Actor Jeremy Swift Reveals His Favorite ‘Ted Lasso’ Moments

Ask an actor to name a favorite episode of his own show and you usually get a diplomatic non-answer. Jeremy Swift went straight to Zava.

Episode 3 of season 3, when Maximilian Osinski's preening superstar turns up, is Swift's absolute favorite, and most of that is admiration for what Osinski did with the part.

"I just thought he was so staggeringly good, and really, really funny," Swift told Rich. "That kind of alpha male sports player who's also got other stuff going on, like meditation. It's slightly passive-aggressive."

Rich raised the theory that Zava was modeled on Zlatan, who has been a large presence in World Cup coverage in the United States. Swift did not argue. He also had a specific reason the episode sticks with him.

"When he came in and met the team, he was like the Messiah, and he was touching people, and the guys were going like they were going to start speaking in tongues," Swift said. "It was just a really, really funny episode."

The other memory Swift volunteered was less about comedy and more about watching a writer work in real time. At the end of season 1, Jason Sudeikis had to deliver a rousing speech. He shot it about five times, and because he writes and improvises at a level Swift called stunning, he changed it every take.

"I was just witnessing it, but I was like, this content is changing every time, and it's all fresh and it's all so good," Swift said. "Editors can just pick and choose from that whatever they want, because there's such a rich amount of content there."

Rich offered his own pick: the scene where the Believe sign tears and falls, and the squad reads it as an omen for the end of everything. Ted tells them it is not an omen. It is a sign.

Swift's memory of that moment goes to a smaller beat inside it, when Kola Bokinni walked over, put his hand on the sign and looked at everyone.

"That got me," Swift said. "I was like, oh man, rip my heart out."

Then Rich asked the question every fan actually wants answered. Who breaks first?

Nick Mohammed, obviously. Except Mohammed somehow never gets caught.

"He sets everybody else off, but he manages to escape being caught giggling himself," Swift said. So Swift engineered a workaround. He tilts his head so that Mohammed's face falls behind the frame of his glasses, keeping him just barely in the room but out of view.

Rich, delighted, noted that anyone catching Swift at that angle on camera is watching a man actively fighting for his life. Swift confirmed it. "I am. Correct."

Consider it a homework assignment for season 4.

Speaking of which, Swift is genuinely energized by the new group. It is a very different team in every sense, and he called the young women individual, hilarious and brilliantly cast.

He also thinks the subject matter itself has more to chew on than another season of men's football would.

"With men's football, it's been going on for over 100 years. It's a hugely lucrative international industry," Swift said. "Women's football, although we're all excited about it, it's still challenging at a club level."

The reason, as he framed it, is the arithmetic that never shows up in a highlight package. Players weighing whether the leap is worth it. Kids at home. A parent to look after. Women multitasking the whole time.

"That is very interesting to focus on," Swift said. "Just how women decide to come into the game, and whether they choose to go ahead with it."