Jake Johnson, better known as the manchild Nick from New Girl, has been killing it lately in the comedy world. You may remember Jake from 2012’s summer bromance hit “21 Jump Street” where he showed off his comedic skills as the lazy principal who expels Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, but since then he’s gone from being a minor actor to a major presence on screen. The first time I saw Johnson was in the critically acclaimed indie film “Safety Not Guaranteed”, a story about a man seeing a companion for time travel. I didn’t have too high of expectations since aside from the legendary Back to the Future trilogy, I’m not usually a fan of time travel stories, but Johnson’s deadpan humor, along with Aubrey Plaza hilarious performance, made this film into a gem. It wasn’t long after that I stumbled upon Johnson’s Fox hit show New Girl, where he plays a directionless 30 year old who is plagued with strange quirks that keeps the audience coming back for more. New Girl started as an amusing show to watch out of boredom but has since snowballed into one of the most well written and witty comedies on TV. The show is the perfect vehicle for Johnson to display his comedic chops and has made him into a star, but even with newfound fame Johnson hasn’t abandoned his indie roots. Last year Johnson starred into the indie mumblecore hit of the year “Drinking Buddies” alongside SNL Alum Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde and proved that he could take on a more serious role by playing a lovestruck brewery worker with a big heart and an ever bigger desire for beer. Every actor gave a great performance in this film but the on screen chemistry between Wilde and Johnson was what made it truly incredible. Johnson also has some great projects on the horizon like Seth Rogen comedy “Neighbors” coming out on May 9th and the buddy cop film “Let’s Be Cops” which is expected to hit theaters on August 13th, but if you want to check out some of his performances in the meantime be sure to watch episodes of New Girl on Fox’s Website or check out the trailer for Drinking Buddies.
