Wire report
‘New Girl was so scary I had to stop smoking pot’: Jake Johnson on perseverance, pickleball and Prince
As Nick in the blockbuster TV comedy, the actor was adored by millions. So will his new comedy The Dink, which he jokes is a ‘sexier Challengers’, make him even more popular? You might assume that Jake Johnson would know a little something about pickleball. The actor is starring in The Dink, a sort of spiritual heir to Dodgeball – it has a Ben Stiller cameo – and he plays Dusty Boyd, a former tennis pro turned plucky pickleball upstart. Presumably Johnson took the gig because he has a deep love of the sport, a fondness for its pockmarked balls and weirdly smooth paddles? “No experience of it whatsoever,” says the actor, cheerfully, on a video call from Los Angeles. Yet this underdog of a racket sport, loved by retirees, found him anyway. At the climax of the movie, Dusty must play against an old foe, which meant Johnson had to undertake months of real-life training in pickleball and tenn
coverage / Wire report
Get updates, read source context, send useful records, share the story, or support the reporting work from the reading page.
As Nick in the blockbuster TV comedy, the actor was adored by millions. So will his new comedy The Dink, which he jokes is a ‘sexier Challengers’, make him even more popular? You might assume that Jake Johnson would know a little something about pickleball. The actor is starring in The Dink, a sort of spiritual heir to Dodgeball – it has a Ben Stiller cameo – and he plays Dusty Boyd, a former tennis pro turned plucky pickleball upstart. Presumably Johnson took the gig because he has a deep love of the sport, a fondness for its pockmarked balls and weirdly smooth paddles? “No experience of it whatsoever,” says the actor, cheerfully, on a video call from Los Angeles. Yet this underdog of a racket sport, loved by retirees, found him anyway. At the climax of the movie, Dusty must play against an old foe, which meant Johnson had to undertake months of real-life training in pickleball and tenn
Check the original link, updates, and responses when a detail is contested.
Open topic or search related wording such as records, sources, agencies, dates, and locations.
What happened
According to The Guardian’s linked report, ‘New Girl was so scary I had to stop smoking pot’: Jake Johnson on perseverance, pickleball and Prince, As Nick in the blockbuster TV comedy, the actor was adored by millions. So will his new comedy The Dink, which he jokes is a ‘sexier Challengers’, make him even more popular? You might assume that Jake Johnson would know a little something about pickleball. The actor is starring in The Dink, a sort of spiritual heir to Dodgeball – it has a Ben Stiller cameo – and he plays Dusty Boyd, a former tennis pro turned plucky pickleball upstart. Presumably Johnson took the gig because he has a deep love of the sport, a fondness for its pockmarked balls and weirdly smooth paddles? “No experience of it whatsoever,” says the actor, cheerfully, on a video call from Los Angeles. Yet this underdog of a racket sport, loved by retirees, found him anyway. At the climax of the movie, Dusty must play against an old foe, which meant Johnson had to undertake months of real-life training in pickleball and tenn
Context
The development sits in VINI’s Culture coverage for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked report is dated 2026-07-21T04:00:08+00:00.
What to watch
Open questions include whether primary sources issue follow-up statements, whether local or market impacts become clearer, and whether additional reporting changes the timeline or adds material context.
Source
Primary source: ‘New Girl was so scary I had to stop smoking pot’: Jake Johnson on perseverance, pickleball and Prince via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
Keep following
This file can keep developing
vininews.com uses reader tips, public records, right-of-reply requests, corrections, and follow-up reporting to keep important stories current.
Support and subscriptions never buy coverage, placement, suppression, or corrections.
This VINI report keeps the original publisher link available and does not republish third-party article bodies without rights clearance. 1 reference listed.
Source links
- ‘New Girl was so scary I had to stop smoking pot’: Jake Johnson on perseverance, pickleball and PrinceThe Guardian - 2026-07-21T04:00:08+00:00
Reader comments
Moderated discussion
Comments are open to authenticated approved accounts, screened for spam and abuse, and published only after newsroom moderation unless editors change the story control.
No approved comments yet.
Substantive, civil comments can be submitted by approved account holders.