There's this cornucopia of potential, and it can't be realized until someone works their ass off for it. Even on a Nickelodeon sitcom.

I did a pilot for Judd Apatow when I was 20 years old, so 18 years ago. The same year that he did that pilot, he made another pilot called Freaks And Geeks.Judd felt bad for me because I was living in L.A. by myself. Not only did he put me in an episode of Freaks And Geeks, but he was like, "Hey, just come hang out. I'm on set, getting to know everybody." I started hanging with everybody, and they were all either my age or a little younger. Seth and I just got along really well - Jason Segel and I, too - and before you know it, it was a really strong, solid group of friends.

There's this cornucopia of potential, and it can't be realized until someone works their ass off for it. Even on a Nickelodeon sitcom.

The role of Charlie Eppes has changed me. I never imagined I would play a role like this. I lost some weight, grew my hair and now every woman in America over 40 wants to date me. It's their daughters I want to convince. The truth is all this talk makes me blush. Me, I look in the mirror and all I see is this Jewish kid from Queens.

I remember at the time, there were all these teen movies being made. It was this resurgence of John Hughes-esque teen comedies. I was sent a lot of them to audition for, and a lot of them at the time didn't really impress me. I remember I was sent one called East Grand Rapids High, which ended up becoming American Pie, and I didn't like it. Although I think I did audition for it.

I'm sure in less than 10 years there will be several streaming services or whatever you want to call them that are dedicated to retro television, like rare retro television, and maybe we'll end up doing something with that. Maybe Gigi will find popularity there, because it was fun, it was kitschy and very stupid and very dirty. But it had heart. I hope people will watch it one day.

[Lauren Ambrose's] character [in Can't Hardly Wait] feels real and unexaggerated and becomes sort of a heroine archetype. I think that was cool. It wasn't in every one of those comedies.