Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (2:16)

That is the theme song of the hit series Ted Lasso, which premiered at a dark time of the pandemic. And thanks to the dad joke Midwestern charm of Ted Coach Beard and his group of players at AFC Richmond, Ted Lasso brought some much needed joy to our homes. The show also earned a lot of praise, including 61 Emmy nominations and 11 wins over its three season run, the last of which aired this past summer. Actor Phil Dunster has been nominated for this year's Emmys in the outstanding supporting actor in a Comedy series category for his role as Jamie Tartt, a suave, sometimes overconfident striker who doesn't really understand the phrase no eye and team until this last season. Phil Dunster joined us for a watch party to talk more about the show and his character. You'll hear callers throughout this conversation, but since this is an encore presentation, we aren't taking your calls today. I started by asking Phil what he was up to in life around the time he was cast as Jamie Tartt.

Phil Dunster (3:17)

I was playing volleyball and sweating a lot in the local park. You know, life was. Was fairly. Was fairly docile back then. And. And, yeah, I remember getting a call from my agent saying that they wanted me to go in. I. I had been for auditions prior to that for Jamie, had done him in a sort of cod Spanish accent, which didn't go down so well. And then they asked me to come back in with. With them, with. With what became the Mancunian accent that Jamie has. So, yes, that was. That was. That was way back then.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (3:52)

You can't just drop that. A Spanish accent. That was your move.

Phil Dunster (3:57)

Now, you know, that was what they asked for. It wasn't quite such a rogue move, but they weren't quite sure what they wanted from Jamie. And he was originally called Danny Rojas, which, if anyone has seen the show, there is another character called Danny Rohaan who is very different from Jamie Todd. But they weren't quite sure where they wanted the character to go, which I think is an interesting insight into how much the. The story, the characters, the world has all sort of adapted with the people who were involved in it. But thankfully for me and for everyone else and probably for Apple TV for the. The complaint section, they. They didn't hire me with a Spanish accent, so that's. That's good.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (4:35)

How did you come up with Jamie's accent? How did you land on it?

Phil Dunster (4:39)

Well, well, Jamie's a very sassy boy and my agent's a very sassy person with love. With a lot of love. My English age from Manchester. And there's a sort of muscularity to the accent that I really love. Also. A lot of football is one of the things. One of the things that they said was that they. I basically sounded a bit too posh, and so they wanted. They wanted an accent that was sort of more representative of. Of where footballers would come from. And I'm a big fan of football, so I. Soccer. I'm gonna say football. All right. So, yeah, I know where a lot of footballers sort of come from in the country generally, and Manchester was one of them. And there's just a sort of. There's a. There's a really great attitude, I think, to. To a Mancunian accent that lent itself really well to where Jamie Tartt was at the time of. At the time. Of casting. So. Yeah, so. So that's sort of how it came about. And I. And I looked at the Gallagher brothers, later looked at H, who's a rapper over here, and. And a lot of footballers as well. Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, sort of Brancunian footballers. So. So, yeah, it was. It's evolved a bit over time, the accent. But. But, yeah, it was basically from them.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (5:56)

Oh, the Oasis dudes. You just. You just clicked. Something just clicked for me with that.

Phil Dunster (6:00)

There you go. There you go.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (6:02)

When we first meet Jamie, you know, had to go back in the Wayback Machine. He was. He was sort of selfish and. And preening, and we. We ultimately learn some of the deeper reasons why he was like that. But when you first started out, what were. Where was Jamie coming from? Like, why was he that guy? Was he that guy just. Cause he was so good. Was he that guy? Cause he was actually selfish?

Phil Dunster (6:25)

Yeah, great question. I think that he kind of was. I think it would be easy for somebody who. I don't know when they're 16, however old Jamie was when he was picked up on a professional contract. Some of these players are that young. They're put into an environment where week after week there are tens of thousands of people cheering for him or booing him, and he is told that he is special, as a lot of these footballers are. And I think that that can play with somebody's mind. You know, there's. There's some. There's all manner of reasons, as you say, that we get into in the show, which is also a really brilliant thing, you know, is a joy for an actor to find all of the. You need to be the biggest, you know, defender of your character to be able to justify all of the things that sort of make this person mean or reprehensible. And. And I think that that's been. That was the real joy. Some of those I found myself. But a lot of those were through Jason Sudeikis, who plays Ted and also was one of the creators on the show, and. And Joe Kelly and Bill Lawrence and. And Brendan Hunt. So a lot of those things were sort of breadcrumbs that were left along the way. But others were just imagination. Just imagination? Yeah. Just pretending.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (7:44)

That's what you do, right? It's informed. Pretending. It's so much more than that. I'm just playing with you.

Phil Dunster (7:51)

No, no, no. It's basically it. That's pretty much it. Yeah. Just pulling faces and pretending. Yeah, that's basically it.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (7:56)

When did it become clear to you and when did they make it clear to you that Jamie was going to have this story arc, that he was going to mature, he was going to be able to think about someone outside of himself.

Phil Dunster (8:08)

Well, to borrow an oasis phrase, actually, little by little, it was something that Jason was sort of. He would sit with each actor if they had a sort of big scene, as it were, he would sit with them and give them some insight into maybe what might be coming along in the next sort of few scenes or maybe a few episodes for their character. It was never really drawn out to anybody exactly what was going to happen, certainly not season by season. And so there were little breadcrumbs sort of left along the way, and we had little windows into who this person was. And I think that it's a really interesting way of working in that, you know, nobody knows all that's going to happen in the future. Anything that's going to happen in the future. If they do lottery numbers would be lovely. Please do email in. But I think it's a really interesting way to work that you're sort of being not been given the answers straight away. You have to play what's in front of you. And so, yeah, there were sort of, sort of signposts, but I won't say there's like a roadmap if we're going to really tease out the metaphor. But, yeah, so it was sort of, you know, something that we found as we went along.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (9:18)

We've got Annie on Twitter saying, wow, so shocked to hear Phil speak in real life with his posh accent. Five exclamation points. Manchester accent on Ted Lasso is brilliant. For more exclamation points.

Phil Dunster (9:32)

So that's very kind. Normally, people are very disappointed when they hear it. They're even more disappointed when they see me actually play football. That's very. Thank you very much. That's very kind.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (9:41)

Excellent. Let's listen to a clip from Ted Lasso.

Phil Dunster (9:46)

I ain't doing it wrong. You're doing it wrong. I mean, no, I mean, I think we're all doing it wrong. Wrong. If we want this to work, you got to stop going to me and start playing through me. You get me? Look, just look, look, can I. Do you mind if I. Yeah. Right. So look, I. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be playing forward. I should be here in the center. I should be here. Right, Let Danny go up front. Move Colin over there, Richard there. So stop going to me, right, and start going through. Meh. All right.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (10:31)

Someone is speaking to. I have family from Bolton, and I was Convinced that there was no way you were faking that accent. Well done. I've loved how your character was so hateable but also lovable. We all know people that are a little too self absorbed but who also have redeemable qualities. Thank you for sharing your talents and for representing the Northern football board blokes. That's Liz from Brooklyn.

Phil Dunster (10:52)

Wow, Liz, that's very lovely. Thank you very much. That's very high praise indeed. Thank you.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (10:57)

Someone wanted to know about your look, how Jamie's look came about, because Jamie's got some looks L E W K S throughout.

Phil Dunster (11:08)

Yes, he does, doesn't he? That was wonderful work from Jackie Levy, who was the costume designer, also from Nikki Austin, who's the makeup designer. And, and a sort of team effort from, from everybody really in terms of the creatives. But also we, you know, I, as I say, I watch a lot of football and therefore I'm aware of a lot of footballer styles and icons that are in football. And it's a, it's a very specific breed of celebrity football in that, you know, they're kind of like modern day gladiators in a sense. And so they have this sort of skew. I don't know, for whatever reason, I'm, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I think that they, they do have a sort of. There's quite a garish sense of, of, of style. And for a lot of the guys, because it's a flashy thing maybe, I don't know, but I really liked that he was also. He didn't care what the people thought. That was with the beauties of him. And actually, you know, as much of a sort of, as I say, reprehensible guy that he was to begin with. His traits are kind of great in the sense he's honest, he's direct, he says what he thinks, which is a really hard thing for a lot of people, I think, to do. I'm very, very passive when it comes to saying how I feel about things and much to the frustration to all around me, but I think that it's kind of great some of those things. And so the style, I think comes out of that. The style comes out of, you know, it's modern day jewelry. It's, you know, like through the colors and through the branding. And Jackie was incredibly good at getting a lot of like, I mean, that's one of the joys of working with Apple was that we can get branded stuff. And the look was Nikki Austin and I did lots of going back and forth looking at some Silly haircuts for Jamie. And. And yeah, it really evolved. She was really great at matching what was in the script and drawing out something from there that sort of reflected Jamie's journey. And. And also it was just a sort of chance of a teenage rebellion because I never got to have frosted tips when I was younger. So it's just an opportunity to do that.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (13:07)

That and rocking a headband. Well done, sir. We have a call. We actually have a recorded call because someone on our team's child was desperately trying to stay home from school to call in. So she went to school as she. As one should when you're 13. But did have this question for you, Phil.

Phil Dunster (13:29)

Hello, this is Estelle Kong from Manhattan. My question is, do you think you would be friends with Jamie Tartt in real life? Thank you, Estelle. I'm so honored to have your question. And it's a great question. It's. It's a really interesting one. I don't know if I would because I think he's too cool. And I'm not saying that to be self deprecating. Like, I don't really know what we'd have in common. A huge amount. But I think that he is, as I say, he has a lot of traits. There are really good traits, very like. Like honest traits. And I think that that's a, That's a good thing. People want to have that in their lives. The friends with that in their lives. He's also got this sort of. He's also got this sort of the good parts of narcissism. He's sort of got like, he has introspection towards the end, which, which was originally sort of arrogance and sort of conceitedness. And he kind of has a way of seeing his own self through reflection in the end. So maybe, maybe there's something there. I mean, you know, he becomes a fairly nice guy in the end. So I, I wouldn't be. I would want him on my 5 aside 5 aside team, but I probably wouldn't help him much.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (14:44)

Let's talk to sue calling in from Long Beach, New York. Hi, Sue. Thanks for calling all of it. You're on with Phil Dunster.

Caller (14:50)

Hey, thanks so much. Hi, Phil.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (14:52)

How are you?

Caller (14:53)

You were amazing throughout the whole season. We watch Ted Lasso every week together as a group. And I've watched every episode at least three or four times. So thanks for like bringing a lot of joy into all of our lives. My question for you is, did you. What did it feel like the last show and the series knowing that it was the series finale. And is the camaraderie in real life between you and your captain as real as it seems on camera?

Phil Dunster (15:28)

Hi, Sue. Thank you very much. Also, really love what we said about watching as a group, because I feel like when it came out, a lot of people watched it sort of together, but not together. And I think that was a lovely thing that people could then come together by season three. Yes, absolutely. The camaraderie is excellent, mostly because Taheeb Jimmoh, who plays Sam Obasanya, would keep everybody going through the long days and nights by playing these sort of ridiculous games, thought experiments. Everyone who would win between a gorilla and 100 grown adults, you know, lots of would you rathers, which is very infuriating. But it was very charming. And the feeling is one of. I think the feeling is one of it's like finishing school. I think it's kind of like what a wonderful thing to look back on. And also, you know, it's worth saying that we don't. Nobody knows if it's the end. That's not just a line. Nobody does. But certainly it feels like the end of a chapter. And what a wonderful thing to look back on together. And a lot of us watched it, watched the final episode together. It was also very sad. We cried a lot. But yeah, it's also. Everyone's excited to see what people do in the future, if there is a future for this, what that might be. But also just taking stock of like, we did it, you know, it's hard enough to make anything and to make three of something is. Is really cool thing. And so, so proud of Jason and Brendan and Joe and Bill, all the creators and all the team and everybody. So, yeah, it's. It was. It's a very, very. It's a very joyful but sad moment.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (17:03)

Let's talk to Jackie from the Bronx. Hi, Jackie. Thanks for calling all of it.

Caller (17:08)

Hi. I just want to say that the. Your arc in the story, like towards the end when you're visiting with your father and you look so. He's looking at you lovingly. It was just such a beautiful reconciliation. And I think that even furthers in my heart and in many your character, to see that you're going to be growing in terms of the relationship with your dad. So we love the show. You're wonderful. I hope there's going to be more, maybe not Ted Lasso, but you know, Jamie Tartt and the rest of the characters, because we will.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (17:47)

We will miss you, Jackie. Thanks.

Phil Dunster (17:49)

That's. That's so wonderful. And it's interesting. I think that final moment is one where we see they're at least trying. And I think that that's a really lovely ending. It's not necessarily that it's all good again, but that's maybe the point of the show is that it's the opportunity to be kind. It's the opportunity to. To be better. So, yeah, that's a really lovely moment to pick out. Thank you.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (18:07)

Yeah, we all got to understand that there was some trauma for Jamie and that was part of what was fueling his arrogance and fueling his standoffishness. When you started talking to the writers and the directors about Jamie's trauma, what were some of the things you wanted to make sure that you all addressed?

Phil Dunster (18:26)

Oh, I think that. I think that I wanted to know how sort of how much work he had done himself on it, how prevalent the sort of understanding that he had of the emotions that he was feeling, the anger, frustration, resentment, how close to the surface that was, how conscious he was of those things. But also, was it anger or was it sadness or was it self loathing or, you know, where. Where did that fit? Because also there's. There is, you know, there's. There are some moments in the script that are quite specific about what he feels about. It was just so. I mean, that's a gift for an actor when, when it's. It's laid out like that. But it's also, you know, how much does he want to and how does he understand? I think it was a lot of confusion. I think is something that happens when people have childhood traumas, just trying to understand what the hell it is and what it means to them now and who they are. Is it them? Is it, you know, because of them? Is it, you know, something that exists within them? And so, you know, it was, it was. There were lots of conversations with. With Jason about that and, you know, the show lives in his bones and it was such an interest, the perfect person to speak to about it, and he had all the time in the world to talk about it. So. So, yeah, it was. It was also something that, you know, it's not. It's nothing that we do lightly, and there's some pretty big things that we get into on the show, and I think it's, It's. It just goes to show that football is the most important of the least important things, and there are other things that are a bit more important than football.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (20:06)

We're getting a lot of texts about the bromance, how Roy and Jamie finally come to really understand and love each other. Did you see that coming?

Phil Dunster (20:20)

No. Bromance. It's straight up romance.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (20:22)

Straight up. And we also have somebody who would like to hear you say, keely.

Phil Dunster (20:27)

Keela. Hi, Keela.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (20:30)

Just made somebody's day.

Phil Dunster (20:31)

There you go.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (20:32)

What's next for you? Where do we see you next? Do we know?

Phil Dunster (20:36)

I am currently shooting on season two of Surface, which is another Apple TV show with Google and Battle Raw and Oliver Jackson co and yeah, we're shooting in London and it's a real joy. It's really lovely to play someone else. It's hard because it was lovely playing a character for three years. You, you, you know what? He is thinking a bit more. You feel a bit more vindicated in your choices and it's hard to then do someone new. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it goes. We'll see. Perhaps we'll talk after that comes out. Maybe have a very different conversation and not the lovely coolers coming.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (21:13)

My guest has been Phil Dunster. Of course. You're watching him on Ted Lasso. And now you'll watch him on Surface. Thank you for making time today and for taking listeners calls.

Phil Dunster (21:22)

Thank you very much. What a treat. Thanks for having me.

Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (21:24)

That was actor Phil Dunster, who played Jamie Tartt on Ted Lasso, speaking with us about his character and the final season of the series. He was a joy to have on the show. Right after the news, we're joined by local artist Bisa Butler, who creates elaborate quilts sometimes inspired by portraits from legendary photographers like Gordon Parks. That's next on all of it.

Phil Dunster (21:46)

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Phil Dunster (22:02)

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Interviewer/Host (Alison Stewart) (22:03)

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