But then, as our comedy started picking up, it sort of sat on a shelf. So I took that advice and this was what came out, this was the first script I ever wrote and I sold it when I was really young and it got me started. When I was about 21 years old, Judd Apatow - who produces most of our movies - took me aside and gave me some advice and said, 'You're kind of a weird dude and you're not going to make it unless you start writing your own material.' Because there's a great tradition of weird dudes writing their own material and doing just fine. JS: ' was the first thing that I ever wrote. On the origins of the book, 'Nightmares!': But someone really zeroed in on it the other day and I hadn't put together where a nightmare like that comes from, and I think it's because when you're a baby, you have all these giant adults standing over you telling you they're going to eat your toes.It was a much more clear line than I realized.' JS: 'I had a recurring dream about witches eating my toes. And I'm OK with things not doing well and other things being real successes so, I think it's OK to be afraid and to work through it. And I'm not afraid to be bad at something until I'm good at it.

I really believe that it's because I'm not afraid. And it's not because I'm born gifted and all of these things.

You know, I do a lot of stuff in my business - I write and I act and I sing songs and I jump between all sorts of different material clearly. It's OK to be afraid - there are a lot of things that I'm afraid of and it's about walking through those fears.I think your nightmares are the gatekeepers to your dreams, really. Jason Segel: 'I've always felt like the message that 'you don't need to be afraid' is not the correct message. On his perspective of dreams and nightmares: And he's joining us now to talk about them, and about his many accomplishments since overcoming his childhood nightmares. He says he used to have nightmares - just like the book's main character, Charlie. It's called 'Nightmares!' and it's all about facing the fears that haunt kids - and many adults, for that matter - in their sleep. And he's the voice of Vector in 'Despicable Me.' He played Gary in the 2011 'The Muppets,' which he also co-wrote. Like 'Knocked Up,' 'I Love You, Man' and 'This Is 40.' His latest movie is actually called, 'Sex Tape,' and of course there's that memorable scene in 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' in which Segel flashes a significant amount of his own skin.īut your kids probably know a very different Jason Segel. When you think of actor Jason Segel, you might think of some pretty 'adult-themed' movies. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) This article is more than 8 years old. Actor, screenwriter and author Jason Segel in WBUR's studios.

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