Joel McHale Praises ‘Ghosts’ Showrunners Ahead of Season 2 Premiere (Exclusive)

Joel McHale is no stranger to the workings of TV land. Since breaking out onto the scene in 2004 with E!’s The Soup, the beloved actor, comedian, and television host has been around the primetime block, so to speak. But while his series Community continues to be a smash hit with audiences thanks to streaming and remains one of the best, most inventive sitcoms of our generation, McHale also has his fair share of misses with shows like The Great Indoors on CBS or The IT Crowd on NBC, which was the American adaptation of the Channel 4 series of the same name. But as his former bosses, Joe Port and Joe Wiseman from The IT Crowd have now found success on CBS with Ghosts and signed a three-year, multiprogram deal with the eye network, McHale has nothing but praise for the showrunners.

“I hear [Ghosts] is great! It’s very difficult to get any show into its second season or to get any recognition for any show at all, so well done by them,” McHale said enthusiastically while in Colorado for his partnership with the rancher-driven nonprofit focused on beef demand and ranch profitability, Certified Angus Beef, where he hosted a fine dining experience nestled in the Rocky Mountains.

When asked point blank if he would like to appear on an episode of the CBS sitcom, McHale shoots back “Sure” with a laugh. “They haven’t called, but yeah, sure,” he said with a smile. Playing to his own kind of method acting, the comedian adds being in the northern Colorado town for his new partnership might add some verve to a potential guest spot. “[I’m] here in Estes Park where the whole place is haunted they keep telling me. It’s not like I saw a little girl walking upside down on the ceiling last night. I was like, ‘Ah, Colorado, it’s crazy.’”

While the pilot for The IT Crowd never made it to air on NBC, it did leak online and remained on servers for years where fans rediscovered the U.S. adaptation of the quirky U.K. series that plays to observational humor like The Office. Centered around three staff members in the IT department, the series originally starred Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade and Katherine Parkinson, and went on for four seasons in England. With Ayoade reprising his role alongside McHale for the 2007 to 2008 TV season, with Port and Wiseman serving as executive producers and showrunners, the series was ordered and advertised by the network but soon hit a snag when a report from The Hollywood Reporter stated NBC chairman at the time, Ben Silverman didn’t quite feel a “spark” with the series.

Though the show didn’t get far with NBC, Port and Wiseman have since found success with a number of notable series, including Just Shoot Me, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, The Crazy Ones starring the late Robin Williams, and New Girl, which went on for seven seasons on FOX. This past summer, Port and Wiseman signed a three-year programming deal with CBS Studios following the success of Ghosts, admitting their excitement over the collaboration. “The entire company has been so supportive of the show, right from the start. CBS took a really big swing, one that most broadcast networks at the time wouldn’t have done and they marketed the hell out of the show,” Port told Deadline.

As for McHale, the Stargirl actor’s passion outside of TV and film is getting some major elevation thanks to his newest partnership with Certified Angus Beef. Snagging the most exclusive and extreme dinner reservation of the year, McHale gets a chance to channel his inner extreme sportsman as he hikes to the top of a cliff for a once-in-a-lifetime fine dining experience in the Rocky Mountains complete with helmets and harnesses! Explaining just why he got involved with the nonprofit, McHale, who loves cooking and grilling in his spare time admits it’s all about the campaign’s creativity. “The company, Certified Angus Beef, is a group of cattlemen and cattlewomen and ranchers who 40 years ago were like, ‘We need to somehow codify and measure taste, and we’re going to make up our own rules!’ And they’ve been around for 40 years now. If you’ve ever had their meat, it’s terrific. I cook all the time.”

McHale can be seen in Stargirl, when it returns for the second half of its third season on Oct. 5 on The CW. In the meantime, audiences can check in to Ghosts when it returns on Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS. For more on Joel McHale and Ghosts, stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest.