Steve Carell's Greg smiling sweetly at something in Rooster
Carell's latest foray into the genre sees him take on the role of Greg Russo in Rooster. The comedy, created by Ted Lasso collaborator Bill Lawrence, follows an overprotective, best-selling author , who drops everything to help his daughter, played by Charly Clive, navigate a messy breakup and professional turmoil.
In an attempt to fix her life, he is met with his own personal struggles — juggling his big personality as"Rooster," and his big reputation as a novelist, all on a sprawling college campus that presents complications of its own. Set largely at the university where she works, the show, which also stars Danielle Deadwyler, Phil Dunster, John C. McGinley, and Lauren Tsai, blends family drama and workplace comedy, as their father-daughter relationship plays out among eccentric faculty, students, and campus politics. Besides the two-season Netflix flop Space Force, Carell hasn't given a strictly comedic performance on the small screen since playing Michael Scott. And while Carell has been taking on more dramatic roles as of late, i.e. The Morning Show, Mountainhead, and The Four Seasons, Rooster represents a return to his comedy roots. In an interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, Carell explained his comedic approach, and how he gets into the headspace to play guys like Russo. Steve Carell: Someone was just talking about falling down and the physical aspects of it. And I think part of it is when a character goes broad, I always think of somebody like — and I would never compare myself to them — but Peter Sellers, who could do these incredibly broad characters but always be grounded. Always be a character that believes what they're doing, so you believe what they're doing. And someone who's trying not to look absurd, but looks twice as absurd because of that. Always trying to cover the faults, the stumbles, and keep his dignity. And I think that's sort of what I was trying to do, at least with the physical aspect of it. But it's always fun. I think it's always funny to see someone trying really hard, not quite succeeding. It's the struggle that makes me laugh. Tapping into his physical comedy talents, Carell reflected on one scene in particular, opposite Dunster, which he says proved to be a full "event." Steve Carell: That was an event. That fight between us was an event, especially because he was, and I'm going to use the word — he was in his underpants. And that informs a lot of what was going on. And it was a lot about his underpants. We actually broke the bed. We broke that bed in that scene. We weren't supposed to. And it took a long time for them to prop the bed back up, but we broke it, and they kept that in. Everything Else Carell Said About The Role — And A Fun The Paper Surprise Too! ScreenRant: You get to act out emotions and action scenes and comedic bits that maybe are not a part of your daily lives. Is there a role from your past or maybe something within Rooster specifically that you think echoes that quote? Steve Carell: Every part you do is exactly that. You're playing somebody who you're not. And even the ones that seem like they're similar to who you are, aren't really. So yeah, it's kind of why I don't dress up for Halloween, because I kind of do that as a career. I get to dress up and pretend every day. But it's also nice to go back to the boring mode of who I really am, to be quite honest. Steve Carell: Well, that's nice of you to say. Incidentally, I know you don't want to become exactly like your parents, but you're going to. I have found I am my dad and there are things that he did, like just breaths, like getting up from a chair. I'm doing it. Wow. I am doing it now. And my wife says,"Oh my gosh, that's Ed Carell. You're turning into Ed." It's imprinted. There's no way around it. ScreenRant: We did a lot of work with The Paper last fall when the series was coming out. I read that you and John went to set and surprised the cast. Steve Carell: Yeah, first day... It was very casual. We were shooting a commercial a couple sound stages away, and it wasn't anything premeditated, like,"Oh, they're over there. We're going to go say hi." So it wasn't this big event. It was just kind of checking in, saying hi, wishing him luck. I had no idea Oscar was in it until he walked in. I was like,"Dude, you're on this." It was kind of great because I think it was a pretty big secret at that point. They're all so excited, and you could feel the energy, and everyone was just so happy to be there. It was literally their first day, so it kind of worked out.Rooster premieres Sunday, March 8 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO, and streaming on Max. Rooster 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed M18 Comedy Drama Release Date March 8, 2026 Network HBO Writers Bill Lawrence, Matt Tarses Cast
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