Where Are They Now?: Freaks and Geeks Edition, Part One

Here's a new feature at the Comedyblog where we track all the members of certain circles to see what they're up to. We'll start, appropriately, with Freaks and Geeks, the infamous starting point for a new generation of actors, and the point where Judd Apatow started his climb to becoming arguably the biggest name in contemporary comedy. It also happens to be one of the greatest and most lamentably cancelled shows in history. Part Two comes tomorrow.

John Francis Daley (Sam Weir): After starring with Ryan Reynolds in the box office bomb Waiting… and the quickly cancelled culinary comedy series Kitchen Confidential, John is getting back on the horse with The Call, a recently announced pilot about a group of paramedics who “save other people’s lives while screwing up each other’s.” Meanwhile, 5-25-77, the long-delayed autobiographical story of a bunch of nerds seeing Star Wars for the first time, is finally due to be released “as close to 5-25-07 as possible,” according to Patrick Read Johnson, the writer and director portrayed by Daley in the film. Daley will also appear in an episode of Michael Cera’s web series Clark and Michael, premiering on CBS Innertube later this year.

Linda Cardellini (Lindsay Weir): Her dramatic turn in Brokeback Mountain has sent her over to the other side, becoming a regular on ER and starring in a new chapter of the long-running Lonesome Dove series. But comedy fans surely recognized her in the premiere episode of the fantastic new sketch show Human Giant. Oh, and she also shows up on Robot Chicken from time to time, probably getting dry-clay-humped by Scooby Doo.

Samm Levine (Neal Schweiber): Levine has become the king of quick and hilarious TV cameos, from Undeclared to Entourage to Family Guy to Veronica Mars, and occasionally dips his toes into the film scene as well, whether it’s being the creepy pool kid in Club Dread or providing geeky tech explanations in the less-than-well-received horror flop Pulse, a film for which he was the only actor who bothered to show up for the commentary track, a fact he’s more than ready to be self-effacing about. Levine also stars with Seth Macfarlane and Alexis Bledel in the short film Life is Short, hitting festivals around the country starting this month, and has supporting appearances in two upcoming features, the Amanda Bynes tweener laffer Sydney White, and the gay-themed dramedy Anderson’s Cross.

Martin Starr (Bill Haverchuck): Starr has kept relatively busy basically taking extra work in all manner of TV and movies, almost exclusively playing characters with numbers after their names. But this summer, he’ll join Segel and Rogen in Knocked Up, playing a nappily bearded roommate which leads to the funniest beard jokes you’ll ever hear in cinemas. Then he’ll join Tom Arnold in the questionably titled Good Dick, and then it’s back to numbers playing Dude #5 in Seth Rogen’s Superbad. Superbad’s Michael Cera has also thrown Starr a guest spot on his new web series Clark and Michael, which also features John Daley.

Jason Segel (Nick Andopolis): Several years after FOX decided he was too wild and subversive to topline Apatow’s original vision for Undeclared, Segel is now making a good living out of starring in the blandly enjoyable traditional CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, with the bonus privilege of getting to pretend to fuck Buffy babe Alyson Hannigan. He also has an occasional recurring character on CSI, so take that, FOX. Segel is also one of the already legendary Roommates in Apatow’s upcoming masterpiece Knocked Up, and he’ll work with Apatow yet again when he stars in his own script for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, playing a jilted ex-lover who tries to escape his depression through a Hawaiian vacation, only to discover his ex visiting the same island with her new boyfriend. Apatow will produce with first-time director Nicholas Stoller, a Strangers with Candy writer who also worked with the pair on Undeclared. And the girlfriend’s played by Lake Bell, whose Veronica Mars featured Samm Levine! Small world!

James Franco (Daniel Desario): Now much better known for his superhero vendetta than for sharing porn with clueless geeks, Franco is keeping more than busy with a multitude of overblown melodrama projects in the works. However, he still shows his proud comedy roots here and there, writing, directing, and starring in the wholly bizarre-looking direct-to-video chimp flick The Ape, and also recently sighted at Sundance in the Bruce Lee send-up Finishing the Game, starring alongside MC Hammer (multiple exclamation points and question marks). He recently finished filming Camille, a darkly comic adventure about a thief and his deadly sham marriage, also starring Sienna Miller and David Carradine. And now, most exciting of all, he’s filming The Pineapple Express, his return to both producer Judd Apatow and co-star Seth Rogen, in a stoner action buddy comedy written by Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg, and directed by indie hero David Gordon Green.

Seth Rogen (Ken Miller): Where to start? The monotone schlub who arguably got the biggest laughs on the series went on to getting the biggest laughs of Undeclared as well, and even picked up writing a few of the show’s best episodes. That talent got him a gig on Da Ali G Show, and then Apatow cast him as one of the leads in the gargantuan-mega-hit 40-Year-Old Virgin, where he was so funny that studio heads quickly cast him as the only mildly amusing character in You, Me, and Dupree, and now he’s on his way to becoming an A-list headliner with his critically lauded performance in Knocked Up. Apatow is also turning his writing career with high school chum Evan Goldberg into a second career, producing their scripts for the autobiographical Superbad, John Hughes’ kid-comedy Drillbit Taylor with Owen Wilson, and The Pineapple Express, which will star Rogen and Franco. That’s three Rogen scripts within a year of each other. He’ll also have smaller acting roles in Fanboys and the family fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles, as well as lending his voice to Horton Hears a Who along with Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Superbad star Jonah Hill. That’s almost as busy as Green Goblin Jr. up there!

Busy Philipps (Kim Kelly): Joining the cast of insanely popular teen soap Dawson’s Creek has made Busy a constant mainstay of various television, lending voices, like many of these guys, to Seth Macfarlane’s various animated projects, and headlining the girly UPN sitcom Love, Inc., which wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been due to the involvement of several Upright Citizens Brigade favorites. Now that it’s been cancelled, she’s joined Cardellini at ER. Strangely enough, Philipps actually developed the story line for Blades of Glory, currently the #1 movie in the country. Yes, it was Kim Kelly who thought of two dudes skating together. These freaks pop up everywhere.