Actor John Larroquette has been making the rounds lately thanks the reboot of NBC’s “Night Court.” Larroquette, who starred in the original, is returning for the revival. Regardless of how you feel about revivals and reboots, they’re always good for bringing classic television stars to the forefront for a while and doing the late night talk shows and junkets. This is the whole reason we got Columbo himself, Peter Falk, on a 2003 episode of “Late Night With Conan O’ Brien.” It’s a great opportunity for legends to break out some fun facts, and boy howdy, did Larroquette drop an interesting one about his first “paid” gig in Hollywood.
Before Larroquette rose to fame on “Night Court,” he’d had some guest appearances on various television programs but nothing incredibly noteworthy until maybe his role in “Stripes” in 1981. Seven years before that in 1974, Larroquette provided the opening narration for a small, independently made film. As Larroquette tells it, he met the director in a bar while working as a bartender in Colorado. The two had struck up a bit of a friendship, only to find out years later that they both wound up in Hollywood. The former bar patron asked Larroquette if he would do a favor for him and record a narration/vocal only part. That man who needed a favor was director Tobe Hooper, and that movie was the original “Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
Though he was not given money for his appearance, Larroquette WAS paid in some form. According to the veteran actor, Hooper paid him in cannabis. Yup, John read his part and on his way out of the studio, Tobe slipped him a joint and that was that. To this day, Larroquette has never watched the film nor any of its remakes or sequels, despite doing the voiceover narration for all of them. This isn’t just a story that’s being conjured up now though; internet archives show the story being told by Larroquette at least as early as 2008.
Outside of these appearances, Larroquette has kept himself busy doing guest appearances on a number of television series over the decades. As for recurring roles, he was featured prominently in the 4th and 5th seasons of “Boston Legal” after previously having a run of guest appearances on the show that preceded it, “The Practice.” John was also in “The Librarians” and the Hallmark Channel mystery movie series, “McBride.” For whatever reason, Larroquette can never pull away from law based television programs for too long, which is perhaps just one more reason you can find him in the “Night Court” revival on NBC.
