Not all heroes wear capes—like Spider-Man, or even the guy who voiced him in the award-winning animated movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Deadline reports that Jake Johnson—previously from New Girl, currently on Stumptown—made a very fine offer on Instagram to kids stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson posted on Instagram: “So, here’s my idea. If your child is home from school and wants a quick encouraging message from Peter B Peter, then send me an email with their name and I’ll try to send over a short voice note.” Perhaps predicting a large response, he adds, “If I don’t get to you, I apologize.”
After all, that post already has more than 2,700 responses (at this writing), with some savvy viewers pointing out that “this is like when schmidt talked to batman huh,” referring to a New Girl plot when Johnson’s Nick Miller pretended to be Michael Keaton’s Batman over the phone for Schmidt. (“haha. That’s right,” Johnson responded.) Others are interested in messages from Nick Miller instead of Spider-Man, or wonder if the age range includes college kids now stuck at their parents’ house.
It’s a very nice effort at any rate, and Johnson probably has some downtime at the moment, just like the rest of us. If you want to give it a try for a kid in your life, Johnson even set up a gmail account for your request: Send it to [email protected]. And catch up on Stumptown on Hulu if you’re looking for a new binge-watch while you’re stuck indoors right now—it’s really good, and you get to see Jake Johnson tend bar again, this time with Cobie Smulders as a hard-boiled Portland P.I.