After ‘Ted Lasso’ Success, Brett Goldstein Wants to Make the Most of This ‘Window’ in His Career ‘Before It Closes’

Goldstein recently premiered his romantic sci-fi drama "All of You" at TIFF and guest stars on the upcoming second season of "Shrinking," which he co-created.

In the entertainment business, every job is your last job. This was the mindset Brett Goldstein carried during the first leg of his career, working consistently as both a writer and actor, as well as a podcaster, but even now after he’s achieved international fame following his work on the hit Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso,” he still feels he needs to be pushing himself as hard as he can.

“I’ve always been like this, working on 12 things at once,” Goldstein said in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “But it was many, many years before anyone saw anything I worked on. There’s a window here, and I don’t know how long that window stays open. I might as well make the most of it before it closes. I also fucking truly love it. So it’s like, why wouldn’t I do it all — other than to maybe get some sleep and have an emotional life? I can say this as a joke and also really mean it: One of the great things about being a workaholic is that you don’t have time to stop and be sad.”

And yet, one of his most recent projects, the mental health dramedy “Shrinking,” deals with just that. The series was co-created with his fellow “Ted Lasso” collaborator Bill Lawrence and Jason Segel, both of whom felt it was important to include Goldstein as a creative partner, but also as a fellow performer.

“Bill had been trying to get me to at least do a cameo, something funny,” said Goldstein. “Then we’d written this character for season two, and we were about to cast it when Jason brought me and Bill into his trailer and said, ‘Why isn’t Brett doing this part?'”

Rather than lean on Goldstein’s bombastic, curmudgeonly sense of humor, the role sees the actor deal in more dramatic territory, which Lawrence wasn’t sure about at first.

“Bill was like, ‘I don’t see it.’ But he called me the next morning and said something very sincere,” Goldstein said to THR. “He said, ‘I think you’re a real artist, and if you think you can do this, I will support you.’ It was scary, but fuck it, let’s give it a go. Anything scary, you should probably be doing.”

As for plans on returning to the now official Season 4 of “Ted Lasso,” Goldstein has no idea what’s in store and was surprised as everyone else to hear the series was coming. 

“I genuinely know nothing,” he said. “There will be a plan put into action soon, but so far the plan is not in action.”

Season 2 of “Shrinking” premieres on Apple TV+ October 16.