- Hey, I'm Jake Johnson.
I'm here with BuzzFeed to talk about my firsts.
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What is the first thing that I do in the morning?
I make coffee, I've gotten into a French press,
they have a whole system of heating up the water
that I've gotten into.
I like getting into becoming slightly a coffee snob,
which is a new thing,
but I like to start every day with the coffee,
with the same process, I like the routine of it.
First impression of your New Girl co-stars.
Zooey, it was that she was a star.
She was a TV star, a movie star.
I was in the presence of somebody who had already done it,
I was nervous around her and impressed by her.
Max felt like a fully crafted version of his comedy already,
he knew what was funny about Schmidt,
and he knew what was funny about sitcoms
in a way that took me a couple of years to figure it out.
Lamorne felt like an old friend,
I saw him on a commercial for like Bud Light or something,
and when he auditioned, I really wanted him in the show
and he came to my house during the auditions
to rehearse together,
'cause I felt like he was somebody I grew up with,
I felt very familiar with him.
First impression of Hannah Simone was
that she was unsure of me and didn't like me,
probably still the same way now.
My first impression of Damon Wayans Jr.,
was starlet, just a true Hollywood starlet.
What is the first job that I ever had?
I'm gonna go with acting job, I've had 1,000,001 day jobs,
but they've all ended pretty painfully boring.
So the first acting job that I ever had was,
I was in a commercial where I played a pop-up in a Yahoo Ad
where it was just a photograph of me wearing a wig,
a guy's walking down and I pop up,
I had a big mustache at the time
and I used to wear this big red sweatshirt,
that was my ex-girlfriend Annie Baker's father sweatshirt.
And I wore his sweater in the audition
and they asked me to bring it for the photo shoot,
and it was a pop-up ad, I got in the union,
I made a bunch of money and I was really excited
to be an actor.
First thing you did after finishing the screenplay
of "Ride the Eagle."
So we wrote "Ride the Eagle,"
Trent and I did during the pandemic,
we would send it back and forth a lot,
but we didn't really finish writing it
until right before we started shooting.
So I guess the first thing I did after finishing writing
the script was, start shooting it.
My first car, I was living in Iowa City, Iowa,
and I bought a 1981 Chevy Chevette.
I believe it was called, that was stick shift for $150.
And I drove it around.
I was city for about three months before it died,
but all the interior, everything had been ripped out of it,
so it was just like a tin box and it just had my seat
and the shotgun seat, there was no back seat,
but I bought it off another student,
and you know, it was a great first car.
First person who believed in you.
My older brother Dan, since I was very young,
would always tell me that I had what it took to make it
as an actor and in comedy and growing up outside of Chicago,
that seemed like a really crazy dream,
but we would always do jokes together
and he would always tell me that he would be shocked
if I didn't end up on TV.
And so I really believed him as he was my older brother
and I looked up to him, so yeah, shout out to Dan.
First word that comes to mind
when you think of your co-star JK Simmons.
Professional, JK Simmons showed up and crushed it.
He blew me and our whole group totally away.
We shot all his stuff in about three hours,
he came fully prepared, he had made all his choices
and it was very clear to me and everybody else
why JK Simmons is JK Simmons and it was preparation.
First time I realized that I was famous.
I was at a museum in Chicago, after New Girl had started
with my wife, we were walking around,
it was the Thanksgiving of the first season,
and it just had started airing
and I didn't realize that many people were watching it
and three teenage girls followed me around
and were taking photos of me,
and because I wasn't used to it, I got paranoid.
And I didn't know why these young women
were following me around, and I finally asked,
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
And they said,
"Are you that guy from New Girl?"
And I realized, "Oh,"
and then that Christmas, my wife and I went to Hawaii
and a car drove by three locals,
and one of the guides in the back with,
"Who's that girl? It's Nick."
First role you really wanted, but didn't get.
There was a lot of, I auditioned for years,
I didn't come close to anything until New Girl.
I was flown out to New York and I auditioned to play
the bad guy in "The Sitter" with Jonah hill.
It ended up going to Sam Rockwell,
which probably a good choice, super talented guy.
But I auditioned, I was in the director's home,
I was in a hotel waiting and I've found out
the day that they flew me home,
that Sam Rockwell got the job,
but I was crushed because I believed I got it.
Big first purchase.
I'm pretty frugal with my money,
I was always scared of losing it.
I didn't start getting paid until I was about 29 years old.
I had 1,000,001 day jobs and I was always checked checks,
so I kind of didn't make a big purchase
until a few years into the show,
and then I bought my first house.
First memory that comes to mind when you think of New Girl.
First memory that comes to mind is Prince,
doing that scene with Prince was an out-of-body experience,
I'd been a fan of his, my whole life.
And so sitting on a bench with Prince
talking in between the scenes,
the scene with me, him and Zooey,
all three of us just stayed in our seats
in between the setups,
we will probably sit in there for over an hour together
and just small talking.
I could never get past how weird it was talking to Prince
and how normal it was talking to Prince.
First ridiculously untrue rumor you heard about yourself.
I don't know if I've heard any rumors about myself.
Oh, there was a rumor that the cast of New Girl,
we didn't get along, I remember that.
That's not true, we're all still buds.
Oh, I know the big, okay.
Here's the most untrue rumor,
Max Greenfield every year on my birthday says
that I'm 50 and a lot of people believe it,
I'm not 50.
I wouldn't be mad If I were 50,
but I'm not 50 years old,
but every year, he says that I'm 50
and then he goes on talk shows.
He did some like Morning Show, like The Today Show,
and he was talking to the host about how proud he was,
that I'm 50 and healthy and you know (laughs)
it's ridiculous, so that one.
Hey everybody, check out my movie,
"Ride the Eagle."
It's a lot of fun and I think you're gonna like it.
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