Jason Segel: Nice guy who’s finishing first

Jason Segel may be the writer-star of hit movies like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “The Muppets.” But he still sounds as sweet as awkward teen Nick Andopolis, the character on the TV series “Freaks and Geeks” who so memorably sang the Styx ballad “Lady” to his high-school crush.

“I think it’s really neat that I’m an actor, all that stuff,” says Segel by phone, talking about his approach to his success. “I think the real goal is just to be nice.”

From anyone else, this could seem as saccharine as, well, “Lady.” But coming from Segel, it’s just about being a decent guy. “There is a way to proceed in this world in a very positive and nice way and do everything you want to do,” he stresses.

Currently, Segel is appearing in everything, or so it seems. Besides “The Muppets” and his regular role in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” there’s the romantic comedy “The Five-Year Engagement.” It will kick off the Tribeca Film Festival on April 18.

Opening Friday is “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” which also stars Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon and Judy Greer in a gently quirky R-rated comedy that charts the unexpected moments of everyday life.

“I don’t sleep very much,” Segel says. “I work constantly. I really do.”

In the movie, Segel portrays Jeff, a slacker who lives in the wood-paneled basement of his mother’s house and spends his time repeatedly watching the movie “Signs.” Searching for his destiny, Jeff ― inspired by a wrong-number phone call ― begins a rambling journey that draws him into the world of his estranged brother, Pat (Ed Helms), a clueless status-seeker in the process of ruining his marriage.

Segel says he’s a big fan of Jay and Mark Duplass, the writing-directing team behind “Jeff” and 2010’s “Cyrus.”

“I think they’re very quiet, unassuming geniuses. What they do better than maybe anyone is they bring out the best in their performers, things the actors themselves didn’t even know they were capable of.”

The Duplass brothers are breakout stars of a naturalistic indie-film movement dubbed “mumblecore.” They’re known for using improvisation to create a mood of realism.

“They don’t ask you to be funny. They don’t ask you to be charming. They just ask you to be really honest,” Segel says. “They point the camera at you and they don’t cut and they just say ‘Go.’ For the first 10 minutes or so, you kind of get the ‘Hey, I’m a good actor’ part out of your system. And the next thing you know, you’re just talking.”

Segel describes the vibe on the New Orleans set as very collaborative ― with some healthy comedic rivalry between him and Helms.

“We respect each other very much, but neither of us would say it at the time; we were not going to let the other one be better,” says Segel. “This unspoken challenge was going on the whole time of ‘You better bring your A-game because I am.’ Slowly, we raised each other to the best of our potential.”

Last year, Segel spent several months in Ann Arbor for “The Five-Year Engagement,” which costars Emily Blunt. It’s his second link to Michigan, with the first being “Freaks and Geeks,” which was created by metro Detroiter Paul Feig and set at a fictional local high school.

“I’m a big fan of a small town,” he says of Ann Arbor. “I got to very quickly find your local pubs. I had my bar crawl. I had the restaurants I liked. Everyone knew your name.”

He also had a pretty amazing concert experience by chance. “I was just randomly walking down State Street. There was an Iggy Pop concert going on. I tried to get tickets and they said it was sold out. And then some dude happened to recognize me from ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ which I did 10 years ago, and was like, ‘Hey, do you want to see the concert?’ He turned out to be the violin player or something. I spent the whole night backstage with Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins.”

In February, Segel attended the Oscars, where “Man or Muppet,” which he sang in “The Muppets,” won for best song. One of the highlights was seeing so many of his comedy friends there.

“Ten years ago, when we all met, we were dreaming of this and it seemed impossible. One of the things we did is we decided there’s strength in numbers, and so as we each succeed individually, we’re going to make sure to cast everybody else, and slowly we’re going to give everyone the shot to be the lead until we’re all successful,” he says.

It worked. “It seemed like such a crazy plan,” Segel says. “And now me and Jonah (Hill) and Seth (Rogen) are starring in movies. How weird is that?”

By Julie Hinds

(Detroit Free Press)

(MCT Information Services)