MAKE ‘EM LAUGH Kelsey Grammer regaled The Ankler x Backstage audience with stories from 40 years of showbiz, in conversation with staff writer Elaine Low. (Todd Williamson)
“You can’t tell anyone about this,” Kelsey Grammer told The Ankler’s Elaine Low and the audience at the UTA Theater on May 2 as part of The Ankler x Backstage Screening Series. Grammer was sharing the story of how he first auditioned for the role of Frasier on Cheers and how he was sworn to secrecy about this Frasier character joining the ensemble hanging around the bar.(He was originally named Dr. Frasier Nye, but Grammer convinced the creators to change his surname to Crane.) Almost immediately after reading the sides, Grammer recalled, “I’ve got this guy, I know who he is.”
Indeed, he did, as Grammer would go on to play the character for 20 years — on Cheers, Wings and Frasier (round one). “I just wanted to prove that I could do it,” Grammer said.
So why bring the character back after leaving the airwaves in 2004? Grammer, who has six Emmys, three Golden Globes, a SAG Award and a Tony Award, said the idea started to percolate after Roseanne Barr successfully rebooted her iconic series (in 2018) and it felt fresh. Although not every revival at that time succeeded, Grammer thought, “We can do this, we can make Frasier a new show and keep the elements that always made it a great show.”
GRAMMER LESSON The Frasier star explained why he revived the beloved character — and gave him a new mission.
Grammer went deep into the thought process of how he and his team created a satisfying arc by setting the show in Boston — where the world first fell in love with the lovable blowhard on Cheers — after the original Frasier took the character to Seattle. He had unfinished business, given his failed marriages and that he never finished the book he had long toiled over. “It’s like he’s getting younger in a way so he can fulfill the dreams of his youth,” Grammer said, “which is what Herman Melville had above his desk: ‘Do not forget dreams of your youth.’ When he wrote every day, that’s what he looked at.”
He may have made the contemporary Frasier “a little sillier,” but Grammer knew what could not change about the character. When he told the crowd, “In the end, he just loves deeply, with every ounce of his being, and wants to make sure that everybody is okay,” the crowd erupted in applause. There were a few tears, too, but we won’t spoil that for you.
For the 76th Emmys season, Frasier is in contention for Outstanding Comedy Series and Grammer for Outstanding Lead Actor. Jack Cutmore-Scott, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Anders Keith are in contention for Outstanding Supporting Actor, and Toks Olagundoye and Jess Salgueiro for Outstanding Supporting Actress.
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