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I\u2019ve interviewed a lot of successful<\/a> people, but Asher Grodman<\/a> is the first to become famous mostly without pants. Grodman plays Trevor, the forever-trouserless finance bro on CBS\u2019s hit comedy Ghosts<\/a>. (Backstory on his wardrobe: On the show, Trevor died while pantsless, hence his spirit is forever pantless in the afterlife.)<\/p>\n Subscribe to Entrepreneur\u2019s How Success Happens podcast:\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Spotify<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0YouTube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On the eve of Ghost<\/em>\u2019s eagerly awaited Halloween special (look for it on-demand, trust me), I spoke to Grodman over video from his trailer. We talked about the skills, mindset and determination it took for him to break into an industry that is famously impossible to break into. His secret? Don\u2019t be afraid to look silly every now and then.<\/p>\n First question, because I can\u2019t tell on this video call: Are you wearing pants?<\/strong> Are there days where you wish the writers wrote your character differently, or do you embrace the pantlessness?<\/strong> Imposter syndrome is a big thing. People face a big moment and think, \u201cI\u2019ve never done this before \u2014\u00a0I shouldn\u2019t be doing this.\u201d How did you get yourself in the right headspace for comedy?<\/strong> So what\u2019s the most Hollywood thing in your fancy trailer?\u00a0<\/strong> Subscribe to the free\u00a0How Success Happens\u00a0Newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for weekly inspiration.<\/strong><\/p>\n When guest stars come on the show, they have trailers and stuff that they can go to, but we kind of invite them to sit on those couches with us or sit around the table with us. So they\u2019re kind of part of this gaggle of idiots. Often in this show, to use a sports analogy, the ball gets passed around a lot. We\u2019ve all had the experience of being on other shows and feeling like you\u2019re the guy who was called in to do one play and then they all beat you up on the sideline. So we want it to be a really welcoming place. When I think of my happiest places in the world, that table is one of them.<\/p>\n You\u2019re a big Jaguars fan. How did your \u201cNFL is scripted\u201d viral video series come together, and where did you get the guts to pitch it?<\/strong> What advice do you have for creators who haven\u2019t broken through yet, besides \u201cstick to it\u201d?<\/strong> I\u2019ve interviewed a lot of successful<\/a> people, but Asher Grodman<\/a> is the first to become famous mostly without pants. Grodman plays Trevor, the forever-trouserless finance bro on CBS\u2019s hit comedy Ghosts<\/a>. (Backstory on his wardrobe: On the show, Trevor died while pantsless, hence his spirit is forever pantless in the afterlife.)<\/p>\n Subscribe to Entrepreneur\u2019s How Success Happens podcast:\u00a0Apple<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Spotify<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0YouTube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n On the eve of Ghost<\/em>\u2019s eagerly awaited Halloween special (look for it on-demand, trust me), I spoke to Grodman over video from his trailer. We talked about the skills, mindset and determination it took for him to break into an industry that is famously impossible to break into. His secret? Don\u2019t be afraid to look silly every now and then.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
I am at this moment wearing pants, but I\u2019ve got about two hours left of pantness in my life.<\/p>\n
There are never days that I wish they wrote it differently, but there are certainly days where you\u2019re just like, pants would be so lovely. When I get to do something else and I get to wear pants, it feels like such a power move. But as a guy who had never done a comedy<\/a> when we started this thing off, the idea of me not wearing pants was kind of like a safety net because I was like, \u201cWell, if I don\u2019t hit a joke, they\u2019ll just switch up the angle and reveal my thighs, and that should get a chuckle at least.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remember I auditioned and I think it was Joe Port, one of our showrunners, who was like, \u201cWho are you? You\u2019ve never done a comedy.\u201d And do remember saying \u2014 I don\u2019t know where this came from \u2014 that comedy is just drama but more serious. You\u2019re just committed to being an idiot, to some degree, or whatever the thing asks you to be. The first line Trevor ever says is, \u201cWe scooped a copter to beat the traffic out to the Hamptons because that\u2019s how we roll.\u201d It\u2019s just such a specific point of view and a specific guy. I was like, I know who this is, and a lot of my job is going to be to get out of the way of the comedy, because that\u2019s working, and just make sure that there is a heart to this guy. I approached it as an actor. I didn\u2019t approach it with the intention of, I have to make this funny.<\/p>\n\n
This is going to be really disappointing, because we really haven\u2019t been in these trailers since season two. Our crew here in Montreal built this cast village where we all have our own little rooms, our own little offices with couches in them, and that\u2019s the most Hollywood thing. But in the middle is that long Thanksgiving-style table, and that\u2019s where we sit and work and play and goof off, and we get rowdy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been a Jaguars fan from day one, since I was eight. And I\u2019ve been very vocal about that. Someone from the organization called me as season one of Ghosts was airing and asked, \u201cIs this real?\u201d I told them yes, and that hiring Urban Meyer was the dumbest decision in the history of professional sports. So she was like, \u201cOkay, you\u2019re a real Jaguars fan.\u201d So they brought me into the family. There was this magical season in 2022 where they won the division and went into the playoffs, and there were all these conspiracy theories about the NFL being scripted. So I suggested doing a full mockumentary about the NFL actually being scripted<\/a> and they were like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you write and direct it?\u201d And I was like, well, I got a really cushy thing going on here as the outsider. I\u2019m sitting with the owner and watching these games on the sideline, and I really don\u2019t want to ruin that, because if you\u2019re going to blame anyone when it fails, you\u2019re going to blame me. But we did it and it was the most joyful creative experience I\u2019ve had in my life. We shot that whole thing in two days. It was like 42 scenes. Trevor Lawrence is a major character in it, and I think we had him for 30 minutes. So Ghosts<\/em> has taught me to shoot fast.<\/p>\n
The stick-to-it thing is not wrong. Support yourself, take care of yourself, because it is a little bit about just how many at-bats you get. You can have a hundred auditions and get one. That\u2019s not a reflection of talent. There are so many circumstances outside of your control. I think as much as you can, you want to develop a sense of confidence. And I\u2019m still struggling with this: a sense of confidence without ego. A sense of embracing the unknown <\/a>and embracing being wrong and being foolish, but also holding on to the confidence and the self-worth to keep trying. To feel comfortable in failure. That\u2019s really important. And show up. For auditions, I get such a thrill walking into a room and meeting a reader who I don\u2019t know and figuring out a way to take this thing that\u2019s written on the page and making it feel like we\u2019re improvising. It is just an electric, thrilling thing. Be in the moment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n