March 22, 2007: "Give Me a Deviled Egg"
Here we are, nine hours later, and Guy Halverson sprinting down the fairway, a hoagie bursting with "three kinds of ham" in his grasp, still haunts my noggin. What made the recurring image so damn funny, though, isn't its subject matter - large man plus flailing sandwich plus slow motion - but
Andy Richter's expression of disbelief each time he went into and out of the flashback. "Ah, yes [his mistress was] jealous.... Ya
think?" The theme song for Guy's last gallop didn't hurt either.
And that, folks, brings us to a discussion of Week 2 (of 6) of NBC's
Andy Barker, P.I.. As I said before, what makes this show sing is the casting.
Clea Lewis is the supportive wife every guy wants (and, in this case, wants
Guy). And
Tony Hale opposite
Nicole Randall Johnson shows seriously funny promise. I love how Nicole (as Nicole the self-hired assistant) "switches on" that perky, entirely false demeanor en route to making the person she's talking to feel like a fool.
Perhaps my only recurring quibble is that the cases Andy takes on have outcomes ("twists" is too generous a word) you see coming down Broadway. Even if you don't work near Broadway, as I do. But if I had to choose, I'd always take Andy Barker's warmed-over
Columbo with fresh, crackling humor over brilliant mystery-telling saddled with lame jokes.
The bullets:
" Guy's ice-cream carton half-full outlook on life: "I like to think that I'm 66 percent
not body fat."
" A variation on the
Platoon score as Guy collapsed to the ground.
" Nicole to Andy: "The fact that you hired me as your assistant more than makes up for [her getting fired at the archives]." But he
didn't hire you.
" Andy cocking his eyebrow at wife Jenny's confession that she, too, was hot for Guy: "But he was so
huge. And he was kinda dirty. And pretty smelly, too." Jenny's retort? "Those are called
pheromones , Andy, and he was
lousy with 'em!"
" Simon's come-ons to Nicole: "We could watch
Jungle Fever... or
Taxi with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah" - and then later suggestively biting at a (yes) black-and-white cookie.
" Question for my fellow
30 Rock ers: Do you think golf pro June Park is related to NBC page Grace Park and/or the
Battlestar Galactica chick?
" Jenny IMing Andy in bed, "Why the long face?" Don't you just love her?!
" Andy on stakeout: "'I wonder who,' said the owl.... "
" Nicole - whom Andy didn't hire - badgering him about the health plan, because, "I'm trying to schedule some elective surgery." Then later griping, "I busted my ass to get here by 11 o'clock!"
" Lew evoking a mental image that, unlike Guy on the greens, we'd like to forget: "You look lower than the nipples on a wet nurse at an orphanage." OK, ewwwww.
" Andy "clubbing" the murderer at the climax of this week's clumsy chase scene: "Now that's how you hit a pitching wedge!" - and the groundskeeper correcting him.
I'm gonna miss Guy, though. Coulda been a fun recurring character.
