Yesterday, I saw this video linked at Reddit.
It's one of those things that I haven't thought about in years, but the instant I saw it, it unlocked some memories, one of which I left as a comment:
I was a huge Night Court nerd when I was a kid, and from time to time I would ask Brent to do this character; hearing him say "Mi llamo es 'Bob'" in his Data makeup was as hilarious to me as it was surreal.
I remember at one point around (I think) season three, Brent started making me laugh when we were shooting on the bridge, and then pretending he had nothing to do with it when I got in trouble … his go-to bit was to just look across at me and say, very quietly, "Bob," in that character's voice. It killed me every single time.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be as good an actor as Patrick, as cool as Frakes, and as funny as Brent. From time to time, one of them would say something to me that made me feel like I'd taken a step in that direction, and it always meant the world to me. I loved it when Brent would joke around with me, because it made me feel like I was the peer I so desperately wanted to be, instead of the clueless teenager I knew I was.
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When I was a kid, Thursday nights were the best nights of the week. My mother and I would do the weekly grocery shopping (bonding time – she’d shop and I’d sit in the cart and read MAD Magazine and beg for a Hot Wheels car) and then rush home in time to watch Cosby, Cheers and Night Court. Night Court was my favorite of the three, and Bob and June Wheeler were my favorite characters. I remember being *shocked* to find out that the same guy playing Bob also played Data (I think I found out by reading one of my mother’s issues of STARLOG Magazine). Bob’s scenes are so goddamn funny. Between him and John Larroquette, I learned real fast not to eat or drink anything for the 30 minutes Night Court was on.
His face, when he says “blood-curdling peeping,” gets me every friggin’ time.
(And that one time he used the Bob voice on an episode of TNG? I thought Mom and I were going to have coronaries. Find it here:
)
It would be dream casting if he played one of Rachel Berry’s two dads on Glee. Song and dance, dramady, and technicolor high concept. Perfect for him. Make it so!
I never connected Brent Spiner with Bob, although I loved Night Court as a kid. It was a great memory to share with all of us, thank you!
Wil, I remember this appearance of Mr. Spiner on the show, and the other appearances he made. This character was great. I remember seeing Brent in the first episode of TNG, and thinking, “Hey, its that guy from Night Court!” I envy you and the time you got to spend with the great cast of TNG. Please keep telling us about them.
I didn’t realize Brent Spiner was Bob until late in Next Generation where he was playing all the characters in a haywire holodeck program set in the “Ancient West”. He was playing the cowpoke son of the archvillain and he looked up from his cell and said “What are you looking at?” in his Bob voice. I freaked out my friends in the room when I yelped, “Holy crap, that’s Bob from Night Court!”.
Wil,
You worked around alot of talented people. It is great to see that you still seem to be grateful after all of these years. I hope that working with people like that made your job easier.
FG
…the salute. Thus making us all look a little geekier to the rest of the world. And yet a little cooler to each other. A win/win.
(Besides, of course, the whole sanitary thing.)
Thanks Wil, for being so frank. I love the way you round the whole post out with that touch of your humanity at the end.
I just thank those folks at Apple, Sinclair, Fairchild and Commodore for inventing those toys that gave a generation of shy, awkward, nerdy folks the chance to forget their unpopularity for a while and inspire their creative and technical talents. Long live the command line!
It gave me a little thrill to find out that your Evil Wil photo was taken with a polaroid
Hello there from Germany! Wil, thanks so much for this great info, we don’t know Night Court here in Germany, so I will definitely go to Amazon and look for some episodes!
A question to you all who mentioned the Iron Guard Salute: is this the salute where you cross your arms over your breast? I’m not a WoW player so I’m not sure about this – but in case I get lucky enough to meet Wil or Brent at a Con, I want to be sure to do it properly 🙂
Thanks!
Nicole
Great memories! They used to show ‘Night Court’ after 10.30pm here in Oz. We couldn’t afford a video recorder so mum used to let me stay up and watch it 🙂
Looking back, it was a really groundbreaking show, paving the way for things like Married With Children, The Simpsons, Scrubs, Family Guy etc.
I didn’t know Kenner make a ‘Bob’ Figurine.. I have one that is dressed just like that 🙂
Thanks for Sharing!
H
Loved Night Court when it was on the air, considered buying the DVDs but haven’t yet. What I especially love is that Richard Moll has an IQ in the 160+ range which you saw occasional glimpses of during the show.
I definitely need to practice the Iron Guard salute. I left my job last year after developing an immune disorder, and even though it’s treated (well, continuing treatment: it’ll never be fully cured) the Iron Guard salute could stand me well.
“We ate the necco wafers”
Can anyone guess how many close calls with a full on spit take this induced? No? Go ask Mr. Owl.
Another one of my favorite old shows from the good days. Why did those days have to end?
Ahhhh…. this brings back memories… like a worm stampede….
Oh my goodness. I adsolutely loved Night Court. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I also remember those two crazy backwoods charaters, but until you posted this I never would have made the connection that Bob was Brent Spiner. I have been doing that a lot lately. I’ll see someone on tv or in a movie and I’ll say to my husband, “Oh wow, that guy looks really familiar but I can’t remember where I’ve seen him.” Then my hudband will loook them up on IMDB or something and he’ll read off their career history. It never fails that he reads off something that makes me go,”Oh right! I remember that dude.” 😀
I was stoked to see this… I haven’t thought about Night Court in forever and seeing Brent’s character made my day!
This video made my night! I haven’t seen Night Court since I was about 10 years old. I used to turn on Nick at Nite when I couldn’t sleep, and always managed to catch an episode of Night Court. Thanks for the memory!
Oh my word… So my cousin told me about your blog and I thought I’d check it out since I was born into a Trekkie family … I was a little surprised at how awesomely geeky you are but even more so at finding out that I may be a little geeky too! I am now addicted to your blog! This post was hilarious! And I too remember watching Night Court growing up and never knew that was Brent till now!
Laura
I loved Night Court when I was a kid, and watched STNG faithfully, but I never made that connection. That was priceless!
Thanks so much for the Monday morning giggle. I totally remember Bob and June but had no idea it was Brent. My admiration grows for him continuously. 🙂
I believe his (or Jonathan Frakes’ joke) would be “he used to be cool.”
Oh my gods, THIS! Used to watch Night Court on Nick at Nite with my mother, who was a BIG Night Court fan. I emailed the link to the video to her. Hopefully, she doesn’t do a spit-take on her lunch break.
If I go to Dragon*Con this year and have the opportunity to meet Brent, I’m definitely telling him how much of a fan I was of Bob…and I’ll also thank him for enabling me to have an early command of Spanish.
That character gets me laughing every time. Mainly do to it reminding me of some relatives on my Father’s side of the family. LOL.
I’m honestly not sure which line got me the most;
“blood curtling peeping” or “we ate the necco wafers”
Brilliant stuff either way. Thanks for the good memory Wil.
Awesome Vid! I remember it now. “Seduced by the glamour” is so friggin funny. Mr. Spiner is just brilliant! Thanks for sharing Wil!
Great vid! Thanks for brining back some great memories, I really miss that show :-(. Not sure if you read every comment, but worth a shot. If a another blogger (meaning me lol) wanted to ask you 3 quick questions for a post (questions that would take a total of 5 minutes max to answer) how would they go about it?
Wow..Night court. I used to watch that all the time. It gave me the misconception when I was younger that Courts were open at night. For years now I keep getting this seemingly false memory that either on Night Court or Peoples Court there were two kids that were blaming their dad had chopped up their friend into to little pieces and fed him to the chickens. That episode just sparked that weird memory again. Huh…creepy, and I am off to bed. Nite Wil.
I loved Brent Spiner’s cameo in Dude, where’s my Car? I laughed my ass off.
You can tell that they are all about to crack up during this whole thing! Classic!
Yet another great memory you’ve shared with us Wil. Seeing that bit for the first time in years allowed me to see the similarity between Brent’s vocal styling of Bob and one of the characters that Mel Blanc did on the Jack Benny Show for many years –
*jaw hits floor*
OH.
MY.
GOD.
I loved Night Court as a kid and I was a big STTNGer…how in the holy hell did I not put this together?!
Spiner rules.
Re: ‘Hurricane’ episode…yes, he was in that one. One of my dad’s friends worked on Night Court (cameraman? video? I can’t recall) and I ended up with a script from Hurricane Pt. 1. It’s one of my favorite pieces of 80’s memorabilia. 🙂
hahah! Loved this show as a kid, never realized seeing TNG later that this character was Brent Spiner. Thanks! 🙂
That was the best 3.5 minutes I’ve spent all day… Thank you for posting this, Wil. Night Court was one of my faves as a kid, I’m a HUGE Harry Anderson fan… and, I totally forgot that Brent Spiner did this character… comedy gold.
🙂
And, I can totally understand why you’d want to be as good an actor as Patrick (seen the RSC Hamlet, omgdroolworthyacting), as cool as Frakes (who has so many FB friends he’s not allowed any more) and as funny as Brent… who wouldn’t want those things?
DOOO EEEEEEET!