Frasier: Why The Plumber Roland From Paramount's Reboot Looks So Familiar
Contains spoilers for "Frasier" Season 1, Episode 9 – "The Fix Is In"
The "Frasier" revival on Paramount+ is so connected to sitcom history that viewers should expect fun callbacks and Easter eggs. Apart from the various nods to Dr. Frasier Crane's (Kelsey Grammer) storied past, it's no surprise that "Frasier" features the occasional cameo, either. After all, the original "Frasier" is known for its amazing secret call-in guests with Hollywood legends from John Lithgow to Gillian Anderson calling Frasier's radio show to discuss their invariably offbeat lives.
"The Fix Is In" gets in on the celebrity guest action, courtesy of Andy Daly. The comedian is a perfect choice to play Roland, the plumber who finds himself in the middle of a typically convoluted confrontation between Frasier and Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott). The situation makes full use of Daly's ability to play a normal guy with surprising hidden depths, and Roland's ability to roll with the absurd situation by pretending to be a Harvard professor is a pretty clear homage to the comedian's own background in improv. Daly has such a huge amount of screen credits that fans of the show may very well immediately recognize his face ... but if the viewer can't quite remember where they know him from, here's a look at some of his best-known projects.
Andy Daly is a Mad TV veteran
Andy Daly — sometimes credited as Andrew Daly — has been a common sight on many great shows over the years, and sketch comedy fans got their first chance to witness his brand of funny on Fox's "Mad TV." From 1995 to 2009, the sketch series showcased some of the coolest comedians out there. Some of these performers became long-serving cast members, while others — such as Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele — went on to even bigger things.
Daly joined the show in 2000 and was a "Mad TV" cast member until the end of Season 7 in 2002. His comedic influences make it pretty clear why he was drawn into this type of comedy. "As a kid, my big heroes were John Belushi, Steve Martin, George Carlin, and Martin Short," he said in an interview with Voice. "Later I got into Charles Grodin, David Letterman, Hunter S. Thompson, and Andy Kaufman, who had a major impact on me. It became clear to me early in life that I was not going to be good at anything other than performing and trying to make people laugh."
He's the eternally unfortunate Terrence Cutler on Eastbound & Down
In 2009, Andy Daly joined the cast of HBO's "Eastbound & Down," a comedy series about washed-up baseball superstar Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) moving back to his hometown to work as a middle school PE teacher. Daly plays the school's principal, Terrence Cutler, during the show's first three seasons. Something of a straight man, Cutler has the dual misfortunes of being the unmanageable Kenny's supervisor and his former girlfriend April's (Katy Mixon) current fiancé — a position that causes things to go roughly for him.
Due to the show's perpetually changing status quo, Daly's role in the show diminishes greatly after Season 1. Nevertheless, he has a high opinion of the entire four-season run of "Eastbound & Down." "I wasn't involved at all in Season 4, but I loved the way the show ended," he told The TV Addict. "And I think like most people I felt this way at the end of every season of that show, which is that is a great ending if it stops here, what they've done is perfect, man I wish they'd do more."
He's a self-important life critic on Review
Andy Daly has spent much of his career playing reliable supporting characters, but on Comedy Central's "Review," he's the star. The three-season comedy show revolves around Daly's Forrest MacNeil, a critic who's willing to review absolutely anything his viewers ask him. This leads to some extremely absurd moments since MacNeil's viewers aren't exactly on his side. "They look at it as kind of like 'Jackass,'" Daly told The Guardian in 2017. "They're asking themselves: 'What horrible thing can I put Forrest through?' They don't have a lot of respect for him and his process."
The show ran from 2014 to 2017, was adored by critics and audiences alike, and earned Daly an International Online Cinema Award for his performance. A lot of its allure has to do with the earnest character of MacNeil, who treats his ridiculous and dangerous work as extremely important. He throws himself into his reviews regardless of the challenge, and the fact that one episode is called "Murder, Magic 8 Ball, Procrastination" gives you an idea of the range of things he goes through.
In an interview with Grantland, Daly — speaking in character as MacNeil — gave an excellent summary of the central tenet of "Review." "I'm not doing [the show] for entertainment," he said. "I'm doing it for the betterment of society and the good of humanity. What I often say: A surgeon doesn't give up on heart surgery on the first sign of difficulty. I don't give up on my reviews. Which are equally as important."
Daly is a campaign manager in Veep
Like his fellow "Frasier" star Toks Olagundoye, Andy Daly has appeared on "Veep." As it happens, they're even part of the same storyline, though on strictly opposite sides. Daly's character is Keith Quinn, the jovial and friendly campaign manager in Selina Meyer's (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) 2020 presidential bid. Meanwhile, Olagundoye plays Meyer's opponent, the highly popular Kemi Talbot.
Quinn is an important part of the show's final season, and like many other characters in "Veep," he's far more than meets the eye. By the end of the show, he becomes an influential figure, but also acts as a symbol of how much Selina sacrifices over the course of the show, and how lonely life can be at the top. "Keith Quinn has become her hatchet man but she doesn't have the relationship with him that she had with Ben [Kevin Dunn]," showrunner David Mandel explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
He's appeared in many TV shows and movies
Apart from his major roles, Andy Daly has also worked on various projects in a smaller capacity. He's appeared in recurring and guest star roles on many well-known shows, from appearances on "The Office" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" to recurring roles as a doctor on "Silicon Valley" and a principal on "Modern Family." He's also responsible for one of the funniest cameos in "Reno 911!" history, courtesy of his turn as an increasingly creepy fulfillment center manager. Daly has also had roles in multiple major movies, from "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" to the Steven Soderbergh crime comedy "The Informant!" where he played Archer Daniels Midland VP Marty Allison.
Daly has a tendency to play very specific, slightly skewed authority figures — a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by the actor. "I think I've played three different doctors and three different principals at this point," he told Esquire in 2017. "Doctors and principals are kind of in my wheelhouse. I've tried to figure it out. I think it's because I am able to appear to be a normal, in-command, trustworthy person who then, once you get to know him a little bit, is an idiot or jerk. I think that's why that works."