Jess Day and Nick Miller are one of the most popular sitcom couples, but they might not have ever gotten together if it weren’t for Prince.
Actor Jake Johnson, who played Nick on New Girl, joined Kelly Clarkson on her eponymous television show on Wednesday (May 4), where he recalled the late icon’s cameo on season three. “Prince really liked New Girl, which was cool,” Johnson explained. “He wanted to do the show.”
When Prince arrived on set, Johnson said that the “Purple Rain” star was chatting with actress Zooey Deschanel, who played Jess. “I saw him look at me, and he said to Zooey, ‘I would like to meet Nick now.’ And Zooey looked at me and, obviously, whatever Prince wants so I was like [nods head] ‘Yeah.'”
Johnson added that Prince was “as nice as it gets,” and “wanted to live in the reality of the show, and he wanted Nick and Jess to be together. So, he said he’ll do the show if he could help them get together, and he got to live the whole fantasy.”
“He changed the whole narrative?” Clarkson replied in shock, to which Johnson replied, “He wanted them together and we wanted Prince! Prince is the best.”
When Clarkson asked if Prince called Johnson by his character’s name the whole time, the actor sweetly and jokingly replied, “Honestly, I’m such a fan that he could have called me anything and I would have responded. He could have called me, ‘Shut up and get me my coffee,’ and I would have been like, ‘You got it!'”
Watch the full Kelly Clarkson Show interview below.