TORONTO -- When it comes to fake Canadian accents, Nick Kroll knows what he's talking aboot.

Through three seasons on "Kroll Show," the 36-year-old offered a pinpoint satire of "Degrassi" -- as well as the idiosyncratic language and political attitudes of Canada -- with his recurring "Wheels Ontario" sketches, in which he played earnest, hair-flipping pop star Bryan LaCroix.

And Kroll took his silly Canadian vernacular quite seriously.

"It's not 'aboot' or 'eh' -- we weren't interested in that version of the Canadian accent. We were interested in the nuanced version," said Kroll this week in Toronto, crediting writers Joe Mande and Jon Daly's "obsession" with Canada for the genesis of the idea.

"I didn't really have much of a Canadian accent at the time, so I started watching stuff and absorbing it.

"Lauren Collins, who had been Paige Michalchuk on 'Degrassi,' came in and did the show in season 2. We were talking, and I think she'd said 'a-GAINST.' We did another take and she was like, 'Did you just take and use what I said?'

"I heard it once and once you start to hear it, you can hear it everywhere."

The star of "The League" is now a big-screen leading man, acting alongside Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale in the winsome dramedy "Adult Beginners, opening Friday.

Kroll plays a failed entrepreneur forced to slink back to his hometown to become a full-time babysitter for his sister.

He sat down with The Canadian Press to talk about earning his dramatic wings and asking for favours from famous people.

CP: "Adult Beginners" had a small budget, so the cast didn't have the comforts of a bigger shoot. You recruited some of your friends to be in the movie -- is there a "thank you, I'm sorry" element there?

Kroll: It's a lot of "thank you and I'm sorry." We shot in a pool and the heater broke, so we were shooting for two days in 65 F-degree water.

I've been on the other side of it, where you're like: 'you're my friend and I like this, so I'll do it.' But it's always interesting to try to navigate when ... you're someone's friend, when you're a co-star, and when you're a producer.

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CP: You came up with the story, then found Jeff Cox and Liz Flahive to write the screenplay. I read you specifically felt the project would benefit from a woman's voice -- could you explain that in a bit more detail?

Kroll: Liz is an amazing writer in her own right. But I did think that it was a priority before I met them.

Oftentimes people, especially men, write thinking they can capture a female voice. (Cox and Flahive) are so well suited to tackle the reality of being a young parent. There are just details there that I wouldn't have been able to come up with myself.

I haven't gone through what it's like to be a woman who is continuing to work while she's pregnant and while she's got a kid at home. Obviously that's a writer's job, to be able to imagine and get into another person's mind, but I thought in this case it was useful to have a voice that felt more authentic than what I could come up with on my own.

Answers have been edited and condensed.