Jake Johnson on how he deals with all the ‘Minx’ nudity: ‘comedic obstacle’

Jake Johnson’s “Minx” character, Doug, is often in scenes where he’s having a regular conversation — with naked people nearby.

“It is [hard to keep a straight face],” Johnson, 45, told The Post. “On set, most of us are clowns. We goof around between takes. But even if you’re making jokes that have nothing to do with the naked person behind you, in this era, it’s extra sensitive.

“You don’t want somebody to think you’re laughing at them, even though you’re not. So, you’re not even supposed to be cracking jokes, because there’s nudity 20 feet behind you. 

“If you remember being a kid where a parent would tell you ‘Don’t talk in the back of the car. Don’t laugh,’ it makes it so much harder! It is a comedic obstacle of the job.” 

The second season of “Minx” premieres July 21 (9 p.m.) on Starz at 9 p.m.). Set in the ’70s, it follows earnest feminist college grad Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), who joins forces with boorish pornographic publisher Doug (Johnson), to create the first erotic magazine aimed at a female audience. 

“What Doug loves about Joyce is that he just sees dollar signs when she talks. He thinks she’s whip smart and has great ideas, but she’s inexperienced and too idealistic,” said Johnson. 

“That’s a fun dynamic, because in Doug, Joyce thinks he can unlock her potential, but everything he does is off, and not how she wants it…The way I imagine the relationship is that Doug and Joyce had a one-night stand and had a baby. And they love the baby, but they just can’t understand how they made the decision to partner with this other person.”

In Season 1, the unlikely duo worked to get “Minx” off the ground; in Season 2, they grapple with their success. However, the series was almost scrapped after Season 1 in a fashion similar to the “Batgirl” movie. It originally premiered on Max, which renewed the show for a second season — then canceled it in December 2022 while it was in production. Starz rescued it in January of 2022. 

Johnson (“New Girl”) said he wasn’t panicking during this time, however. 

“We had just about wrapped Season 2, and then we got word of [the cancellation]. But also, in the business we all knew that HBO Max was cutting costs and doing a lot of moves for taxes,” said Johnson. 

“I contacted a friend at Lionsgate, our studio, and said, ‘Are we in trouble, here?’ And he said, ‘No, this is fine. We already have three streamers who really want it, and they’re competitively bidding on it.’  So, from the public’s point of view, there was a lot of people who were like ‘Oh no!’ But from the inside, it felt like, ‘We’re just going to be someplace else.’ 

“I tried to put it out on social media, but without giving anything away. I just said like, ‘We plan to be back, good news to come!’” 

Johnson said the viewer uproar over the show’s brief cancellation made him feel good. 

“If nothing else, it was a nice confirmation that people care about the show,” he said. “I’ve been in things that come and go, and nobody even knows about it. And I’ve been in things where people hate it, and when it goes away, they cheer. 

“When it was threatening to go away, people were mad. It makes doing the job feel worth it,” he said. “There’s a little bit of acting where you feel like a lunatic if no one watches it — dressing up in weird clothes, saying somebody else’s lines, and you realize that nobody cares!

“So, the fact that people care about ‘Minx’ is the fire to make you want to keep doing it.”