Zooey Deschanel says it was 'stressful' to appear on 'New Girl' in her underwear because she wouldn't get much of a heads-up

• On the podcast "Welcome to Our Show," the "New Girl" cast talked about filming revealing scenes.
• The writers would often pen episodes during filming, so the cast didn't always know what was coming.

"New Girl" writers often came up with episodes on the fly, meaning stars couldn't always get a big head's-up when partial nudity might be needed on set.

On Monday's episode of iHeartRadio's "Welcome to Our Show" — a "New Girl" rewatch podcast hosted by stars Zooey Deschanel (Jess), Hannah Simone (Cece), and Lamorne Morris (Winston) — Deschanel said that this writing process could make shooting more revealing scenes a bit stressful.

Deschanel said the cast didn't always receive much notice before filming scenes with nudity

Deschanel explained that since "New Girl" was a scripted show on a major network (Fox) and not a series on a streaming service or cable network, the "fantastic" group of writers had to quickly come up with new episodes while the actors were filming.

As a result, she said, the cast wouldn't get "a real heads-up" about the content, and would sometimes "just get surprised at a table read."

"We might have a little heads-up — they might be like, 'This episode is about when you bake cookies for the homeless man living downstairs.' And I'm like, 'OK, cool,'" Deschanel said. "And then when we go to the table read it's like, 'No, Zooey's in her underwear, and everyone sees all of it.'"

The actress added that this was also stressful because then she "didn't have time to work out" to prepare for the revealing scene.

"I can't get crazy fit like some person who is doing a superhero movie. I have no time," she said.

The cast also confirmed actors weren't really naked during nude scenes

The actors also discussed the "New Girl" season-one episode "Naked," in which there are nude shots of Jake Johnson (who played Nick) and Deschanel.

"Jake had to do a lot in that episode," Deschanel recalled. She added that most of her shots were of her bare legs or above her shoulders.

Morris brought up a rumor that Deschanel and Johnson were actually "butt naked" when filming the episode, saying that people think there were "no patches or coverings" and that Johnson's "penis was really out."

Deschanel debunked the theory, adding, "It was not out, or Jake probably would've been canceled a while ago."