Unlikely comedy star enjoys funny business

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2009 (6114 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When you think about TV comedy, there are certain names that immediately spring to mind.

Ray Romano? Definitely.

Scott Bakula? Well, perhaps.

Andre Braugher? You mean the stone-faced detective guy from Homicide: Life on the Street?

Yeah, sure. Andre Braugher. Comedy. Now, that‘s funny.

Ahem.

“I’ve always wanted to do comedy, but nobody’s been willing to hire me for one,” Braugher explained during a recent telephone interview aimed at promoting his role in the cast of Men of a Certain Age, a made-for-U.S.-cable series that has its Canadian premiere Monday at 9 p.m. on the Super Channel pay-TV service.

“I played Frank Pembleton (on Homicide) for seven years, and I played Dr. Gideon (on the short-lived ABC drama Gideon’s Crossing), and I’ve done all these really intense movies, so nobody’s saying to themselves, ‘Oh, let’s get that funny man Andre Braugher up onto the screen.’

“I’ve played authority figures and heavies, so I’m really grateful to these guys who have been willing to take a chance on me (in a TV comedy). It’s one of the best gigs of my career.”

Men of a Certain Age, which boasts one of the most clearly self-explanatory titles ever, stars Braugher, Romano and Bakula as three guys who have been friends since college as they attempt to navigate the professional stresses, relationship pitfalls and physical disintegration that are part of the middle-aged-male experience.

Romano, who created the series with fellow executive producer Mike Royce, stars as Joe, a divorced father of two whose dreams of becoming a professional golfer have been replaced by a workaday job at a party-supplies store. Braugher portrays Owen, a not-so-gifted underachiever who dreams of taking over his father’s car dealership; Bakula co-stars as Terry, a mostly out-of-work actor who spends his expansive free time dating much younger women.

Braugher, who turned 47 this year, said he was intrigued by Romano’s pilot script because its perspective on manly behaviour was unlike most of what’s seen on TV.

“It’s telling a story that hasn’t often been told on television,” he said. “Television populated with overgrown boys, boys who never grew up, men without context. Here, we have a show in which we’re really in the thick of our relationships — we have three guys who have been friends for 30 years, they’re in various forms of marriage and they know each other very well.

“One of the things I love about this role is that he’s got two best friends, he’s got a great wife and two terrific kids, an overbearing boss who’s also his overbearing father, and he’s in the middle of all these relationships. I love it that all these people drive him crazy, but they’re the most important people in the world to him.”

According to Braugher, it’s Romano’s keen eye as a creator of observational comedy that gives Men of a Certain Age its authentic appeal.

“The whole series is written from a very honest perspective, and that’s one of Ray’s strengths,” he explained. “He really looks into the behaviour of people; one of the reasons people are responding to the show (which premiered earlier this month on U.S. cable’s TNT network) is that we’re not lying to them. We’re not pretending that things aren’t as they are.

“We’re big fans of Everybody Loves Raymond at my house — when I think about those two brothers, Ray and Robert, they do some of the wildest things, but they’re always credible. And that’s what I think Ray’s strength is — fundamentally, he’s an honest playwright, so we can all relate to his material.”

brad.oswald@freepress.mb.ca

TV WORTH WATCHING:

The Ron James Show: New Year’s Eve Edition (tonight at 9, CBC) — Canada’s hardest-working comic wraps up the most productive year of his career with a funny farewell to 2009 that features guest appearances by Eric Peterson, Peter Keleghan, Patrick McKenna and Linda Kash.

Doctor Who: End of Time (Saturday at 7 p.m., Space) — David Tennant’s memorable run as the Tenth Time Lord comes to a close with this two-part adventure, in which he embarks on what he knows will be his last voyage, armed with the knowledge that his nemesis, the Master, has been reborn.

TV ON DVD

The United States of Tara: The 1st Season (release date: Dec. 29) — This surprise-hit comedy series, produced by U.S. cable’s Showtime network and airing in Canada on Movie Central, earned a best-actress/comedy Emmy for star Toni Collette’s portrayal of a suburban wife/mother battling dissociative identity disorder.