“What in the white boy Hell is this?” Cyrus wonders in TVLine’s exclusive sneak peek from Tuesday’s American Auto, in which Superstore vet Ben Feldman reunites with his former costar Jon Barinholtz.
In the episode (airing at 8:30/7:30c on NBC), Feldman guest-stars as Chase, the preppy, tech bro college best friend of Wesley (played by Barinholtz). Chase’s “ability to spin a yarn puts Fyre Festival’s Billy McFarland to shame,” per the official character description.
“A long time ago, [Superstore and American Auto] creator Justin Spitzer told me about a character in the second season that he thought it’d be fun for me to play because it’s the polar opposite of the character I played on Superstore,” Feldman tells TVLine of the guest spot. “I told him I’d do it if he’s embarrassingly obnoxious. Fortunately for all parties involved, Justin is the Shakespeare of embarrassingly obnoxious sitcom characters.”
Case in point: In the above video, Wesley introduces his friend to Payne Motors CEO Katherine Hastings and the rest of the team, who have reluctantly agreed to a quick tour of Chase’s potentially bogus green energy company, Sandbox. Chase hopes to get Payne to invest in his venture, but given the reaction Katherine & Co. have to his Silicon Valley bro energy — see Cyrus’ response above, or Sadie’s horrified face when Chase says he used to cheat off Wesley — and it’s not looking good for Chase.
While his Superstore character Jonah “spent a lot of time tolerating the absolute lunatics surrounding him,” Chase “is one of the lunatics,” Feldman says. “It’s a lot more fun to play those characters. You get to look and be ridiculous. Chase feels like someone who used to pick on Jonah in high school.”
And it’s not just Superstore fans who will get a kick out of the episode: “There’s kind of a Silicon Valley crossover here as well, because I’m a tech bro, which felt a lot like the character I played on that show,” Feldman notes. “The episode is pretty meta. Not Meta meta — that would be too meta. Just regular meta.”
Press PLAY above to watch the sneak peek, then check out an exclusive first-look photo below!
