Eugene Cordero explains the origin of Pillboi and Jason’s epic Good Place handshake
Eugene Cordero Explains the Origin of Pillboi and Jason’s Epic ‘The Good Place’ Handshake
Eugene Cordero shares how his 'The Good Place' character's handshake with Jason Mendoza (played by Manny Jacinto) came to be, and how he has to rewatch videos of the elaborate greeting whenever fans ask him to recreate it!
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The creation of Pillboi and Jason's epic handshake in The Good Place was actually surprisingly simple.
According to Eugene Cordero, who played Pillboi — the amateur DJ and perpetually name-dropped best friend to Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto) — the handshake only took about 10 minutes to perfect.
"This handshake, it was just in the script as 'elaborate handshake,'" he told PeopleTV's Lola Ogunnaike during a recent appearance on Couch Surfing. "So we took maybe 10 minutes and just worked through it, and then tested it out in a rehearsal once. Everyone got their giggles out, and then we shot it."
But in true Jason and Pillboi fashion, the actors cannot recall the moves when fans ask them to recreate the moment now. "It's so funny because people will ask us to redo it, and we need to rewatch it because it was so focused in the moment to do it," he said. "We're like, 'Did we do that?' 'Oh yeah, we did do that.'"
Colleen Hayes/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
The Good Place, which also starred Kristen Bell, Ted Danson, D'Arcy Carden, Jameela Jamil, and William Jackson Harper, ended its beloved four-season run on NBC in January.
For more with Cordero, check out the video above, and head over to PeopleTV for his full Couch Surfing episode.
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