IR Interview: Melissa Rauch & John Larroquette For “Night Court” [NBC-S3]

The Inside Reel

Actors and Executive Producers Melissa Rauch & John Larroquette talks to The Inside Reel about characterization, heart and tone in comedy in regarda to the third season of their NBC comedy continuation: “Night Court.”

Transcript

00:00It's interesting how, you know, trajectory, how characters change. I mean, obviously John,

00:24Dan has completely changed over the years, but seeing the dynamic between

00:27Abby and Dan and how that's evolved, especially how season three begins,

00:33could you talk about that? Is there a shorthand now? Is there a sort of anticipation?

00:38How does that work with both of you? Melissa, if you'd like to start, then John.

00:45Goodness, you know, I think there's something really beautiful about the Abby-Dan surrogate

00:51father-daughter relationship. And my relationship with John started when we were just developing

01:00this project in hopes to bring it to TV. And there's sort of a meta element there in Abby's

01:06affection for Dan and my affection for John and how that relationship has been built.

01:13And I think all around in coming into the third season, we're becoming more of a well-oiled

01:20machine and having that workplace family build both on and off camera. It's really incredibly

01:27special and I feel so lucky that we get to continue to do it. Yeah, I did it for almost

01:31everything Melissa said. I think that in the fictional world, when we discover Dan Fielding

01:36again by this young lady knocking on his apartment door, he is sort of withdrawn from life. He's gone

01:43through some times that he just doesn't really, he's never been a great fan of humanity in general,

01:48but as he got older, he became more and more of a hermit. And because this young lady represents

01:54a person in his life who he actually did care for being in the body of Harry Stone, she sort of

02:01pulls him out of this rather sad morass that he's in and actually makes him come back

02:09into the world, which he resents and yet accepts. And more and more as time goes on, accepts it

02:18willingly and with some warmth toward her, a lot of warmth toward her. He never had any children as

02:23we know in this fiction, but all of a sudden he has the opportunity to try and take care of someone

02:28and them take care of him as though it were a family and it turns out to be a family. It has to

02:34be handled with the utmost care. I can't just come out and say, Jake, Dan's your dad. Dan is my dad?

02:40I saw him there, but you were on a roll.

02:44Not how I wanted you to find out, but maybe this is better. Now together we can find the

02:50perfect way to tell Dan you're his surprise son. Jake's my surprise son? Starting now, everyone

02:56wears tap shoes. I know this is shocking, but let's focus on the positive. Jake, Dan can be the father

03:03figure you've always dreamed of. Oh, whoa, whoa, now I gotta live up to some kid's dreams? In my dreams, you

03:08showed up 30 years ago in an Acura Legend and took me to play skeeball. That wouldn't be caught

03:13dead in a legend. Let's all take a breath. I mean, we don't even know if it's true. Well, because it's

03:20the parallels obviously with Abby, with Jake, but then, you know, having Wendy come in as Julianne,

03:26you know, it creates, it's interesting because there's the timing within the show. It's a very

03:30specific kind of timing that no other show quite has. Could you talk from finding those parallels,

03:37finding those comic beats in these kinds of relationships, because they intersect and move

03:42between other characters. So you're looking at one life versus another. Can you guys talk about that?

03:47Because that's where the depth of the comedy comes, because the drama is underneath. Could you

03:53both talk about that? Melissa first and John if you have time. Sure. I mean, you know, something that I

03:59loved about the show before this incarnation ever began, just watching it growing up, I was

04:08always just so interested in how this comedy just felt different from anything on TV at the time.

04:14There was an irreverence to it. The comedy was really cranked up. Everything felt left to center.

04:20And at the same time, there was also this heart at the center of it, which is how you got away

04:26with such broad comedy, because you knew that the characters cared about each other. You knew that

04:31they loved each other. And especially, you know, John's character, he's playing Dan Fielding and

04:38something that he always brought to this character that I think in other hands wouldn't have had this

04:44is this heart and is this humanity. And you knew that there was a real person there.

04:49And it's something that we've tried to emulate in this incarnation is making sure that although

04:55we're comedy forward and going for the last first, that at the heart of it and at the center of it

05:03is a family who loves each other and cares for each other and wants the best for one another.

05:10Yeah, that's all very true. I've used this quote a lot, but Jackie Gleason once said that the

05:18difference between drama and comedy was that drama was ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances

05:24and comedy was extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances. I mean, here we are in a courtroom,

05:29a very simple world, a very simple job, but the characters that we play are extraordinary. They're

05:37just slightly heightened reality, not completely burlesque, but close. And a lot of times that

05:44comes through, but underneath they care for each other and they're actual people.

05:50So it gives you the leeway to be as crazy as you want because the audience understands

05:56that we come back to a set of reality that everyone can identify with.

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