Nicholas D’Agosto – Trial & Error

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I do my own stuff. My friends and I write. I have a son. Other than that, it’s really been all “Trial & Error” this year. That’s been my main thing.

Q) How was your character Josh Segal originally described to you?

A) Looking back to me, it wasn’t described much. I got the audition and at the time I was in New York with my wife. I was working on “Gotham” and I went in for the audition and was flown out that week. So, it was this whirlwind thing. I basically just got the breakdown on the piece of paper as “young, eager new attorney goes down to fictional Southern town to prep a case for his boss and things go nuts.” That was basically all I knew and then I read it. Often times I’ll do this to my wife and say, “Babe, tonight we’re going to sit down and watch a movie,” and then at six o’clock I’ll get an audition or something. She was pregnant at the time, so she was like, “Whatever babe. I’m just going to go to bed.” [laughs] She was cool though and was up helping me memorize lines. I loved it so much that I wanted to be totally memorized so I memorized all of the lines, which was probably ten to fifteen pages of legal stuff. Then, I remember working until like two in the morning on it and then I went up and auditioned. Everything kind of all fit from there for me. It was all a real easy fit.

Q) Was there anything you added to Josh that wasn’t originally scripted for you?

A) Well, my impulse just says yes because every actor brings whatever they bring to it. I bring myself to it, so I think I would say what I brought to it was that I brought it to life. I knew him instantly. I knew him in a way that the writers didn’t know him yet. And I think that they wouldn’t have a problem admitting that. When you write a character and a show like Jeff did that is really smart it tends to attract a certain type of actor and an actor that really cares and can bring a lot of nuance to it. And I get Josh’s neurosis. Josh is a very neurotic guy. He really wants to do well. He’s sincere. He really means well and wants to do the right thing. I could see in him that this was the perfect place to bring the qualities of myself – someone who is very convicted and can be at times very strong and strong-willed, but at the same time can be very cordial and nice. So, sometimes he gets kind of steamrolled. All of these things I could bring to the humor of Josh and so when I was able to bring all of that stuff they responded to all of that in me and then were able to really build out the character. Then, like every great show where you get the luck of being able to do multiple seasons, we learned that part together. They write more and expand the boundaries because they get to know me better and then I get to expand those because I’ve shown them something new that they haven’t seen. It’s been an amazing joy for me and it’s by far been the greatest character I’ve gotten to play.

Q) What do you find the most challenging aspect of your portrayal? Is it the legalese?

A) Funny enough, I understand the legalese. I’ve always been very drawn…I tend to get cast in very wordy parts. It’s just kind of who I’ve always been. I’ve always been a lawyer and I’ve done speech debate. I’ve done doctors. I typically go towards monologues. I love monologues and I mean that genuinely. They are so fun because I can put lots of turns in them. Josh is wonderful because he’s carrying many things in his head all the time. So, I find the legalize really rewording to work on. I will say the challenge of Josh is that he is the narrative thruline of the show. So, not only is he covering the detective aspect of the show, always making sure that the audience and his team are in line with what we’re doing at the moment. And that changes moment to moment. It’s always something new in our show. The writers are very smart about red herrings and twists and turns that are unexpected while at the same time being the straight man and keeping aware and keeping the ball in the are with the comedy – passing the ball to all of these homerun hitters that we have on our show that are so funny. So, much of my work is just memorizing outside of work. I spend a lot of time memorizing throughout the weekends so that I can really lock down all of the language, so I can play freely in the moment and we can always be improving and playing in the moment and I can make sure all of my thoughts are very clear. That’s probably the hardest thing about Josh – I have to work very hard to make sure all of his thoughts are very clear because he’s a very smart guy and he has to make a lot of turns in the show. I hope that people when they watch it that they don’t feel like it’s too much information. If I’m doing my job right, then people don’t pay attention to the fact that what I’m saying is updating them a lot of times. Hopefully, they find it pleasant and charming and then they move on to Sheri or Steven and they laugh their ass off. That’s kind of the way the show should work.

Q) Talk about working with Kristin Chenoweth this season.

A) Well, she is an icon. She has earned that and totally deserves that. She’s a wonderful person, much like John Lithgow from Season One. The show couldn’t have been truly luckier to have had someone like Kirstin fill those shoes that John did. Granted, they are entirely different sized shoes. John is like 6’6 and Kristin is 5’ tall. But they are such talented, thoughtful human beings, but are both legends on stage and screen. They have both won awards at the highest level on TV and stage and it shows. It shows in their dedication and their preparation and how much they are willing to give. We work very hard on our show and very tight hours and we get a lot. We squeeze everything out of the sponge. There is nothing left and that takes a lot of focus and energy. Kristin was constantly giving her all and she and I connected I would say very deeply in the same way I connected with John and the entire cast. I had the great fortune to work with her the most and she is amazing. She is just so surprising and yet real. The joy of a great actor is that they are always real and in the moment yet you never knew what was going to happen from take to take. So, I always felt very alive with her and we really loved working together.

Q) What do you think it is about “Trial & Error” that has made it so endearing to the viewers?

A) I don’t want to speak from the fan’s point of view. I can tell you what I love about it. I can tell you the show is very smart and yet has a wonderful sense of stupid comedy, which is some of my favorite stuff that I grew up with. It’s kind of in line with the movie Airplane, the Hotshots movie, Naked Gun or the Mel Brooks movies. When you think about Mel Brooks movies they are very smart. Space Balls was this very smart film. I love Space Balls. I grew up on it. That is a film that has amazing straight man comedy, amazing characters and straight-man satire. It’s not afraid to do blue comedy. There are lots of sex jokes and potty humor at times, but I just think the writers are wickedly funny and very smart. I think why people watch it is because every time you see it you find something new. It never feels like when you watch it the show is moving slow. It always feels like there is something new to find in a scene and I think that people love that. I think for some shows people want to feel like it’s coming fast and they can’t keep up and yet at the same time it’s full of belly laughs. I think we have that in spades. I really believe in our show and love our show. The thing that I think is so charming and engaging about our show is that on one hand you have this very light-hearted, warm and friendly world where the characters are very outrageous and hilarious and yet on the other hand you have this really engaging murder-detective story. By the end of the season you will know what happened to Kristin’s character in the same way you got to learn to what happened to John Lithgow’s character. And I think that was just such a smart choice about our show. Credit to Jeff [Astrof] and Matt [Miller] for this – every year there is a new opportunity for a new star to come into the show and change the way that the world works. We learn more about the world of East Peck and what we’re doing yet you can watch any one season and have a complete storyline for that season. I think that’s rewarding. I think people watch shows and wonder, “Am I going to have to wait four or five years before I find out the answer?” The truth is I hope people will stay interested in about the core characters of East Peck, but the new case will always end at the end of every season. I think that’s a wonderful gift for people who are watching it.

Q) What did you personally take away from your time working on the show “Gotham?”

A) For anybody that is a fan of the show they’ll know I didn’t get to do too much. I love Harvey Dent. It was such a cool opportunity to get to walk into that world. I think what I took from it was probably just the joy of walking into such a stylized and dark but very friendly world. The joke I always used to say is that, “Gotham is a very terrifying and dangerous town, but the set is a really warm and friendly lovely place.” It was always a really lovely place to be and then when the lights came on and we called “action” that people got really mean and they got really dark. That’s the fun of being on a show like that. I would think that day in and day out the thing about being together – and I know they loved each other having been there – is that they all are just really kind, fun loving people and they get to live out actor’s dreams. They get to play iconic roles in very dark worlds. They get to be mean, dark and dangerous but in a safe place. That’s some of the most fun acting that you’ll get to do.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) I welcome the twenty-five of you. No, I’m just kidding! [laughs] All I would say is thanks. I would just say thanks, follow along at Twitter and Instagram and just kick back and enjoy “Trial & Error.” Have fun, plan to giggle and make sure you catch up on Season One.