Awards Daily talks to Paul Scheer about his upcoming memoir Joyful Recollections of Trauma and his guest appearance on NBC’s Night Court with buddy Rob Huebel.
Paul Scheer is an actor, director, and podcaster, and very soon, he can add memoirist to his eclectic resume with his book Joyful Recollections of Trauma out this May.
“I literally just finished doing the copy edit maybe 25 minutes ago,” said Scheer, “and I feel a weight off my shoulders that you cannot believe. It’s been such an amazing process in writing it, but man, these last few days have been brutal.”
Anyone who listens to his podcast How Did This Get Made? with Jason Mantzoukas and June Diane Raphael knows about Scheer’s wacky family stories, including trying to French kiss his mother as a child after watching The Love Boat.
“I think it’s gonna be what you want it to be and also surprising in what it actually is. A lot of new stuff is in there. And the thing I’m bummed about is that I didn’t even get to crack the surface on some stuff, so I want to write more.”
As someone who always loved TV and movies at a young age, Scheer fulfilled one of his childhood dreams by appearing on NBC’s Night Court reboot in the Season 2 episode “Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change.”
“Being on Night Court was a dream come true. Growing up, I knew I wanted to do [comedy] on some level. and Night Court was one of my shows. I loved Night Court. I actually got to be on the set of the show that I wanted to be on as a kid next to John Larroquette. It was surreal.”
The set was built to the blueprints of the original, so a lot of times Scheer lost himself walking around and “living in this fantasy world.”
“It’s one of those rare shows where the premise is the star. You can put anybody in it. The beauty of it is I don’t think anyone is comparing Melissa [Rauch] to Harry [Anderson]. Time has passed. And I love how they’ve switched John to the Markie Post role.”
In an era where random true crime stories go viral every day, Night Court proves to be timeless.
“That’s the benefit of the show is that it has this element of The Simpsons embedded in it in that each episode gives you two crazy cases, and they aren’t the drivers of plot—they’re just this joke bag. You basically get to have funny actors come on and do something weird.”
Enter Scheer and his Human Giant buddy Rob Huebel, who play Pellino & Carnes, injury attorneys, who get caught up in a love triangle with Olivia (India de Beaufort). When Scheer’s Carnes is introduced, he says he wants to sue a baby.
“It’s so funny how much I get cast as a villain. I’m either the sweetest or the most despicable, and I’ll take it. I think what’s so fun about playing a character like this is how craven they are. I want to sue a baby. What was actually so fun was pulling out the relationship between me and Huebel and this love triangle aspect. We’re getting tons of jokes, but the fact that they create this Casablanca ending—am I down for a spinoff? Yeah!”
Even though Scheer has appeared in every classic modern TV comedy you can think of, from Parks and Recreation to Veep to The Good Place, this marks the first time he performed on a multi-cam show, which he said surprised even him.
“To do it in front of an audience, I was nervous, and I talked to Pam Fryman who was the director, and I said, ‘What do I do?’ She said, ‘Just trust your instincts; you perform live all the time.’ She’s so helpful and helped me play out a little more with the physicality. Her belief in me reading the audience allowed me to give a performance I really love. I got to play the moment.”
Plus, working with Huebel helped him relax even more.
“We were so lucky when we got to do Human Giant, and Rob and I often get to work together when we perform at Largo in Los Angeles. He’s the best. He makes me laugh so hard. I think one of the things about Rob that’s so easy is that we know each other’s rhythms, and we have a shorthand. Going on the set of Night Court or anything as a guest star is daunting. You’re new, and you’re going to leave. Everyone on that set was lovely, but going in there with a pal and experiencing it together, I think I was actually looser and better because of it.”
Pre-order Paul Scheer’s book Joyful Recollections of Trauma and watch Night Court on NBC on Tuesdays at 8 PM ET.