Warning: SPOILERS for Night Court Season 2, Episode 5.
Summary
- Night Court Season 2, Episode 5 focuses on Abby's struggle to navigate the dating world and find a distraction.
- Rob Huebel plays Pellino, a sleazy personal injury lawyer who catches Olivia's eye.
- Huebel discusses his love for the original Night Court series and working with John Larroquette on the reboot.
Night Court Season 2, Episode 5, “Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change” aired on NBC on January 23 and is currently available to stream on Peacock. The show's last installment focuses on a struggling Abby as she subconsciously attempts to dip her toe back into the dating world. Still haunted by her failed engagement, Abby searches for the perfect pickle to distract herself from the issue at hand.
Rob Huebel plays the role of Pellino, a sleazy personal injury lawyer who catches Olivia's eye when he winds up at the courthouse. Huebel is known for his guest appearances in several popular sitcoms such as Ghosts, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation, and How I Met Your Mother. He was most recently featured in Hulu's 2023 Goosebumps series and season 14 of Bob's Burgers. The main cast of Night Court includes Melissa Rauch, India de Beaufort, Nyambi Nyambi, Lacretta, and John Larroquette.
Night Court Season 2 New Cast & Returning Character Guide
The Night Court season 2 cast sees the return of series leads Melissa Rauch and John Larroquette, as well as familiar faces from the original series.
Screen Rant interviewed Rob Huebel about playing the slicker half of Pellino & Carnes Personal Injury Firm, working with John Larroquette, and his love for the original series.
Rob Huebel Talks Night Court Season 2, Episode 5
Screen Rant: Were you a fan of the original Night Court series?
Rob Huebel: This is a remake of an old show? What? [Laughs] No, for sure. I'm totally joking. That would be hilarious if someone did not know that. There must be people that don't know that. There must be people who watch this show for the first time and go, "This is great," and then their parents go, "Yeah, it was a show when I was growing up too." I loved it. I was such a fan of the old show. I love John Larroquette. I'm a big fan. And so to see him in action and to get to do something with him and watch him do what he does—he's just a legend, I think.
It's a real joy to watch someone who's still at the top of his game. He hasn't aged at all. He's still just hilarious and so good at what he does. It was a real joy for me to do that, especially since I was a fan of the old show. It's pretty crazy to tape the show. We taped it in December, and you look around, and it looks exactly the same. I'm sure it's not the same sets, but it looks like the same sets. For me, it was a real head trip. It was almost like going back in time to walk around on that set.
Since you were a fan, is there anyone from the original series you would like to see in the reboot?
Rob Huebel: Oh, my gosh. That is a great question. Unfortunately, a couple of them have passed away. Marsha Warfield was just on, and she was great on the show. The old show was so funny, and I always felt this strange connection to it because Harry Anderson was also the name of my grandfather. When I was little, I was so confused by that.
I was like, "Wait, that guy on TV is named Harry Anderson, but that's also the name of my grandfather." And my middle name in real life is Anderson. I had this whole strange connection to the show. I felt like I was somehow meant to be on the show. So here I am now, all these many years later, getting to live out this little dream of mine.
You've been in around 160 projects, but have you played a lawyer before this?
Rob Huebel: Great question. I'm sure that I have. I play a lot of sleazy guys. That's sort of my forte. It's how I pay my rent. For people that don't know, Paul Scheer and I play personal injury attorneys or ambulance chasers, and we're super sleazy guys that are always hanging around the courthouse trying to rustle up business. I used to do a show called Children's Hospital with Rob Corddry, Ken Marino, Lake Bell, Henry Winkler, a lot of those people.
There was an episode of that where I somehow became a lawyer as well as a doctor. That was the logic. That was a crazy show where anything could happen. I know I played a lawyer in that. I'm sure I've played other lawyers, but I don't think I've ever played anyone as sleazy as this. This was a new level. Even the wardrobe that they had us in has kind of a shimmery sleaziness to it. The suits that we wear felt like they might slide off of us. They were very slippery and sleazy.
Pellino is definitely slick. He's very excited about potential cases—maybe even wanting to cause potential cases. Did you have fun playing a character with such a wild personality?
Rob Huebel: Yeah, it's always a blast. My father-in-law in real life is an injury attorney. He's not a sleazy guy, so I can speak freely. I talked to him a lot, and I told him I was going to do this part. He told me what some of the other guys are like. I went on YouTube and watched a lot of these commercials for all these law firms. You really do get a sense of what these people are like. Their commercials are crazy, and they're getting crazier. There's a guy in Texas called The Hammer. I don't know why he calls himself The Hammer. I don't know what the analogy is.
But these guys have these really elaborate commercials, and their billboards are always super aggressive. They really want you to call them if you've been injured at all. If you think that you might be injured, you should probably call them ahead of time and just tell them, "Hey, I might be in a car accident pretty soon, so I'm going to make sure that I've connected with you guys." So they're all, I think, hilariously aggressive. They're hustlers. They're always hustling for business. I think a lot of them make a ton of money. You and I are in the wrong business. We should become accident lawyers.
Pellino also has this fun, flirtatious dynamic with India de Beaufort's character. How was working with her and playing that out?
Rob Huebel: She's hilarious. The show starts out where India and I are very flirty together. Paul Scheer plays Carnes, and Paul's always hilarious. This episode starts out where I'm sort of chasing India's character to go out with me, and then Paul steals her away at the end. So spoiler alert! Paul Scheer steals my girlfriend. She's hilarious. She's super funny. The whole cast is is so funny.
I've known Melissa since way back in New York. I've known her for a long time, and she's just hilarious and a joy to work with. I didn't know John Larroquette, and I was completely intimidated. He has just been doing this for so long and is someone that I really look up to and admire. Sometimes you get nervous when you meet someone on that level, but he was super nice and such a pro. A real joy to work with.
Speaking of Melissa, there's a very fun double date scene where her character is trying to get back out there. Can you share anything about filming that?
Rob Huebel: Yeah. So India's character tricks Melissa's character into going on a double date with Paul Scheer and I, and we go to a very fancy Italian restaurant, and of course, things just go off the rails. She didn't really want to be there and date some sleazy guy like myself or Paul Scheer, so it goes off the rails where all of a sudden we're eating dinner, and then a car accident happens outside the restaurant.
Of course, we took these lovely ladies on purpose to a restaurant that overlooks the most dangerous intersection in the city. We're just waiting there for something terrible to happen, and of course it does. There's a car accident right outside the window, so we both run off and leave our dates all by themselves. Duty calls.
It was my favorite scene of the episode.
Rob Huebel: The writers on this show are great. Paul and I, at this point in our careers, know a lot of the different writers on different shows, so it's super fun to do a show like this. One, because, for me, it was the first show back since the strike. Last year was really rough not working. All the actors and writers were on strike for a long time. This was just such a blast to get to come back. We shot this in December.
We got to perform for a live audience and do this show with all these great writers that are just writing great jokes. You shoot the scene and then a couple of writers come over to you, and they go, "Great. Now try it with this joke and this joke and this joke." And so you get to plug in and try out different jokes and see what the audience likes better. I just feel like a kid in a candy store getting to do something like this.
About Night Court
Court is back in session! When the perpetually sunny judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) takes the night shift in her father’s old courtroom, she presides over some of New York’s most unique and unusual cases – with an oddball cast of characters by her side. This includes former night court District Attorney Dan FieIding (John Larroquette), who now serves as the court’s public defender.
Check out our previous Night Court interviews here:
Night Court airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm ET on NBC and is available to stream the next day on Peacock.
Night Court
Night Court was a TV comedy that ran for nine seasons between 1984 and 1992. The series centers around Harry Anderson’s character, Harry T. Stone, a presiding judge who works at the night court in Manhattan. In 2023, the series was brought back by NBC, this time starring Melissa Rauch as Manhattan Municipal Court’s new Judge. While the revival hasn’t been as critically praised as its predecessor, it has garnered attention for bringing back John Larroquette, who played Dan Fielding in the original series.