Righteous Gemstone Star Danny McBride Says Working Alongside John Goodman Was A Dream Come True

Danny McBride admits it was a mind-blowing experience to work with John Goodman on ‘The Righteous Gemstones.’

The 45-year-old producer and actor was shocked that 69-year-old actor John Goodman was willing to join the cast of his HBO TV show ‘The Righteous Gemstones.’ Danny created and wrote the comedy show in addition to starring in it alongside John.

Danny portrays one of the Gemstone children alongside Adam DeVine, 38, and Edi Patterson, 47. John is the patriarch of the televangelist Christian family. When creating the role, Danny mentioned he wanted “someone like John Goodman” for the part, but never expected to be able to hire the ‘Roseanne’ actor himself.

Speaking on ‘The Q Interview’ podcast, Danny explained: “[John Goodman playing the role of Eli Gemstone] was well outside of the realm of anything I would’ve thought would be possible. I’ve grown up just loving Goodman’s work and always thinking he’s just such a legend.

"When they asked, ‘Who did you think of for this [role]?’ and I said, ‘Oh, maybe someone like John Goodman.' They said, ‘Well, what about John Goodman?’ "It’s John Goodman! He’s not going to come do a TV show with us. And we sent him the script, he responded to it, I got on the phone with him and he said he liked it and wanted to come down and party with us. So we got him on board. It was kind of mind-blowing.”

The ‘Eastbound and Down’ star revealed that he’d never met John before filming began, and that it still doesn’t feel real that an actor he considers to be a “legend” would want to be a part of his show.

He revealed: “I had never met him before, no. I still feel like whenever we’re doing stuff, it doesn’t seem like it’s a real thing. So anytime somebody who has a ‘real’ career [joins the cast] I’m like, ‘Really? You want to come and work with us?’”

Danny also added that because comedy TV creators never really get to see audience reactions, he bases the show’s humor on his own tastes, and will still laugh at scenes if he’s re-watching parts of the show.

He confessed: “I think it’s just their immaturity [that makes me laugh so much]. They’re so entitled and lacking in so many things that adults should have: like the ability to navigate relationships and other situations. I think that’s kind of fun, to play characters that deal with things other people have to deal with, whether it’s loss, trouble in a marriage, or trying to figure out how to raise a kid. But portraying someone who just goes about it in such a foolish, insane way is kind of fun.”