Actor Jason Segel was forced to live with Kevin Hart while filming an unaired comedy pilot in 2001. While that show didn't make it, they both subsequently starred in Undeclared. Segel has had an extensive career in both television and film, starring in such hits as Gulliver's Travels, The End of the Tour, and most recently Windfall, a thriller starring Jesse Plemons which is currently streaming on Netflix. The actor first got his start in television with comedy writer-director Judd Apatow, who has periodically teamed up with Segel throughout their careers.
Segel's first television appearance came in Apatow's show Freaks and Geeks before ing the showrunner's second show, Undeclared, along with Hart. The Fox sitcom was originally released in 2001 and centered on a small group of college freshmen recently enrolled at the fictional University of Northeastern California. Segel starred as Eric, the manager of a copy shop and obsessive ex-boyfriend of Lizzie (Carla Gallo). Comedian Hart played the smaller role of Luke, a religious student who manages to convert the Jewish Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel) to Christianity.
During a recent interview on live with Kevin Hart while working on a new Apatow comedy in the early 2000s. When asked about an unsold pilot Segel worked on with Hart, Amy Poehler, and Judge Reinhold, before moving on to Undeclared, the actor revealed that Apatow made Hart move in with Segel in his small apartment. Apatow told the actor that having the two of them living together would help their chemistry on the show. Read what Segel had to say below.
"It was a strange time. We were all so young, and none of us had had much success yet. And Judd Apatow, in a weird move, made Kevin Hart live with me for like six months. He was like, ‘Oh this would be good for the show if Kevin Hart lives with you.’ And I just lived in a one-bedroom apartment. So, all of a sudden Kevin Hart was just living with me. And he’d be like, ‘Hey man, are you making breakfast? I’d like some too.’ Then, I’m making breakfast for Kevin Hart."
Although Segel was pressured into living with Hart, he does not appear to regret the experience. The actor shared a time with Hart that enriched his life, adding, "One of my prize memories is somewhere I have a check from Kevin Hart that says like '$7.48, phone bill.' I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as Kevin Hart works." Even when Segel would hang out with his friends as a young man in L.A., the actor recalled Hart staying in the apartment and writing, continuing to hone his craft. At the time, Segel thought it "cute," but later he came to the realization that "Oh, that’s how you do it. That’s how someone ends up being Kevin Hart."
Since their brief time on Undeclared — the show was canceled after one season — Hart and Segel both went on to have exceptional careers. Hart first focused on making a name with his stand-up comedy before diving into his acting career. The two briefly reunited onscreen with appearances in Apatow's raunchy comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg-directed apocalyptic comedy This is the End, where both Jason Segel and Hart played themselves. In that film, the two shared a short playful scene before they were both sucked into a pit to be burned in the fires of Hell for eternity.
Source: Jimmy Kimmel Live! (via Cinema Blend)
