GO ON’s Matthew Perry Talks Throwing out the First Pitch at the Dodgers Game, What’s to Come on His New Show

NBC has been putting a lot of effort into promoting their new comedy, GO ON, and last week, they had series star Matthew Perry throw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game. (Only appropriate, since Perry plays Ryan, a sports radio personality on the show.)

Though Perry lamented that his pitch attempt “could have been better” when we sat down a few hours later to talk all things GO ON, he admitted, “That is such a mental weird thing, throwing out the first pitch of the baseball game. It was very funny and exciting, but if you think about it for too long…”

On a lighter topic, Perry said he is pleased by the support NBC has shown for his new series.

“I’m just glad that NBC loves it and they’re really behind it,” he told me. “A lot of people saw it already and I’ve heard really good things. We’re just aspiring to try and do a good show and hopefully people will watch it. It’s fun to do…That’s good [to get positive reactions] because no one knew if people would be all right with a show that is funny at times, but also sad at times.”

For Perry, part of the fun is getting to work with sports figures he admires. When I brought up the upcoming hockey episode, he visibly brightened.

“With [former NHL player] Jeremy Roenick!” he gushed. “I think they’re just trying to make this the dream job of the century for me. I think that’s what they’re trying to do — and they’re succeeding…Next up [for guest stars] is [sportscaster] Bob Costas, and Chris Bosh [from the Miami Heat] just did the show last week.”

As for other sports guest stars he’d like to see on the series, Perry did have another (familiar) suggestion.

“I really want [former tennis player] Jim Connors to come on,” he said. “But he was on [Perry’s last series] MR. SUNSHINE, so I don’t know if he’d do it again, but I’d like Jimmy Connors to come on.”

Cameos aside, with Perry just getting to know this new character, I was curious if he had any questions about Ryan that he hasn’t yet had answered in the first few episodes. However, he assured me that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t have any questions about him,” he said. “I would like other people to have questions about him…the interesting thing about playing him is this is a guy whose life would not normally be explored if that awful thing not happened to him. It’s interesting to play the reluctant journey to be a better man…[He’s] way more honest in the support group. If he was honest at work, they’d probably kick him out. That’s the cool thing, [work] is very sports, very male, and [the support group] is very touchy-feely.”

Looking forward to what’s ahead, Perry teased that viewers will get a better insight to the other members of the support group.

“It’s funny, the people in the group therapy, they sort of get their [own] episode,” he said. “So right now we’re shooting one for Tyler [James Williams (Owen)] and it’s a really good episode. So that’s really fun. I’m really enjoying everybody.”

And yes, viewers can also expect some more group shenanigans a la the “March Sadness” or chasing after the Google Earth truck.

“An upcoming episode, we all go over the vanity plates that I could put on my car so I would have to stop explaining that my wife died,” Perry previewed. “Like ‘dead wife’ and ‘wife no mo’ and stuff like that. That’s a fun scene. I’m looking forward to seeing people that.”

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GO ON has its time slot debut tonight at 9 PM on NBC. Will you be tuning in?

Related:

GO ON: Suzy Nakamura Talks About Her New Series

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