Brett Goldstein on Working With Michael J. Fox on ‘Shrinking,' Returning to ‘Ted Lasso' and Preparing His Next Comedy Special: ‘It's a Good One!'

Brett Goldstein has had a busy month on the Warner Bros. lot. As 'Shrinking' Season 3 finishes filming there, he's also busy in the writers' room for the highly anticipated return of 'Ted Lasso.' Not that he can tell us much about the shows just yet.
In the last season of 'Shrinking,' Goldstein recurred as Louis, the man responsible for the drunk driving death of Tia, the wife of Jimmy (Jason Segel) and mother of Alice (Lukita Maxwell). Goldstein shaved his trademark dark beard to play Louis — but as he visits Variety's Awards Circuit podcast, the beard is back. Goldstein is an executive producer and writer on 'Shrinking,' but does his hairy face mean he won't be back on camera?
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'Does Louis grow a beard?' teases Goldstein. 'Or has he gone? Who knows, exactly?'
Here's what we do know about the new season of 'Shrinking': Michael J. Fox is guest starring, while Jeff Daniels will also guest, as Jimmy's father, while Candice Bergen will also appear.
'Being on set when Harrison Ford and Michael J Fox are doing a scene, you're like, 'Am I tripping?'' Goldstein says. 'Am I back in my bedroom in the 80s?
As for 'Lasso,' 'obviously, I can't tell you a single thing about it, of course, but we're working on it, and it's good,' he says. 'It's exciting to have everyone back together.'
More importantly, it means he doesn't have to answer the question anymore about whether 'Ted Lasso' would ever return. 'That is such a relief,' he says.
Chatting with Variety's Award Circuit Podcast, Goldstein discussed those shows, as well as his Emmy-contending HBO Max standup special 'Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life,' and whether he's working on his next routing. Listen below!
Goldstein's recent special was titled 'The Second Best Night of Your Life' because of 'Sesame Street.' As he says on the special, when he guested on 'Sesame Street,' it was the best day. 'And I thought, well, then nothing matters now,' he adds.
This repped the first time he had filmed his standup; Goldstein has avoided putting his comedy online. 'I believe in it so much as a live experience, as in, I know it works in the room, because I'm in the room and you feel it and they laugh,' he says. 'But I don't know if it works on screen, because it's a completely different way of presenting.'
Goldstein says editing the special was particularly difficult. 'It really does matter when you cut the shot, it affects the rhythm of the joke,' he says. 'And you're so long in the edit, you get so obsessive and detailed that by the end, you're like, 'I don't even know anymore, is this funny? I hope it's funny.' Whereas live, you know, it's a yes or a no.'
Goldstein taped two shows for the special – an early show and a late show. He knew he had his work cut out for him at the early show, when the crowd didn't let out a big cheer at the beginning. 'In a way, it was good, because it made me go, 'right, you have to fucking nail this, because they're not gonna be easy.' So the first show, I was really locked in. Then the later show, they were much more up for it. There was much more energy, I was much more loose, I improvised a lot, and I played around more. It was sillier.'
He thought for sure the second show would wind up being the special — but then 'I went back and watched the first show, and I was like, the first show is better for TV because you're not there,' he says. 'You, the audience at home, are not there. So me messing around and being loosey goosey is less fun because you weren't there.'
Goldstein taped the special in New Jersey — but Minneapolis was his first choice. But he had to shoot it in February —'and I was told that if we went shot it there, that the equipment would freeze. It was so cold we might not make it.'
As for the follow-up to 'The Second Best Night of Your Life,' Goldstein already says he knows the structure of it. 'I've got many months to figure it out.. but it's a good one. I think I came up with a thing that I think structurally is very satisfying.'
Also on this episode, David Oyelowo talks about how his Apple TV+ series 'Government Cheese' is unlike anything else he has ever done.
Variety's 'Awards Circuit' podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who also produces, is your one-stop source for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode, 'Awards Circuit' features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines, and much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.
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