Posted in: NBC, Peacock, TV | Tagged: exclusive, interview, John Larroquette, melissa rauch, nbc, Night Court, Paul Scheer, rob huebel

Night Court: Rob Huebel Discusses Paul Scheer, Improv & OG Series

Rob Huebel (Bob's Burgers) spoke with Bleeding Cool about his appearance on NBC's Night Court, Paul Scheer, improv, Markie Post & more.

Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer have a lot in common since their days at the Upright Citizens Brigade as part of the comedy troupe that also spawned a TV series. They've since collaborated on several projects, which include a podcast called Friendzone. It was only a matter of time before the two played partners at Pellino & Carnes, a law firm in the NBC series Night Court, the legacy sequel series from Dan Rubin that continues the Reinhold Weege series that ran from 1984 to 1992. Both Huebel and Scheer were fans of the original series, and thanks in part to their mutual connection to star Melissa Rauch, who plays Judge Abby Stone, the two were able to live out their dream.

The episode "Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change" follows the two as they're searching for new clients and catches the interest of District Attorney Olivia Moore (India de Beaufort), who's looking to move her way up professionally any way she can into their firm. Huebel spoke to Bleeding Cool about how his recruitment, living his dream on the Night Court set, breaks down the episode, growing up watching original series star the late Harry Anderson (Harry Stone), and meeting the late Markie Post (Public Defender Christine Sullivan) from the original series.

Night Court: Rob Huebel on How Star Melissa Rauch Helped Him Get Into Series

Bleeding Cool: How did you hear about this opportunity for 'Night Court?'

Huebel: I was a fan of the old show. Like a lot of people, I grew up loving that show, and I was super psyched when they brought it back with a new take on it and a lot of new people on the show. I have some friends who work on the show, and I'm old friends with Melissa, so that probably helped also. It was super fun to do it.

When you set foot on that set, what went through your mind as you were filming?

It's wild to step onto that set because it's the same setup as the old show. Everything looks familiar. The courtroom looked the same, and I remembered it in my mind. It's a little bit of a head trip, but a total blast to go on there and do it with those guys. John Larroquette is one of those guys who has been doing it for a long time, but he's such a professional and so funny and sharp. One of those legendary comedy TV guys that I look up to so much, and so fun to be able to do that with him. The show in this episode, I got to horsing around with my old friend, Paul Scheer, and we play these sorts of sleazy, ambulance-chasing lawyers that are always sort of hanging around Night Court trying to drum up business and stuff like that. I always have a great time with Paul. He's super easy to work with and fun. We have shorthand with each other, comedically. That helps a lot, but a great opportunity, and the show is fun to watch the show take off now for a whole new generation of fans.

When you were working as Paul on this, as you continue to frequently collaborate with him, was there any improv you both infused in your scenes or did you stick to the script?

They have a ton of funny writers there. They write a great script for you, and so what I always try to do whenever I get a job is I assume that you want me to try to improvise a little bit unless it's like Aaron Sorkin or somebody like that. With 'Night Court,' we would do the scene as they wrote it, and then we would do other takes and always come up with our stuff too. That's half the fun and Paul and I would sometimes talk about it in between, or sometimes I would throw something weird out, and he can roll with that. He [sometimes] says something crazy, and I would try to roll with it. We always like to flex our improv muscles when we're doing stuff like this.

The bulk of both of your guys' scenes are with India. Could you break down what it was like working with her?

The episode starts with I'm bumping into her first in the courthouse, and I'm smitten by her and ask her out on a date. We quickly start dating, and she tricks Melissa's character into going out on a double date with her so that Melissa can be with Paul and things kind of go off the rails. As I said, we're these ambulance chasers, and we're at this restaurant, and we hear a huge car crash outside. We get excited because that's like money in the bank for us. We run off and leave those guys behind. India is so funny and such a great and funny improviser also. She has tons of funny ideas and so what ends up happening is she ends up ditching me for Paul's character in the end. So spoiler alert, Paul gets the girl, not me.

Do you have any favorite characters from the original series?

I have this weird connection to it for a couple of reasons. My grandfather's name in real life was Harry Anderson. As a kid, seeing another guy on TV named Harry Anderson, I was like, "Wait a minute?!" In my kid brain, I thought I had some sort of connection to this show in some way because that was my grandfather's name. My middle name is Anderson. Maybe I'm meant to be on this show so that was crazy. I thought all those guys were so strong. I remember Harry Anderson because I grew up watching 'Saturday Night Live,' and he used to come on 'Saturday Night Live' now and then and do magic, and I was like, "What?! Who is this guy like? He does magic." He's on a sitcom, so I was struck by him. When I was in college, I was on a ski trip, and I met Markie Post. She was at the hotel where we were staying or something like that. When you meet famous people and you're a kid, I was like, "Wow, what?!" I felt like some sort of strange connection to the show, and here we are all these years later. I get to be a part of it, and that was super fun.

Night Court, which also stars Lacretta and Nyambi Nyambi, airs Tuesdays on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock. You can check out our interview with Scheer here.

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