It was the giggle that made you gasp and changed everything.
And I became that guy that guy who cannot keep a secret… And there were no private moments.
He would have become very devilish, very evil.
Colleen Hayes/NBC
Because you just kind of came in on one note.
I was worried: Would it hold for 13 episodes?
And how do I be funny if this is a comedy?
So it had all these different twists and turns that I could play.
How many different laughs did you practice for the moment when Eleanor figures it out?
Because the one that aired was perfectly creepy.We had done several different with no laughs.
I don’t think it was planned or thought-out in any way.
And then we all kind of went, “Yeah, that’s a better way to go.”
What’s kind of disturbing is I’m discovering that is one of my laughs in my life.
So maybe I have been typecast.
I imagine it felt like you were working in restraints because you couldn’t show the full Michael.
You get to see the demons at work….
It was like having carte blanche.
My job is to set up situations where people end up torturing each other and themselves psychologically.
So it becomes one prank.
You realize everything he’s doing is purposeful and slightly prankish.
So it’s fun to see him connive.
How would you describe the dynamic between Michael and Eleanor early in this season?It is definitely adversarial.
What other details tickled you?
The only way to get in out of the Good Place is by train.
The bad guys showed up on the train and only Janet can drive the train.
There’s a lot more train stuff this year, which is kind of fun.
So it’s much more magical this year.
Does the universe just feel more wide open?Yes, it is a much more wide open road.
but it’s equally entertaining and shifting directions this year.
You will not settle down to a peaceful sitcom that takes place in the afterlife.
It is constantly shifting underneath you, the audience and underneath Michael.
You’re constantly scrambling.
I think there’s much more humor because you get it.
Hope you might stick with us."
Whereas before you were much more of an observer of this world, now you’re part of it.
The audience now knows what the quartet doesn’t, given that their minds have been wiped.
Mike says that we’ll see things from your perspective, which we haven’t before.
What can you tease there?
And you get to see that.
Michael is obviously not a reliable narrator.
Exactly how much of what he told the group is true?
That is addressed because that is a concern.
They will understand the ground rules, and they have not been cheated.
To read more about season 2 from creator Michael Schur and Kristen Bell,click here.
