That was nearly 18 years ago. Today Kroeger, 39, has an Emmy sitting on a table in his bedroom\u2009\u2014\u2009an award that came from his work as a producer on Ted Lasso<\/em>, a comedy on Apple TV that has become something of a cultural phenomenon. Fans anxiously await the release of new episodes, and celebrities ranging from U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney to television and radio host Ryan Seacrest have dressed up as the show\u2019s characters for Halloween. The show was recognized with seven Emmy awards, including one for outstanding comedy series. Kroeger\u2019s came from his work as the show\u2019s supervising producer in charge of post-production (think editing, sound, music, visual effects, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s super cool when there\u2019s recognition and people are like, \u2018We\u2019re validating what we\u2019ve seen, and we dig it,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAnd so it\u2019s all surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The show, which is now filming its third season, uses an improbable scenario\u2009\u2014\u2009an American college football coach hired to manage a professional English soccer team \u2014 to explore what it\u2019s like to be a fish out of water. Critics have raved about the show\u2019s intelligence and heart, and fans have taken to social media to preach the gospel of Ted Lasso, the show\u2019s title character played by Saturday Night Live<\/em> alum Jason Sudeikis, and a sparkling cast of characters that range from the glamorous team owner to a foul-mouthed aging soccer star. Oh, and it\u2019s funny, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The show\u2019s over-the-top success has been a bit of a surprise for Kroeger and others on the crew. In a world where producers, editors, camera operators and other production crew members bounce from show to show, it\u2019s not uncommon to feel like you have a potential hit on your hands only to see the show dropped after a season. And while Kroeger liked what he saw as they made the first season of Ted Lasso,<\/em> he has learned not to get his hopes up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of warm and fuzzy in the show,\u201d he says. \u201cThe successful shows, the ones getting the most attention up to that point, were edgy and dark. But I think we all were kind of looking for a little bit of that warmth and lack of edge. The show ended up being able to deliver it at kind of a perfect moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bill Lawrence, one of the executive producers of Ted Lasso<\/em>, was one of Kroeger\u2019s first bosses in the business. Working on the set of Scrubs<\/em>, Kroeger appreciated the environment that Lawrence had created. \u201cThe world that Bill would build on his shows was one of people genuinely being nice,\u201d Kroeger says. (Ring a bell, Ted Lasso<\/em> fans?). \u201cThey had a \u2018no asshole\u2019 policy. If you were a jerk, you didn\u2019t survive. But if you were good, they were loyal and they kept you around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randall Winston was also a producer on Scrubs<\/em>, and took Kroeger under his wing. \u201cI met an eager kid who was smart and very willing to jump in and take risks,\u201d Winston says. \u201cHe was always volunteering to go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Winston advised Kroeger that he had to embrace the chaos that comes from working in an industry fueled by a strange mix of creativity, ego, money and competitiveness. \u201cKip is somebody who has the temperament to put the puzzle back together every day,\u201d says Winston, who has produced shows such as American Housewife<\/em>, Roseanne<\/em> and Grace and Frankie<\/em>. \u201cThat kind of mindset and discipline is required.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kip is somebody who has the temperament to put the puzzle back together every day. That kind of mindset and discipline is required. As Kroeger has moved up the ladder, working on shows such as The Conners<\/em>, Home Economics<\/em> and Roseanne<\/em>, he\u2019s had to juggle managerial responsibilities with increasing opportunities to have creative input on shows. As the supervising producer for post-production on Ted Lasso<\/em>, Kroeger does most of his work in Los Angeles (where he lives with his wife and two daughters) even though the show is filmed in London. He supervises a team of eight people and works with vendors who handle things such as visual effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To gain an appreciation for the impact Kroeger and his team have on the show, think about the soccer games on the show that are played in a London stadium full of screaming fans. In reality, there was no stadium and there were no screaming fans\u2009\u2014\u2009the actors played football on a practice field ringed by giant green screens, with sound and visual effects specialists adding the rest in post-production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Melissa McCoy, an editor on Ted Lasso<\/em>, has worked with Kroeger on a handful of shows over the last half dozen years. She echoes Winston\u2019s sentiment that Kroeger knows how to get control of the chaos. \u201cI call him my voice of reason,\u201d says McCoy, who was nominated for an Emmy for her work on Ted Lasso<\/em>. \u201cThere are so many times when you think the world is crashing on your episode, and he\u2019s such a steady hand. He keeps you calm. We call it being Kipped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kroeger admits that he sees something of himself in Lasso, the amiable coach who cares deeply about the people around him. \u201cI tend to see myself as a bit of an optimist,\u201d he says. \u201cI like helping people find the best parts of themselves. I like giving people the room to flex their creative muscles. We\u2019re all in this together. I love that vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I call him my voice of reason. There are so many times when you think the world is crashing on your episode, and he\u2019s such a steady hand. He keeps you calm. We call it being Kipped. For now, Kroeger is savoring the experience of working on such a popular show with a team that he considers nothing short of amazing \u2014 from the writers and the actors to the people on his post-production crew. But he knows that it will end, and as an independent contractor he is always on the lookout for the next job. While working on Ted Lasso<\/em>, Kroeger has also been producing a reboot of the 1980s sitcom called Head of the Class<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve always had this mentality of you\u2019ve got to be hustling, you\u2019ve got to be looking for your next gig,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd you\u2019ve got to be doing everything you can to build relationships and find people you really love to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which brings us back to those early-morning calls that Kroeger made to his parents in North Carolina when he was still new to the business. He recalls telling his parents that he was having a blast, stunned that he was getting paid to do what he had dreamed of for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re making TV,\u201d he told them.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n It didn\u2019t matter to Kip Kroeger \u201904 that his first job after college required him to work long hours and fetch coffee, lunch and whatever else his co-workers or supervisors requested. He was in Los Angeles, Calif., a long way from his childhood home in Kinston, N.C., and felt like his dreams were already becoming a reality. He remembers taking advantage of the three-hour time difference to periodically call his parents on his way home after a late night at work that spilled into the early morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is the best job ever,\u201d Kroeger told them. \u201cI was in the editing room last night while they were editing the show and watching all these tricks that they were pulling off to make things work, and it\u2019s just so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their son was working in television, on a popular NBC sitcom called Scrubs<\/em>. Granted, Kroeger was a low-level production assistant, essentially a glorified term for gopher. That also meant, though, that he was seeing how a television show was put together and hanging out with people who, despite their big titles, were often willing to share a bit of television magic with this kid who had just graduated from NC State with a degree in biology (medical school was the fallback option).<\/p>\n\n\n\n That was nearly 18 years ago. Today Kroeger, 39, has an Emmy sitting on a table in his bedroom\u2009\u2014\u2009an award that came from his work as a producer on Ted Lasso<\/em>, a comedy on Apple TV that has become something of a cultural phenomenon. Fans anxiously await the release of new episodes, and celebrities ranging from U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney to television and radio host Ryan Seacrest have dressed up as the show\u2019s characters for Halloween. The show was recognized with seven Emmy awards, including one for outstanding comedy series. Kroeger\u2019s came from his work as the show\u2019s supervising producer in charge of post-production (think editing, sound, music, visual effects, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Lasso-2.jpg\")
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\u2014 Randall Winston, producer<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Melissa McCoy, editor<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n