No, I haven't made a mistake. "47" is such an unlucky number, I decided, way back around Culturology 035 (or was it Culturology 035?) to figure out a way that I could skip right from 046 to 048, and it worked, so here we are, that much closer to 052 than we all thought we were. And with the upcoming series of JCVD roundtables, it'll be no sweat getting there. But given that Nick and I are indulging so much in this Van Damme Fest 2K9+, it's important that we not forget that there many other actors out there, many of whom probably deserve at least a nod or two, if not the full-blown attention that we're giving to the Muscles from Brussels. In that spirit, this week I'm going to introduce two new culturological sub-features that I plan to run semi-regularly (whenever it occurs to me to do so):
This Week in That Guy #1: Paul Ben-Victor
I watch my fair share of movies and TV shows, and I often catch myself playing that viewer's game, where you recognize some actor or actress on screen, and spend the rest of the show/movie scratching your head and trying to remember what else you've seen them in. "Who was that guy?" you say, to your friends, and then you continue to speculate as to who they are and what other things you've seen them in. That Guys are oftentimes that guy either on TV, making lots of guest appearances on all sorts of shows, or character actors in movies, showing up in small-to-medium parts in all kinds of movies. Character actors are great--I tend to like these "real" actors more than the method-types that seem to garner so much praise, so I don't mean to belittle any of these That Guys by labeling them as such. There are much worse guys to be, and way worse kinds of That Guys to be.
The inaugural That Guy (and fellow--to Nick, Neal, and myself--Carnegie Mellon alum) is Paul Ben-Victor, who showed up most recently, for me, in Season Two of The Wire, which I watched on DVD back in the spring. As soon as he showed up on screen, he had me wondering, who is that guy? and trying to remember what else I'd seen him in. Let's meet him, via YouTube and (apparently) ExploreTalent.com:
That Guy
At the time of watching The Wire I realized that he was the guy from John from Cincinnati, the other not-nearly-as-good-as-the-wire HBO show. But you might also recognize him from True Romance.
This Week in Not That Guy #1: Brian Cox
You recognize Brian Cox. For instance, he's that guy that was the chief of the highway patrol in Super Troopers:
Not a That Guy
But if you think he's a That Guy, because of his easily recognizable presence in so many movies, you'd be wrong. Because he's Brian Cox, and everyone knows his name, and everyone thinks he's awesome (especially since the first couple X-Men movies). He's also awesome in Rushmore, and The Minus Man. Awesome actor, but too awesome, despite his numerous roles, to be that guy.
The Wire may be the steepest learning curve / unknown-but-still-ensemble casts ever. It literally took over a season to get into the show. But once you did, you were effing hooked! (True Romance btw, may have the second finest ensemble cast ever assembled - I mean Bronson Pinchot is in it - BALKI!)
As for Brian Cox, the man has an impressive body (pause!) of work. That said, right after Super Troopers he did the incredibly creeptastic L.I.E.
Paul Ben-Victor is THAT GUY to the max. He's been in so many things but for some reason I never heard his name until now. In particular, I remember him as a mob henchmen in some movie that I've seen a bunch of times, but I just can't remember what it is...
Brian Cox = definitely NOT THAT GUY but really close.
Possible suggestions for future THAT GUYs: Jeffrey Tambor or Patrick Wharburton
Cosigned on both accounts. Wharburton has literally been in everything ever produced - go look it up. And Tambor was just plain awesome in Arrested Development.
AudioShocker Shoutouts!
The thing with Wharburton, though, is that, true no one knows his name, but most everyone that recognizes him doesn't recognize him as "that guy," but as "hey look! It's Puddy, from Seinfeld."
I think we these That Guys, I'm looking for actors/actresses that can't even really be named by their own really famous role. So the best candidate's, like Paul Ben-Victor, is "That Guy that played that guy who was..." or whatever.
Brian Cox pulled it out by making that string of awesome roles where it became a matter of course, at least for me, to actually learn and remember his name.
you know who else is that guy then? H. Jon Benjamin
Coach McGurk, the can of veggies from Wet Hot American Summer, the live action version of Master Shake? I love that dude. I want to meet him and buy him a beer, perhaps 10.
who's coach mcgurk?
and a definite NOT THAT GUY:
Chris Meloni, who plays the guy that talks to the can of veggies, as well as Freakshow and the SUV guy.
AudioShocker Shoutouts!
yeah, everybody knows Meloni, that dude is nuts. in fact, everyone on SVU (not SUV) is a little off kilter: meloni, belzer, ice-t, etc.
Yeah. If it weren't for SVU though, Meloni would totally be a that guy.
a list of That Guy actors (dudes only):
http://www.460xvr.com/tg/not.htm
replete with criteria for being That Guy and Not That Guy
AudioShocker Shoutouts!
Gah. Just further evidence of what a hack I am. I hardly recognize any of those guys.