Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein Is Always 'Embarrassed,' and It Makes Great Material

"Once you buy into your own hype and start to think that you're important, then you're f*****. But luckily, I have low self-esteem and always will."

Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein is "on a c*** mission." [laughs] Not really, but sort of? In his first stand-up special, Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life (HBO, April 26), the Emmy-winning actor muses about British people's casual use of the C-word, and other things. Goldstein is quick to point out, "I owe everything to Ted Lasso." "It completely changed my life. I had done stand-up for 17 years and probably the most people that would come and see me was 200. Then, because of Ted Lasso, I was playing much, much, much bigger venues." Despite his success, "the butt of the joke is always me." The sweet spot for his material is that "I find everything embarrassing, but I'm less [embarrassed] talking about it on stage." In addition to his special and another season playing Ted Lasso's Roy Kent, Goldstein is in demand, with Apple TV+'s Shrinking and a new film, All of You. "I just like making stuff. It is my favorite thing to do, and I will keep doing it as long as people are interested. And when they stop, I'll be back playing to five people and I'll be happy. It'll be fine."

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

An HBO comedy special for a comic is a huge deal. What does it feel like for you to have this as your first special?

Well, it's unbelievable. I've done stand-up for 17 years, and I've never wanted to put it online or anywhere. I'm like, it happens in the room. That's where it happens. And in the room, you feel it. So, I've always resisted filming and putting it out and stuff. And then I did this tour in America, which was so great and so fun, and at some point, someone was like, "Come on, put this on film. You can't hide this forever." And incredibly, HBO wanted to do it, which was the dream. It is unbelievable. I mean, the coolest version of this to happen is for HBO.

You've been a stand-up for a while, but I think a lot of fans of Ted Lasso are surprised to learn you do stand-up. Do you find you get those reactions from people?

One of the upsides is that I think people's expectations are so low, because I think they think I'm an actor trying it. So, I think they come to the show and then they're like, "Oh, he sort of seems to know what he's doing."

That's the best feeling. The surprise of it.

And I also always love coming in [with] low expectations. So, I think that's been actually a helpful thing, but definitely at the beginning of this big tour I did, before I started it, I did wonder what it was people were thinking they're coming to. I'm sure they probably thought they're coming to see a f****** Roy Kent Q&A or something. Because they didn't know I did stand-up. But I also wanted to know if I could pull it off without having to set it up in any way. And I did it, and was very delighted that I didn't have to come out and go, "Normally you know me as this, but..."

You open with a joke about your name, how "Brett Goldstein" is not a unique name in New York City, but in London it is.

That joke is purely truthful. Just coming to New York and everyone going, "I know Brett Goldstein. He fingered me." That is just a true observation. Yeah, that one wrote itself. That's reportage, that joke.

I will say, there's one joke that will make every American feel a little uncomfortable, and that's the Brit's free use of the C word. What have the reactions to it been?

Well, I really mean it. I'm on a c*** mission. [laughs] I think people, once they know me, I sort of train people, because they're always shocked at first. I'm like, "No, no, it's cool. This is a compliment." I think I've spread it around writer's rooms. It's a movement.

What do you think it is about that word that makes us so uncomfortable?

I don't know. I don't love the word "b****," but you guys throw that around very easily. That sounds much more horrible to me.

You do a really nice balance of poking fun at some of the differences between how the Brits do it and Americans, but you're never making fun of Americans. How do you find that balance?

The butt of the joke is always me. If I talk about real things, real stories, I'll only really do it on stage if I'm the idiot in the story. I'm not going to throw anyone under the bus. Or if I am, I will heavily, heavily, heavily disguise it. And I think that's the key to it, isn't it? I have different modes, there are ideas I have or thoughts I have, and I'm like, that's for TV, that's for film, that's for stand-up. And the mode for stand-up, I think, is the kind of uglier aspects of your thoughts and feelings and the worst parts of yourself. My favorite bit of stand-up is doing new material always. And when it works, it's usually stuff where you're like, is this mad if I say this? Am I insane to think this? And when you say it and they laugh, it's like, "Oh, thank God, I'm not alone." You're just constantly saying, "Am I mad? Am I mad? Am I mad?"

As a comic, I've always said that I don't really have that embarrassment bone.

Oh, I'm embarrassed all the time. I find everything embarrassing, but I'm less [embarrassed] talking about it on stage. I'm not embarrassed about it [on stage], but living it just constantly.

I've always been impressed how comedy clubs in the U.K. don't bring the bill or wait tables during a comic's set. It's more respectful. What do you think is the difference between U.K. and U.S. stand-up?

Well, there is a difference in how the clubs work. You're right. And I found that so weird when I came to America. I was like, "Why?" Because, in England, it's a set, then a break, you get drinks, then another set, then a break, you get drinks, then another set. So it means that people are there watching your set, so they are focused on your set. If they make a noise that they're interrupting your set, you're kind of trained in England to go, what the f*** was that? Like, deal with the audience. And when I came to America, there was so much noise, I was like, "What the f*** was that?" It was a waiter. It doesn't end. There's no break. It just keeps going. I still don't think I'm used to it. Sometimes I want to go, "What's all this f****** noise?" But it's people ordering drinks and stuff. Why don't you have breaks? Just have some f****** breaks. It's okay. Go the toilet. Let them go.

I do sometimes feel there's a difference in the types of comics the U.K. produces versus comics out of the U.S.A.

England, I think it's one the best stand-up scenes, I'd like to say in the world, but I haven't checked everywhere, but it's a really, really good stand-up scene. And I think for stand-up, I think it has no ulterior motive, and I think that might be why it's good, because you have these rooms where even the worst clubs have breaks, have lights pointed at the stage, it's set up well for comedy and the audience sit and listen and watch after they've bought a drink. They're now focusing and all of that. I think [it] probably allows you a bit of room to try more things and experiment, maybe in a way that if you're doing a club in America where it's constant noise and interruption,possibly you inherently train yourself to do shorter stuff because there isn't room, they're not going to follow along a bit because they're being interrupted all the time.

Ted Lasso really started everything for you, and certainly amplified not only your work behind the camera, but also on stage. With this special coming out and the final season of Ted Lasso in the works, how does this sort of full-circle moment feel?

Oh, listen, I owe everything to Ted Lasso. I say it in the special and it's true, it completely changed my life. And frankly, from a stand-up point of view, I had done stand-up for 17 years and probably the most people that would come and see me was 200. And then, because of Ted Lasso, I was playing much, much, much bigger venues, and it was amazing. And I haven't done anything [different], still the same stand-up, but suddenly people had heard of me, or whatever it was, who the f*** knows why they bought a ticket? It still blows my mind that they did. But what an incredible gift, like truly amazing. And I never, ever took it for granted.

There was one, and I don't want to sound too sincere, but like there was one gig we did, to get out of the show, we had to go around. Normally, there was a secret exit you could leave. But in this show, we had to go through the parking lot, the same parking lot as the crowd, so we were in a queue to get out of the venue at the end of the show, and there were so many f****** cars, the road had been shut down outside to accommodate the traffic and all that. And I was so touched, genuinely. How these people have given up their whole night, they've got a babysitter, they don't think they're queuing in f****** traffic. The big amount of effort these people have made to come to this show is incredible. And I never, ever, ever take that for granted, and I felt that every single night. So exciting and so lucky that I can do this show, that people f****** came. And so that was different, because previous to Ted Lasso, I was playing to 200, then I was playing to four-and-a-half thousand, that is a big shift, and it does change. I had to learn there's a slightly new way of performing when you're playing a massive venue. Like, I started [stand-up] standing very still. [Now] there's all this space. You gotta use this space now, and you gotta do bigger act outs, and you got to hold this balcony. Like it was exciting and new, it's almost a new skill.

Did your wider name recognition or popularity change how you approach your material?

What [Jerry] Seinfeld said, I think is true. They'll be excited for the first five minutes, but if I'm sh**, they're not gonna sustain that for an hour and a half, you know? You still have to deliver. I think the reality is it's about the only thing that has changed, possibly, is I am more aware. But I always was.

I'm very protective, if I'm ever going to talk about someone, I will disguise it very heavily. But I always did do that. But I do think, if you're specific, at its best, and I say this having also died on my ass a million times, but at its best sometimes I believe an audience will accept anything if you set it up right. It's how you set it up. If I want to talk about something incredibly rarefied that no one can relate to, there is a way. In the f****** special I have the bit about [going to] the White House, and then I say, what else is relatable? Like, I'm making fun of the fact that, obviously that is a very specific thing. But I think it works because my experience of it is specific enough that it is actually relatable. Everyone's been in a situation like that. This is a very extreme version of it.

And you make it relatable.

I think that's it. I think what maybe the problem is, once you buy into your own hype and start to think that you're important, then you're f*****. But luckily, I have low self-esteem and always will.

Well, between this and a new season of Ted Lasso, you also have Shrinking, which you co-created and write, and a new film, All of You, which you also co-wrote. So, what is it like being so in demand?

Well, I am a workaholic, so it suits me. Suits me great. I feel very lucky that people want to make stuff with me, and I just like making stuff. It is my favorite thing to do, and I will keep doing it as long as people are interested. And when they stop, I'll just write books for myself or something.

No, you'll be at a stand-up club in London.

Yeah, I'll be back playing to five people, and I'll be happy. It'll be fine.