John Larroquette

I guess this means I really like Sally Field. - when accepting his third consecutive Emmy Award

[more on acting] Good acting comes from finding the essence of a character.

[on acting] The medium doesn't matter. I'd like to be doing quality acting in a quality role and making as many people as possible happy.

[on art] When I call myself an artist, please realize I do this with my tongue firmly implanted in my cheek...

[on hosting a talk show] I wouldn't mind doing one on a computer screen, where you didn't see anybody, you know, but you had just guests from all over the country and you tuned in in cyberspace. I think it's the only place left. Do a talk show in cyberspace. Show less «

[on leisure time] Thinking fascinates me, and I probably spend too much time in my mind. My wife says that my perfect world is to be in the Suburban driving, with her next to me and the boys in the back seat and complete silence for two thousand miles. Show less «

When actors get pigeonholed, that's their own doing to a large degree. Because if you do something that people like, obviously they're going to ask you to do it again. It's up to you to say no. If you're that insecure about working, you'll probably do what you're known to do. Show less «

[on his pierced left ear] I've got a 14-year-old son and from 10 years on he's been begging me to let him get his ear pierced, begging me. So 14 came along and 'Dad, time to get my ear pierced.' So I took him down to Hollywood and Melrose Avenue, some lady with Birkenstocks and dirty fingernails sat him down. They plugged his ear with a thing and he then he turned to me and said, 'OK, it's your turn.' Let me explain something to you. I got through the '60s without a pierced ear or any holes in my body that God didn't give me and no tattoos. But he persisted, so I did it...He took his out, being a teenager, and his hole healed up. And so he doesn't have a hole in his ear anymore. And I, like the conscientious guy, kept it in because I didn't want it to puff out like a puppy in the summertime. Show less «

(2008, on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) Summer of 1969, I was living in Colorado in a very small town up in the mountains. A friend of the fellow for whom I worked had a friend come up from Texas to spend some time. That friend turned out to be Tobe Hooper, who was the writer and director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. This was long before he was going to do the movie. We spent some time in the mountains together, doing what people did in the '60s in the mountains... Enjoying the beauty of the mountains. And Tobe and I really hit it off. It was a really short time we spent in the mountains together. He was really there for a vacation. I spent about a year. Anyway, fast-forward to 1974, when I moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career through the same fellow whom I had worked for in Colorado. I got a call and he said, "Listen, remember my friend Tobe, yadda-yadda, he just made this film, and he wants to talk to you." So I talked to Tobe, and he had no money. He said, "I need a favor." And I said, "Yeah, I'd be happy to." I was a DJ in the '60s, so I had already worked with my voice. A lot of people knew that I at least had decent chops when it came to speaking the English language. I went into a studio, saw the piece of paper, read it for him, recorded it, said adios, he gave me a joint, I think as payment, and that was that. And later on, the film came out and I didn't really pay attention to it. I've never seen it. It sort of became the cult hit. And then it becomes sort of a preamble to my résumé, after all the years I've been acting and everything I've done. But as all things happen in this world, you never know how nature and the universe are going to treat you. Years later, when they re-did it, when they re-imagined it again without Tobe, I was called in to do the narration again, and actually got paid really well for it. So a favor I did in the '70s for a friend for no money came full circle, and I actually made a great deal of money from it later on. Show less «

(2008, on Stripes) I just knew I'd be able to pay my rent. I mean, I knew it was going to be fun. I was obviously familiar with Bill Murray, I was familiar with John Candy's work. They were really the only two people that I knew in it. Everybody else was sort of new, like me, except for those two. But it was revelatory, working with John Candy and Bill Murray. I still have friends from that-John Diehl, who was in that, and I remained friends. We did theater together several years later. We're always in touch. John Candy and I became great friends... John Lennon was killed while we were filming that movie. It was the summer of 1980, and we were in Kentucky, and it was devastating to all of us, obviously. And most of us were drunk for the next two weeks, on film, off film, regardless of where we were. That's the only movie of mine that I can watch-because I got sober nine months after that-it's the only piece of work where I can look back and go, "Oh man, are you fucked-up!" There are some scenes, particularly late at night, we were out at 4 o'clock in the morning. We were outside, it was cold. The crew had been wrestling or something, and they came back, and I'm chiding them. And it's so obvious that I'm drunk. To me, anyway. Anybody who knew me when I was drunk knows that my tongue is just a little too thick for my mouth. Show less «

(2008, on The John Larroquette Show) When I finished Night Court, I didn't work for a year and a half, and I stayed at home, and we had our youngest son in 1987, Benjamin. And about six to eight months into that hiatus, I started thinking, because I had a deal with NBC, after leaving Night Court, to do a series. I started reading scripts, and thinking about what I would do if I did another sitcom. I decided it would be a lot different from Dan Fielding. I came across this script that Don Reo had written, called Crossroads, about an alcoholic, and I thought, since I was one, that this would be a very funny arena to investigate. And so I contacted NBC and gave them the script. Don Reo was working with the production company, which had done the show Blossom, which was a success for them. He and I got together and said, "This would be interesting to do." I really did not want The John Larroquette Show to be the title, but the network pushed for that. I said, "I would really rather not have my name on the show." I knew that if it wasn't successful, I was going to look at the Nielsen Ratings with the number 77 and my name next to it. But that turned out to be the name. And the first season was very, quite, without modesty, one of the best seasons of sitcom television for a long time. It had a diverse cast. It was the only show on television at the time that had a racially mixed cast. It had a Spanish woman, it had two African-American men, it was quite remarkable, the first season of that show. And then it sort of changed, because the network was not as fond of the dark comedy and quotes of it, so we tried to continue it with a lighter tone. It lost its soul at some point during the second season. But we did 97 episodes of it. For most practical purposes, it was a success. I loved doing it. I was one of the executive producers, and had a lot to do with it. Show less «

(2008, on Twilight Zone: The Movie) Another incidence of me being a selfish actor. I said "There's no way I'm going to put on a fucking hood, otherwise you're not going to see me." So I'm one of the few actors in that particular section that doesn't have a hood on his face.I worked with Mr. [Vic] Morrow the very night before he died. And it was my plan to go to the set the next night to watch that shot being filmed. I was officially finished with my obligation for the movie, and I asked one of the directors if I could come out and watch, and he said, "Sure, come on out. If you want to, you could ride in one of the helicopters." And the next day, my car was stolen. I was unable to get there. Physically unable to get there. That's the only thing that prevented me from being witness to that horror, or even sort of a bizarre participant, because the helicopter I was going to be flying in was probably the one that fell. Show less «

(2008, on Boston Legal) David Kelley and I have a history, because I did four episodes of a character named Joey Heric on The Practice, who was a flamboyant homosexual who gets away with murder. When he was looking to retool the Boston Legal cast, he called and asked me if I'd be interested in joining, and I said immediately, "Would you like me to come in today?" I became a fan of that show, because of James Spader's work. And I also I loved Candice Bergen and Bill Shatner. And David Kelley's writing is a premier reason why you'd take a job like that. You know you're going to have words to say that are fundamentally interesting and exciting to learn. So I just said, "Yes, absolutely." Show less «