“Ted Lasso” was nominated for 20 Emmys last year, more than any other new comedy in television history. It’s a story of a fish out of water about a Kansas football coach moving to London, England, to take over a professional football team, even though he doesn’t know anything about the sport.
The story of “Ted Lasso” may seem unlikely, but the series has become a phenomenon and has changed the game in Hollywood. So when the production of the third season was about to begin, we went to London to meet as many members of the cast as we could, including Jason Sudeikis, the brain and alter ego of Ted Lasso, to find out how he marked the show. .
Norah O’Donnell: Have you set out to say that I want a character who is about positivity and kindness and who can transform people, bring out the best in people?
Jason Sudeikis: Playing the character was intentional. To play someone with a good heart, who did not swear: to be like Teflon with the negativity of the people or … or … or the sarcasm, 100% intentional.
Norah O’Donnell: –Goodness and positivity can be transformative.
Jason Sudeikis: Yes. And the opposite too. But I mean, if you had to pick one at the time of writing and want to play it, you’d rather look at the world, you know, like Ted Lasso.
Jason Sudeikis told us that “Ted Lasso’s comedy” comes on the screen like a Trojan horse. Sometimes a farce, often profane, that brings with it wisdom and homely warmth.
The program challenged not only the dark times of the pandemic, but also the logic itself.
As the coach of the fictional football team known as AFC Richmond, Sudeikis likes to say that Ted Lasso is the best version of himself. One of the qualities that both the character and the actor share is curiosity.
Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso: I saw this quote from Walt Whitman, it was painted on the wall and it said, “Be curious, don’t judge.” I like.
Walt Whitman never wrote or said, “Be curious, don’t judge,” but it has become more than just a slogan.
Jason Sudeikis: My mother’s parish on the South Side of Chicago, Christ the King, you know, had, as a Bible study class.
Norah O’Donnell: And what was the Bible study about?
Jason Sudeikis: Probably, like, curious, don’t judge. The gospel according to Ted Lasso, something like that, maybe, I think. It could be something like that.
The success of the show is even more extraordinary if we consider its origins.
Nearly 10 years ago, long before Ted Lasso became a gospel, he started out as an arrogant and curious commercial.
NBC Sports needed an animated advertising campaign to promote the English Premier League football in the US. So they called Sudeikis, who was finishing a ten-year series on “Saturday Night Live.”
He said the job seemed like fun, especially when he was allowed to invite two old friends to the trip.
Norah O’Donnell: So before you created “Ted Lasso,” you were actually best friends.
Jason Sudeikis: I don’t know, better, I mean …
Joe Kelly: A lot of people in our lives.
Brendan Hunt: Exaggeration …
Jason Sudeikis: Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
Joe Kelly: We’re fine.
Jason Sudeikis: Yes, yes, yes. (River)
Norah O’Donnell: How would you describe your relationship?
Jason Sudeikis: Best, I think best friends believe. If I had to … (Laughter)
“Ted Lasso” co-creators Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt have known each other and Jason Sudeikis for over 20 years.
After the commercials, the trio turned Ted Lasso into a more complete character who left his arrogant arrogant curiosity.
On the show, Ted Lasso also deals with divorce and mental health challenges. All the while bringing a feminine approach to a typically masculine job.
Bill Lawrence: If anyone says they thought this program or knew this program would work, they’re doing a bit. No one was sure.
The three friends received a boost when veteran TV producer Bill Lawrence joined the project.
Norah O’Donnell: What convinced you of Jason’s presentation?
Bill Lawrence: I knew from the beginning that this was a guy who was putting on an optimistic face. And that would be a note if you weren’t aware that this was covering up someone who needed to learn about self-care and be proactive in dealing with the demons they might have.
Brendan Hunt: He moved once Bill got involved.
Norah O’Donnell: But Bill said this is not a football show.
Jason Sudeikis: Correct.
Joe Kelly: Yes.
Brendan Hunt: Basically, he hit the table and yelled at a very early writer’s room session, “This isn’t a football show. This is a working-class comedy.” But that’s been a bit of a guiding principle, you know? It takes place in the world of football, but it’s not, it’s never about football.
Jason Sudeikis: Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
Norah O’Donnell: What happened when you bought “Ted Lasso” here in Hollywood? What was the reaction?
(SO OF GERD)
Jason Sudeikis: That … (Laughter) No.
Brendan Hunt: What … what’s the opposite of a bidding war?
Jason Sudeikis: It was like, eh, “we’ll take it”
Apple TV + streaming service decided to take over “Ted Lasso,” which is produced by Warner Bros.
Norah O’Donnell: Do you think you had more freedom because it was Apple?
Joe Kelly: We started filming feeling like the underprivileged who were Richmond. Like, we weren’t going after a bidding war. We weren’t going after, like, “Here we are with this monster show.” And I felt that it helped … the process, the tone, the feel, the atmosphere, everything.
The backstage atmosphere seems to reflect the equipment seen in the program. We invited Brendan Hunt, who plays Beard coach, and Toheeb Jimoh and Kola Bokinni, who represent football players Ted Lasso, to a fair game on Saturday afternoon.
Norah O’Donnell: So I was a little surprised talking to the writers that one of the things you’re dealing with on the show, trying to dismantle, is toxic masculinity.
Toheeb Jimoh: 100%. Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
Kola Bokinni: It was easy. It was easy-
Toheeb Jimoh: It’s the perfect place to, like, try to tackle it. I think it doesn’t matter how, a culture of, how … you know, it’s very competitive. Like, it’s like … like, guys are next to other guys, and, like, everyone pretends to be, like, that version of what they think, like, a man is … or he’s a young man.
Kola Bokinni: You have … you have different versions of people, you know? The person you are behind closed doors is not the person you are in, in real life.
Before facing “Ted Lasso,” in real life, Jason Sudeikis was from Kansas, just like the coach he plays now. There, he was a college theater star, but just as comfortable playing basketball based on the team.
He says Richmond is based in part on his old team also called the Greyhounds.
He pointed to the set …
Jason Sudeikis: … De Maat, named after Martin De Maat, a Second City improv teacher
… Ted Lasso writers named team members after friends, family, and former mentors.
Jason Sudeikis: Saskia Maas is one of the owners of Boom Chicago, where Brendan, Joe and I worked in Amsterdam
Norah O’Donnell: Sometimes it’s hard for a word to capture so many things, but for many people, this is the iconic “Ted Lasso?”
Jason Sudeikis: Yes …
Norah O’Donnell: “Cross.”
Jason Sudeikis: I know.
Norah O’Donnell: Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in the people around you?
Jason Sudeikis: Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely. Believe in the … in the process.
One of the stars of the show, Brett Goldstein, thought he could play Roy Kent …
The rude and tough guy, with a heart of gold.
The problem was that Goldstein was hired to write, not act.
Brett Goldstein: As we were writing this, somewhere in episode five I started thinking, I think Roy Kent lives inside me.
Norah O’Donnell: How did Brett Goldstein go from writer to star?
Jason Sudeikis: Just a sense of the show, you know, just felt a connection to the character. And so he did it, he recorded it himself, he sent it to Bill and he said, “Hey, if that’s okay, you know, great. If it’s not, we won’t have to go back to it. talk about it. ” (River)
Brendan Hunt: They’re like, “Brett delivered a video of Roy.” “Oh, did he? (Laughter) Turn it on.” And then it was like, “Brett’s Roy.” It was immediate.
Joe Kelly: Roy is very abrupt, very angry and always annoys you when you call Brett and he answers the phone: “Hello? (LAUGHS) How are you? How are you, dear friend?” He is the sweetest and kindest man.
Brett Goldstein: He’s a cauldron of emotions he doesn’t want anyone to know, he’s grown up in a culture of almost toxic masculinity to be a [expletive] wall. And he has all these feelings and emotions, but he can’t express them all. And he has to keep them repressed, so he speaks as if he speaks because he has it all. It’s like a cork.
Norah O’Donnell: A cork …
Brett Goldstein: If I took it out, I would cry and sing and, you know, fly.
Hannah Waddingham, who has spent much of the last 20 years doing musical theater in London’s West End, plays team owner Rebecca Welton.
Norah O’Donnell: Why do you think the show resonated with so many people? And does it have anything to do with the pandemic?
Hannah Waddingham: I think so and no. People associate it with the timing of the pandemic, of course, because it was a massive hug. And it was a way to block everyone.
Norah O’Donnell: The show was a huge hug.
Hannah Waddingham: Yes.
Norah O’Donnell: A hug to what?
Hannah Waddingham: To the people. To humanity. It’s … it’s … I think that’s what everyone needed at the time. They needed a hug and a reminder to be kind to each other. A reminder to include each other. A reminder to check between them, even if you think someone has put their stuff together, they haven’t.
Hannah Waddingham: I also think that if the pandemic hadn’t happened, it would have done exactly the same thing, because there’s something on our show that reminds everyone that you don’t have to cut to be fun. You can be warm, funny, kind, gifted, supportive, accepting and funny.
Norah O’Donnell: And that’s what makes Ted Lasso different.
Hannah Waddingham: Yes. (LAUGHS)
Born— Thank you!
At last year’s Emmys, Waddingham, Goldstein and Sudeikis took home trophies to perform and the show won an outstanding comedy series.
The Richmond Greyhounds may be an imaginary team, but the city of Richmond is 100% real.
Norah O’Donnell: This is the actual version of the set.
Brendan Hunt: Yes. You can’t pretend Richmond, really, you know?
The day we were there, so were the fans of the show, including a young woman who had traveled from Germany and had just been tattooed in honor of Ted Lasso. And he said, “Be curious, don’t judge.”
Norah O’Donnell: I mean, this is pretty special, being out here?
Jason Sudeikis: Yes.
We also walked around the field where the Richmond Greyhounds shoot most of their football scenes.
Norah O’Donnell: I mean, it’s great. Is your plot close to the studio?
Jason Sudeikis: I know. It’s something else. Happy accident.
In the typical Midwestern way, Jason …
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