Warning: spoilers are ahead for the holiday episode of Night Court Season 3, called "Feliz NaviDead."
Night Court celebrated the holidays with "Feliz NaviDead" as a special festive episode to end the 2024 TV schedule, and quickly proved that the shenanigans in last year's Christmas episode with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn't sour Abby on the most wonderful time of the year. A murder mystery plot quickly unfolded with guest stars Andy Daly and Joe Lo Truglio, with the unlikely twist that resulted in what I didn't know I needed before the 2025 TV schedule: Dan Fielding the southern belle. Daly and Lo Truglio opened up with BTS stories about John Larroquette going all-in, and I love it so much.
Andy Daly and Joe Lo Truglio arrived on Night Court to play escape room actor Fred Norton and Detective Kratz, respectively, with Kratz present to investigate Fred for murder... or so it seemed, anyway! The big twist came when not only did Fred reveal that he'd faked his death, but Kratz was actually a fake cop with a badge made out of chocolate. ("Feliz NaviDead" will be available streaming with a Peacock subscription, and I highly recommend it.)
Before the penny dropped, the usual crew dressed up to play out a murder mystery scenario, with Dan dolled up as a southern belle, complete with lace gloves, a parasol, and a Southern accent that certainly sounded more authentic than Abby's did! John Larroquette didn't shy away from embracing his role as belle, so when I spoke with the guest stars of the week, I had to ask about what it was like to watch the Emmy winner at work. Andy Daly, known for his work on Mad TV, shared:
It was ridiculous. Luckily, we'd rehearsed it a bunch of times during the week, and we rehearsed it without the full costume and prop action. So I got to get a little used to it. I got used to it in pieces. But then, yes, the full effect of him coming in dressed like that, with the parasol and doing the accent was something. [laughs]
The timing of Dan Fielding embracing his inner belle couldn't have been better, with Abby calling him out for dropping references to Louisiana into conversation whenever possible... and him proceeding to keep doing it after being called out. John Larroquette, like his character, hails from the Pelican State.
Seeing his costume certainly made me laugh after revisiting his beautiful comments about Markie Post last week! Andy Daly went on to explain how he was able to avoid generating any bloopers when sharing a scene with Larroquette sporting a parasol and gloves:
I definitely was thinking, 'Yeah, people are going to go a little wild when this airs.' But I got to spend a fair amount of that scene dead with my face down on the table, and I knew I couldn't laugh, because you would see my body shaking, but I could smile. So I definitely did that. [laughs]
Joe Lo Truglio didn't have the option of hiding his smile and playing dead in the Christmas episode of Night Court, but he did manage to enjoy Larroquette's performance before having to have a straight face on camera. The Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum cracked up as soon as I mentioned Dan Fielding the southern belle, then said of Larroquette:
That was a perfect example of watching him, and he was having a lot of fun with it, too. He's just so, so good at those, at the accent, and just having fun with it, that I just kind of sat back and watched it. Because my character kind of comes in a little bit into that scene, takes a little time, I was able to just kind of enjoy John's play for a bit before Detective Kratz came running in.
Lo Truglio came into Night Court as a fan of John Larroquette not only from the original series, but going all the way back to him as narrator of 1974's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. When I asked how the experience of working with him lived up to the excitement, Lo Truglio shared:
He's just so good. It's so great to watch him take scripts and lines and put them through the Larroquette filter, and [he] is deliberate in that way that so many people love. He's a consummate professional. He took care of me, and I imagine all his guest stars really, really well, as did Melissa [Rauch].
All in all, this was a fun episode and another example of Night Court recruiting familiar faces in comedy as guest stars. I wouldn't count on seeing Andy Daly and Joe Lo Truglio again on the sitcom to reprise their roles, though, thanks to the reveal at the end of the episode that they were actually angels who came to spread Christmas cheer to Dan and Co. Only on Night Court!
You'll be able to find "Feliz NaviDead" streaming with a Peacock subscription, as well as every other episode of Night Court Season 3 so far and the full first season. If you want to check out Joe Lo Truglio's Brooklyn Nine – including the episode that featured Daly as a guest star – you can also find it on Peacock.
