Minor spoilers for Shrinking Season 3, Episode 5 are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the comedy with an Apple TV subscription.
You know, I never thought I’d experience Michael Urie and Jason Segel passionately singing Les Misérables, and I really never thought I’d see Harrison Ford reacting to it. However, that’s the goodness the latest episode of Shrinking to air on the 2026 TV schedule gave us. The scene gets even better, though, after you learn the story behind filming it and how the Paul actor totally stole the show from the two men who were doing the singing.
So, in Episode 5, Brian (Urie) and Jimmy (Segel) take Paul (Ford) to pick up his daughter, Meg (Lily Rabe). The stipulation Brian set to go along, though, was that he got to pick the music. That led to him and Jimmy giving a passionate cover of “The Confrontation” from Les Misérables, which the two actors were more than prepared to do, as Urie told me:
First of all, when Bill Lawrence came to my trailer and explained the bit to me, he was like, ‘So the question is, do you know this song? It's called “The Confrontation.”’ And I was like, ‘From Les Misérables. Yeah, I know it. Who am I? Am I Valjean, or am I Javert? Just name it. I can do it. I'm ready.’ So I was so thrilled, and Jason and I both were giddy.
Meanwhile, while Urie and Segel were ready to sing their hearts out from the jump, Harrison Ford had absolutely no idea what was coming his way. So, both Paul and the actor who plays him were reacting to this incredibly committed cover of “The Confrontation.” Speaking to that point, the 2025 Emmy nominee said:
It was sort of a party trick that [Jason Segel] already knew, like he could do it, and, of course, I could do it, and we were so excited to do it. And Harrison knew nothing. He basically knew nothing about it. He didn't know; I don't think he'd ever seen Les Mis. He had no idea what we were going to do. So the first take was really, I think, he was really shocked.
Urie went on to explain that this was a special day of filming, because it's not every day you get to drive around Pasadena, California in an open-top car with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. However, while he is thankful for the opportunity to ask the Indiana Jones star questions he was “too nervous” to before, what he’ll remember most from this experience is seeing the Paul actor react to the singing from the back seat.
Describing the first time he watched the scene after receiving the dailies for it, Urie told me that he and Segel were “acting [their] socks off” and “going to town” to play Valjean and Javert. Meanwhile, Ford sat silently in the back. However, he was doing more than that, as the Ugly Betty actor told me:
I watched the dailies, and even though Jason and I are going for the Tony Award, all you can look at is Harrison. He is in the back, going through every human emotion. He is delighted, he is moved. He is scared, because we're singing and driving. He is like sad at one point. There's something, like, he's got remorse.
Listen, Harrison Ford got an Emmy nomination for playing Paul for a reason. While he can make us cry with his Shrinking monologues, he can also make us laugh until our sides hurt. This scene was an example of the latter, because his reactions mixed with Urie and Segel’s intense singing made for an absolutely perfect bit.
Explaining that further, as well as what he’s learned from Ford while working on Shrinking, Urie told me:
I've learned so much from him about acting for the camera, because he's such a master at it. But that's sort of like, when you realize, ‘Oh, this is the quality one has when they become a movie star.’ You know, like a true movie star, he can give every single human emotion on his face with no words in the back seat.
And he did. His reactions are top-tier, and his single line of “Did you guys make that up” brings the scene home. Truly, there have been some very funny moments in Shrinking that involve singing, and this has easily become one of the best.
Now, to watch these comedic actors at work, and to see if there are more hilarious moments like this one, make sure to watch new episodes of Shrinking every Wednesday on Apple TV.
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