As 'Ted Lasso' ends its iconic run on Apple TV+, the show's creative team tells THR what it was like to work with Jason Sudeikis behind-the-scenes on the Emmy-winning comedy and why it's an experience they won't forget.
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00:00 (soft music)
00:02 - Jason always said it was going to be a three season arc.
00:07 So I think we were all just treating this
00:09 as our three seasons and we all left it on the field
00:12 this last season for sure.
00:14 - To believe in yourself, to believe in one another,
00:17 man, that's fundamental to being alive.
00:21 - For me personally, having worked on Ted Lasso
00:26 just before going into lockdown
00:28 was a huge privilege and it did help so many people.
00:33 It gave people medicine.
00:36 It was the perfect timing to be released really.
00:40 - You know, I think it's a signal to change
00:41 in the way we make comedy maybe.
00:44 - What do you say to a cocktail, Coach Lasso?
00:46 - Oh, same thing I'd say to Diane Sawyer
00:48 if she ever asked me out on a date.
00:49 Yes, please.
00:50 - A lot of comedy is mean.
00:51 A lot of comedy, there's the butt of the joke
00:53 and at Ted Lasso, there were no butts in the jokes.
00:56 The jokes were about things we could all relate to,
01:00 but nobody was being laughed at.
01:02 It's hard not to be anything other than moved
01:06 by the effect of Lasso.
01:08 - I'm glad you like him.
01:09 You know what, I'll start bringing these to you
01:11 every morning, called biscuits with the boss.
01:13 - That really isn't necessary.
01:15 - Okay, well mark this down
01:16 as the first time we disagree then.
01:17 - When the script came to me,
01:21 Jason was obviously on board to play Ted Lasso
01:24 and Brendan Hunt was on board to play Coach Beard.
01:27 But apart from that, we had to cast everybody else.
01:30 They got me on early to really focus
01:33 on Rebecca Welton, the female lead.
01:36 - Do you have lunch plans?
01:38 - As a matter of fact, I do.
01:40 - I don't care, Ted.
01:41 You're coming to lunch with me and my mother.
01:44 - Okay, sounds great.
01:45 - She's a complicated creature, Rebecca Welton.
01:49 So she had to have a lot of range, many different facets.
01:54 - Originally, there was some sort of hope
01:57 from the studio perhaps that we might cast someone
02:00 who was known to an international audience.
02:04 And so we sort of did a lot of work going through names
02:10 on lists of sort of more starry people,
02:13 but no one quite worked out.
02:17 And then when we were finally able to audition some ladies,
02:22 it took quite a while and then Hannah Waddingham
02:24 walked in finally and it all made sense.
02:28 - Football isn't just a game.
02:30 - With Rebecca's look, I kind of had it in my head
02:32 and Hannah and I were always on the same page
02:35 and Jason, that if you've just been through
02:39 a nasty breakup and you've, especially if you've got
02:42 to face the world and a world like the Premier League,
02:45 you want to put your war paint on.
02:47 So from day dot, we were always like,
02:49 when we first see Rebecca, she has to look extremely polished
02:52 because she was very much in the public eye
02:54 and she didn't want to be seen to be breaking down publicly.
02:58 And then if we ever had the opportunity to show her at home,
03:01 broken down a little bit, we always took that opportunity
03:04 where we would take the hair out, take the makeup off
03:07 and all that kind of thing.
03:10 And I think as her friendship with Keely progressed
03:13 and as she fell more in love with Richmond
03:15 and her friendship with Ted progressed,
03:18 those walls start to come down a bit
03:19 and she's slightly less polished.
03:22 - I was trying to get an idea of the feel of Rebecca
03:26 and a professional, strong woman
03:30 and what her kind of space might be
03:33 and what her kind of choices would be.
03:35 And it was quite a tricky thing to get right,
03:38 but I think it was a really nice mix of different elements
03:43 of gold and dark browns and wallpaper and paint.
03:48 And people seemed to like it.
03:50 And the sofa being one of the major elements
03:53 that she could then not only be behind her desk,
03:57 but also be quite kind of less formal with people
04:01 and sat and discussing elements.
04:03 - I respect that you need to go home.
04:06 - The scene where Hannah suggests to Ted that he stay on
04:09 and think of England as his home
04:11 was always gonna be a big scene for those two to do.
04:14 And it mirrors a scene
04:16 where Ted and Roy have a conversation
04:18 and they literally want to sit in the same seats.
04:20 Jason was very adamant,
04:21 "I want to sit in those same two seats."
04:23 So visually, we knew where we were going.
04:27 This was a much longer scene than that.
04:29 - I think a lot of us are feeling how Rebecca's feeling,
04:32 like we want you to stay
04:34 and everything she says in the stands
04:36 when they're having their heart-to-heart
04:38 and she asked them to stay.
04:39 That scene in particular, I think my first cut of it,
04:44 there was more tears.
04:45 When Rebecca, she kind of breaks and says,
04:47 "Please stay, Ted."
04:48 She had a take where she was crying more.
04:52 And I remember Jason being like,
04:53 "We're gonna do that at the end in the airport."
04:56 - Jason had written the scene
04:58 and it was always gonna be a very pivotal scene
05:00 'cause he turns her down.
05:01 'Cause she says, "This is the point where you say
05:02 "you've got to think about it.
05:03 "And tomorrow we have the exact same conversation.
05:05 "You say no."
05:06 But she didn't need to wait for that to happen.
05:09 She knew his answer.
05:10 - Still think I'd be underpaying you
05:12 for what you mean to this club?
05:14 - Uncle Roy, can we get ice cream?
05:17 - No.
05:17 Sorry.
05:20 - Season one, I was in the cutting room saying,
05:22 "I love Roy Kent.
05:24 "This guy is amazing."
05:26 The character of the bad boy with a heart of gold
05:28 and the way he just was so endearing
05:30 and finding those little nuggets that softened him
05:34 where he would know the lyrics to "Let It Go"
05:38 and seeing his relationship with his niece.
05:41 - Truth is, they just wanna feel like
05:42 they're part of our lives.
05:43 - Little idiots.
05:45 What's this?
05:45 Phoebe, do you wanna come to my podiatrist appointment later?
05:49 - Yes, please.
05:50 - Roy Kent, the character was originally based on Roy Keane,
05:54 who's an Irish footballer.
05:56 And so we were seeing lots of Irish people,
05:59 lots of comedians.
06:00 And then word came back from the writer's room,
06:02 oh, you know, Brett wants to put his hat in the ring.
06:05 Great.
06:06 He just came back with this tape
06:08 and created this amazing character
06:10 that is so unlike how he is as a person.
06:14 - Does my face look like it's in the mood
06:15 for shape-based jokes?
06:17 No, Roy, it does not.
06:18 - You know, Brett is the sweetest, softest,
06:21 loveliest guy that you could possibly meet.
06:24 And so he is nothing of the gruffness of Roy Kent.
06:28 - When I first met Brett, he said,
06:30 "What do you wanna do with me?"
06:31 I said, "Well, to be honest,
06:33 "you're about as close to perfect as perfect can get."
06:35 I mean, I knew his story arc,
06:37 so I knew he should never have a very full beard
06:40 because he was gonna be stood next to coach Beard.
06:42 And he should never have a moustache on its own
06:45 because it's not, you know, it's a Ted look
06:48 and it's not kind of, he's a London trendy footballer.
06:51 Brett was really up for whatever we wanted to do.
06:55 He was really easy going with it.
06:56 And I think we went the right path.
06:58 I love that we could let his beard grow
07:00 at the start of season two when he'd left Richmond
07:03 and was a little bit sad.
07:04 Another opportunity to utilize facial hair
07:07 to show stress.
07:09 But then as soon as he became a football pundit
07:11 and we were able to, you know, get him back to normal,
07:15 it then had that impact where people were like,
07:17 "Wow, there he is."
07:18 And he's so good looking, isn't he?
07:19 I mean, the guy like,
07:21 you can't really go wrong with Brett, let's face it.
07:23 - I think you are super hot,
07:26 but I'm gonna dip my toe back into the lady pool.
07:27 I can't think of a finer body of water
07:29 to do it with than you.
07:30 I'm fucking with you.
07:33 (laughs)
07:35 - Keely is the funnest character.
07:37 In season three, we had 44 different hair and makeup looks
07:40 for Keely.
07:41 Juno is just so beautiful.
07:43 We definitely, in season three,
07:44 we definitely wanted to make Keely
07:45 a little bit more sophisticated
07:46 'cause she's got her own company.
07:48 We definitely wanted to push her a little bit more,
07:51 but we didn't wanna lose the Keely-ness either.
07:54 - Boy, sucks butt that everyone's predicted
07:56 Richmond finished last.
07:58 I mean, what?
07:59 You're not actually worried about that though, right?
08:01 - No, not really.
08:03 - Hey, James, come here real quick.
08:05 Yeah, there you go.
08:07 Yeah, keep them hips loose.
08:08 - Jamie Tartt, to me, had the largest arc.
08:11 I go back and watch season one and see, you know,
08:15 Jamie was the Prince Prick of all pricks,
08:17 as Roy Kent called him.
08:18 And, you know, he was also kind of came across
08:22 as a bit of an airhead, kind of this cocky guy
08:25 who didn't know anything.
08:27 And then I started to see hints of him changing
08:31 when I was cutting episode 210.
08:33 And I was like, wow,
08:34 this character's gonna go somewhere.
08:36 The comedy scene, you know, in the boot room
08:39 where Roy's like, we need you to be the biggest prick
08:42 you've ever been in your little prick life.
08:44 And then he just breaks down.
08:46 - So we need you to be the prickiest prick
08:48 you've ever been in your little prick life.
08:50 You understand?
08:51 So I don't want you.
08:53 - Just the way they came up with that thing
08:56 where Phil is putting his hands all over Roy's face.
08:59 And that was just done on one or two takes
09:01 when they discovered that.
09:02 - Where the (beep) are my wings, Roy?
09:04 Yeah!
09:05 - I saw Phil a lot when he came over for the premieres.
09:11 And I just told him how, what a wonderful performance
09:14 he gave and I'm so thrilled that he's nominated.
09:16 - How you been?
09:17 - Pretty good.
09:18 Okay.
09:19 A little depressed.
09:20 - Wow, it's a real rollercoaster there.
09:22 Jason has always said that he looks at editing
09:24 as the final rewrite, which is, you know,
09:27 music to my ears as an editor.
09:29 There was a great piece of improv
09:31 when the team is down in the sewer
09:33 and Ted asked the team, said,
09:36 "What are we surrounded by down here?"
09:39 And Jamie Tartt raises his hand and says,
09:41 "Coach, we're surrounded by Poo-Pay."
09:43 - What are we surrounded by down here?
09:45 - Coach.
09:46 - Yeah, Jamie.
09:47 - We're surrounded by Poo-Pay.
09:49 - Mm-hmm, that's right.
09:50 - And that was something that he had come up with.
09:53 I think he might've talked about it with Jason,
09:54 but did not tell the rest of the team.
09:57 And I used Phil and Brett's kind of two-shot close coverage
10:02 and Brett Goldstein is standing right next to him.
10:05 And I used the take as long as I could
10:07 before Brett just starts cracking up at that.
10:11 And then the whole cast just started laughing.
10:14 So Jason picked up on that later
10:16 and on his coverage, finished the line and said,
10:19 "Yeah, that's true, but there's a whole bunch of Poo-Pay
10:21 up there as well, yeah?"
10:23 And everybody laughed again.
10:25 So those are those little gems
10:26 that just get discovered on set.
10:28 And I love that when we find those
10:31 'cause they just have great comedy energy
10:33 and it's something that's not written
10:35 and it's just really special.
10:36 - Thank you, fellas.
10:38 That was perfect.
10:39 (crowd cheering)
10:42 - Season three was cutting like 12 individual feature films.
10:49 - It was really a special season in that way
10:52 where everyone just kind of took a little bit more
10:56 risk and gave a little bit more of their creative selves.
10:59 - Jason had a very solid basis,
11:02 had a very solid knowledge of where this is all coming from.
11:04 When we first spoke, he talked a lot about fatherhood
11:08 and what it meant to be a father and toxic masculinity
11:12 and how bad parenting and bad fatherhood
11:15 had affected people so much.
11:17 And that's so beautifully illustrated in the characters.
11:21 I think my favorite scene,
11:23 and it will be from the very final episode,
11:25 the belief poster has been torn down by Nate
11:27 and then Ted rips it up again
11:29 and we never see it again and it's gone.
11:31 And halftime, the two run down at halftime
11:34 on this final game.
11:37 And he says, "I've got nothing to say to you,
11:40 but I know that you're gonna go back out there
11:41 and be the best versions of yourselves you can be.
11:44 Has anybody got anything to add?"
11:46 And Tahib, Sam of Asanjhia, reaches into his locker
11:49 and takes out a piece of paper
11:51 and it's a sliver of yellow paper
11:53 and puts it down on the table in the middle of the room.
11:56 And then one after another, everybody else does.
11:58 And we realized they've all kept a piece
12:00 of the belief poster.
12:01 So some people had it in the shin guards,
12:03 Isaac the Captain had it under his armband.
12:05 Jamie Tartt had put it in the book that Ted gave him
12:08 two years ago, but he's never read,
12:10 but he put it in the book as a bookmark.
12:12 So everybody has kept a sliver of the paper
12:14 and they all put the piece of paper down
12:17 and then they look at it and go, "Oh."
12:18 And then they all start to rearrange it,
12:19 to rearrange it back into the belief poster.
12:22 But my favorite moment was, they all stood around it.
12:25 Nate was at one end, Ted was at the other end
12:27 with the other coaches.
12:28 And when all the bits of paper were down,
12:30 all the heads went down and the only two people standing
12:32 were Ted and Nate opposite each other.
12:35 And there's a beautiful moment between them
12:36 where they catch each other's eyes.
12:38 And you know that the forgiveness is complete,
12:41 that Ted has completely forgiven Nate
12:43 and that Nate feels he is back home.
12:45 You know, that Richmond is home.
12:47 (gentle music)
12:50 And there it is, number four.
12:55 Yeah.
12:56 - For me, season three, although it was bittersweet,
13:00 the ending, Jason, you know, Ted saying goodbye
13:05 to the team, having made them that video.
13:08 We were all there, that was the very last thing we shot,
13:10 apart from him going home to America
13:13 where a few of us went and shot.
13:15 That was the last thing we shot as a whole crew and cast.
13:18 And those tears were real.
13:21 - Jason always loved the editing process
13:25 'cause it was just a moment where it was just really me,
13:27 him, Melissa, and our assistant editors.
13:30 And it was just a really tight knit family.
13:32 And what we were doing, you know, by season three,
13:35 the studio and the network just gave Jason so much trust.
13:40 It was always his show in his head
13:43 and we were all trying to help him get it to the screen.
13:44 But in this moment, it was just really him
13:47 and us as editors.
13:49 And that just something I know he appreciated.
13:53 And to be given the privilege to choose
13:58 amongst all this amazing footage and takes
14:00 to figure out what are the pieces we're gonna use
14:03 to make that episode,
14:05 that just felt like such an incredible honor.
14:08 And I won't forget it.
14:12 - Working on this show has been the culmination
14:17 of many hopes and dreams since I was a teenager
14:22 of working in comedy with people at the top of their game.
14:27 And I never thought I'd get here, but here I am.
14:31 - As soon as we started filming season one,
14:33 I could see there was something really special happening
14:36 and it has literally changed so many of our lives,
14:42 so many of our careers, this show.
14:43 And I know people say that about a lot of shows,
14:45 but I do think the message behind Ted Lasso
14:47 is a little bit different.
14:49 And what you see on camera
14:51 is genuinely what is behind the camera.
14:53 - That the show is very good
14:55 and you're making something that people really love to watch
14:58 is hugely rewarding anyway.
15:00 But when you're going to work and work itself is a laugh,
15:04 I mean, it really is a lot of fun.
15:05 It was extremely hard work,
15:07 but every day was a laugh because the stuff is funny.
15:10 The people you're working with are really great.
15:12 They're a lovely bunch of people and they are very funny.
15:14 And to go to work every day
15:15 and just be having the best old time,
15:17 it's hard to beat that.
15:19 - Well, it's been an amazing experience for myself
15:22 being part of Ted Lasso.
15:24 I mean, I've never been nominated for anything before
15:26 and I've now been nominated for three Emmy awards in a row,
15:31 which this year was even more surprising
15:34 'cause we're in a different category.
15:37 And I think also I've worked on other shows
15:40 that have a kind of following or have a kind of fan base,
15:43 but nothing to the extent of Ted.
15:45 And it's actually been lovely just hearing the stories
15:48 from people who've been touched so much
15:50 or it's helped them through a bad time
15:53 or they've been ill and they've watched the show
15:55 and it's made them feel better.
15:57 And also it seems to make people feel a bit better
15:59 about other people and relationships and life.
16:02 And sometimes you just think,
16:05 well, you're just working on television
16:06 or you're just working on a film,
16:08 but when it has that effect on people, it's amazing.
16:12 - Love you all to bits.
16:13 (audience applauding)
16:15 - We really became a big family
16:16 where we all know each other,
16:18 cast, crew, the production designer,
16:21 our hair and makeup team came by,
16:23 everybody came to LA and sat in our room.
16:25 So it was really special.
16:26 It was a special season because I think we all knew
16:30 what we had done together was something
16:33 that elevated us all.
16:36 - When Jason as Ted says,
16:38 "There aren't a lot of places like AFC Richmond."
16:42 - There ain't a whole lot of places
16:43 like AFC Richmond either.
16:44 - I really felt like he was talking to all of us
16:50 on the crew and the cast.
16:52 And every time I watched it, I was just like,
16:56 I feel so lucky that I got to do this show
16:58 for this three seasons with Jason and build this community
17:04 and have this message.
17:06 And it really is, it's a team and a family.
17:10 And I know how rare that is in this business.
17:14 It's a gift that I don't take lightly, I really don't.
17:17 - Getting to work with you all these last three years
17:20 has truly been one of the greatest experiences of my life.
17:23 I've loved getting to know each and every single one of you.
17:25 You know, when I showed up here,
17:26 I didn't know one thing about soccer,
17:28 but now I know at least one thing about football.
17:32 I'm just so gosh damn proud to be a part of this team.
17:35 And I love you guys.
17:36 (crowd cheering)
17:39 (crowd cheering)
17:41 (crowd cheering)
17:44 - I don't know.
17:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]