Jake Johnson said he hopes the raunchier aspects of his new show, “Minx,” will not deter viewers. 

“It’s a show I really believe in, and I think it’s really fun. I hope the idea that there’s nudity doesn’t scare people off,” Johnson, 43, told The Post.  “Because there’s not nudity for the sake of nudity – it’s all within the story.” 

Premiering Thursday, March 17 on HBO Max, “Minx” is a period-piece comedy set in the early 1970s. It follows Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), an earnest Vassar-educated feminist who’s trying to launch a women’s magazine called “The Matriarchy Awakens,” which has more substance than the typical beauty and housekeeping tips. Unfortunately, when she tries to get funding, nobody is interested – except for friendly and mildly sleazy publisher Doug (Johnson), who has been successful in publishing pornographic magazines. Doug agrees to be Joyce’s publisher and to give her an office and a staff — as long as Joyce gives her idea a sexier angle and changes the magazine’s name to “Minx.” Together, the unlikely duo team up to create the first women’s erotic magazine.

“It doesn’t feel like the show is a lesson. It feels like it’s entertainment that’s about stuff, and the characters are rich and three dimensional. And, there’s a penis montage in the pilot, which I wanted to see how they were going to pull off,” said Johnson, best known for “New Girl,” and “Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

Johnson said that series creator Ellen Rapoport sent him a documentary about the making of Playgirl, which helped him prepare for the role.

“She said, ‘This is kind of the feeling of it.’ So that was the research I did, and she sent me a bunch of Playgirls from the ’70s. I think that, in 2022, we are very desensitized; there’s been a porn explosion on the Internet,” he said. “So, it was really fun when the idea of a nude magazine with men was so risque and people had no idea what to think about it. I thought [the show] is just really funny take on it.” 

The full-frontal male nudity that Johnson referred to is part of a photo-shoot sequence for the magazine’s centerfold – since they’re trying to compete with the iconic Burt Reynolds nude Cosmo photoshoot.

“The penis montage was very funny,” he said. “The guys coming in were having fun with it. So that was a very easy sequence to laugh, because they all knew what they were getting into and wanted to be there. It’s funny to see a 70-year-old dude with a ponytail who’s  excited to take his pants off. The 10-year-old boy in me was laughing when that stuff was around. What got weird about the other nudity was that it became a normal part of the workplace, like we really were part of [this magazine]. It became normal that a woman in a pair of underpants was walking around with no shirt on and devil ears. It wasn’t odd by midway through the season.” 

Another factor that drew Johnson to “Minx” was his character’s aesthetic — although the outfits did take some getting used to.

“His jewelry and button-down and high-heeled shoes felt so foreign to me. But, once you throw that stuff on, it’s hard not to have a little bit of swagger,” he said. “So, I understood why you’ve got those guys from the ’70s walking a certain way. The clothes make the man. 

“Doug was kind of a mix of my uncle Eddy and my dad – I come from a long line of salesmen,” he said. “There were just a lot of characters who I grew up around. One of the things that I like about Doug was that his main goal is to sell magazines and win, and he really doesn’t care who helps him do it. His big battle in life is what’s more important — winning at capitalism or being a good person? And that’s a fun thing about Doug, you feel it with him.

“At times, he’s got to treat people s–ty in order to get ahead.”