As stop-at-nothing New York lawyer Patty Hewes, Glenn Close has stared down some pretty tough hombres on "Damages" (returning for a third season Sunday, Jan. 31 at 10 p.m. on Showcase).
This season, Close and co-star Rose Byrne (Hewes' reluctant protege Ellen Parsons) face a new challenge - getting through their scenes without laughing. That's because the actors opposite them in the year-long story arc are comedy icons Lily Tomlin and Martin Short.
This season's storyline revolves around Hewes and Associates chasing down a wealthy Wall Street family which embezzled millions in an investment fraud of Bernie Madoff proportions. Tomlin plays the matriarch of the family, with Short as her flinty solicitor.
The 59-year-old Short has played a lawyer before - 30 years ago on his first U.S. series, the lighthearted and short-lived "The Associates" - but most of his fans remember the "SCTV" and "Saturday Night Live" veteran as hopeless idiot Ed Grimley, Jr., or as corpulent critic Jiminy Glick.
"SCTV" fans who still remember that brazen cast lampooning such serial dramas as "The Days of the Week" might have trouble buying Short in such a serious role. "Damages," however, has never shied away from casting against type.
Ted Danson, still best known for sitcoms such as "Cheers" and "Becker," drew raves as despicable financier Arthur Frobisher in the first season of "Damages." Still, he already had "Body Heat" and other serious feature roles to his credit. He never played a character in a fat suit like Glick, or savaged real-life personalities the way Short sent up Jerry Lewis and Canadian celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan.
On the recent TV critics press tour in Pasadena, Calif., Short acknowledged his resume isn't chock full of serious roles. Still, he says, "I think of myself as a character actor, and you play characters in a sincere fashion."
As an example he cited "Franck Eggelhoffer," the wedding planner he played in two "Father of the Bride" features. "If you're trying to be funny as that character, you won't be," he says. Better to "sincerely play him as this eccentric character," says Short.
The producers certainly had no problem with Short's funny past. "One of the things we try to strive for on 'Damages' is that nothing is as it seems," says executive producer Todd A. Kessler.
"And starting in the first season, when we cast Ted Danson as Arthur Frobisher, it continues to just amaze us to work with actors and performers who aren't always given the opportunities to do something other than what they're primarily known for."
That's why the producers eagerly went after Tomlin and Short. "We just thought it would be an amazing opportunity to work with both of them and then also have them embody this sense of nothing is as it seems," says Kessler.
Tomlin, who broke through back in the '60s as one of the zany stars of "Laugh-In," has shown her serious side in recent years on episodic TV shows like "The West Wing." She was such a big fan of "Damages" she told critics she would drop everything and run home to see it.
"When I'd see Glenn anyplace at an event or anything," she says, "I'd jump all over her and say, 'You've got to tell us. What's going to happen?"'
Tomlin says she "just about went nuts" waiting for the New York-based drama to return after the first season. When she ran into producer Kessler at a photography show in L.A., she says she literally threw herself at him to get on the series. "You know how women throw themselves," she told critics, "like they'll jump on a guy they know really well and put their arms around his neck and their legs around his waist?" Needless to say, Kessler didn't need much arm twisting to add Tomlin to his series.
For her part, Close knew Tomlin and Short wouldn't do any damage to "Damages."
"I've always thought comedy was a lot harder than drama," she says.
The bonus with having them on the set is all the fun between takes. "I can't tell you how invigorating, inspiring fun it is," she says. "For me, it's just pure fun."
Tomlin says Short just cracks her up on the set, especially right before a serious scene. "Marty is one of the most adorable, funny guys ever," she says, adding that the only way to keep a straight face before "a really deep scene" is to "throw a blanket over your head or something."
Sounds like something Ed Grimley would do.
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Bill Brioux is a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.