‘The Good Place’ Actor William Jackson Harper On Working With Kristen Bell, Ted Danson On The NBC Series

William Jackson Harper is learning a lot of things from his “The Good Place” co-stars Kristen Bell and Ted Danson.

“Kristen is so incredibly present and alive while being technically proficient,” Harper, who plays Chidi on the NBC afterlife comedy, recently told Entertainment Weekly when asked what he has learned from acting opposite Bell. “She knows how cameras work, what angle we’re getting when. She knows how to play certain things. I’m still learning from her because I come from theater.”

As for what pointers he’s got from Danson, Harper told the news outlet: “Ted describes how a joke works and what makes certain things funny; he spreads out his hand, he points to different places on the palm and says, ‘That’s not funny, that’s not funny, but this is funny.’ He seems so loose, so relaxed, but he’s trying to figure out exactly what thing is funny. If you land near it, it just doesn’t have the same impact. So I’ve started to ask myself that question as I’m working on a scene, spreading out my hand: ‘Is it funny? Is it funny? Is it funny?’”

READ: William Jackson Harper talks his similarities to his “The Good Place” character Chidi

This isn’t the first time Harper has opened up about his experience working with Bell and Danson on the set of the Michael Schur-created series. In an interview with EBONY.com last year, Harper had nothing but praise for both Bell and Danson, who portray Eleanor and Michael, respectively, on the series.

“I learned a ton from them,” Harper said. “They’re so alive and smart and they have such an innate understanding of comedy. They really understand the medium in a way that I don’t. So I’m literally watching them all the time on set and trying to just take lessons. Take lessons and use some of their skills and apply them.”

Plot details about the upcoming Season 2 of “The Good Place” are being kept under wraps, but Schur assured fans that the show won’t be repeating itself in its sophomore run even though Michael will basically just continue torturing Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason/Jianyu (Manny Jacinto) in Season 2.

“[Michael is] going for a different thing now,” Schur told Entertainment Weekly last March. “He says … that the problem was that they all spent too much time together too quickly, so he’s going to spread them out, give them each a different soulmate, torture them individually for a while, and then slowly bring them together. … He can’t just torture them individually, because what’s the point? The fun of it — the game of it — is getting them to the point where they torture each other.”

“The Good Place” Season 2 will premiere on Thursday, Sept. 28 at 8:30 p.m. EDT on NBC.