‘Night Court’: Richard Kind Talks Not Singing in Musical, Reuniting With Wendie Malick & More

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Night Court Season 3 Episode 12 “A Little Night Court Music.”]

“You can make more money with a flop than with a hit,” says guest star Richard Kind as shady Broadway producer Sy Hoffman in the latest episode of Night Court. Though it’s a famous quote from the musical The Producers, Sy claims to have never heard of it.

In “A Little Night Court Music,” Dan (John Larroquette) is not able to sell his memoir. Enter Sy, returning to the show to save the day and adapt Dan’s manuscript into a musical. Below, Kind gushes about working on the sitcom set.

The Night Court ensemble cast gets a musical number in this episode. I was surprised that you didn’t sing! Was there any discussion of you singing? 

Richard Kind: So was I. You know, I figured, why are they hiring me if they don’t want me to sing? But I had an established character already who was a Broadway producer, so I was their conduit for everybody else singing.

Sy and Julianne (Wendie Malick) have a bit of a romantic history. You two have worked together before. How was reuniting on this episode? 

It’s so funny, I talked about her last night. Wendie is one of those people who has been touched by God. She is beautiful, she’s talented, she’s smart. She gets the joke. She knows where the acting is, and she’s a great actor. She and I played husband and wife about two years ago at a play festival in Durango, Colorado. [We] did this wonderful, wonderful play, and she played my wife. And I am supposed to be very in love with my wife during the play — truly in love. Well, I did not have to do any practice or anything. Knowing her, you just felt [it]. And above all, she is kind and a great citizen. She’s just a good person. She doesn’t throw her weight around, but she certainly could. She could really be mean. She’s not. She’s just the opposite. Just great. And so working with her was good. She got the joke, and I got the joke, and we met in the middle. It was fun.

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You have to eat a lot in this episode. Tell me about eating that messy sandwich. 

I eat a pastrami sandwich in one of the scenes, do I not? I do not order pastrami or corned beef anymore because it’s bad for me, it’s salty, it’s fatty, and it’s not healthy. I try and eat healthy. But when I’m supposed to eat bad foods for my art, I wallow in it. And I loved it. Some people spit out the pastrami. Not me. I go, “Got to do it. Got to eat it.” And it was great. I remember it fondly.

How was returning to the Night Court set? 

They welcomed me back with open arms. There is a bit of a stigma to guest starring on a TV show. You are viewed as you cannot hold or be a regular on a TV show… I love it. I consider it like repertory theater. Let’s go in, let’s see [the] character, let’s see who I’m playing with. And you get to play pretend in a completely different playground. I love it. But you can’t do too many of them because, like I said, there’s a stigma, and you can’t make a living doing guest spots. So I have to just do a handful. But I loved it.

Sy is a shady Broadway producer…

By the way, I think that’s redundant. You don’t have to put shady. He’s a producer. Shady comes along with it.

Would you return as Sy again? 

Oh God, I begged them. I begged them to bring me back. I love it. I beg them often. I say, well, if I’m any good, why don’t you make me a regular? If I’m any good, give me a part. Say I lost my job and bring me back.

Night Court, Tuesdays, 8:30/7:30c, NBC