Josh Segarra really loves everything. He loves his job. He loves his wife and three children very much. He loves Nickelodeon, musical theater and Justin Bieber. When you talk about them, their speech is not just laudatory. They’re not even gazelles. These are arias of earnestness, heartfelt compliments from someone whose relentless enthusiasm shouldn’t seem real – the only difference is that when you experience it for yourself, it’s so touching and so contagious that it’s actually the most tangible thing you can do. to meet in this cynical, superficial age.
Segarra plays the character of Lance Arroyo, who reflects this perspective in the HBO Max series. The other two. The comedy is also a stark show business satire about existentialism in the thirties, as well as exploring the question of whether pure happiness can be achieved in these post-COVID, chaotic, times when every day seems like a new doomsday. Lance is the kind of person who looks at every moment and filters it through the rainbows, butterflies, and sprinkles on the ice cream sundae.
He is sincere. She is beautiful. And these features – and he – are extremely attractive. Lance has been lauded on social media as the king of “hot idiots” known as a popular culture phenomenon, thanks to Segarra’s brilliant performance: characters whose lives are undisturbed because their charm is a privilege. But when you spend some time chatting with Segarra and getting to the root of Lance’s outlook on life, you’ll realize that Lance isn’t “stupid” at all. He may actually be the most enlightened person among us. (The “hot” part is indisputable, though.)
“I heard that,” Segarra says of viewers’ impressions of Lance, and bursts into a burst of laughter on the computer screen. “I’ve also heard the word ‘Himbo’. I think it’s perfect.”
The other two Season 3 kicks off this week with the story of brothers and sisters Cary (Drew Tarver) and Brooke (Heléne Yorke), in their thirties. They are siblings who seek fame and success in the entertainment industry, constantly getting down on their knees in a toxic illusion that is sadly too relatable, and then forced to try to observe with dignity like their younger brother (Chase Walker). ) and mother (Molly Shannon) accidentally reach superstardom instead.
Lance is Brooke’s fiancé, whom she started dating because she’s attractive and obsessed with him. He didn’t even expect that they would end up being a perfect match, let alone something profound in Lance’s generally ecstatic nature that would force him to change his own life.
During the first season of the series, Lance worked at Foot Locker and brainstormed his own sneakers. Like Brooke’s brother Chase and mother Pat, she accidentally becomes famous after these designs become popular. The couple break up but find a way to get back together, get engaged, and this season, they’re faced with a dreaded question about commitment: What happens when you don’t wonder if someone is good for you and you have something like that instead? certainty about them, does it actually bother you?
Greg Endries/HBO Max’s photo
It shouldn’t be possible to say whole sentences while keeping a constant smile, but this seems to be Segarra’s unique ability. When we speak on Zoom, he is in Atlanta; He’s shooting the second season of Apple TV+. Big Door Awardis a series about how people’s lives are changed when a machine that unlocks their potential comes to town. He plays a small town restaurant owner with a heart of gold because of course he is.
After moving to New York City from Longwood, Florida, a suburb near Orlando to study acting at New York University, Segarra worked steadily. She starred in the reboot of the classic children’s show. Electric Companyin popular TV shows like Arrow And Orange is the new blackand in the Broadway production On Your Feet! as Emilio Estefan. And while it’s cliche to say “he’s having a moment” on his celebrity profiles, the truth is: Josh Segarra is having a moment.
He just appeared in a major role Scream VI. Besides the first season Big Door Awardlast year, she also starred She-Hulk: Lawyer. You may have seen him in the Dick Wolf procedural drama. FBI or as a scheming love interest opposite RuPaul in the TV series AJ and the Queen. You may also have seen him singing, dancing and praising god in the captivating, highly Christian musical film. Christmas on the Square Starring Dolly Parton.
Horror fans, Marvel fans, the Dick Wolf crowd, drag racing gays, Dolly Parton gays and comedy pundits: it shouldn’t be possible to appeal to so many demographics at once. Segarra is a bit of a Hollywood unicorn in this respect. And her The other twoand the passionate fanbase’s intense love for Lance seems to have kicked off this amazing run.
“The way I think about him is definitely not an idiot,” Segarra says of Lance. “He’s really smart. He doesn’t have a sarcastic bone in his body.”
Lance is a person who, believe it or not, doesn’t think too deeply about things that are a quality. “Sometimes I fall into this trap myself. I think through everything, and then all of a sudden, at the end of the thinking process, I’m a little angry about it. And I was like, ‘Why did I piss myself off about this? Is that really that important, Josh? All good. light. Calm down bro. It’s just cold.’ That’s why I feel Lance is the best composure you know. It’s like ‘everything is fine’. Got your back, Brookie Monster [a nickname Lance uses for Brooke]. Don’t worry about anything. Because we’re in this together.’”
in the new season The other twoThe characters, like many people, are trying to return to their normal state after being unchained by the pandemic. Brooke embraces her freedom by letting go of the expectation of always being polite. “We beat the pans for about two weeks,” she told someone at a Hollywood premiere party. “The year is 2023. Enough of the nurses!”
The irony and humor is that during the pandemic, Lance quit his job as a sneaker designer to become a nurse. At first, Brooke is offended by how stale all this is. Lance is no longer a nurse, a career move he makes because it seems like the right thing to do in a dark time, but he also really enjoys it and the hospital staff really enjoy it. The fact that he’s still drying in the Year of Our Lord 2023, but that his colleagues find it enjoyable, seems illogical to him. But that’s Lance’s charm. (And Brooke secretly knows how awesome this is, even if she doesn’t admit it.)
“There were moments in the beginning when Lance was still two years late, which was something very special to him. He just touches it happily. It’s not ironic. Segarra, on his own, is something I want to have in my own life,” he says.
It’s amazing how the rest of us can learn so much from Lance’s behavior. Not surprisingly, Segarra always saw this in character and took it seriously.
“She loves it, you know? There are lessons in that. She loves Brooke. This is her Brooke the Cook. This is her Brookie Monster,” she says. “She O she is wholehearted and sees the best in people, she. that’s how i read it [in that first script]And I just wanted to stay in that world with him.
According to the creators of the show, the shooting was mutual. Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider created The other two after their time as head writer Saturday night live. The myth they wink at but don’t openly confirm is that one inspiration for the series was Justin Bieber’s outrageous behavior the week he hosted his sketch show. Apparently, the pop star missed a field meeting with the cast and writers, and her manager was sent to replace her, explaining that Bieber was fed raw eggs to fill his stomach, but instead vomited his guts.
You better believe that Segarra asked them that. “I have a million Saturday night live every time I see the questions,” he says. About this anecdote in particular, Segarra miraculously negotiates while both entertaining the question and without actually getting into celebrity gossip—and of course it remains irresistibly appealing. “I’m a Belieber, okay?!” says. “I love Justin. This is my man. There is no one who writes a better hook than J.
Kelly and Schneider said they originally conceived of Lance as a different character. Although a little silly and embarrassing in Brooke’s eyes, she needed to be a book lover and work in a Medieval Times-style restaurant rather than be charming and sweet. That changed after Segarra auditioned.
“Some people have no real explanation other than having ‘it’ and it just has it,” Kelly says. “We have experienced this SNLat the same time, where you are, to them. They have.”
“We overhauled the character and even stole some of his catchphrases, which I’m sure you’ve noticed in your casual conversations with him,” Schneider says. Kelly adds, “’Should there be a ‘Yes, yes’ here?’ And it would be like, ‘Hell yes. We actually had to edit some hell yeah.
A similar talking point emerges when Segarra and I discuss. Scream VIMelissa Barrera’s character, Samantha’s boyfriend, asked Ghostface, “Hey, what’s up bitch?” He says it was improvised, inspired by his experience of living in the city, as he thought about how an angry New Yorker would react to confronting a murderer. “I opened the window and the first thing that came out of my mouth was ‘What’s up bitch?’ You know? It’s like, ‘I see you son of a bitch.’ Let’s go! His daughter is being attacked. Let’s go!”
Courtesy of Phillippe Bosse for Paramount
When sent to audition Scream VI, was thrilled to see his character Danny confessing to being the murderer on stage. However, he later learned that the same monologue was given to every actor who auditioned for the main characters in the movie. His dream for the movie was to either become a murderer or have an epic death scene. (Spoiler alert) While none of that materialized, it did achieve something else that many actors will be excited about: It became a meme.
in the following weeks Scream VIIn the movie, a screenshot of Segarra drinking a shirtless beer and ironing her shirt went viral, a) the combination of these activities that represents a platonic ideal of masculinity for certain people, who is thirsty for how good Segarra looks and b)
“Right before that, I was doing push-ups in the other room,” she says. “I had some weights in there, I was just trying to get my pump, getting ready to drink that beer and iron that shirt. I remember [directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett] He asked me what I should iron, and I said his shirt.”
He bursts with laughter again. “Little-known fact: Danny cares a lot about wrinkles.”
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