Jason Segel and Ali Wong on Proving Themselves as Drama Actors and Laughing Through Life’s Most Miserable Moments

variety.com:

It’s no surprise that Jason Segel hit it off with Ali Wong, given their common backgrounds in comedy. And yet both performers don’t want to be boxed in by humor — they’re contenders in the Emmy race for playing characters who are far from happy-go-lucky.

In Apple TV+’s “Shrinking,” Segel (also a co-creator on the show) plays a widowed father dealing with his monotonous life as a therapist, while Wong stars in Netflix’s “Beef” as a business owner caught in a game of revenge. ALI WONG: I first saw you on “Freaks and Geeks” on the VHS tapes that my boyfriend at the time’s father bought on eBay. JASON SEGEL: I was a kid.

I started out acting in high school, then comedy found me. I did “How I Met Your Mother” for nine seasons. At 33, that ended.

I felt like, “Boy, I used to think I could do anything, and now I just do comedy.” I had this nagging itch — like, “I wonder if I can do other stuff.” WONG: Yeah. SEGEL: I did drama for a few years, but I swung really hard in that direction and started to feel like, “Let’s try to integrate these things.” At the same time, Bill Lawrence called me out of the blue and was like, “Hey, I want to make a show.