My Entire Acting Style Is Kermit The Frog - Why Jason Segel Is So Inspired By Puppets

It is there, this tan and toned young man. We're back with Jason Segel, everybody. You know, you've been acting, you've been acting. How old were you for Freaks and Geeks? Freaks and Geeks, I was 19 years old. I was fresh out of high school. Wow. Wow. That's how fitting. It's wild. I got seen in a school play. Yeah. Really? Yeah. They cast you out of a school play? What was the play? The play was called The Zoo Story by Edward Albee. Oh, I know. Which one did you play? I played Jerry. Yeah. My acting coach from high school actually passed away last year, and so I will tell the story very quickly. He set up a secret showcase for me. He said, I want you to put on this play, and he didn't tell me, and he invited a bunch of casting directors. I was just a high school kid, and the next week my life changed. Holy cow. Yeah. Holy cow. Were you glad about that, or did you feel fooled? I got to do my acting. Well, that wasn't your first starring role. We have a clip that your family filmed of you, and I'm just curious, what do we need to know about what we're about to see here? You don't need to know anything. It's self-explanatory. Self-explanatory? Yeah, I think so. Okay, Jim, let's dazzle it. Now I think Jason will go back to doing his stage and screen dancing and singing act. Gotta live your life best. Daddy, dear, you're still number one, but girls just wanna have fun. Just wanna have fun. Oh, yeah. I recognize you anywhere. How is the jump roping these days? Oh, it's strong, it's strong. Equally as exhausted at the end of jump roping and singing, girls just wanna have fun. You are, you're pretty tired. I'm so tired. How old were you there? Six years old. Wow. Yeah. You had it at an early age. I was a tall kid. Yeah. Did you do a lot of acting as a little kid? Were you like one of those child, like a drag from stage manager, like a casting agent to casting agent? As you can imagine from that clip, I didn't have a lot of human friends, and so I actually, at a very young age, got very into puppetry. Well, I heard that you actually, we have a picture, you have helped save a puppet theater. Well, I'm doing my best. Okay. There's a amazing theater called the Bob Baker Marionette Theater. In Los Angeles? In Los Angeles, yeah, that I used to go to when I was a kid, and it's a little bit life imitating art. It's like the Muppet movie that I wrote. We're trying to help them buy their theater so they can be there forever, but I think puppetry is an amazing thing. I think it is a tool to help us develop our capacity for empathy, as I think that if you can be a green frog or an old witch, see the world that way for a minute, it'll be easier to see the world like your neighbor. You can start to, I don't know, I think you can start to see outside of yourself a little bit, so I'm very passionate about it. Who is your gateway Muppet? Kermit, for sure. I think that when you're a kid, Kermit is Tom Hanks. Like, my entire- A little bit, I totally see it, yeah. Yes, Tom Hanks, Jimmy Stewart, my entire acting style is based on Kermit the Frog. Wow, I would like to see Tom Hanks movies recast with Kermit. For sure. Like Kermit in Cast Away? Yeah, but he'd have all the flies, he wouldn't starve. This is true, this is true, yeah. This is true, have you ever done that thing like the Hanks does in that, like lose a bunch of weight, because you got kind of a little porky there for the first part of it, and then he gets all like stringy, like carny stringy and strong on the island. Have you gone through that kind of physical transformation yet? Not intentionally, but yeah. I am going on Thursday to shoot an action movie. So I'm like- You're going to be in an action movie? Yeah, yeah, it's like action adjacent, but yeah. Are you going to like Krasinski it and get like funny guy strong? There's shapes under here right now, you can't see, but- Well, I mean, we got an audience here. Let me just look, let me just look. Turn around and let me just look. Turn around, I want just, I just, just a look. Let me just see, let me just see. Wow, wow. That's for real. That is for real, thank you so much. That was such, I hope- Puppetry, you just saw puppetry. That was so intimate, I'm so honored. Yeah, listen, I was born without a sense of pride or shame, so this all works for me. Well, thank you so much for being here. Good to see you again. Season two of Shrinking premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+. Jason Segel, everybody. We'll be right back with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.