Coolest Person in the Room: Jack Innanen

How’s the campaign for white boy of the month going? Are you still running it?

I've had to take a little bit of a break. I saw that Timothée Chalamet recently came away with the win. And you know what — deserved. We're coming back strong in 2026, hopefully top of the year, maybe January. We'll see!

Maybe there’s a beach volleyball movie we can get you in or something. I’m trying to think of an odd sport like ping pong to get you cast for.

I think it is, because Glenn Powell had his Top Gun beach volleyball. I was gonna go with luge, go back to the Canadian roots, and do that.

We have to remind the people that you’re Canadian, because again, I think it will just contribute to the campaign. I mean, you could always shave your head like Timothée.

I don’t know, he seems to be doing well with it. My dad always said I had a weird skull shape, so we’ll see about that.

Fun thing for your dad to know about you, and then let you know about.

Yeah, because I didn’t know that about myself, and it was just like, oh! New insecurity unlocked there. But hockey helmets used to fit me weird, and he would always let me know, which was very kind of him.

Was it interesting to get that kind of feedback from your parents when they watched you on TV? Were they letting you know, like, “Hey, I didn’t like that shirt.”

I don’t think my mom’s a fan of tattoos, which was interesting. And just the other day, they were commenting on my mannerisms. Like, now it’s good to know that whenever I act, I’m now more self conscious of my mannerisms. Which is good!

You’ll have to cheat out to them on camera.

Exactly, I’ll start doing little winks.

While we’re on the topic of Canada: Adults was about young people in Ridgewood, filmed in Toronto, and suddenly you have everyone talking about your mustache as one of the takeaways from the show. Was that intentional on your part? Was there a strategy?

No, I don’t think it was intentional. I’ll big up myself first — not big up myself! But I’ll defend myself for a second, that I’ve had this mustache since 2020. As soon as lockdown hit. This is almost six years in the works, and then it very much became the guy, the Bushwick guy, the mustache mullet combo… perfect. That’s where I feel like the whole Paul Baker character felt serendipitous. I was like, okay, I can be this guy. I was also like, where was the love in 2021? Where was the love? But I’m glad to see that the mustache was a topic of journalism.

Everyone was firing off their jokes in 2021, but you were ahead of the curve on it. You just had to wait it out, because it was meant to pay off.

Martyrdom isn’t easy, but some people have to do it.

I read that you felt like you’ve been a guy like Paul Baker in your life, and knew guys like Paul Baker. What about Paul did you recognize in yourself? Or, what did you see reflected back through the show?

I was watching the behind-the-scenes stuff the other day, and I thought a lot about how they describe Paul. Rebecca Shaw and Ben Kronengold said he could fit in anywhere, but not fully. And this was the first time where he really could fit in anywhere. In my early 20s, I could kind of chameleon myself, or fit in, and be a part of “it,” but not really be ingrained in these groups or these systems. And I was bouncing around from friend groups and places, and so I definitely related to that with Paul Baker. He came in as the boyfriend, and is now part of the group. I had some experience with that, and I think a lot of people have experience with that.

Did any of the scenes on the show feel like, “Oh, I’ve been this person. I’ve done this. My friends and I have been in scenarios like this before?”

Obviously, I haven’t had the stabbers, but most of the dynamics of like, “Fuck, how do I set up this? I gotta pay my landlord with a check in the mail? And most of those scenarios with friends, where you’re jealous of someone’s scandal because they’re getting attention, and you feel like you’re going to hell because of it.

The episode where you guys go through the mail sticks with me, because I’m like, damn, I’ve been all of these people.

I just walked in and there’s a lot of mail downstairs, because why are we still doing that?

I don’t want to get a coupon from Zales, I’m not buying an engagement ring anytime soon, and certainly not from Zales!

I don’t even know what Zales is, but I’m sure it’s down there in my mailbox.

Yeah, who’s been into a jewelry store anyway, like, a chain jewelry store?

Where would I even find one of those?

If you’re ever in Toronto again, Pizza Pizza gets really good coupons that I use frequently.

Are you also in Toronto?

No, my partner is from there, so I’m there half the year and am using Pizza Pizza coupons.

What are your thoughts on Pizza Pizza, as an American?

We don’t have it in America, and I have to say, it’s way better than Little Caesars. You get those crazy fry things, those are good. The wings are so cheap. If I’m having a pre or an afters, the pizza is a huge hit every time. Although, everyone comments like, “You got Pizza Pizza?” Well, were you going to pay for it, dickhead?

People always talk shit, but what’s that meme, like: Pizza Pizza is a lot better without an asshole in your ear saying it tastes like shit? That’s my favorite.

You know what, Canadians and Americans do have so much more in common than we think. Because if we could cross that divide, across the border with Little Caesars and Pizza Pizza, I think we could really heal our nations.

I’ll vote for whatever you’ve got going on.

White girl of the month has a less interesting ring to it. So, not to bring up your secrets, but I read in a profile that you used to make Minecraft videos on Youtube. Unfortunately, I do have to ask you about the Minecraft videos. What age and what were you doing in them?

It’s so funny that you asked that, I’ve just recently gotten back into watching Minecraft video, which is an inverse correlation to how well I’m doing, I think. My buddy who I live with, and who I used to make these videos with. We went and tracked it down ‚ so it was early, early 2011. We were early, I think, and we made them until 2013. I got kind of bullied for it, and deleted my channel, which I really regret. But there’s still a couple out there, and I will not tell you my name.

No, it’s fine, because I’ll look anyway. But we’ll keep the secret.

It was a lot of redstone. I think I was a part of a YouTuber server, and so I’d do episodic Let’s Plays with other Youtubers: the Minecraft Hunger Games, everything you could imagine. I could talk about that for a while.

I won’t debase myself anymore than I already have professionally, but I will reveal that I was also on a Minecraft server in college as well, but it was for a man who had a Minecraft server. Like, sure, I’ll smoke weed and watch you build a city on your Minecraft server with your roommates. But you might be the first Minecraft Youtuber turned Hollywood actor.

I might have to go back, because I’ve been craving it, and I realized I take it too seriously. My girlfriend was like, “Can we play together? Can I sit and watch you play? I was being an asshole about, like, how seriously I took it. Like, this isn’t a game to me!

This is literally real life. People died.

She’s trying to collect cherry blossom trees and I’m trying to industrialize some farms.

Before you moved to New York, you were in Toronto. It’s so uninteresting to talk about New York, so what were you doing in Toronto? What were your local haunts? Were you at City Pool every weekend?

I’m a pretty bad New Yorker, and I’m a pretty bad Torontonian. I don’t know if I want to… I will blow up my favorite spots, because I think they deserve it. One of my favorite places that I go to every time is Soul Shakers, on Bloor. It’s Korean American fusion, and it’s a bar, have you been?

I’ve walked by it a bunch.

That’s my favorite spot in all of Toronto. I love Track and Field, that’s another one that’s fun to go to sometimes. I really like the local shawarma spots. Truly, the first thing I do when I touch down is Paramount Fine Foods — Lebanese food. Any shawarma, or Fat Bastard burrito. Incredible.

I mentioned how the show was set in Ridgewood, but filmed in Toronto. It’s part of the joke that you live so far out. But then it is visibly filmed in Toronto. I wanted to know, was that intentional, to make the Toronto part obvious? Because there was a moment where I was like, “I walked by that Wine Rack in the Junction.”

Wine Rack in the Junction? I need to go back, so bad. I won’t speak for the production, but I believe it wasn’t intentional. Malik on the cast is also Canadian, he’s from Calgary, but I was the only true Torontonian on the cast, or in the inner circle of production. I remember there was one shot where we’re walking out of the subway, and there’s a Timmy’s, a Scotiabank, a TD, and then you can see a TTC streetcar go by in the background.

I don’t know if I should be quoting what other people have told me, but I was at a party, and Sean Kaufman came over, and he was like, “Dude, love the show, but my only beef is: what the fuck? How is that supposed to be Queens, that is obviously Toronto?

That meme, of “Society if…” with the futuristic Space Age society? I watched the show thinking, “Society if Ridgewood had a street car. Society if Ridgewood had a Wine Rack.”

I think for anyone that’s from New York, it’s obviously not New York, and anyone that’s from Toronto, it’s just so obviously Toronto.

You come from the world of front-facing video, and you did not take the traditional Hollywood path of moving to LA and doing the whole acting circuit before landing a pilot like Adults. Did you feel that was a hurdle, or do you feel like because FX has its reputation, it felt a bit more free form and experimental as a start?

I definitely felt that it was a hurdle, candidly, but then looking back, I realized in some ways it wasn’t. I remember being so intimated, like Lucy Freyer went to Juilliard. I’ve barely acted before, and this is really scary. There’s a lot of intimidation to that world, and rightfully so — Lucy’s incredible, and it’s such an art form and such a skill, and there’s so much prestige to that world. But I think that’s the beauty of FX being experimental, and cutting edge.

I think also a big thing is that I am a subscriber of the belief that comedy is comedy, and acting is acting. I see so many of my friends from the new media world of TikTok or Instagram skits, who are great actors. It’s not the same as workshops, but it’s all valid education to get to the same place. I’m an actor, but I’m not only an actor. I can also be something like — people take it as a pejorative to call me a TikTok comedian, but that is what I do, and I’m prideful of that. I like doing that. I think all of that blurring is really fun.

Obviously you have maintained an online presence since the show, and the other work you’re doing now. Did it feel weird to go back to it after the show had premiered and now you have all these new people aware of you?

I think — just in the way of not feeling like I quite belong in either, was almost how I felt. I’m too much of a TikToker to be an actor. I’m too much of an actor to be a TikToker. I love what I do, and so I think I felt comfortable and fine in both worlds, but if anything, the only thing I really found strange was seeing my comments on a normal skit, being like: “Paul Baker, what are you doing here?” Like, that’s so funny that these people know me as a character. This is my first time being known as a character other than myself.

I have to ask you a few questions about that cool people would have answers for. So, imagine the perfect fall day. You have the day off, you can do whatever you want. Where are you going, what are you eating, what are you wearing?

I would go to Daily Provisions, and I would get their salmon lox and cream cheese bagel and a black drip coffee. I would walk to the local farmer’s market near me, and there’s a vintage bookseller, and I would go there and try to scavenge for books. I would come home and play Minecraft for the rest of the day, and probably really, really regret wasting such a beautiful fall day. Then, that anxiety would probably eat me up by like four, and I would get outside and try to run, but then just feel really bad about myself, grab dinner with my girlfriend or my friend, hit a local wine bar.

Okay, there we go, we’re back on track.

We’re back on track!

You said you’re such a bad New Yorker, everyone’s going to have to flood the comments of this for where to go for a wine bar.

I used to live in Tirbeca, there’s a place called Weather Up that was a cute, fun spot. Sorry, I should be naming names. I gave you a very real answer, which is anxiety and Minecraft.

I think you’ve dodged any performative masculinity accusations, so I think we’re safe.

That’s what I was trying to do, I was like, damn! What should I lie about?

You’re like, oh, I have to talk about a vintage bookseller.

Let me name some names: Weather Up in Tribeca is very lovely….see, I’m scared to give my actual spots, because I only have two spots, and they’re very close to my home.

It’s a bar, people drink at it, and like it…

Yeah, it’s really good. There’s this one park, it’s in the center of New York, that’s also really lovely…

Now that we’re talking about fall, and performative masculinity, I’m picturing you in one of those giant Lenny Kravitz scarves.

And the scarf stays on —

Even when you’re playing Minecraft?

All the windows open.

You have to air the humors out like they did in Victorian times.

Exactly.

Besides parks and wine, what are you watching or reading right now?

I’ve got this bad habit. I have lots of books over here, and I’ve read probably 20 to 50 pages of almost all of them, but only probably three all the way through. Let me show you what I’m reading, it’s in my bag, because I stopped reading it to read another book.

This is going to be performative male-esque, but I’m reading a book on Napoleon right now, and then that got me on some other books about the French Revolution. And then at the same time, I got The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac. This gets a little performative over here — Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

You saw accusations of performative Roman Empire stuff and said, fine, I raise you Napoleon and the French Revolution.

Yeah, have you ever heard of Louis XVI? I’m also trying to think of Minecraft Youtubers I’ve been watching recently…

Incredible.

I’ll give a shoutout to Baablu, and on Instagram Reels, TheRealDell112 has been making me giggle lately. As for shows I’ve been watching, I did finish The Summer I Turned Pretty…

What team did you end up on, despite the outcome?

I mean, come on, there’s only one correct answer! Conrad, obviously, but that was a character assassination of Jeremiah in the third season.

That was a total annihilation.

I felt really bad for the actor. I’d be like, damn, that’s tough. I’ve also been watching a lot of cheesy, bad TV. I’ve been watching Emily in Paris.

Put some respect on Emily in Paris, it’s the most important show for women ever made.

Well…

The drag number was fun!

What character was that, Mindy? She’s the best. Emily is just unredeemable.

She’s a cold blooded killer.

My girlfriend’s been learning French, so we’re watching that as a little French practice here and there.

Just so you both know how not to learn French.

As for movies… what movies have I seen? I want to give a shoutout to La Chimera, which I watched a couple months ago, and it changed my life.

Aside from Adults — fingers crossed for a season two renewal — you also have Big Mistakes coming out with fellow Canadian Dan Levy. Are you guys filming for that now?

I actually just wrapped recently! It’s fucking funny, it’s really fucking funny. He’s hilarious, everyone in the cast is hilarious. I got to see the first episode, and it is so fucking funny. I don’t know what I can say about it, but it’s a crime comedy, and it’s so fucking good. It’s just fun — I’m having a lot of fun right now. The character I play in it, Max, is different from Paul Baker. I would also love to do a rom com sometime, and I would love to just do more comedies, more fun stuff.

Maybe there’ll be a The Summer I Turned Pretty Again movie, or prequel series.

I like that. My girlfriend said The Summer I Turned Chopped and Unc, and if they need that, I would love to go for that, because I’m pushing it these days.