I've been a Josh Charles fan since I first saw Dead Poets Society and the crush only grew once I watched Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead. So naturally, I took note when the actor made a return to Inside Amy Schumer for its Season 3 premiere on April 21, and now I have know if Josh Charles and Amy Schumer are friends in real life. (That's how crushes work, yeah?) When he was in two episodes of Inside Amy Schumer Season 2 with an excellent Newsroom parody, I never even dared to dream that he would be back for Season 3. But the actor, who also once played our beloved Will Gardner on The Good Wife, appeared on Schumer's Comedy Central show in the Season 3 premiere in a Friday Night Lights parody that takes on the serious case of the connection between football and sexual assault. And just like that, I have to admit that the onscreen chemistry between Schumer and Charles has to be built on a real life friendship. It's just too good.
Charles is so willing to go along with Schumer's (albeit amazing) antics, they just have to be pals. Or would that just be too good to be true? Their combination of forces onscreen already makes me so happy, I don't think I could handle their united powers of awesomeness offscreen as well. But fans of Will Gardner, Dan Rydell, and Knox Overstreet can rejoice: The actor is not only game to tackle (none of these football puns are intentional — I swear) a disturbing and serious issue on a feminist comedy show, he also is cool enough to be Schumer's friend in real life.
After Season 2 of Inside Amy Schumer aired, The New York Times reporter Jacob Bernstein was with Charles when the actor spotted Schumer and invited his comedian friend to join them for drinks. Schumer was doing stand-up comedy that night (a show that Charles was already attending without knowing Schumer was performing) and the pair conspired to have him heckle her from the audience. Although Bernstein reported that the bit didn't go over too well with the restless crowd, I would have felt honored to have witnessed it.
Although other details about their friendship are scarce (it turns out that they are not friends simply for our amusement, the jerks), but you can find them slinging barbs at each other on Twitter, which is pretty cool:
(Yes, I realize anyone with a Twitter account could tweet at Schumer, but let's act like it's a moment of true friendship, because it makes us happy, OK?) And in case you're coming up with any romantic theories about Schumer and Charles, let me just get this out of the way: Knock it off. They really are just friends. Charles married his wife Sophie Flack in 2013, and the adorable couple had a baby in Dec. 2014. See? So cute:
Schumer told Entertainment Weekly that while doing Season 2's "The Food Room" sketch, Charles was "hilarious, like, pitching amazing scenes ... He totally helped craft that [sketch]." Inside Amy Schumer's "The Food Room" might have been Charles's most memorable Schumer sketch to-date (he also was Fleet Weekums later in Season 2 — a newscaster who worked alongside Amy going through a jealous rage after she spotted her boyfriend with another woman), but "Football Town Nights" is going to change that. Not only is Charles channeling Kyle Chandler (another man I loved in the late '90s-early '00s), but he is going after the outrageous rape culture prevalent among some high school football teams.Of course, "The Food Room" was so great since Charles had starred in Sorkin's Sports Night — and worked in fast food as Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead — but the Season 3 premiere on Inside Amy Schumer showed that Charles is down for anything. It better not be the only time these friends collaborate this season.
Images: Matthew Peyton/Comedy Central; mistergeorgetown, in-love-with-movies/Tumblr; Getty Images
