)
As daylight flows through the bar's windows, a familiar face smiles, drying a glass with a rag, before cracking a one-liner. The one-liner doesn't fall flat, eitherof course not, because it's a joke being delivered by Jake Johnson, so obviously it's going to be funny.
For Netflix bingers or sitcom fans, this probably sounds like something you've seen beforequite possibly because you have seen it before, in 146 episodes of New Girl. But it's not New Girl. Nor is it Drinking Buddies, the 2013 comedy where Johnson also played a bartender. It's Stumptown , ABC's new private eye dramedy that stars Cobie Smulders as the show's central detective, and Johnson as, you guessed it, her loyal bartender buddy.
Now, part of what makes Johnson such an enjoyable performer is that he brings a charm, and often an underlying sadness, to his roles. So the bartender he's playing is never just a bartender, but nonetheless we're left wondering why? What is it about Jake Johnson that has so many casting directors thinking people want to see him pouring beers?
Part of it has been expertly on display in Stumptown, a role that might seem similar to New Girl on its surface, but has already begun to peel back layers in the show's second episode. Johnson has a presence that's charming, laid-back, and even just watching on TV seems easy to talk to. This isn't his character New Girl character Nick Miller, nor is it his Stumptown character Grey McConnellit's Johnson himself. He brought it to his role in the mostly-forgettable comedy Tag, where grown men play, well, tag, and he even brought it to his purely-comic-relief role as a techie in Jurassic World. In Johnson's confidence, low-stakes humor, and demeanor, we see someone that we wouldn't mind talking to.
)
)
)
And it's where Johnson shines in his roles behind the bar. When you go to a bar with friends, the goal is to talk to your friends. But when you go to a bar alone, the bartender just might become your best pal for an hour or two. And that's what these projects know and see in Johnson, and it's a rare quality that he has. Could you see yourself talking about sports with Jake Johnson? Sure! Could you see him opening up, like he often does in New Girl? Sure! Could you see him caring with someone's sibling with a disability, treating them not as an outcast but as a person, like he does in Stumptown? Absolutely. We don't necessarily know Jake Johnson, but with the underlying positive persona that he brings to every role, it feels like we do. That charm isn't something each role gives and takesit's built in.
When that charm is built in, sure, it can be on the project's writers to add more depth, add more complexity, and add more character as they progress. But when you start with someone that audiences already feel like they know, and already feel like they've shared moments with, and have heard open up, that's a pretty darn advantageous head start.