Ashley Williams opens up about her “first TV” job with former “How I Met Your Mother” co-star Josh Radnor

Ashley Williams recently opened up about her first TV job as a lead actress in the NBC sitcom Good Morning, Miami. She appeared in the July 7 episode of the How We Made Your Mother podcast with How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) co-creator Craig Thomas and Josh Radnor, who portrays Ted Mosby on the sitcom.

During the podcast, Josh Radnor recalled briefly meeting Ashley while attending a taping of Good Morning, Miami. He explained that he was friends with Mark Feuerstein, who played the lead opposite Ashley in the show.

In response, Ashley shared that Good Morning, Miami was her first television acting job, where she played the lead role of Dylan Messinger. She explained that she landed the role directly after graduating from college. Before that, she had worked in theatre.

"That's fascinating. I do remember that show. But what was really interesting, that was my first TV job out of college. I had only done a bunch of theater, and Mark Feuerstein is one of the golden humans in my life. Shout out to Mark," Ashely stated.

She further reflected on the intensely competitive nature of working on a multi-camera sitcom like Good Morning, Miami. This was especially challenging for her, as she had just graduated from college.

"I've now done a ton of different mediums in television, and the multicam medium had been an incredibly stressful medium for me to be thrown into right out of school. So, it's so interesting that you [Josh Radnor] came to a taping of Good Morning Miami because they were incredibly stressful times for me," Ashley Williams stated.

The 46-year-old actress claimed that there was often competition among the writers to get their jokes into the final script, which added more pressure.

"Tape night can go badly, and tape night can go well, and it's stressful, and the ratings are up and down," she added.

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Ashley Williams reveals she was "terrified" by the multicam format on Good Morning, Miami

Elsewhere in the podcast, Ashley Williams highlighted the difference between the work environment of Good Morning, Miami, and How I Met Your Mother. She claimed that while she felt "terrified" of the multicam format on Good Morning, Miami, which ran from 2002 to 2004, she felt more "inclusive" and "safe" on HIMYM.

For the unversed, Ashley plays Victoria, one of Ted Mosby's girlfriends in HIMYM.

"I remember coming in and being absolutely terrified of a multicam format. And I remember day one, you all setting the tone, which was this kind, all-inclusive. First thing out of the gate is we finished the table read, and we all went straight to breakfast, and it was all under the you know guidance of Pam Fryman."

However, Ashley Williams explained that due to her "mentality," she was skeptical about the environment. She claimed that she was unsure if the supportive vibe would persist once the pressure of "tape night" set in.

It was a very like you're safe here, everything's okay kind of vibe which I definitely did not trust. I was like, 'Sure, sure, we'll see what happens on tape night,' you know, was like my mentality was like."

She stated that HIMYM creator Craig Thomas reassured her that the environment was "different around here." However, she still feared she would be fired after the network run-through. Williams claimed that this fear stems from her time on Good Morning, Miami, where actors were frequently replaced.

"Because that was the culture I came from on Good Morning, Miami. People were replaced left and right after, you know, table reads, after runthroughs, all that. So in so many ways the show was this healing sav for my soul, you know," Ashley Williams added.

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The full conversation between Ashley Williams, Josh Radnor, and Craig Thomas is available on the How We Made Your Mother official YouTube channel.