Josh Gad’s career is full of highs and lows — plus a lot of strange moments with A-list stars, at least according to his memoir, In Gad We Trust: A Tell-Some.
“It sort of became the theme of the book,” Gad, 43, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting the book, which was released on Tuesday, January 14. “In the face of adversity, how do you overcome obstacles in order to achieve bigger dreams than you could have set out for yourself? That has been the story of my life.”
Gad explained that he’s had “stumbles” during his rise to fame which have acted as “learning curves” throughout his career.
“I love failing because it gives me a platform to succeed,” he shared. “Don’t let others force you to give up on yourself. I think perseverance is as important as skill. Those two things together can be a very powerful elixir.”
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Gad continued, “I didn’t love it at the time, certainly hated it — but rejection was as important to me and continues to be as important to me as acceptance. A part of it is, ‘F— me? F— you. I’m gonna prove you wrong.’”
Part inspirational story about success and part reflecting on his upbringing (Gad grew up with a single mother and absent father), his book offered moments of levity with some major name drops.
Keep scrolling for a breakdown of the celebrity encounters from Gad’s memoir:
Sharing the Classroom With the Stars
Gad went to high school in Florida where the early days of his acting career started. He wrote that Scott Weinger (Steve on Full House or the voice of Aladdin, depending on what generation you grew up in) was one of his “school heroes.”
When Gad went to Carnegie Mellon University, the actor discovered that he had shared the halls with other industry giants, including “a young nebbish boy from Southern California with a very rich singing voice named Josh Groban, a ferociously talented and fiercely confident kid from Philly named Leslie Odom Jr., and a fair-skinned Irish boy from Cleveland named Rory O’Malley.” Gad also noted that Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello were his “big brothers” at school.
Longtime Besties
Gad has been friends with Seth Gabel from childhood. Gabel, as some may know, went on to marry Bryce Dallas Howard. Gad admittedly “hated” Howard when he first met her, but they became “lifelong friends” after one night where he wore her “pink fluffy bathrobe” all over New York City.
Couch-Surfing Roommates
At the beginning of his career, Gad would crash on Gabel and Howard’s couch in Los Angeles. He wrote that two others were also couch surfing: Katherine Waterston and Jeremy Strong, who Gad referred to as “an interesting recent Yale drama grad who was working as an apprentice to Daniel Day-Lewis.”
A Memorable Encounter With a Legend
Those same early years in Los Angeles brought “an exciting or thrilling moment” — one of which included Robert Downey Jr.
Gad wrote that he spotted the actor during a trip to The Coffee Bean in 2003. The pair spoke about Downey’s role in the movie Chaplin.
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“I took a deep breath, tapped him on the shoulder, introduced myself, and for the next five minutes the two of us shared a beautiful and inspiring conversation about our admiration for one of the world’s great comedians,” Gad recalled, noting that he “felt so moved” by the interaction.
“As we approached the cashier, [Downey] suddenly turned to me and said: ‘Hey, I forgot my wallet. Do you mind covering this?’” Gad wrote.
Whose House Is This?
Gad wrote about meeting his friend at her boyfriend’s house, not knowing who owned the home.
“I rang the bell and a few seconds later my friend, dressed in a bathrobe, answered the door. Before I had time to ask why she was in a bathrobe, her boyfriend, the owner of this monstrous house, strolled up beside her in a matching bathrobe,” he wrote. “It was Jeff Goldblum.”
The trio “made small talk” until Goldblum started practicing a Meisner method acting exercise on Gad. “Why I was playing it with a robed Jeff Goldblum in his Mount Olympus home on a small uncomfortable cushion, I had and still have no idea,” Gad shared.
Tax Advice From Kelsey Grammer
Gad worked with Grammer on the 2007 series Back to You and the Frasier star once discussed the importance of being “a fiscal conservative” while they were on set.
“Emmy Award–winning actor Kelsey Grammer shared the virtues of paying less in taxes and encouraged me to join the cause (which for the record, had I not been brought up in a very liberal household, I probably would have run with because, well, money is really nice to keep once you’ve earned it),” Gad wrote, sharing that they have stayed “incredibly close” over the years.
‘The Artist Formerly Known as’ Kevin Spacey
Gad appeared alongside Spacey in the 2008 movie 21. While filming the movie, Spacey would take Gad out to dinner and “force” him into an “impression-off.” In an aside included in the memoir, Gad explained this was years before Spacey’s legal troubles. (The disgraced actor has faced multiple sexual assault allegations since 2017, which he has denied. He was acquitted of nine charges in July 2023.)
“It was such a strange thing,” Gad told Us about working with Spacey. “But also it felt like a sign of respect where he was really, I think, tickled by the fact that I could do voices.”
Harrison Ford Says No
Despite working on the 2008 movie Crossing Over with Ford, the Hollywood legend wouldn’t take a photo with Gad years later.
“I was hanging out with a young Hailee Steinfeld, whom my agent also represented, when she approached him and got a selfie. After Hailee took the pic, I asked Harrison if we could also snap a picture together,” Gad wrote. “Harrison looked at me and said in that iconic gruffy snarl, ‘No.’”
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Gad played Gyllenhaal’s friend in the 2010 movie Love and Other Drugs. When they were driving home from set, Gad played the Broadway movie’s soundtrack.
“I played the opening number. Jake laughed his ass off,” Gad wrote. “I skipped to another track on the album and his face slowly went from joyful enthusiasm to abject fear and terror.”
Hello, My Name Is Elder Price
Before Andrew Rannells was cast alongside Gad in The Book of Mormon, stars like Cheyenne Jackson, T.R. Knight and Nick Lachey auditioned for the role.
A Meaningful Friendship
Gad met Robin Williams (one of his longtime heroes) backstage at The Book of Mormon and they started a friendship that would last until the comedian’s 2014 death.
“It’s so frustrating because you imagine somebody’s gonna be around forever. There was so much I planned to talk to him about. We had been speaking less and less. I saw him, I think, the year before he passed,” Gad told Us. “I could tell he was down. He wasn’t his vibrant self, but I didn’t really know what was going on. I didn’t want to burden him with any conversations, certainly about myself. I feel grateful that he would’ve had an opportunity to hear me talk about how he inspired me — it’s something I said to him personally.”
A-List Fans
Throughout the course of the book, Gad mentioned some stars who proved themselves to be fans. Henry Winkler saw the actor in The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee on Broadway, while Philip Seymour Hoffman went to The Book of Mormon. Multiple stars — Sacha Baron Cohen, Adam Sandler and Melissa McCarthy — have asked Gad to do the Olaf voice from Frozen at parties over the years.
Johnny Depp, Huge YouTube Guy
Gad appeared alongside Depp in the 2017 movie Murder on the Orient Express. The two actors would often “watch TV” in Depp’s trailer while on set, which meant “old YouTube videos” like “Charlie Bit My Finger.”
According to Gad’s book, these clips “blew Johnny’s mind.” While talking with Us, Gad said “it was so wild” to have this experience, which he noted was “the last thing” anyone would expect to do with Depp.
“This was an out of body experience to just sit on a couch and be like, ‘Oh, yes, I remember seeing these YouTube videos 10 years ago.’ But I loved the novelty of them to him,” Gad shared with Us. “Watching him see these things with the eyes of a child was fascinating and wonderful and just sort of amazing.”
His Last Text With Chadwick Boseman
The late Boseman appeared alongside Gad in the 2017 movie Marshall.
“The production, which was shot in Buffalo, got off to a somewhat choppy start because Chad had something wrong with his stomach that he was being treated for in LA,” Gad wrote. “It wouldn’t be until almost three years later that I would realize the medical issue was in actuality colon cancer, and that Chad was somehow shooting our film in the early stages of the disease that would ultimately take his life.”
Gad shared his final text exchange with Boseman, from June 2020. “Love you too brother Gad,” the actor wrote. Boseman died two months later.
