You can thank the artist very briefly not known as Prince for ensuring that one of the greatest sitcom couples of all time became a couple in the first place.
The music legend Prince was a huge fan of FOX’s New Girl, which ran from 2011-2018 and starred Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day and Jake Johnson as Nick Miller. Prince appeared as himself in a season three episode aptly titled “Prince” that aired in 2014. On The Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday, Minx star Jake Johnson told host Kelly Clarkson that Jess and Nick got together because it’s what Prince, inarguably the most important fan of the series, wanted.
Johnson, with his Minx beard intact, described Prince’s iconic arrival on set. “He came around and he was talking to Zooey [Deschanel],” Johnson said. “He looked at me and said to Zooey, ‘I would like to meet Nick now.’ Zooey looked at me and, obviously, whatever Prince wants…[Prince gets]. She walked over and was like, ‘Hey Nick, come over here.’ I met Prince and he was as nice as it gets.”
But it turns out the greatest musician of his generation and superfan, who passed away in 2016, came to the New Girl set with an agenda. “He wanted to live in the reality of the show, and he wanted Nick and Jess to be together,” Johnson said. “So he said he would do the show if he could help them get together. He got to live a little fantasy. He wanted them together, and we wanted Prince. Prince is the best.”
Given the direction of the show and the characters, Nick and Jess likely would have gotten together without Prince’s involvement, but Prince certainly made it happen quickly. Thank you for your service, Prince. You can watch video of the interview below.