This originally appeared in The Kansas City Star, August 4, 2004.
To all the fans who wish that he were still doing "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," Andy Richter has a simple message: Let it go.
Richter, the affable Midwesterner who played straight man to some of the most bizarre comedy churned out in the 1990s, now stars in "Quintuplets," a relatively conventional TV sitcom on Fox. That is the same network that canceled his critically acclaimed "Universe" after separate launches in 2002 and 2003 failed to draw much of an audience.
"Quintuplets" is doing well enough in the ratings that Fox has ordered a whole year's worth of the show and is airing it three times a week this summer in the hopes of building an audience. A new episode airs at 7:30 tonight and is repeated 8:30 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on Channel 4.
From his appearance in the loopy box-office dud "Cabin Boy" to seven years as Conan O'Brien's sidekick, Richter perfected the part of what improv-comedy people call the "low-status character," the schlub who is forever humiliated. In one classic "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" bit, Richter stumbled naked onto the "Today" show set and asked Matt Lauer for directions.
Now, on "Quintuplets," he presides over a family of five 15-year-olds and a brood of standard-issue sitcom plots. (The quints go to the prom. The quints throw a party on Dad and Mom's night out.)
Critics have not been nearly so kind to "Quintuplets" as they were to "Universe." In fact, the most common note sounded in reviews is a quixotic longing for the old show.
"What do these people have against me working?" Richter said at the TV critics press tour last month, sounding both bemused and irked. "What I found particularly irritating was a review in Newsweek, a story about Fox's summer lineup with two-sentence reviews of each show, and the one about our show said: 'Andy Richter can do better.' Well, apparently, I can't."
The sarcasm underlines a hard lesson Richter has had to learn about show business since leaving "Late Night" in 2000.
"I've tried selling scripts," he said. "The first draft they're always, 'We love it!' But the further along you get in the process, you know, it becomes, 'Could you make it more like, like, something else?' "
As in something familiar?
"Yes," Richter said. "It took me awhile to realize that the cliche was true. They'd always say, 'Be bold! Be different!' And then I'd realize, no, they want the same old thing."
When he was developing "Universe," Richter recalled Fox executives telling him, "All our shows are about families," which wasn't what he wanted to hear.
"When I first left the Conan O'Brien show I resisted playing a father," he said. "I would come out here for meetings and they'd say, 'Well, do you want to be a dad? What kind of dad do you want to be?' I didn't want to be a dad. So then it was, 'OK, what kind of office do you want to be in?' So we did an office show. We did it for two seasons, two partial seasons. I felt we had done that and now let's try some other thing."
He developed comedies for CBS and NBC that weren't picked up. That left "Quintuplets," on which he was asked to star. (His "Universe" co-star, Paget Brewster, is in the cast of "!Huff," a Showtime drama that begins in November.)
On "Quintuplets" Richter is just the star -- no writing, no producing -- which has left him more free time than usual.
He's taped one episode of the upcoming NBC animated sitcom "Father of the Pride," and he and a writer friend are talking about making an independent film together.
Right now, however, Richter admitted that he, wife Sarah Thyre and their child are spending a lot of time "just vacationing."
Because he's on a family schedule, Richter doesn't stay up to watch much late-night TV. He's not surprised, though, when he tunes in "Late Night" and sees how O'Brien now single-handedly carries the show.
"I'm always amazed what he can do with pure personality and self-possession," he said.
Richter also is optimistic that there will be an "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" DVD set.
"So far, Paramount is dragging its heels," he said. "But you know, my wife had a recurring role on a show called 'Strangers With Candy' on Comedy Central. (She played Coach Wolf.) That wasn't a big show, either. Mostly it was watched by TV critics and people who sell shoes at Barneys. And that'sbig on DVD." (Shortly after this interview, filming began on a movie version of "Strangers.").
When "Universe" comes out on DVD, though, Richter hopes that reviewers will resist the temptation to take yet more potshots at "Quintuplets," the show that's currently paying his bills.
As he put it, "It's sort of like watching 'Beverly Hills 90210' and thinking, 'Well, it's no "West Wing"!' "
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