Last night, I noticed Fred Stoller's book sitting on a table downstairs and I realized I'd forgotten to recommend it here. This is entirely appropriate as Fred has had a very fine acting career while not being noticed sufficiently for his work. He's been a frequent guest star (and occasionally, a recurring one) on most of the top situation comedies of the last decade or two, including Seinfeld, Everyone Loves Raymond, Murphy Brown, Caroline in the City, King of Queens and many more. I have a special, inexplicable fondness for character actors who are in the "oh, it's that guy again" category, just popping up when you don't expect them.
Fred serves much the same role in my life. I just keep running into him different places and we talk and he tells me what show he just did and is now hoping they'll ask him back. The last time I encountered him, he told me he'd written a book about this odd niche he inhabits in show business and he wanted to send me a copy. He did, I read and enjoyed it…and then I forgot to tell you about it. Like I said, entirely appropriate.
It's a pretty good book in two ways. It's entertaining and you could read it just for that. But if you're interested in a TV acting career, or wondering how that works, it's a fine guide to that world because Fred is pretty honest and not afraid to admit when he made a mistake. He hasn't made many and from what I can tell, his reputation really is as good as it appears to be in this book. Somehow though, he just hasn't achieved the steadiness of gigs you'd expect from a guy who so many people keep wanting to hire…but just for an episode or three, not for all season.
It's called, Maybe We'll Have You Back: The Life of a Perennial TV Guest Star. Order a copy here. And if you run into Fred before I do, tell him to drop me an e-mail so I can invite him to lunch.