Anyone who’s seen 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall will tell you that there’s one scene early on in the film that stands out more than any other. We’re talking, of course, about the moment Jason Segel’s character drops his towel after Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) breaks up with him. The full-frontal nudity in that segment is still seared into every single one of our brains all these years later. We won’t post the footage here, but this being the internet, it isn’t hard to find, should you be so inclined to seek it out.
While speaking with The New York Times in 2014, Segel opened up about how the scene came to be. “It actually had a function in Sarah Marshall, besides just shock value,” Segel explained. “One of the pitfalls of a romantic comedy is that you know how it’s going to end. The guy and the girl on the poster are going to end up together,” he continued. “I felt like if the main guy showed his [penis], you’re forced to sit back and say, ‘I have no idea what’s going to happen in this movie.’”
Despite his reasoning, Segel decided against telling his mother about the nude scene, but also brought her along to the movie’s premiere. When Segel turned to her at that point in the film, he said his mother was beet red and even started to cry. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Segel remembered his mom asking during a 2024 appearance on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist. “I thought it would be a funny joke,” Siegel said, to which she replied, “This is not a funny joke.”
Jason Segel’s Mom Warned the Rest of His Family About Watching the Movie
Afterward, Segel’s mother sent out a mass e-mail to the rest of their family members warning them about what he’d done. “I would like to inform you that Jason has chosen to do full-frontal nudity in his upcoming film,” the message began. “However, I assure you it is not gratuitous and essential to the plot.”
But as essential as she might’ve felt it was, at least one other person was confused by its inclusion. In 2025, Segel recalled an audience member raising his hand at a test screening and asking, “Is no one going to talk about this guy’s weird dick?”
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