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By H. Alan Scott
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"There is no safety net, but the safety net can be your people. That's what the show is all about."
Everyone remembers life's growing pains right after you leave your parents' home. For Jack Innanen, part of the ensemble of the new FX series Adults, there are certain things that made him feel like an adult really quick. "Tax season and when I'm working on my visa, those ones get me locked in. I'm like, 'Oh, I'm a man in the eyes of the government.'" Before Innanen was cast as Paul Baker on Adults—only the second project he auditioned for after moving to New York City from Canada—he was best known for his viral social media presence. "It's a completely different beast," he says about creating social content versus filming a show. "They're not the same at all." But he knows how fortunate he is. "I don't even know if I understand the trajectory to whatever mix of luck and serendipity I've found myself in." And he loves that Adults shows a group of young people trying to make sense of it all. "The veil of adulthood has come down, and I think the show really plays into that. It's trying to figure out who you are, how you exist as a proper adult."
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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.
How excited are you for this show?
Probably the most excited I've ever been in my life, for sure. We have the date, and we've had the date, and I'm just living toward the date. Everything else is just blank space in between.
This isn't just a regular streaming show—there's a status symbol to be said of you being on an FX show. That must resonate with you.
Totally. Being a being a part of that family and seeing who our peers are has been a little surreal. It's all been a little surreal.
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How did it all come about for you?
Well, I've been doing social media videos forever and had been pursuing that. And then I moved to New York, continuing doing that. I wanted to pursue comedy and acting and was incredibly lucky and so privileged that it was my second audition I had ever done, which just feels like the biggest privilege. The first audition was like a raunchy, exotic teen movie, and I was like, "Oh, I don't know if this is me." And then the next week, I got the script for Adults, and it was the funniest thing I'd ever read. I felt so lucky. I was like, "Oh my God, this is me at 22." I just absolutely fell in love with it and was so hell-bent on getting it and auditioned, got the callback, came to the chem[istry] read—which I can tell you every single detail of that day. Just the most incredible project I was obsessed with and was so lucky to get picked.
So Adults was your second audition?
Yes.
You know how many young actors are gonna hate you—or even old actors—are gonna hate you for saying that?
I know! I truly want to emphasize how incredibly privileged I feel. And I was even hesitant to share that.
It's a flex! That's something that you'll be talking about for the rest of your career.
Oh, well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I hope so.
So, tell me about your character and how he fits into the whole overall story, and just about the story in general.
I play Paul Baker. I think that at the core, he's just an open-hearted sweetheart who is kind of just going with the flow. He's Canadian, like myself, and has found his way to New York City and [is] kind of bouncing hookup to hookup, but then through his hookup and girlfriend—that is Issa—becomes part of this group, and is kind of the newcomer. I think his role throughout the season is—like many people, and the whole concept of Adults—is finding who he is to these people, and who these people are to him and how he fits within this friend group. It's a fun time.
The fact that you're Canadian and that the character is Canadian, there's a label that comes with being Canadian, in that y'all are really nice. Like a little too nice. And a Canadian moving to New York City—not the nicest place. Is that a part of the process of the character? The niceties?
I do have to say—I hope I'm allowed to say this—Paul Baker was originally not Canadian. I believe he was originally from Colorado. I think it was that my accent was so bad that the "sorrys" and "abouts"—I just couldn't hit them. So, I think I got a little rewrite there. But I think that's a compliment. I'd love to attribute some of his sweetness to the Canadian personality. I'll gladly take that.
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Also, the rest of the cast. The ensemble is just so strong. Not only the younger ensemble that is the core, but there's also Julia Fox and D'Arcy Carden in the mix. What was that like working with, not only the immediate ensemble that you're working with, but also some of these pros like Julia and D'Arcy?
It was a complete masterclass in comedy, and just in acting. They were also just so fun. I think, going in as a newcomer to this industry and especially the cast—so incredibly talented, and everyone has a bunch of experience within their own right—but I think getting to see these different perspectives was just so enriching, and also so funny. It reminded me why I did this. Amita [Rao, who plays Issa] says it a lot, and this stuck out to me a lot. When we were shooting, Amita always talks about just playing. Like she loves to just play. I remember this scene with Lucy [Freyer, who plays Billie] and D'Arcy. I think D'Arcy was just playing, and then when we were in the green room, everyone's just like still joking around. I think it's easy to go in there and be like, "Oh, I need to nail this. I need to nail this on my part as a newcomer." But then seeing these people just, "Oh, this is why we do this. Because we like to f*** around on camera." And they do it professionally in an incredible way.
Well, speaking of f***** around on camera, you have been f***** around on camera for a while in terms of your social media videos and everything. But there is a big difference between acting in a social media video and then acting on an FX series. What was the adjustment like for you to be on this level of a professional set, and did you have to adjust how you act on camera in a lot of ways?**
It's a completely different beast. They're not the same at all. It's me thinking of a bit, writing it down, performing it to the air right here in my right where I'm sitting, just out loud to my window, and then putting on a different shirt and doing it somewhere else, versus becoming someone else and being a part of this whole organism. But it was truly the creators and the cast, just the most talented people, and being immersed in that, and everyone being so hilarious and so talented that it was just so easy. And I was like, "Oh, I can just be this guy in this setting." It's a completely different animal, but it was great. Everyone made it feel so natural.
I won't tell you how old I am, but I will tell you I don't feel like an adult necessarily. The only time I feel like an adult is during tax season and the doctor. I think a lot of people experience—particularly people in the millennial, Gen Z generation—they have this generation of being perpetually in that arrested development situation. What does that mean for you? How does that reflect in your life? Do you even feel like an adult?
I think you hit the nail on the head. Tax season and when I'm working on my visa, those ones get me locked in. I'm like, "Oh, I'm a man in the eyes of the government." But I think it's such an interesting point. I think that's so true. I saw this TikTok that really resonated with me, which was that the first half of your 20s is trying to get with the plan, trying to get with the program, and you're trying to figure everything out. And then the second half of your 20s is just trying to spend as much time with your friends as you can. And I think that that has been very true for me, and I think the show combines those two. I think that's a beautiful thing about our generation, millennials and the younger generation, is that it doesn't have to be just taxes and immigration forms. It can be still being goofy. And I think you see that with like, the way that our generation speaks in corporate contexts. I'll see the emails my corporate friends will send to each other, and it's just how I would speak to a friend. The veil of adulthood has come down in many ways, and I think the show really plays into that. It's trying to figure out who you are, how you exist as a proper adult, but how do you fit in? How do you navigate that, but then also still be yourself and have fun? And just because you're over 18 now, doesn't mean you have to be boring.
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So, you got your start on social media. You did fantastic on social media and creating that comedic persona on social media. How do you turn that personality, of being that social media comedic presence into an acting career?
Well, that's a great question. There's kind of two things. On the personal side, that play thing, the aspect of play, and maintaining that play was so important. But then also, I see my friends in standup comedy. I see my friends on social media. I see my friends and whatever they do in a creative context. You really want to be a great creative but then there's also the commercial aspect of it. And that's a really hard balance to strike. And I think I find myself teetering constantly on that of like, "Oh, I just need to be the funniest I can be." And then the commercial aspect falls. "I need to be the best businessman." And then the creative aspect falls. And I think just trying to maintain a balance of play—I'm trying to think of the best answer to that question. I really don't know if I know, but I think the only thing that's worked for me was just like, I love this. I committed my life to a career. And I think that's the thing where I click, and I'm like, "I need to make this work. This needs to be what I do." And I think, yeah—it just has to work.
I feel like millennials, Gen Zs and generations after that, really have to be the self-motivators and create their own careers and really go in the direction they want to go. In your terms, like what you did with social media, using that as a platform to then jump into acting—there's obviously a trajectory there. But it's also an indicator of this generation, in a lot of ways, being that self motivator, creating your own space, creating your own work, in a way. You know what I mean?
The tools have been completely democratized. In some ways, of course, there are still existing deficits and infrastructures that don't allow for that. The path hasn't already been figured out. Like I was on the path and the career I was going down, and then it was that realization of like, "Oh, I need to save myself. I need to be the one who figures this out." And I think that's a really cool thing about our generation, and you see that in the show. Just like, you need to figure this out. And also, the exponential curve of the dissonance in generations and their understanding of how the world works and how careers work and how entertainment works—like month by month, it changes. And so I think that was a big thing. I love when people really trust themselves and pursue what they want to do. You can't even listen to people five years older than you, because it has changed.
Exactly. I think a theme of the show that I think is really interesting is that there's no safety net. You gotta just do it. We're a different generation. Things change really quickly. And I think you being on the show, and a lot of the people on the show are indicators of that in a lot of ways, like the way we adult is changing in a really, real way.
Completely. And the core of it being that [it is] completely changing. The understanding of how to navigate is constantly changing. And what has been so true for me that I think I neglected from my early 20s, is that there is no safety net, but the safety net can be your people. That's what the show is all about, is everyone's kind of going through it in their own ways. But we all have each other, no matter what. And I found that with—I moved down here with my childhood best friend, and I couldn't have done it without him. He's in the room next door right now doing his work. I would not be here if it wasn't for the people in my life, and the show is that. None of the characters would be who they are without the others.
It's like the new 401K is your friends, because that's all you can rely on. Also, I want to know too, just before I let you go, as a person pursuing acting, New York is an interesting choice to choose instead of Los Angeles. Why New York?
I really wanted to move to New York when I was younger. And also—it feels very Paul Baker—my buddy got this job, and we've been in COVID lockdown in Canada for a long time, and I just really wanted to immerse myself. And also L.A., I think about that a lot. Because New York seems second best to L.A. in terms of trying to pursue an entertainment career. But it's just, it's too hot, it's too big, too much time in a car. I'm from southern Ontario, so it's the same climate. I enjoy the winters. I can't do L.A., unfortunately.
Well, I'm sure you'll be in L.A. a lot. My last question for you is, a lot of people want that social media ticket to do well on social media, get cast on a show, become an actor, do that. That's the trajectory I think a lot of people want. What would you say to someone who is creating content online but also seeks to be on a show like Adults in 10 years? What would your response be to them?
Oh, I don't even know if I understand the trajectory to whatever mix of luck and serendipity I've found myself in. But truly, if I could say anything to younger me, it's just find what you love and die trying. You can pursue anything, which I love. My mom has been rebuilding her childhood dollhouse, and it's opened me up to an entire economy for miniaturized everything...
I don't have anything miniature, but my boyfriend is obsessed with doll stuff.
No way! I'm just like, that someone's full-time job designing tiny things. I mean, you can do anything. I don't know if I have the answer, but Godspeed everyone.
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