Jason Sudeikis on Transforming Into ‘Ted Lasso’ Alter Ego Led Tasso (VIDEO)

Emily Aslanian July 23, 2021, 10:04 am

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Score! Apple TV+’s feel-good sports comedy Ted Lasso is just as funny and heartwarming in its sophomore season as it was in its beloved first round.

And it was really beloved. The freshman series made Emmys history recently with a record-breaking 20 nominations — a new high for a first-season comedy. Though all was — mostly — well at the end of the last season (despite the team losing their final match and getting relegated), this time around, the characters on and around the AFC Richmond team are going to get shaken up even more.

“One of the big themes of this season of the show is to take all the characters that people have got to learn [about], and we’ve come to discover we have a true affinity for, are going to have to wrestle with their inner-demons in a lot of ways,” says star/executive producer Jason Sudeikis, who plays the ever-positive Coach Ted Lasso. For Ted, that means a tie-streak for the team, a sports psychologist named Sharon (played by Sarah Niles) who he can’t seem to win over, and ever-increasing panic attacks at inopportune moments.

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Ted even has a flip-the-script type moment in the episodes ahead, where he transforms into his gruff alter-ego Led Tasso to inspire the Greyhounds’ players. “It was pretty cathartic,” Sudeikis says of the momentary break from his usually sunny character. “It felt good to flip a table, to yell and scream a little bit, especially in that heightened, comedic way…it was fun to play that agro-coach intensity without cursing because Ted doesn’t curse. It really lent itself to rhyming and alliteration in ways to cut his players down — a lot of punitive laps and running were distributed. But it was fun.”

Still, the gang will celebrate wins too…and the Yuletide season! (Did you spot all those Santa hats in the trailers?). Regardless of wins, losses (or draws!), Sudeikis couldn’t be prouder to see the character, originally created for an NBC sports segment, flourish. “I thought someone would like it because all of us that made it were really proud of it, but never in a million years — or maybe in five million years, I would’ve thought this would have happened — but certainly not in a million,” he says with a laugh.

Check out our interview with Sudeikis in the video clip above where he teases what else is in store for Ted Lasso Season 2.

Ted Lasso, Fridays, Apple TV+