The actor Jason Segel idolises so much he brings a framed photograph of them to every set
From Freaks and Geeks to How I Met Your Mother to his recent forays into more dramatic territory, Jason Segel has enjoyed a career as massive as his 6’4” frame. He’s rubbed shoulders with the great and the good, been recognised at some of the biggest awards shows in the game, and left smiles on people’s faces wherever he’s gone.
One of the many highlights of Segel’s life in show business was starring in the 2011 relaunch of The Muppets. As well as writing the screenplay for this all-out puppet love fest, he also appeared as the human brother of a puppet named Walter. Please don’t ask questions about how that’s possible. The movie was a huge hit, reintroducing the characters to an entirely new generation. It even won an Oscar for ‘Best Original Song’.
Like so many other actors before him, Segel had an absolute blast working alongside Jim Henson’s felt creations. Unlike certain others, however, he had a long-running history with the troupe. In an interview with The Guardian to promote the film, he revealed that one of his earliest memories was watching the great Peter Sellers appear on The Muppet Show in 1978. One scene in particular stuck in his mind.
“Scooter comes in,” the funnyman fondly recalled. “Peter Sellers is sitting there. ‘Five minutes to curtain, Mr Sellers.’ Peter Sellers says: ‘What am I supposed to do there?’ Scooter says: ‘All you have to do is be yourself.’ And Sellers launches into an existential crisis: ‘Who is Peter Sellers? I don’t know myself any more.’ This is why The Muppet Show is so brilliant”.
Adding, “Parents and kids are watching the best comedian of their generation, and both are enjoying it.”
The sketch plays on Sellers’ reputation as a character actor. Due to his varied performances in The Pink Panther, Being There, and the trio of figures he portrayed in Dr Strangelove, the joke became that he had forgotten who he was. He tells Kermit the Frog that he had his own essence “surgically removed” while attempting to perform an impersonation of Queen Victoria while wearing a Viking helmet. It’s a typically out-there turn for the Englishman, who is fully committing to the madness of the premise.
On the surface, there isn’t much that links Segel and Sellers. The former is famously very tall, while the latter was on the shorter side for a man. Sellers spent his entire career subverting expectations and playing characters that nobody expected him to pull off.
As for Segel, up until recently, he could be accused of playing versions of himself in everything he did. The most eerie crossover between the two is that Segel was born in the same year that his idol died, with there being just six months crossover between their lives.
Perhaps that’s why Segel admires him so much. He’s not only the “best comedian” of his generation, but could do so much more. As he enters a new era of his career, maybe we’ll see him sitting in a wheelchair with a dubious German accent in the not-too-distant future.
