Andy Samberg on new show ‘Digman’ and working with Kate Winslet
In the new adult animated series “Digman!” — which premieres on Comedy Central Wednesday — comic actor Andy Samberg voices the title character of washed-up archaeologist Rip Digman.
But the “Saturday Night Live” vet can also be seen in the feature-film flesh in the new comedy “Self Reliance,” which premiered at South by Southwest earlier this month, and the upcoming biopic “Lee,” in which he flexes his acting chops opposite no less than Oscar winner Kate Winslet.
“It’s very dramatic … very different from anything I’ve done before,” Samberg, 44, told The Post about his real-life role as Life magazine WWII photojournalist David Scherman. “But when Winslet calls you, you say yes.”
For now, though, Samberg is getting in touch with his inner Indiana Jones on “Digman!” In addition to co-creating the series with fellow “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” alum Neil Campbell, the comedian serves as writer and producer for the first time.
“I’ve written on everything I’ve ever worked on pretty much in some way, shape or form,” he said. “I have not always been credited, but that’s fine — that’s how it works.”
In addition to reuniting Samberg with his “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” love interest Melissa Fumero as the voice of Bella — Digman’s wife, who he’s still mourning a decade after her death — the show features a star-studded array of guest voices including “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe, Jane Lynch of “Glee” and “The “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” fame, and Samberg’s former “SNL” cohort Maya Rudolph.
“We got everyone to do it by just backing up the money truck,” said Samberg with a laugh. “Part of it was just luck that they wanted to do it or had time. We started creating this during lockdown, when a lot of people were free.”
But even with his new series, Samberg still hasn’t quite gotten over the “tough” ending of his police sitcom “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” after eight seasons in 2021.
“It was a strange way to end … in the middle of COVID,” he said. “We came back for one very thoroughly swab-tested season. So it felt slightly anticlimactic in that sense.”
And Samberg still regrets that, aside from the opening credits, the series never actually filmed in Brooklyn. “We shot that show in Los Angeles,” he said, adding that he lobbied to go on location to Brooklyn “every f—king year.”
These days, Samberg is juggling all his various projects with daddy duty: He and his wife of 10 years, baroque-pop artist Joanna Newsom, have two young children.
So are their kids more musical or comical?
“It’s too early to tell,” said Samberg. “It does feel like there’s some musicality and some comedy instincts in there. I’m hoping for more musical comedy.”
Certainly, Samberg knows a thing or two about musical comedy with his trio The Lonely Island, which won an Emmy for their “Dick in a Box” ditty that was featured in an “SNL” sketch.
And yes, Samberg still tunes in to watch the Saturday night juggernaut that he appeared on — “live from New York” — from 2005 to 2012.
“I of course still watch,” he said. “I watched before I worked there and after … It’s America’s campfire — you’re seeing what’s going on in our country on that show.”
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