Jason Mendoza’s 9 Funniest Moments on ‘The Good Place’ (PHOTOS)
24/7
Jason takes great pride in his Jacksonville dance team, “Dance Dance Resolution: We Resolve to Dance.” He’s somehow the leader of the whole thing, and he makes it clear that his teammates need to be thinking about dancing 24/7. What, exactly, constitutes “24/7” in Jason Mendoza’s head? Thinking 20 thoughts about dance “four” seven minutes every day. Because of course that’s what it means.
Every single time he references Blake Bortles
Jason’s obsession with the Jacksonville Jaguars—and their former quarterback, Blake Bortles—has led to some of the show’s most hilarious gags. Whether he’s covering himself in Jags body paint or dressing himself and his pet penguin in Bortles jerseys, Jason’s unflinching team spirit is humorous and even a little admirable.
Penguins
Are they real? Of course, but Jason doesn’t think so. When he expresses his enthusiasm for getting to have such a mythical creature as a pet, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) lets him know that penguins are very much already in existence. “That’s the spirit, Eleanor,” Jason smiles. “They’re real to me, too.”
Jason’s personal Bad Place
The most in-character description of The Bad Place possible for Jason: He’s waiting for a bass drop at a Skrillex concert, and it just… never comes. Oh, the horror!
Molotov cocktails
Another running Jason gag that gets funnier every time. Jason’s suspiciously good at making and detonating these handheld explosives, and best of all, he definitely sees them as a solution to almost every issue. “Anytime I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem.”
Jason’s rating scale
Jason’s Dance Dance past also creates a great moment here, when he tells Tahani (Jameela Jamil) he’d give her an “eight” on his team’s rating scale of “dancing ability, dopeness, coolness, freshness and smart-brained.” Eight was, somehow, the highest rating on a scale that went from one to 15.
When he figured it out!
Jason’s revelation that they were in The Bad Place was made even funnier by Michael (Ted Danson)’s crestfallen shock. “Jason figured it out? This is a real low point. Yeah, this one hurts.”
Pre-successful
Never tell Jason he failed at something. Jason Mendoza wasn’t a failed DJ… he was just “pre-successful.”
“I came up with hundreds of plans in my life, and only one of them got me killed!”
He’s technically right, but that’s probably not a claim he should be this proud to be making.
To watch The Good Place is to fall in love with with Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto), the “pre-successful” amateur DJ from Jacksonville, just a little.
Whether or not you’d consider him your favorite character, you’ve gotta admit Jason’s one-liners often produce the show’s most side-splitting moments. He has an absolutely bonkers past (which he loves referencing), bumbling cluelessness, relentless cheerfulness, and total immunity to the direness of the show’s stakes. When those traits are all mixed together, they form some pretty miraculous jokes and running gags.
It would be impossible to compile a gallery documenting all of Jason’s hilarity — it’d be hundreds of slides long! But we think these nine moments show him at his dopest, freshest, coolest, and most smart-brained.
The Good Place, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
