36:08):
hey guys that you guys went hey, boy friend. At
this point, well you were like you were probably like
I mean like at that point, they were like a
handful of people coming in for the test. Um. This
was like before we even thought about Damon or anything.

(36:32):
We had this like handful of people that were all
coming into tests and you were my top person and
I was like, I pretty much thought you were going
to be cast, and then you pulled out like last minute,
and I'm like, and obviously worked out otherwise we would.
Well that's why it was really nice that Yeah, yeah,

(36:56):
it's true. I mean it made it so that I mean, yeah,
the short version of that was, you know, the Damon,
somebody we knew and loved but thought he wasn't available
because he was on a different show. And then we
sort of got the word that we could. It sounded
like that show probably wasn't gonna come back, and so
we could. He was like the last one in like

(37:17):
right as we were about to start, it was like, oh,
maybe that could work. Maybe the you know, his other
show isn't a problem. Then we go, We did the
pilot with him, a great time with him. Then his
other show does get picked up, so he can't do Girl.
So there was this sort of like, oh, now what
do we do? But as you say, in a way

(37:39):
it there was something about the way this whole messy
thing had worked out that kind of worked for us,
because when when we had that sort of shocking panic
moment we've made this pilot that we love and we
don't really what it been. Now one of the guys
is not gonna do it, it was like, well who
should be And we all knew immediately like, well, morning, hilarious, dude,

(38:02):
you know was right, maybe we can. Maybe his other
pilot didn't happen, And lucky for us, it happen't, and
we were able to, you know, get you to join
in this other character, like what you guys had something
to do with that pilot not happening. I don't know, really,
you guys guys, I don't know. I think we were
working on scenes like Heather, Heather, you don't want to

(38:27):
do something person Welcole. So, now that we've gone through
the cast, I feel like when we've talked about the

(38:47):
pilot together Lamar and Zoe and I the pilot, we
keep saying like it feels like a movie. It feels
like a standalone movie and not like a pilot episode
of television. Um, was that like intentional approach that you
had when you kind of put it together, because it
feels so different than any other pilot I've ever seen.

(39:09):
I've seen pilots that tried to be it afterwards I've seen, Yeah,
you know, I think that that's always my hope for
it is that it feels like a little movie and
that we shoot it in a way that feels sort
of like it's in a movie language. UM. You know,

(39:29):
I think part of it is that, um, there are
conventions to what uh, single camera comedies look like a
lot of the time, and particularly then there have been
so many more of them in the time since. I
mean we're already well into that sort of you know,

(39:54):
there were a lot then, but there have been a
lot more now. Um I think you know, so part
it's just weird in a different kind of vernacular, just
and and I was very conscious of, you know, shooting
it in a way that was more like how you
shoot a movie. And and then I think the other
part of it is, you know, it's obviously who you're

(40:16):
working with, the it's a photographer, the design, it's like
a lot of there are a lot of decisions you
can make along the way. But it was very much
how we approached freaks and geeks, you know, which is
even though it's a comedy, we're gonna shoot try to
give it the scope that you would if you were

(40:37):
making like a movie about this. Um. Yeah, Now that
process from um script to page a lot of changes.
Did you did you see yourself adjusting things? What? What
did it start out as and then what ended up
being on the screen. You know, I really do think

(41:01):
of it as it was one of the really great
collaborative experiences I've ever had, um with with with Liz
and Bretton, Dave and with you guys, it was just
like this very sort of fluid thing where everybody's trying

(41:24):
to figure it out together and working towards the same thing. Um.
You know, I think the script evolved over time partly because,
you know, really because Liz has this sort of relentless
joke thing of just like she's it's gonna be funny.

(41:46):
Like she's as kind of like talented and hardcore about
that as anybody I know, like of just like she's
gonna make sure it's funny, and she's really funny, and
she if the joke isn't land and it's going to
be a better joke. And if she sees something that
someone else, she's never precious about it. She's totally receptive

(42:06):
to other people's stuff. She loves it when you guys
would riff, she was just she was just like a
great um you know, like a kind of intensity that
you that to me is is awesome and so yeah,
and and and so that makes it you're just laughing
the whole time. But then there's also like, you know,

(42:29):
just this whole emotional story to it that we were
very kind of like communicative about with with each other,
with um, with with you know, you guys doing the scene.
So I'm sure that it did sort of like evolved
as we were doing it, but my memory of it
is that it was just this very kind of like
we're all in it together and let's figure this thing out.

(42:51):
You know. Katherine Pope was the other executive producer at
that stage, brilliant UM person who was kind enough, the
other you know voice in all of those conversations in
the office, very supportive. I just remember she was like, um,
having a baby. She was she was texting, was from

(43:17):
like her c section or something. It was like one
of those things where I was like, this woman is
the most dedicated producer I've ever seen. She wasn't like
I'm going to take a day off because you know,
having a baby. She was like we were getting emails
from her. She was having two babies this show. There

(43:41):
was something I wanted to mention UM that I thought
was so smart, and I know that it was kind
of related to something you were saying earlier, but about
kind of you know, knowing you know that you wanted
the show to get picked up, which is obviously everybody's goal,
but having been through it before, um, you you had
an idea of what uh, you know, the network and

(44:05):
studio were looking for, and that we did do a
ton of work, you know, like on I mean on
the table read side um before, because the table read
of a pilot is like one of the most important
things to kind of making the studio and the network

(44:27):
feel like they you know, feel kind of confident. You
know that, because sometimes cast gets fired after the pilot
table read sometimes, you know, sometimes, Yeah, table reads can
be a real make or break moment. And I remember
we did we did multiple uh run throughs before we

(44:48):
did the table read. I remember we did one you know,
with with cast members like people filling in for cast
members that we didn't have. We we you know, Liz
would be doing Liz and bretton Dave would be doing rewrite.
It's we we would be getting we do pre reads.
We've got notes. It was really I had my script
like marked up to a T and you know, once

(45:10):
you get going, you're not doing you know, you're kind
of cold reading scripts, you know, once you're in the season.
But but that pilot table reads really important. And I
thought that was so smart that you really really coached
us all through that. But that, yeah, that was that
you're right that that's can be a critical moment, and

(45:33):
you know, we knew that, Like the cast was just
rock in. I mean, that was I'm confusing. It was
clearly a great cast that but it's certainly a moment
where something can go screwy if for the wrong reasons,

(45:56):
where something doesn't land in a table read, or something
h it feels like some element of the story isn't
doing anyone, or something reads harsh instead of funny, and
it's like there's any number of million things can happen
at a table read that can just sort of make
people comfortable right as you're like a week before you start,
and which is like the worst moment being reactive to.

(46:22):
It's bad for confidence, it's a bad sort of creative
place because so the way you can sort of avoid
those kind of problems is to just make sure that
the table read goes really well. And we knew that
that would be important. We also knew that it wouldn't
be that hard here, but you know, because it was

(46:42):
really funny and you guys were great and we and
you know, usually it goes well if those things are
in place. It's just um, you never know. So yeah,
we're being you know, super make sure that it's buttoned down.
I have a really vivid memory of the I think
was only there for a day or two of the pilot,

(47:03):
but I had to do that phone call um where
Jess's on the other side saying, you know, two boobs Johnson,
and I was just like, I'm sure Lttlemaran felt the
same way, where you kind of show up and your
whole thing is like, don't get fired, get fired, Ok,
lookt fired, And they needed someone to read the other
side of the phone call and to be Jess and

(47:24):
I don't know what happened because we were on like
just like a little propped up set really really quick
and there's a million other things going on. And so
you did it, Jake and I and I was like,
this is so terrifying that this man who has so
much control over this moment is now and I'm hearing

(47:47):
you go like Rebecca Johnson, two boobs Johnson, And I'm
trying to say in this call for being people listening.
Sometimes sometimes you're off doing something else for some reason
and you can't be there for off camera if you
like two phone call at different times exactly, And yeah,

(48:11):
in the and so on some lucky occasions you get
me the other side. Though, I do remember that we
shot a scene that earlier there would have been someone
better for that Johnson, two boots Johnson. It's a very
clear traumatic memory. But then it was funny about it
is that you guys brought me back. You're lucky to

(48:34):
have Well. I was just like, he's so close, and
he's watching everything so closely. What if I say it wrong?
And I got fined for me in terms of my
own fears. That trauma of your performance was brilliant. But
I was what I was looking for it. I was
trying to get how was that you were? You were?

(48:55):
You made a great just it was really my job
that was in jeopard The thing that was funny, though,
is that we shot a scene that never made it
into the pilot where you guys dressed me up as
a gigantic bird at a photo shoot and then brought
in a like a a vicious bird. Yeah, a condor or,

(49:16):
I don't know what it was. And they said quiet
on set, nobody speak, yeah, vulture and it will attack you.
And but I had to speak, and it was the
side of the phone call and they needed someone to
read the other side, and Jake, I will say, you
did not read the other side of the phone call then,
like I don't want to be attacked by a bird,

(49:37):
is what I thought. I think it sounds like who
spoke could be attacked. It sounds like Jake is involved
in a lot of hazing, okay, because he made you
dress up like a bird, brought in a goddamn vulture
and didn't use it. For me, there was there was
a moment I think what you dumped yogurt, yes, at
some point, and I don't think that got yogurt yogurt

(50:00):
bath or something, your bathing and yogurt, because it was
I was I there for. That was the episode one
of two, right, Yeah, I remember I was so excited
about it. I was like, Oh, this is gonna looks
so great. Oh yeah, Crush is gonna kill Remember the

(50:22):
I do remember the thing was with the vulture. That
was the thing I always remember about that was and
I remember the scene was funny and it was just
you know, things get shorter as you're cutting them down.
You just start, you know, you want the tightest possible version.
For some reason that that fell away. But I remember
with that with that um seeing we were in the

(50:43):
cutting room and we're looking at it and it's all
kind of working in a fun way. But then I
remember Liz saying like, I'm not sure we should have
a vulture in our pilot. It seems like a bad
seems like it seems like something you should in the moment.

(51:06):
In the moment, I thought this fields like a risky idea.
And the director is choosing not to speak during this
moment when he did this yesterday, I feel like he
should be scared. That was a moment too as well
that I remember vividly that I feel like pretty much
helped me get into I know there was a lot of,

(51:27):
you know, character traits that would change from my character
throughout episodes. Episode I know you guys were trying to
find who Winston was, and I forget the episode. I'm
not sure if it was the first episode of season
two where we're in the bar and Nick is making
fruity drinks and and you you were you were yelling
out notes to me. You were throwing us. Sometimes for

(51:49):
all those out there in listener land, you know, the director,
UM and writers. Sometimes we'll toss out jokes from behind
the camera and I remember you were trying to get
me to behave in a certain way of performative, certain way,
and I couldn't hear you, and I remember you going
it was great. It was great because it became it

(52:10):
because I started getting it. I started understood all you
said was uh more Gurley. I was like, oh oh,
but you didn't meet it. And I remember how you
met it, and that became my thing forever. Every time
I had a drink on the show and behaved this way,

(52:32):
and the memes that go around where I'm just kind
of looking at Nick and I say, look at me
being so naughty. It's it's it's all over the place,
and I and I just remember going forward from that
moment being trying, don't just don't just do what's on
the page, like be bolder, you know, try other things.

(52:54):
The mark of a great director is when they you know,
like they say the thing that makes you that opens
up your imagination so that you can really inhabit the
character and and you know, and I think Jake is
just such a great example of a great director who
really like allows you to be creative in your own right,

(53:17):
but like guides you into the place where you're going
to be your best. But yeah, that that's a that's
a good example, thank you. With a series in particular,
so much of it, like I say, it's just trying
to figure out something that can be great in the moment,
but also hopefully that you can see signs of how

(53:38):
it's going to be great for a long time and
that the writers are going to pick up on and
go like, oh, yes, there's a whole episode about this.
There's a whole you know, we could do a whole
story arc about this. And part of that is just
inspired by what you're seeing from people, and then part
of it's just the million great ideas that people have
to come up with in order to just staying these things,

(54:01):
you know, just great writing, but the that there's an
enormous part of it that's like how do we you know,
what are we seeing from what we're what the cast
is giving us that shows us what it's going to
be And I do think, you know, and more like
you say that it the Winston just got it was

(54:24):
It's definitely like as the series went on, it just
got sort of deeper and richer and more interesting and funnier.
And this is what he's I mean it was. We
would always say in editing, like, oh my god, this
is like you know, as we would get later, he
was like, what he's doing here is just so kind
of brilliant and like this has been there and we

(54:46):
could have been. It's just like a thrill of watching
this emerge as you just sort of like the you know,
the character filled out and what you were doing with
it just got so funny week after week. Thank you.
I had to say this too, because I have that
similar moment that Lamouren just shared of something that you

(55:07):
said to me that stuck with me so strongly, and
I don't think I've ever told you, Jake, So I remember,
and I shared this with Zoe and Lamour going in
for that final test um, and that's what's kept me
through the pilot. I feel like feeling so strong went
for the final test and I talked about the thin
walls that existed at Fox. So all the girls that

(55:28):
had gone in before me had read, and they had
read in a very similar um, had made similar choices
where it was a lot louder, broader. They had made
those comedy choices and it sounded funny, and I was like, Oh,
everybody's doing it this way and they've made it this far,
and I had a very different approach to c C

(55:48):
and UM. I remember walking in the room going, well,
maybe I should just do it like these far more
seasoned actresses are doing it. Maybe I've been doing it
like I don't know, And but I decided at that
moment when I sat down with Zoe to do that
chemistry read two, do the choice that I read CC
the way I had been doing it, which was a

(56:09):
lot more dead pan and straight ahead, and um, and
I will never forget because usually you don't hear anything
in the room, no one says anything to you in
the room, And I'll never forget you turning back to Catherine,
Liz Brett and Dave um and casting and saying that's

(56:30):
how it's done. And it was just like this moment,
and I it really like impacted me to continue the
audition making the same choices and then going to like
my first ever set, really and to know that I
had made that right choice and that you had kind
of given me that it was really powerful. And I

(56:50):
don't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, but
I remember saying that to me a decade ago. It
was really powerful. I think you know, that's that's awesome.
I love hearing that. I always think it's weird when
people want to be stingy with positive feedback. Like it's
like like I if someone's great, tell them they're great.

(57:12):
I mean it's hard enough, and especially like with actors
coming into audition, it's like, yeah, it's so vulnerable and
um and hard and if it's not going to be
if they're not vulnerable, then then it's because they've they're
sort of beat up by it. And I mean it's

(57:32):
just like the process of auditioning is nerve wracking for
for people coming in, and that's what you want to
be there. Yeah, that's why I want to be there
because I was like, I know what this is like
to go in for things, and like I I mean
I started working when I was sixteen years old, so

(57:53):
I had been on a lot of like devastating auditions
in my life, you know, and I wanted everybody to
feel comfortable. And it was so nice because it's true, Jake,
You're always so positive and make people feel so comfortable.
And I think that just like putting people at ease,

(58:14):
like it's just like creates that baseline for for just
a good experience for everyone and for them to do
their best rather than you know, people starting on edge
like thinking they're not doing a good job. Nobody's gonna
do a better job if they think they're doing you know,
or if or if they think is exhausted or something,

(58:36):
you know what, which can also happen sometimes because you
can get you know, I can, but by the time
you've been sitting there for a few hours, you do,
you can get a little like but it's sort of
on the people who are doing the auditioning to uh
you know who are who are reading people to like,
you know, stay stay alert, be the other person in

(58:58):
the room like you. I like that you still have
the basic social responsibility to it. Saying you could get
tired listening to the same over and over again for
hours on edge. It's weird. I'm not saying that you could, um,
but I well, I honestly, and it's like I said
it before, But I say, what is always amazing with

(59:20):
that is you can get kind of worn down and
you can get in your own head about like, you know,
what's going why is this hard? Why am I having
trouble focusing? And then someone will walk in and you'll
just be like wide awake all of a sudden, like
it's just that someone will walk in and just open
your eyes with what they're doing and it's yeah, exactly

(59:43):
and so and that's the cool part. You know, you
you got it. Sometimes it's so sometimes it's like what
I was describing, where you get you know, Okay, we
have we've been casting for a week and we have
three of the leads. And then sometimes it's you gotta
earn it a little more, but it's still something really
kind of great when people come in and you're just like,

(01:00:06):
that's that's so exciting. Now obviously, UM, I want to
switch topics a little bit. Um, we can dive back
into this in a in a little while. But obviously
working with such an amazing cast, um like you did
a New Girl, humble, humble, modesty, the most yeah, the
most humble cast. Clear a clear bright spot in your life,

(01:00:30):
but your career, your career took a downward turn, a
downward turn when at the time it's all downhill from
here and it and it was you you were obligated
to direct create the new Jumanji series. Um, what what

(01:00:51):
was that process like? Going backwards Uh, it's a lesser cast.
It must really sucked going to Hawaii and in Paradise
after the Los Angeles city, beautiful centric city, Hawaii. Um yeah,

(01:01:17):
it was danger pace. There's no question. It was a
It was a whole different ballgame. But in many ways.
But at the same time, a lot of the basics
of what you're doing are actually not that different. I mean,
there's there's on a movie like that. There's some stuff

(01:01:40):
that is really different. You know, they're a lot more
uh digital ostriches and Jamanji than a New Girl and
then and there are other differences to there's this, you know,
there's a it's more physical. Wait a minute, you're saying
the ulture could have been digital. Definitely, that was where
we were. What they realized noted, but we realized that

(01:02:07):
different being have a vulture, it should be digital. It
was a vulture, by the way. But you know, I
think that we you'd be surprised. I mean, you came
and did a day with us on Jumanji, and like
when you're standing there doing that, I mean, it's different

(01:02:29):
kinds of like that particular thing was like not exactly
at hard comedy scene, but it doesn't feel it Basically
it feels like the same job, right, It's like if
you're doing the same thing, it does. It was an
interesting prep though, you know that My scene obviously was
was the scene was a quick scene. But prior to that,

(01:02:52):
I had to do this thing where I I got
was it motion capture or something where I stood in
this thing with a million stand you that's not something
you do, That's not something that wasn't on New Girl. Yet.
We weren't doing light our scans of everybody, and yeah,
there's there's um there. You know. It's obviously a lot

(01:03:12):
more physical. There are differences, but the basic thing of
what you're doing every day, which is like how do
we get the best version of this scene? Working with
these people, it's not that different, and that that cast
is they're amazing, obviously they're and they're also just like
they show up and want to figure it out and
do pros and they all have to read to and

(01:03:37):
what's important how many times audition? How many at the
studio the rock? I'm not sure he knows what that is.
He's never had audition in his life. He guys sitting
in Hawaii there, yeah, he's yeah, he's living. Was there

(01:04:03):
was there a challenge for you knowing that a prior
prior I p of that already existed, UM having to
do with justice having to the original original? Yes, I
mean there was there was the pressure of UM, that's
always with anything that's uh, you know, rebooted or you know,

(01:04:26):
a sequel or UM, there's always that concern. Now there
are so many things that are there's so many more
things that are based on something else than that aren't. UM,
for better or worse. I don't really think it's for better.
But even though I've I've done I had a good
experience doing that. You know, I like original stuff. I

(01:04:50):
think you know, there was the with that There was
how do we I knew that what we were doing
was very very different people would when they ultimately saw it,
they would not feel like we were you know, treading.
We were doing a lesser version of the original movie.
We were just in a different it's a completely different idea. UM.
And it also had this additional you know, sort of

(01:05:13):
weight of the original movie is one of Robin Williams
kind of like stable movies for a lot of people.
And you know, he's like a hero to anybody who
works in comedy, and so you kind of want to
be honoring the work, so that we were conscious of
all of that, and we were conscious that, you know,
it's the kind of project that when you say, like

(01:05:35):
when people read there's gonna be another Jumanji, they're just
immediately suspicious of it. I think that's probably appropriate. You know,
like people there's a natural sort of audience skepticism about
anything they love coming back in some new form, and
so then it's on you to like, you know, show

(01:05:57):
him why you did it and that they could have
a new good time with it. So it's part of
the it's part of the thing, you know why I
say you did that. Congratulations. Yeah, he's did a great job.
You're doing you should keep doing it. I think that's
how you're You're onto something here. I thank you, Welcleo.

(01:06:32):
I actually remember because your brother was a friend of
mine in middle and high school. I remember reading an
article about you in the l a times after you
directed Zero Effect and then my uh my mom had
clipped it out and she was like, look um, that's

(01:06:53):
John Casson's brother. And I remember reading the article and
you were like, what twin three or something when something
like that was you were a baby. Yeah, I was
really really young and I love that movie so much,

(01:07:14):
Thank you so good. I just really made for the
first time in a really long time, and I was
really young, I think it, which seemed crazy to other
people then but didn't seem crazy to me. And now
in retrospect I think about it, it seems kind of crazy,
like it's it's hard to believe, sort of you know,

(01:07:34):
um yeah, and it's also it's been a while now,
also sort of shocking. And that's why I'm telling you.
The tenure anniversary of the debut of New Girl was
just like what how is that even possible? But I
can't believe that. It's partly because it continued for so long.

(01:07:58):
I mean, New Girls the only show it was at
the Prior to New Girl, I had never been on
a show that had made it to a second season
and then and I've been on some shows that I
Love You season one season, yeah, eighteen episodes, and and
I had worked on Undeclared with jud as well, which

(01:08:21):
was yeah, I mean it was and that was another
like very short um life, you know, uh, working with
jud and Paul on Freaks. There was like this sort
of definitive moment for all of us. But it was
only eighteen episodes. So when we remember when we got
to episode nineteen of New Girl and it was clear

(01:08:44):
that it was like, you know, people were watching and
we were going to get to do We're gonna at
least get to keep going for a while. Um. I
remember thinking like, oh, wow, this is what it's like
to make it to the end of a actual networks
sense and know that you're coming back for another one.
And it was exciting and you know, so so we

(01:09:06):
got to have the experience continue for for a bunch
of years, which I guess is maybe why so shocking
that it's been that long since it started. It's also
so interesting because that show usually after a show is
done in off the air, um, and then maybe it
lives in reruns, but that's like belongs to a certain era.
But now with streaming so many people, Yeah, well I

(01:09:30):
think it's a brand new that's just started. Yeah, That's
what I was gonna ask you guys, is have you
you must just out in the world have encountered this
sort of thing that seems to have happened in the
last couple of years. People discovering the show for the

(01:09:50):
first time, like that Netflix. I just feel like there's
been this whole new generation. I keep hearing about my friends,
kids and teenagers and stuff have you. Can you feel
it out there? Yeah, definitely. It was almost like, you know,
there was like a second where there was like a
kind of a little bit of a lull, and then
all of a sudden, it was like people coming up,

(01:10:12):
especially when things open back up from the you know,
a little bit opening back up from the pandemic and everything,
and all of a sudden, all the people who binge
watched New Girl coming out of the woodwork, and and
it's kind of been nice to hear from everybody because
there's it's really such an affectionate fan base of this show.

(01:10:37):
Usually it's people coming up saying like, oh, these feel
like my friends, or I watch it with my friends
or my partner or you know, just as like me
or I get all kinds of things. But it's almost
always just like very kind and affectionate and not entitled.
It's just like such a just a nice group of

(01:10:58):
people who like this show. So it's really and it's
interesting too, because a lot of people come up to
me now and they and they know the show. They
clearly binge the show. But when I say, maybe I've
gotten this maybe ten or fifteen times where someone goes,
you're on that show, it's Jess, and they remember the
song and they remember it's Jess, and they just been

(01:11:20):
the whole thing without looking at the name of the show.
That's the other thing that also is different is in
the first run of our show, you'd have to wait
week to week and then wait all summer for a
new season. And now you meet people and they're just like,
I just watched all of New Girl this weekend. That's
the hours of television, and so I know it intimately

(01:11:44):
and such. It's a very different experience. So I would
assume binge seven and it's just totally because it's this
big body of work, right, I mean it's like, and
you know, I was, I was you know, more uh
present in the first couple of years. I mean I was,

(01:12:04):
I was very present in the first couple of years,
and then I started working on other things simultaneously, and
I would be there would be periods where would be
away making a movie and then I'd come back, which
was you know, like this what it was like a
home base kind of for for me, And there's later years.
I wasn't there a day and day out for you
guys watching the edits and stuff. I was always watching

(01:12:27):
the end. I was always around. I was just not
always every day we missed your presents, but I was
always I was always a stone throwaway. But the but
you know, I remember like getting to the end of
those last couple of seasons, like the last couple of
seasons were simultaneous to the Jumanji, the first Jumanji, and

(01:12:51):
I was away for big part of that, and I
remember I'd still watched the episodes that come out, and
it was just like, remember, thinking, these characters have gone
so many places. These writers have come up with so
many stories. And you know, if every episode as an
a story, B story to see story, there's a hundred

(01:13:13):
fifty of them or whatever it is. I mean, that's
hundreds of story ideas. And to get to those hundreds
of story ideas, there's hundreds that they've discarded, right Like
it's always because it's never the first idea, it's always like,
you know, what's the best version of this? So for
everybody involved, it's just this massive, you know, seven year

(01:13:35):
body of work and to think when I when you
hear now from these like I've had a bunch of
my friends have said, you know, my teenager in the
last two weeks watched the entire series or that kind
of thing, and you just go like, that's so great,
like that it's still completely alive for these kids and
the like for a new and for older people too,

(01:13:58):
and that like it still feels really like relevant and
on and the performances are just as good now as
they were then in the writing is just as good
now as it wasn't. So it's like, I love it.
I just love that it that during this crazy couple
of years we've all had, that's been a source of,

(01:14:21):
you know, some entertainment for some people. It's it's great.
I wonder two off your watching like binge watching a
show that took seven eight years to shoot and you
watch it in the weekend. Is it just like a
flipbook of aging? Like that's what's strange, because you know,
he's it's it's seven years of watching these actors who

(01:14:43):
you know, you don't really fully address time. Yea said
two pregnancies on the shade these were born. Yeah, I
was like, there are two seasons where I was just like, like,
why it's just always holding a laundry basket. Yeah, so

(01:15:03):
many things happened, and it feels like what's interesting is
nobody who's binged the show ever says or comments on
that at all. It just feels like this comforting group
of friends that they can always just put on and
it feels really good, which always feels really nice to hear.
Was that intentional that that you kind of made that
like that that the show was kind of evergreen? You know?

(01:15:26):
Now it didn't feel dated. I mean except when you
see Jake Johnson or Nick Miller's phone, Uh it's um
which was outdated that even Yeah, but was that was
it sort of intentional to keep it kind of evergreen?

(01:15:47):
I guess so. I mean, you know, I think we
were there was sometimes again you'd have to ask was
in Bretton Dave. I think there's a little bit of
a you know, um, being you're you're there's always a
little bit of a question in your head about like
how topical like are the reference is going to seem
like two years from now? Are these references gonna just

(01:16:10):
seem really like two years ago? Or is it you
know like that there can be sometimes an awareness of
that kind of thing, But I don't know, I don't
remember thinking about it that was exactly. I think you're
just trying to make it really funny and it's still
if if if in the places where where we were

(01:16:33):
successful in that it like it still is, you know,
and it's dense. The other thing with New Girl that
is just like I think a sort of under like
almost like a technical detail of it is it's just
so dense with comedy and stuff. Like each episode is
so packed in some ways more than than probably more

(01:16:59):
than any other show I've ever worked on, just in
terms of like sheer kind of amount of stuff in
each twenty one and a half minutes, you know, and
so it kind of like you can watch them repeatedly,
you know, and discover something new. I've always said that
we've got we there's so much comedy in it, and

(01:17:20):
there's so much stuff that we didn't use, so many
alts that you could create an entire seven. This is
my pitch, and it will happen if you pitch it. Um,
just have someone go in and recut every episode and
just switched the jokes and just change the jokes, change
to add the things that didn't work and just have
the alternate new whenever they were added. Remember, like they

(01:17:41):
added extra episodes to some seasons, and we're like shooting
a crazy amount of episodes. Like, guys, just take some
of that stuff that start already and cut a new episode. Yeah,
here's the big question, Jake Boxes, don't get to work.

(01:18:03):
Actually a new one? You want a new one. I
feel like one of the number one questions that we
also get asked is if we will ever do a reunion,
And who knows if we will, but if we ever
did one, would you direct it? Of course? I mean,
if you know there would be it's totally like, can

(01:18:26):
you imagine such a thing. I think you know it's
if you guys and Liz were doing that, I would
love nothing more. There's so much fun. Great, great, Okay,
you gotta get her. That's why we created this entire

(01:18:49):
podcast to put people on the spot, just one by
one gets exactly Yeah, like it. I said I would
do it on that podcast out it's on record. It's
on record. It's basically signing a contract sending this to
the lawyers, Like what is next for you? What is

(01:19:10):
next in your life? On What's next, you know, I
got a bunch of like a bunch of stuff kind
of percolating and we'll see what actually happens. First, I've
spent a lot of this year working on uh the
Doogi Koha MD on Disney Plus, which just started. That's

(01:19:32):
a back in Hawaii. Yeah, we're back in Hawaii and
I was we were there. I did the pilot for that,
and then uh, Malvin it works with me and I,
you know, were some of the people who produced that series.
So um, I was working on that sort of first

(01:19:54):
half of this year and Eron is Aaron working on that.
We I have some new books on We had Aaron
on it, one of our awesome producers, wonderful and Courtney
Kane created it, who had worked with Malvin and I
on another show on Fresh Off the Boat, which is
a different show that we were doing simultaneous to New

(01:20:16):
Girl and uh you know fantastic casts. Actually Max Greenfield
may or may not stroll through at some point. Watch closely,
you may spot him. Uh yeah, So so we um

(01:20:37):
I've been working on that and then since then been
sort of have a couple of different series that we're developing,
and a couple of different movies that we're developing, and
we'll see which what happens next, but you know, trying
to trying to figure it out and project Roulette with yeah,
a little bit exactly, always a little always a little

(01:21:00):
Jumanji happening in one corner. And ye, keeping the keeping
the Hawaii and the birds are digital. Yeah, you have
to keep at least of your work in Hawaii. And
then yeah, all that was funny because I mean I
was in Hay a lot on the first movie. I

(01:21:20):
was there for months, and we're mostly in the sort
of jungle locations on that on Oahia. It's really hard
to get to. It's just it's gorgeous, but it's just
very physical and you're kind of you know, sweaty and
getting eaten by bugs and you're in this beautiful place.
We're doing all this good but it was just like

(01:21:41):
really intense. I loved it, of course, but it's intense.
And then came back for Doogie and it was like
we're at people's houses on the beach and just like beautiful,
this is what you go to the beach, the jungle
and it's just really a chill. Yeah, we love shooting there,

(01:22:04):
though it's amazing, highly recommended. So, Jake, we do this
thing in our interviews called Nick's Box. In this segment,
we crawled into the back of Nick's closet and pull
out the memories that the cash and crew of New
Girl have kept hidden for years. So, Jake Kasden, what's

(01:22:25):
your favorite memory from your time working on New Girl?
You can only pick one, thank god, and the ones
you don't pick our dogshit. That's yeah. It's almost like
it could be a standout memory, embarrassing, it could be
something anything. It's funny because it's like it's such a

(01:22:48):
big chunk of a life it's hard to even separate
out anecdotally like that, you know it, Uh my primary
it's not real specific, but my strongest association with it,
I think is just being on that set that first

(01:23:11):
like what it felt like to be shooting that show
in that first season, like in the pilot in the
first season when it just had this like kind of
there was just something like completely electric about it and
it and it stayed that way. I was going to
say that, I'm like, oh my god, yeah, and it

(01:23:32):
must be true. There was just something like like it's
not funny, but it is true. It was just like
it was like this sort of there was something buzzy
about the whole thing of like can you believe we're
doing this? And it's hard to put a finger on why.
It just felt like completely alive and exciting, and it
was like, you know, nerve wracking. It was a little

(01:23:52):
bit of a high wire act and we were always
kind of like catching up. But my my primary association
was like, this is just the coolest place to be
working and like, you know, alive and fun and then
you know it's intense as well, but it was just
that that is my strongest kind of like sensory association

(01:24:15):
with it was this wild experience and that that remained.
It's just that it was brand new the first season
and it was like, you know, surprising kind of it
was so fun. Yes, indeed, we'll see you at the
table read for the reunion before hopefully before it's not before, hopefully.
Thank you, Jake Casten. Thanks guys, And that was our

(01:24:40):
interview with Jake as in we love him so much
and we're so grateful that he's our friend and he
joined us for the show you've been listening to. Welcome
to our show. A New Girl recap podcast. Welcome to
Our Show is a production of I Heart Radio, hosted
by Zoey Deschanel, Lamar and Morris and Hannah Simon. Our
executive producers Joel Monique. Our engineer and editor is Daniel Goodman.

(01:25:02):
So Welcome to Our Show theme song was written by
Zoey Deschanel, performed and produced by Zoey Deschanel and Pierre
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