‘Ghosts’ Star Asher Grodman on Why Being Pantless for His Character Is an ‘Honor’

Asher Grodman’s character Trevor Lefkowitz on Ghosts might be forever cursed as Woodstone Mansion’s very own Winnie the Pooh, but the New York filmmaker and actor admits he’s actually “honored” to not be wearing any pants for the smash hit sitcom. During the CBS single-camera comedy’s first-ever panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, Grodman told audiences and media that while not wearing pants on set keeps him “kind of awake and aware at all times,” there’s one significant anecdote fans might not realize behind the pantlessness thanks to showrunner Joe Port.

“One of the highlights of last season was that ‘Trevor’s Pants’ episode and it was so cool ’cause I found out in the midst of shooting it, that it was inspired by Joe Port’s dad who outlawed hazing in his fraternity,” Grodman said in front of a packed audience in the famed Ballroom 20. “We’re not here to make social commentary — that’s like not what our show is. But when we have these characters with this rich history, it’s like a thousand years of history in this house with all these characters and we can touch on things, and [Port and co-showrunner Joe Wiseman] have this amazing way of bringing us in with these laughs and then turning something as trivial as a pair of pants, into a commentary on how we treat each other. Being pantless is an honor.”

In the premiere season’s antepenultimate offering “Trevor’s Pants,” audiences finally learn the truth about why Grodman’s character is missing the bottom half of his suit (and boxers) in the afterlife, sporting nothing but a blue shirt, tie, suit jacket and argyle socks with black shoes. With the deliciously clever 22-minute episode taking a poignant turn in its usual hilarity to showcase abusive group dynamics and toxic bro culture, Grodman admits he hasn’t gotten tired of baring more than his soul for the cheeky character even though his fellow cast members are. “I get a lot of comments from the cast about it and now we’re playing basketball on set. So, you know, the things are just hanging out,” he said.

With Grodman’s co-star Rose McIver chiming in about how he has a “lovely” pair of sweatpants that “crop off a little” that he could wear during basketball, fellow castmate Utkarsh Ambudkar interjects asking Grodman if he wears them at all, to which the actor who turns 35 on July 28, replies, “No.”

“The thing with the no pants thing is, once you, when you take them off in front of a crowd of a hundred people, for the first five minutes, you’re like, ‘What am I doing?’ So the best strategy, unfortunately for the rest of the cast is for me to keep them off ’cause once you’re in the cold pool, you don’t get out, ’cause then you realize how cold it is,” Grodman laughed. The Official 2022 San Diego Comic-Con International panel can be seen on YouTube in its entirety, care of CBS.

For more on Ghosts and everything Season 2, stay tuned to the very latest about the show, news about the cast, and everything in between only on PopCulture. In the meantime, relive the first season of Ghosts on Paramount+ for free from June 3 to Sept. 2, 2022.