Outfitted: Ed Weeks
The Mindy Project man talks LA living, his essential article of clothing, and what’s next.
Ed Weeks was born to be funny. The England native, widely known as everyone’s favorite OB/GYN Dr. Jeremy Reed on The Mindy Project, always found comedy to be his first love. “I was hugely into Monty Python, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and lots of other seminal British comics,” Weeks told Maxim. “It was a dream come true to get to Cambridge [known for its famous comedy sketch society, Footlights], and tread the boards and write my own shows.”
While his original dream of writing didn’t pan out as planned, Weeks used his stand-up experience as a base before transitioning to acting. Soon enough, the 34-year old found himself opposite Mindy Kaling on one of the funniest primetime series in a long time. “American sitcoms are the most amazing art forms in the world,” he says. “There’s such rich dialogue on the show, like a tradition of amazing narrative comedy. To be a part of that, it’s just really.. like every day, I pinch myself.” Following its shift over from FOX to Hulu, The Mindy Project is ready for another stellar season on a new network.
Photo: FOX
Weeks talked with Maxim about his character on Season 4 of Mindy, owning an essential tailored jacket, and why curse words are so much better overseas.
I really like the word, ‘twat.’ In England – let me headline this. A lot of these curse words, they sound less bad in British. For example, ‘twat’ here I think is a harsher word. And also the ‘C’ word here is also very, very harsh. In England, those words are used much in a much more everyday way. We’re very blue with our language. I’ve always liked how onomatopoetic ‘twat’ is. I just enjoy the sound of it.
Living in LA, I carry my polarized Ray-Bans with me every day. Without them just I can’t – it’s so sunny here. They make my eyes safe and comfortable. They also add an agreeable sepia tone to everything. I feel like I’m looking at everything through an Instagram filter.
An essential for every guy should be a tailored jacket. I think there’s very little for a man you can buy that’s going to be a better investment or would be better than a tailored jacket or blazer. And it’s not hard. You don’t need to buy the most expensive jacket. As long as you get it tailored and it fits you, I think there’s nothing worse than a jacket that’s too big. Then it looks like you’ve stolen it from your father.
My mother is El Salvadorian, so my hair can get quite untamed and frizzy. However, I’m never afraid to blow-dry after a shower. I usually top off the hair with a product called ‘Nightrider’ by Kevin Murphy, which is a matte wax. I’ll use a little bit of that, just enough to see me through another crazy night at the chateau.
I’ve been working together recently with Cristin Milioti and she’s an amazing human. We find Jeremy in the beginning of season four in a relationship with her. But, it turns out that Jeremy is a little bit of a wuss, a little pushover. And Whitney is kind of slightly walking all over him. I think he’s so enamored by how overt and strong and baller she is. She’s a very aggressive commodities trader on Wall Street. It’s been really fun working with her, and Cristin is such a fantastic actress and comedian. It’s been a joy. I’m sure she’d find it desperately embarrassing and an awkward feat to be nominated for the Maxim Hot 100. I mean she’s unbelievably beautiful and funny.
I’m sort of an amateur guitarist. But when I left England, I didn’t think I’d be leaving for so long. So my guitar is still back there in a friend’s attic. With the Mindy series, I went out and bought myself a beautiful Les Paul guitar, and that’s probably be my most prized possession I have here. I don’t have a lot of things I care that much about, but this guitar, for what it represents, this amazing, new, wonderful chapter in my life.
As for what’s next, coming up is this show Project Greenlight on HBO, which premiered Sunday, September 13th. I shot a movie over the summer, the movie is called The Leisure Class, and they shot behind the scenes and made a documentary about the making of the movie. It’s going to be detailing the making of that movie, as well as showing the movie. So that’s going to be an interesting backstage experience. Another surreal chapter in my life.
Photos by Jeff Vespa