-Our next guest is a writer and actor
who recently won an Emmy for his portrayal or Roy Kent
on the critically acclaimed series "Ted Lasso."
The second season finale is available to stream
this Friday on Apple TV+.
Let's take a look.
-Big man Roy Kent. -No.
-Come on, man. Why won't you coach me?
-'Cause you don't deserve it.
-You're right. I don't deserve it.
-And the way you play is dull and conformist.
-It's true. I do play in quite a dull and conformist way.
-And you're ugly.
You're an ugly, ugly boy.
With bad hair. -[ Scoffs ]
-Say it. [ Laughter ]
-Please welcome to the show Brett Goldstein.
♪♪
-Hey. -Hey.
-Welcome. See? This is real Edinburgh --
first Edinburgh show energy. -Yeah, hey.
Hi. Yeah. [ Applause ]
Thank you.
-I am thrilled you're here.
-I'm delighted to be here. Thank you for having me.
-Such a fan of your work, and to meet you in person is great.
And, you know, I hope everybody knows
at this point that you're also a writer on the show.
-Yes. -And it seemed like that --
it just must be so much fun to be in the writers room,
first, writing something so funny,
knowing that you then get to be the person who performs it.
-I mean, I did write that scene, and the problem is,
I knew as I was writing it,
this is gonna cost Apple a lot of money,
because I can't do scenes with Phil Dunster,
who plays Jamie Tartt, without losing my [bleep].
And as I was writing, "You're an ugly, ugly boy,"
I thought, "This is gonna take days."
[ Laughter ]
"This is gonna take days to shoot."
You may notice there were less Roy-Jamie scenes this season,
and that was purely to save money.
-Just to save money. They can't have you guys
in a two-shot together. -Yeah.
-They got a lot of over-the-shoulders.
-Yeah. [ Both laugh ]
-So, congratulations on your Emmy.
-Thank you very much. -You cursed when you won...
-Yeah. -...in your acceptance speech.
-Proud of it. -As you should be.
It's what the fans want. -Yeah.
-You know what I mean?
It's what the people who voted for you wanted.
-They told me not to. -They did.
-Repeatedly. And I kept thinking --
-So in the run up, they were afraid this might happen?
-A few people said, "If you win, don't swear."
And I was like, "Why are you saying this?
Like, now I'm gonna do it twice."
You know what I mean? [ Laughter ]
And the more you say it, the more --
I mean, if they kept saying it,
the speech would've just been [bleep].
[ Laughter ] Like...
But, you know, it was -- Can I tell you this?
People keep saying to me, "What was winning an Emmy like?"
What it was actually like --
It was very early in the show, and we'd sat -- we were late.
We were stuck in a queue. I've never been to such a thing.
And we're stuck in the queue with lots of famous people.
You're like, "Oh, famous people have to queue, as well."
And they're, like, queued, and then suddenly we were told,
"You don't have time to do a red carpet.
You've got to come because the show started."
And we sat down, and it was all, like, "Oh, what's this?"
and then suddenly, it started.
Cedric the Entertainer and a load of people
started singing and dancing towards us.
And everyone stood up, and all I was thinking was,
"Oh [bleep] Have I got a dance?"
[ Laughter ] Like, "What is this?"
And then everyone said -- I was like, "Oh [bleep]"
I couldn't see where the cameras were.
I was thinking, "Please, don't make me a meme."
Like, "What is this?" [ Laughter ]
I was just so embarrassed.
Like, no one told me there'd be dancing.
And then I won an Emmy. So, like, I was in no --
I was just spending the whole time thinking...
-And so even when you were giving your acceptance speech,
was part of you still worried
that you got caught on camera dancing badly?
-Yeah, just, like, looking horrified.
[ Laughter ]
-What is it like now -- especially as you --
I know you guys are working now on season three.
-Yeah. -How protective are you
of Roy Kent, being the person who also plays Roy Kent?
-The truth is, I try, in the writers room,
not to pitch a lot of Roy stuff,
'cause I love all the characters equally.
-[ Laughing ] Uh-huh.
-But... [ Laughter ]
No, they're all my children.
You know, I don't have a favorite.
But sometimes I do find myself going,
"Roy wouldn't [bleep] say that." [ Laughter ]
And now I have an Emmy. Like, "Oh, yeah!"
[ Laughter ] -So, you bring it.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Obviously, you would.
I think that one of the things --
the journey, Roy's journey, that we all enjoyed so much
was this incredibly gruff character.
And, especially in season two,
you see this really sweet side of him, as well.
You know, obviously you guys put a lot of care into that arc.
But that must be a fun part of it, as well.
You're not paying someone who's one-dimensional.
-No, I mean, all the characters,
most of our time in the writers room is spent discussing --
Like, I think the aim of "Ted Lasso,"
all the characters have -- they start off, you hate them,
and in the end, we'll make you like them.
Because everyone has their reasons.
You know what I mean? [ Laughter ]
Everyone you hate has a reason that they're a dick.
You know what I mean? Like...
Some people, it's very hard to find that reason,
and that's the real challenge. -Yeah.
I feel like you made it particularly hard
on your friend Phil.
You've given him the hardest journey.
-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]
-I stand by it. [ Laughter ]
He'll be fine. -So, we were talking backstage.
Brendan Hunt, who plays Coach Beard, he and I,
and Jason, and Joe Kelly, we were all in Amsterdam
around the same time. -Yeah.
-We all fell in love with soccer at the same time.
I apologize that I'm not calling it football,
but, of course, we have a football here,
a football that you are not -- you're not falling in love with
the same way that Brendan and I fell in love with your football.
-I feel like anyone -- You're all gonna hate me now.
Hey, you call it football, but you use your hands.
-Yeah. -So, exhibit A,
what are you doing? [ Laughter ]
B, what the [bleep] is going on?
I've watched the Super Bowl five times.
It stops every three seconds. [ Laughter ]
Then there's an advert, then something happens,
then there's a chap and mics, people talking.
Like, just [bleep] play this. What's going on?
[ Laughter ] And I'm like,
"Americans must be genius because I've watched it --
I still have no idea what is happening."
It looks like everyone has worked out a lot,
and good luck to them, but, like, what is the sport?
And then I went to a baseball game,
and I love baseball because of the baseball films.
-Yeah. -What I realized is,
in baseball films, they cut out all the game shows
and the adverts. [ Laughter ]
Like, there's an advert every minute.
People brought on the field to fire a T-shirt at you.
And then the worst thing with all American sports is,
at some point -- at any point, you're in danger of being
put on camera, and you have to get off
with the person next to you. Like, it's not safe.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, that's true.
-In a time of #MeToo, we shouldn't be having
[bleep] kiss cams. "Now I've got to..."
-These are all very good arguments.
It's very hard to defend. -I'm sorry.
But, listen, I'm sure something's going on.
I just... -Yeah.
-...don't get it. [ Laughter ]
-So, I think everybody would just feel very confident
in assuming that the best work you've done over the past
two years is "Ted Lasso."
But you would disabuse them in this notion.
You've done better work.
-Better work. -Yeah.
-During lockdown, we all do things --
There was a point where I thought,
"Maybe one day, I'll have to delete all of this,"
because we all went mad in lockdown,
and maybe we don't want the evidence of what we did
in lockdown out there.
But then I'm thinking, "No, it's part of my art."
During lockdown, I made a 12-part reality TV show
called "Lone Island"... -Yeah.
-...about a man who goes on dating show,
but because of COVID, no one else goes on with him.
And he ends up falling in love with a plant
and a football and a mop. [ Laughter ]
And as the series went on, my hair got longer.
I looked -- I look madder. -Here you go.
This is, I guess, on a date now with...
-With ball. -Yeah.
-With ball, and I got so into it,
and I wrote, like, a proper season arc.
12-part season arc. It's like "Ted Lasso."
At the beginning, you're like, "I don't know if I like plant,"
and in the end, you're like, "Plant had their reasons."
[ Laughter ]
And I remember, like, editing the finale --
the season finale, and I was crying,
and I was like, "You have lost your damn mind."
[ Laughter ]
-Well, that's good. I think a lot of people --
you know, "Ted Lasso," season two,
is coming to a close.
There's gonna obviously be a gap until season three.
I think anybody could go find "Lone Island"...
-Yeah. -...and fill that gap.
-And have me sectioned, I think. [ Laughter ]
-Hey, it's really a pleasure to meet you.
Congratulations on everything. -Thank you for having me.
-Thank you. -I appreciate it.
-The second season finale of "Ted lasso" is available
to stream this Friday on Apple TV+.