Night Court has already developed a knack for casting standout guest actors as members of the motley crew of people who end up in Abby Stone’s courtroom, but the next episode will introduce the New York City district attorney. Supernatural and Evil veteran Kurt Fuller will debut as Night Court’s district attorney on April 4, and the actor previewed to CinemaBlend the perks of playing the big boss as well as working with John Larroquette as the public defender.
Jeff the district attorney will have a part to play in the “DA Club” episode of Night Court when Abby (Melissa Rauch) has some ideas about reform and gets a meeting with him to discuss them. Dan (John Larroquette) will come along to share his own expertise… likely whether Abby wants it or not! Kurt Fuller plays Jeff the DA, and it’s safe to say that this character isn’t going to be confused with Jack McCoy over on another NBC show. The guest star teased what’s on the way with his character:
I'm in charge, I'm everybody's boss! With John [as Dan Fielding] and I, it's good for him to have somebody who competes with him and gives him a lot of crap. He tries to bring him down because it lets him be smarter and better than me, which is always funny. I really enjoyed it, and there's another episode I did that was also fun.
For most of Season 1, the two lawyers of Night Court have been Dan and Olivia, and it certainly sounds like fans are in for a very different kind of dynamic with Dan and Jeff. If Olivia gives anyone “a lot of crap,” it’d probably be Neil! Viewers will have to wait and see what brings the prosecutor-turned-public defender up against the district attorney, but Kurt Fuller previewed how the two characters compare to each other:
You've got to remember that Dan, in the old Night Court, was the prosecuting attorney. Now he's the public defender, and I think that I'm what he could have become if he hadn't had the revelation that he had, and the experiences he had, and there but for the grace of God go he. I'm what he could have been, although he probably would have been better at it than me. We're opposite sides of the coin, but he crawled over that coin to get to the other side. He's been on my side.
Dan has been at least somewhat defined by a couple of relationships that haven't actually appeared in the revival: his friendship with the late Harry Stone from the original run of Night Court and his late wife. If not for what he learned from those relationships, would he be the kind of man who would voluntarily (albeit begrudgingly) become a public defender and start to form a special kind of friendship with Abby?
As it turns out, like MADtv’s Stephnie Weir (who guest-starred earlier in Season 1 and spoke about working with John Larroquette and Melissa Rauch), Kurt Fuller was familiar with the original Night Court when he signed on to appear in the 2023 revival. That familiarity made playing Jeff a “bucket list moment” for Fuller, as he explained:
I was a fan of the original show. I was younger, I was unmarried, and I loved Markie Post. Oh, I just loved Markie Post, and I really watched it for her. But this one, I wanted to be on it to work with John – and Melissa, but I've been a fan of his longer than I've been a fan of hers. It's like a bucket list moment for me too because, as well-known and appreciated as he is, I think he's underrated. I think he's underrated, and I have seen him in drama and in comedy. He's just super talented.
Kurt Fuller may have originally watched Night Court for Markie Post (who passed away in 2021) as public defender Christine Sullivan, but working with John Larroquette was evidently a big draw for coming to the NBC revival. It’s a credit to Larroquette that Fuller acknowledged that he’s well-known and appreciated, but still underrated. The guest star also praised Melissa Rauch, who shot to sitcom prominence years after Larroquette due to her role on The Big Bang Theory, and Fuller described working with both of them:
It was a real gift to get to work with him and a real gift to watch Melissa work too because they both have such an ease. They come from a little bit different places, but they both have such an ease. Comedy can be hard, but when you make it look easy, that's the gift. They're fantastic, and I actually learned from both of them.
It’s safe to say that Larroquette and Rauch together have been a recipe for success for NBC, as Night Court was renewed for Season 2 after just four episodes of Season 1 aired. Kurt Fuller will be back as Jeff for at least one more of the first season, so fans will want to be sure to catch “DA Club” for the district attorney’s first appearance. The new episode of Night Court airs on Tuesday, April 4 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, and will be available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.
The rest of the first season so far is already available on the streamer as well, if you missed any episodes or just want to revisit what has happened so far. There are certainly some memorable guest stars, ranging from Lyric Lewis as woman who “proposed” her wedding planning skills to Dan to Stephnie Weir as the podcaster with a secret to figure skating icons Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.
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