It's Just His *Thing*

Showbiz is, occasionally, a wonderful thing. I love it. Actors get typecast. Not all of ‘em, and not necessarily to their detriment, either. Take Jeffrey Tambor.

Okay-- Don’t take Mr. Tambor just yet. Typecast: To be pigeonholed. Seen frequently enough in a certain sort of role that the public eventually has difficulty seeing you in any other sort of role.

Now take Mr. Tambor. The man rocks. I’ve seen him in a number of roles, and one word keeps popping up in my mind: Media. Tambor plays men of the public like nobody’s business, and he’s been getting paid to do it for years.

Tonight, the Muppet’s Wizard of Oz was on, and not completely bereft of an inner eight-year-old, I tuned in. Jeffrey Tambor played the Wizard, a confessed sham. Even after the public admission, he worked the crowd (consisting of Beeker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew) like a pro.

Has he been typecast? A bit. But it hasn’t been exclusive: he’s played plenty of characters that haven’t had a thing to do with media. But it’s something you know he can always go back to. It’s what he does best.

That’s a good thing to see.