DVD Verdict Interviews Stephen Root, Macho Business Donkey Wrestler

Judge Chris Claro

March 13th, 2006

In films and on television, the character actor has traditionally been the one the star plays off. Whether the sidekick, the villain, the comic relief, or the girl Friday, a good character actor makes the most of his or her time onscreen, essaying a role with just a few strokes.

Ask Stephen Root about his acting idols and he points to the character actors. "Guys like Ward Bond, who you'd see in old westerns," says Root. "Or a lot of the actors whose names you didn't know, but turned up in small parts in all the movies I saw during the '60s and '70s. Those guys were my heroes."

Root, a veteran character actor himself, with countless film, television, and animation roles to his credit, spent five seasons as a member of the airtight NewsRadio ensemble, batting Paul Simms' (The Larry Sanders Show) witty wordplay around with co-stars like Dave Foley (Kids in the Hall) and Maura Tierney (ER). Root recently talked with DVD Verdict about Sony's DVD release of NewsRadio: The Complete Third Season, and just how he became station owner Jimmy James.

"It was pretty much a straight audition" for the part, said Root. "They were looking for someone in their 50s, and I certainly didn't fit that at the time, since I was only about 43. I had to fight for the audition because they really wanted to see more of a Mr. Carlson from WKRP in Cincinnati. But I got in and I tried to put a little twist on the character because the writing lent itself to somebody being just a little strange. You didn't know whether Jimmy was brilliant or an idiot. I loved Ed Asner on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and I got to play Jimmy as a kind of twisted Lou Grant."

So often, actors bring colors to their parts that even the creators of the characters hadn't envisioned. Paul Simms, creator of NewsRadio, connected with Root's concept of Jimmy almost immediately. Root remembers that at one of the early auditions for the producers, "Paul said 'I see exactly where you want to go with this' and then he became a nice champion of the role. He and (director) Jimmy Burrows (Cheers) helped me work on exactly what each of them wanted in the character."

As well-written as NewsRadio was, Root says that much of its energized comedy came from its movement and pace. "That had to do with Jimmy Burrows setting the tone during the first six episodes. The pilot was definitely choreographed. There wasn't a spare second in that pilot and we tried to keep that."

Burrows, widely acknowledged as the premiere situation comedy director, helmed the first six-episode "season" ofNewsRadio before moving on to Will and Grace. His absence emphasized, for Root, just how important stability is in the director's chair. "After Jimmy left, we had 'director du jour' for the first couple of seasons, a different guy every week. We would tell them 'we have to move. We have to go.' We inherently tried to make them put us in situations where we would have to move, even if it was just from Dave's office to the break room, because we could line up different physical situations for ourselves. From day one, we were in sync and wanted to make this kind of an 'anti-sitcom,' which meant we had to pry it from the hands of the directors who, from week to week, wanted to put their comic stamp on the show."

The director issue disappeared in the middle of the third season, when Tom Cherones, fresh off of four years on Seinfeld, joined NewsRadio as its director and remained with the series through its run.

Another of the attractions of NewsRadio, for Root, was the chance to be part of an ensemble. "I was always a character guy and wasn't interested in trying to head up a show and neither was Phil (Hartman)." The ensemble element also meant that no one actor had to bear too much of the burden, said Root. "Nobody wanted to shoulder a show, so we were all headed in the same direction."

Despite there not being any one star, Root said that each of the actors brought skills to the table that made their characters pop. "Even though we didn't come from the same background, I think we were all on the same page as far as timing. Vicki (Lewis) was a singer and dancer as well as a tremendous actress and had amazing timing. Doing a lot of Shakespeare and other theater taught me a lot about timing as well. And Andy (Dick) and Dave Foley came up through improv and of course, Phil had Saturday Night Live, so everybody had tremendous timing and I think that was the key to the show."

Root says that Hartman's SNL experience, with that show's "every man for himself" ethos, was the complete opposite to the atmosphere that the cast and producers fostered on NewsRadio. "We actually beat Phil down a little bit in the beginning because there was a lot backbiting on SNL to get your skit and stuff that you had written on the air. And I think he carried a little bit of that into our atmosphere and we said, 'we don't care how many lines we have. We want the show to be really good.' It took him a year, but finally understood that we were all going for the gold of the show, not the gold of the individual."

With dozens of guest shots on both hour-long dramas and sitcoms, Root speaks with authority when he says that the give-and-take of the NewsRadio ensemble was "extremely rare. Anybody could write for anybody else. A production assistant could throw in a line that would get used. It doesn't happen on any other show that I know of or any of the ones that I worked on as guest star...Usually, it's very rigidly controlled, but it was a very loose atmosphere that Paul fostered. Dave would come up with many great lines for everybody. Phil would write for Andy, Andy would write for me, I would write for Joe, and Joe would write for Andy, so it was a very freeing atmosphere and I think it shows."

As sad as he was to see NewsRadio end, Root says he and the rest cast knew the show wouldn't continue. In the wake of Hartman's death, Jon Lovitz valiantly stepped in, "but his rhythms were much different than ours. Also, Paul was no longer running the show so it was time for us to go."

With such good memories of working on NewsRadio, Root is elated that the show has finally hit DVD and is looking forward to a fourth season release. "Phil's final work was in season four and he was so brilliant on it." Root remembers fondly the last time he and Hartman worked together. "He was dressed as a big French fry on the 'Titanic' episode. He could do anything and be anybody and it would be sad not to have his last episodes on DVD, so I hope they just continue to roll them out."

Stephen Root knows from his years as an actor that a work experience like the one he had at NewsRadio is rare and is quick to acknowledge that fact. "We always had a good time when we were shooting that show." With the release of NewsRadio: The Complete Third Season, fans of the show will have just as good a time watching it.