Shrinking's Jessica Williams Plays The Therapist We All Want [Exclusive Interview]
This post contains minor spoilers for the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking."
Jessica Williams helps make "Shrinking" a feel-good hangout show. There's plenty of plot in the Apple series, which is co-created by Brett Goldstein, Bill Lawrence, and Jason Segel, but it's mostly characters hanging out and talking through their days. Williams plays one of the main trio of therapists in the comedy, Gaby, who works alongside Jason Segel and Harrison Ford's characters. When the three of them are together in a scene, it's nice and breezy comedy ... usually with some pain behind it.
The former co-host of the 2 Dope Queens podcast and senior correspondent for "The Daily Show" plays a character trying to enjoy her day and help others do the same. Gaby is, as "The Incredible Jessica James" star put it, the therapist people want in their lives. Recently, the actress told us about her experience on "Shrinking" and what it's like to sing with Harrison Ford.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
'My job is to just be present every day when I go to work'
How are you today?
I'm good. How are you?
Good. It's been such a nice show to talk about today.
I love that. And that's nice to hear, because it doesn't always work out like that, so thank you. I love /Film, so it's important.
Oh, cool. Thank you so much for saying that.
No problem.
These are really nice characters to spend time with.
Good. Oh my gosh, that's all you want, really. That's all I want for "Shrinking," is for people to watch it and feel cozy and just want to spend time with these people that are just trying to figure it out.
What about the characters really spoke to you?
Oh, man. I love the character of Jimmy, and him exploring grief in the show, and what he's going through. When I signed up for the show, there were only two written scripts, and even then, when I met with them, they said, "A lot of the characters, we want to tailor them to the actors." So for me, they wanted to tailor Gaby to me. And for Harrison's character, Paul just became more developed with Harrison. So what was nice was that the show feels like it's easy for us as actors to play, because we're playing these dynamic characters that were written to our skill sets.
How did Gaby evolve from the page to once you started playing her?
Every time I'm on set, especially in this show, my perception of the scene usually changes, my perception of the character, my perception of the relationship. I think it usually changes once you're in front of the actors and on set, you see maybe a line's not working here, maybe you do a take and the line is something else, maybe Jason improvises something in a different way and it completely changes my character's response to the scene. I think a lot of times, my job is to just be present every day when I go to work, because there are so many things that are shifted on set. For me, I come from a comedic sort of improv background, and Bill Lawrence is really into that, and so is Jason and Brett. So I got to do that so much in the show, and that added so much flavor and specificity to the character of Gaby as well.
It's rare to improvise on a TV show, too, right?
Totally. It was a really safe set for that. The set also needs to be really safe, because a lot of times with improvising you'll have something come out of your mouth and totally "fail," or you'll stutter, or it won't make sense, or they'll say, "Cut," and you'll go, "What did I just say? What was that?" But it's nice because everyone's doing that, and it was just really cool to have a really safe environment for that.
'We all wanted Gaby to be the therapist that you want to try and find'
There are these scenes of just you, Harrison Ford, and Jason Segel bouncing off each other in the office. How much do the three of you talk about comedic timing on those days, just the speed or feel you all want to achieve?
A lot. I think on this show, especially working with Bill Lawrence, who's usually on set, him coming from his "Scrubs" background, "Ted Lasso," "Spin City," that man knows a joke, and he knows how to punch up a joke pretty quickly on the fly. He can quickly look at a scene and make the scene better. And then you've got Jason who can write, executive produce, direct, act, he can do it all, so he can write on the fly as well.
A lot of the time, especially in those office kitchen scenes, it's being open to collaboration and seeing what's different. Or I'll do a joke and they'll be like, "That was funny," or, "Doesn't really work, that kind of muddles the plot." It really was this creative melting pot of talented and giving individuals that I got to work with. The line was really blurred between what was written and what was made up.
For more dramatic scenes on the show, is there still a lot of room for improv?
There's always room for that with Jason, I will say. I don't know if you could necessarily do it like that on other sets with other actors, but he can catch really anything you throw at him. There was stuff added there, there was stuff added at the last minute. The writing on the page was excellent, so we had a great base, but I think a lot of times my scenes with Jason were riding the wave, man, and seeing what happens with the scene. Don't hold things too tightly, and respond to what he's saying, and he responds to what I'm saying, and then that's what the scene is. It's just about being present, and that was one of my favorite things about working with him.
I really like that it's an introspective comedy that talks about, pardon my language, how we deal with our s***.
No, I love that word.
I've only seen the first four episodes, but how did you see Gaby's outlook on just getting through the day?
Gaby is a good therapist, I think, and in creating her, the writers and creators and I, we all wanted Gaby to be the therapist that you want to try and find. She's really colorful. She wears a lot of jumpsuits. She has a lot of scrunchies on her desk, but she doesn't have it all together. I think what's really cool about Gaby is we wanted to show that therapists have their own problems too, and they can still be good at their jobs, and that it's okay to be in progress. I think that was our approach. Also, to show her in different environments and give her depth as a person, as a woman, as a woman of color, was really important.
'I love Sugar Ray'
There's a scene with you and Harrison Ford singing Sugar Ray, and I'll just say, it's delightful.
Oh yeah. I love Sugar Ray, so it was great. The creators and the writers were like, "Can you send us a list of seven songs you want to sing in the car with Harrison Ford?" "Every Morning" was definitely up there, and it was a blast to do that. It was really, really fun.
In between takes, do you ask Harrison Ford, "So, are you a Sugar Ray fan?"
No, because he'll just let you know. He's over 80, and I think anybody over 80, they kind of know their s***. They know what they like, they know what they don't like, and they want to let you know about it. So he wasn't anybody that you really had to pry and be like, "Do you like Sugar Ray or not?" He would let you know in a heartbeat.
There's a scene where Gaby's husband tells her, "I can't deal with your music [today]." I kept thinking about that scene, because you think sometimes, "I like what I like," but then you wonder, "Do I care what people think about what I like?"
Yeah, especially my partner that I've chosen forever, does it matter? And then it's like, sometimes it does, but then sometimes it doesn't. There's no one rule for everybody, I think. But it is kind of hurtful. It's really hurtful for someone to say that. You're like, "That actually feels really bad to watch." It's just that one line, but you're like, "Damn."
I enjoyed her taste in music. Do you ever make playlists for characters or projects you're working on?
Yeah. I like to make playlists. We had a very collaborative playlist started by Lukita Maxwell, who's very talented. She plays Alice on the show and she had one. I'm from L.A., born and raised. I just have the same s*** that I listen to over and over again. It's definitely my guilty pleasures, which is Sugar Ray, some Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and stuff like that.
I now hope you end up in the Sublime biopic.
That would be my dream. Oh my gosh. As somebody who went to Cal State Long Beach, that would be my dream. [Speaks to someone off-camera] Let's write it up! Let's write it up. [Pause] There's nobody here. [laughs]
"Shrinking" is now streaming on Apple TV+.