Jessica Williams discussed her role of Gaby and returning for a second season of Apple TV+’s comedy series, Shrinking.
Williams didn’t have much time to celebrate her earlier Emmy nomination in 2023 because of the SAG and WGA strikes. But after the strikes ended, she told Awards Focus that it took her a day to get back into character for the start of the second season.
Williams credits her drama teachers and discusses the biggest improv lessons that have stayed with her throughout her career. She also discusses the season finale and offers her thoughts on witnessing Harrison Ford’s monologue in the Thanksgiving episode, telling Awards Focus that she’s “going to lose it” if Ford is not nominated for an Emmy.
Shrinking stars Jason Segel as Jimmy, a grieving therapist who breaks the rules and shares blunt truths with his clients, which helps Jimmy start changing people’s lives as well as his own. The series has undoubtedly grown into a true ensemble comedy series where the writers have found the right balance between work and home life.
All episodes of Shrinking are now available to watch on Apple TV+.
Awards Focus: How are you?
Jessica Williams: I’m good. How are you doing?
AF: A few tech issues aside but I’m doing well.
Jessica Williams: Okay. Doesn’t sound too bad right now.
AF: Shrinking is one of the best comedies, let alone series, on TV or streaming right now. I feel like the second season is even better than the first.
Jessica Williams: Wow, great. Thank you so much.
AF: You’re welcome. How honored were you to receive an Emmy nomination for your performance in the first season?
Jessica Williams: Oh, I was really honored. I was really shocked. I was really surprised. It was when the WGA was on strike. When I got nominated, it was like 12 hours until strike so I had till midnight to really be able to publicly celebrate. It was a really interesting kind of time, actually. It was amazing but I was really surprised. I think the Emmy voters are supposed to be a jury of your peers. No matter what happens, the critics—you never know what the critics are going to think but to be kind of voted on my body of work with people that do the job that I do is very surreal. It meant so much.
AF: We get to know more about Gaby this season. How did you approach the role going into the second season compared to the first?
Jessica Williams: Yeah, well, with the first season, we were all sort of feeling in the dark because we didn’t know what the show was. We hadn’t seen it. For Gaby, I was approached to play her and they were like, we want to tailor her to the actress that plays her. Throughout the season, we figure out who Gaby is and then in the last half of the first season, we all really figured it out and sort of got to really hit it home. For the second season, we just got to take all the hard work that we did in the first season, just kind of own it, and get really comfortable in it.
I’ve never returned to a TV show for a second season. I’ve done limited series and I’ve done The Daily Show and movies. But to return to someone I know for a second season, it feels almost like a cheat code because I’ve already done the hard work of figuring out who she is, her tone, and her voice. It was like I got to just really live in my favorite outfit, basically.
AF: How long does it take you to get back into character?
Jessica Williams: Probably a day. I was really nervous because we had had a long break in between season one and two. Especially after being nominated, I kind of got in my head and was like, Oh, I don’t know if I could do this again. I don’t know if I have what it takes to kind of capture her essence again. I was so scared getting back on that set. It took me a few hours and I was like, Okay, that’s her. I got it. I got it. I got it. We had great writing to remind me of who she was. It took a day and then I was off to the races.
AF: How much input do you have in crafting Gaby’s story-line?
Jessica Williams: Some. I have some input. I mean, it’s Bill Lawrence’s show and he makes it very clear. We all kind of look to him and the writers for our compass, our moves, and our beats. But if I feel something’s kind of not quite right with only Gaby. which is the only thing in my control, he’s down to listen and I can talk to him about it. Some things do change, but for the most part, there’s not really anything I have to worry about because the writing’s so good.
AF: What do you bring to the character that isn’t on the page?
Jessica Williams: Oh, I bring a lot to the character. Gaby is someone who really has her heart on her sleeve. You kind of know what she’s thinking. The physicality, the warmth that I think she has, I try and bring the chemistry and the love that she feels for the other actors. That’s kind of the number one thing is making sure she’s such a supportive caretaker. I really do try and make sure that I’m giving the other actor a hundred percent of my attention. All I have to do, really, is listen and respond.
I improvise quite a bit as her character. I like to add things like to where it feels like you’re watching something happen. I want people to feel, when they watch Gaby, an aliveness is maybe what I call it, where you don’t know what she’s going to say. It just feels like you’re watching someone speak because to me, that stuff feels like magic. I always think of the lobster scene in Annie Hall, where they’re just kind of laughing, playing with this lobster. I want to chase that. That’s what I want to do.
AF: Having come up in the improv and sketch comedy world. Is there an instructor that’s had the most meaningful impact on your career?
Jessica Williams: Absolutely. I’m the product, actually, of really good public school teachers, like drama teachers. All my drama teachers, it was a really good performing arts program and they were tough. They would be like, I can always see you, even if you’re not speaking on stage. I can always see you. They would scream and yell. They would be like, you have to give it 100%. I’ve had teachers that were teaching me, in order to do something, you shouldn’t really make fun of it. You have to love it, even if you’re doing a parody of something, to honor and respect the audience. To not act like you’re too cool for the audience, because they came out to spend money to see you perform.
It’s always to give it 150% and commit to everything that you do, because people can always see you. I’m the product of just a really good public school system. All my drama teachers. All that stuff’s in my brain all the time. I still hear them. I feel really lucky for that.
AF: What would you say is the biggest improv lesson that’s stayed with you from improv classes?
Jessica Williams: Biggest lesson that’s stayed with me is always be listening. If you have too much of an agenda and you come out and you have a way this scene’s going to go and you’re not looking at your environment or focusing and listening to the other character, you’re just kind of an asshole of a player. You’re steamrolling or you’re missing opportunities to make something really interesting happen with the other person that’s in front of you. It’s just about radical listening. That’s the thing.
And yes and. Try not to make the other person feel uncomfortable and honoring their choices and showing up to meet them where they are. It’s yes and. If you go no to them, not only are you not respecting who they are as a person and who they are as an artist, you’re also probably kind of hurting their feelings in some way, whether you want to or not. It’s just yes and, just listen, and support. That’s the biggest thing. Because if you’re doing that, I promise you, you guys are going to catch each other or you’re going to fail together.
The last biggest thing from my teachers—a few of my teachers, they would have this exercise where if you messed up, you would just declare, I failed, and you would take a bow, and everybody would clap for you. That’s also the biggest thing is not being afraid of failing and looking like an idiot. I am afraid of failing in a lot of different aspects, but with acting and with improv, with on camera, I’m not afraid of failing, because we’re always just going to be able to do it again. It’s about being brave and just going for it. Just looking like an idiot, that’s okay, it doesn’t mean you’re an idiot.
AF: Speaking of acting and being on camera, it’s been really fun getting to watch your interactions with Christa Miller this season.
Jessica Williams: Oh, thank you so much.
AF: You’re welcome. What’s it been like getting to act with her?
Jessica Williams: Yeah, it’s great. She’s very similar to her character of Liz. I think that’s very different from me in every way. I love acting with her. It’s different from Gaby. I just really try and focus on their relationship and how I can drum up their differences. There’s a delight and joy in that. I think they start as enemies, and there’s something so boring about watching two women be enemies. It’s like, who cares? Women are always fighting on TV so there’s something really fun about just a good old love fest.
AF: Did you ever think that you would be starring in a series with Harrison Ford, let alone sharing many scenes with him?
Jessica Williams: Yeah, never in a gajillion years did I ever think I’d be starring in something with Harrison Ford. Like everyone else, I’ve known about in my whole life, essentially. When you think of a movie star, it’s him. He is the movie star. He’s in movies that are from an era that make you want to sit in a theater. They make you feel like a kid. I could smell the popcorn, I’m in the theater and I’m watching the Harrison Ford and so to be on this little blip and have this little space in the timeline of his career is a dream.
I saw him last week. We did a panel. It was so nice. I hadn’t seen him in a really long time since we wrapped filming and I just genuinely missed him. I missed his personality as a person and who he was. Yeah, it was just really nice and surreal, genuinely like, I missed you. It was really nice.
AF: This season, Damon Wayans Jr. got added to the cast in a recurring role and that’s on top of having to see Gaby with her mom and sister and dealing with that story arc.
Jessica Williams: They really wanted to flesh out the characters this season. Damon Wayans Jr. is a dream to work with. His mind’s really fast. He is a Wayans and he just made me laugh so much during this season. Vernee Watson is an absolute legend. She’s been acting for a really long time. Not only that, but she’s an amazing actor. She plays my mom. Courtney Taylor is really, really funny and really silly and really good and grounded so it was an honor to act with her. The thing about Shrinking is every guest star that they add to the show is really going to bring the heat. They’re always a good fit and we have great casting directors. I feel really lucky.
AF: Yeah, I can’t wait to watch season 3. I’ve already finished season 2. The finale is just absolutely beautiful.
Jessica Williams: Oh, you saw it! That’s great. I know. I just literally cannot wait. In the beginning, the press hadn’t seen the last episode and I was like, wait until that last episode. But in that scene with Harrison giving that insane monologue, it’s just some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in person in my whole life. I just can’t wait for everybody to be able to witness that. I mean, we were actually weeping. It’s great. I get chills thinking about it.
AF: If Harrison doesn’t get an Emmy nomination, I will be surprised.
Jessica Williams: Oh, I’m going to lose it. I’m just going to lose it. I mean, that was one of those scenes where, I kid you not, I was thinking, yeah, that’s Harrison f***ing Ford. Period. That’s just what I was thinking. I was just like, that’s Harrison f***ing Ford. It was an honor to be able to watch him do that.
AF: Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure and best of luck with awards season.
Jessica Williams: Thank you. I appreciate your time.