Timothy Simons: From ‘Veep’ to ‘Nobody Wants This’

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The Daily Beast

Tv & Film

4.5 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For better or worse, Timothy Simons will probably always be best known for the first TV role he ever booked: the cravenly odious political climber Jonah Ryan on HBO’s ‘Veep.’ He could have been typecast as a lanky creep forever, but in the years since that show ended, Simons has managed to have a surprisingly varied acting career, most notably with his role as rom-com sidekick Sasha in this fall’s Netflix hit ‘Nobody Wants This.’ In this episode, Simons talks about finding the nuance in what could have been a one-note character and reacts to the controversy around the show’s depiction of its Jewish female characters. He also looks back on what it what like to begin his career opposite a comedy legend like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and reveals the disturbing similarities between Jonah Ryan and America’s next vice president, JD Vance. Follow Timothy Simons on Instagram @timothycsimons Follow Matt Wilstein on Threads @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod and Threads @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Last Laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast, and today on the show we have my conversation with the actor who will probably always be known for the first TV role he ever booked, Jonah Ryan on Veep.
0:19.1	So before we get much further, I should probably acknowledge that Timothy Simons and I spoke
0:25.2	before Election Day.
0:27.0	So neither of us knew just how terribly that day was going to play out, you know, for
0:32.0	anyone who wasn't rooting for Donald Trump.
0:34.1	And while our conversation does touch a bit on politics, including the disturbing
0:38.6	similarities between Jonah Ryan and America's next vice president, J.D. Vance, it is mostly just
0:44.7	a really fun chat about Timothy's place in the comedy world. We started by talking about his
0:50.1	most recent performance as Sasha, the brother of Adam Brody's character Noah, and the
0:55.1	surprisingly huge Netflix hit, Nobody Wants This.
0:58.7	Timothy talked about finding the nuance in what could have been a purely goofy rom-com
1:03.2	sidekick and shared a few details about where his character's relationship with Justine
1:08.1	Lupe's Morgan might be headed in season two. And he also weighed in on
1:12.9	the controversy the show drummed up about the depiction of its female Jewish characters. But before we
1:18.7	get into all that, let's listen to one of Timothy's many iconic scenes as Jonah on Veep. This one
1:25.2	from his congressional debate. That is still very funny, but somehow
1:29.6	less absurd, given the current state of American politics.
1:34.8	Let's turn our attention to foreign policy, Congressman Ryan.
1:37.9	Bring it on, Bree.
1:38.6	Your question is about Africa.
1:40.4	Pass.
1:41.0	With China challenging American hegemony across the African continent, should we adopt
	...

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