John Ross Bowie (‘Speechless’) chats comedy, improv, his cool character and awareness of cerebral palsy … – Goldderby

Cerebral palsymeans a lot of things to a lot of different people, explains John Ross Bowie about what hes been learning from his work on the show Speechless. For the ABC comedy, Bowies character Jimmy DiMeo is married to Maya (Minnie Driver), and they have son J.J. (Micah Fowler), a victim of cerebral palsy. In our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above), he adds, Its a huge vast community. Whenever I go anywhere now, I look at the accessibilityissues of the place.I think, How would we get Micah in here? Thats something that would never have crossed my mind 14 months ago.

He says that Jimmy is so cool and unflappable. Its fun to pretend for 23 weeks that Im this guy that lets things slide and doesnt sweat the small stuff. Thatcoolness Jimmy has is not me, and its really fun to explore and try to find the part of myself that can do that. Hes not concerned with other peoples opinions and not concerned with pet worries.

Bowie has a background in improv with the UCB. Bringing those skills to Speechless he says that we dont have a ton of time to do improv and the scripts are really good. The main thing that improv helps with is listening, and noticing tiny little changes in performance, and staying in the moment. What improv shouldgive you is the ability to hang on every word and listen like its the first time you are hearing it.

He was recently joined by his old improv buddy, Rob Corrdry, who guest starred in the Thanksgiving episode playing Jimmys insensitive brother. Bowie reveals, Ive known Rob for more than 20 years. He was the best man at my wedding. It was really fun to have him on set and we played a lot on that scene. Watching Rob play a tone deaf douchbag is like watching Van Gohpaint a landscape.I hope we get to see my brother again.

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Related: Watch our interview with Minnie Driver (Speechless)

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John Ross Bowie ('Speechless') chats comedy, improv, his cool character and awareness of cerebral palsy ... - Goldderby