Jason Segel used to think his 20s were his prime years

For a while there, it seemed like Jason Segel would be doomed to remain within the vortex of the Judd Apatow universe. There was Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and Knocked Up and on and on. And Segel also thought he’d be trapped in what he thought was his peak: his 20s.

Jason Segel recently sat down with Variety to share how his current show, Shrinking, has let him reflect on his career evolution. “I really thought my 20s were my prime. So in my 20s, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is it.’ And then in my 30s, I had a little sense of mourning, like, the best part happened. And then my 40s have arrived, and I’m like a grown adult who’s learned all the lessons from his 20s — and now, all of a sudden, the parts are richer. They’re like man parts of people who have life experience. On ‘Shrinking,’ [his character, Jimmy] has gone through the biggest tragedy you can go through. And I’m like, ‘Oh, my 20s were rehearsal. And now I get to play parts where you get to really express something.’”

Jason Segel is one of those actors who should truly be commended for how he has developed throughout his career. Here is a guy who we’ve seen toke it up on TV and flash his dick on the big screen, yet would go on to do some damn good indies (The End of the Tour is one of my favorite movies) and put it on the line to resurrect The Muppets (the 2011 movie would be the highest-grossing in the franchise’s history). Now with Shrinking, he’s in the awards discussion and showing he’s truly a terrific actor.

Now in his mid-40s, Jason Segel is making sure he lines himself up with people who he can constantly learn from, something he saw as a necessity years prior. “I was looking ahead like, ‘Man, you have 50 years left of this, if you’re lucky. What are you going to do with it?’ And I realized that surrounding myself, just getting near people I admired who seemed to have a better idea about why we’re doing this stuff than I do, and asking them a ton of questions, was going to be like the mentorship of a lifetime. Like, I have a chance to be an apprentice over and over again with people I admire.”

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