Although canceled after just one season, the NBC teen comedy-drama Freak and Geek helped launch the careers of many young stars as well as executive producer Judd Apatow as a major player in Hollywood. And now, 25 years later, Jason Segel still remembers the “life-changing” advice he once received from Apatow.
Segel, who currently stars in the Apple TV+ series Decreasinghe recalled his mentor's advice as he spoke to him Today host Willie Geist on Sunday mornings.
“He gave me great advice. That's when Judd took me and a few others aside and said, 'Look, if you can improve this show, you can write. You just have to learn how to do it, so I'm going to teach you how to do it,” the 44-year-old explained. “And it was like a little practice period where we literally learned how to write a script.”
“And then his parting words to me were, 'Look, Jace, you're a weird guy. You're only going to make it if you write your own material,” he continued. “And he was right, it changed my life. I wrote Forgetting Sarah Marshall like a year after that.”
Segel also explained why so many of the show's cast have gone on to great things, including not only himself, but Seth Rogen, James Franco, Linda Cardellini, Busy Philipps, John Francis Daley and Martin Starr. And it all boils down to an apparent revenge.
“So I think that's what happened. Freak and Geek it was cancelled, we did another show Not reportedsimilar cast.” he shared. “And I think that Judd went on like a Monte Cristo-style revenge mission to show Hollywood wrong and these kids are good at acting.”
“He started systematically filming us. Seth The 40-year-old virginthen Seth did Knocked Up as the leader and classified the others as friends,” Segel recalled. “And after that Knocked Up he took me to a Lakers game and said, “I think you're on a roll. Do you have any ideas? I said, “Yeah, I just started writing this thing called Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”
“And I pitched the idea to him at a Lakers game, and the contracts basically came the next day and they said, 'Go write the script and we'll shoot next year,'” he shared. “So I shot that first break How I Met Mother.”
Looking back, Segel is still amazed that Apatow was willing to take such a big chance on a 25-year-old. “Yes, I was a young guy. But we had the naivety of youth,” he added.