Shrinking's Jason Segel reveals how Michael J Fox joined the show and how they worked on "authentic" Parkinson's storyline

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

From Forgetting Sarah Marshall to The Muppets, Jason Segel has played his fair share of wounded males.

In Apple’s comedy drama Shrinking, he’s Jimmy Laird, a therapist with more than a few struggles of his own.

On-screen, we’ve seen Jimmy befriend the hit-and-run driver who killed his wife (played by co-creator Brett Goldstein) while watching Parkinson’s weaken his colleague Paul Rhoades (Harrison Ford).

But as series three comes to a close, what do real therapists make of his methods?

You’ve said series one of Shrinking was about grief and series two concerned forgiveness. As series three comes to an end, what would you say the theme is?

He’s got out of the hole, he’s cleaned up the wreckage and now he’s moving forward, restarting life at 45. In my experience, picking up after a life event is much clumsier than you anticipate. You look in the mirror, you say you’re ready for that first date, then you go out and it’s a disaster.

One potential future explored is with Sofi, played by your How I Met Your Mother co-star Cobie Smulders. What was it like to reunite on screen?

We were just kids when we started on that show – she was 23 and I was 25 – and I’d always wanted to do more with her because our storylines didn’t overlap very often. The role wasn’t written with Cobie in mind, but I had a sense that because of our shared history, it would feel that, despite having just met, Jimmy and Sofi could be soulmates. Our scenes were fun and meaningful, too – standing across from her 20 years since we met and thinking, “Hey, we’re still here.”

Do you still pinch yourself to be acting opposite Harrison Ford?

When you start acting at 16, you learn it’s a pretty emotionally confusing business. When Harrison high-fived me for doing a great job, it felt like I’d exhaled for the first time in 25 years. It’s all worked out! Doing a scene as an equal with someone you’ve always admired – not because you’ve won a contest – you feel very lucky.

And now you’ve also had Michael J Fox on the show, his first acting role in five years. How did that come about?

Michael and Bill Lawrence [Shrinking’s co-creator] are old friends since they made Spin City in the 90s. Bill’s watched Michael go through his Parkinson’s journey and Michael, who’s been really generous in advising on the storyline, said he was ready to do a part on-screen. I only got to do one scene with him but it was an honour to act alongside another idol of mine.

How important was it to incorporate Michael’s authentic experience into the Parkinson’s storyline?

When you’re tackling real issues, you have a responsibility to do it well; we also have therapist advisers on the show. To have someone on-screen who’s going through what Harrison’s character Paul is going through feels like a nod of approval that we’re handling it well.

Jimmy gets quite direct with his patients. What do therapists say to you about how you present their profession?

They always say it’s wish-fulfilment! You’re sitting there knowing exactly what the person should do but you’re advised not to tell them. If you were their friend, you would. I think it’s been liberating for them to see a therapist tell someone to end their misery.

Why do you think the UK’s traditionally had a bit of a stigma about therapy, seeing it as quite an American thing?

I can imagine some Brits thinking it’s a self-indulgent endeavour – which it is, you’re literally talking about yourself! But a personal trainer isn’t seen as self-indulgent and I don’t see the difference between what they do. Perhaps it’s just a mentality shift. All of us need help.

Do you feel it’s important to depict men’s vulnerabilities on TV?

Throughout your life, you’ll be presented with a bunch of s**t that you don’t know how to handle. Art is designed to help you make sense of love, grief, ageing, all these things. The only way you make sense of it is to talk about it. Dealing with it alone makes life so much harder than it has to be. The second I started talking to my friends, especially male friends, about how tricky life can be, I realised it’s like that for everyone.

How much of you is Jimmy and vice versa?

My characters are all me but with Jimmy, the Venn diagram overlaps a lot, partly because I created him from scratch. The parts I tend to play are a surrogate for the viewer. That’s the role I tend to get.

As a writer and actor with a hit show on a big streamer, how much attention do you pay to shifts in the industry like Paramount buying Warner Bros?

The more I try to be strategic, the worse my writing is. I’ve learnt to be as unsavvy as I can about what might sell, what’s happening in the industry, what is or isn’t working. I live on farmland and I try to try to write something good enough that someone wants to make. You’ll always be behind if you’re just paying attention to what’s working. I’d rather be the person who has to convince someone it’ll work.

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