NBC’s Night Court reboot returned to the network on December 23 for a holiday special and debuted its official season premiere on January 2. The sitcom’s upcoming episode “Hold the Pickles, Keep the Change” airs on Tuesday, January 23, and features appearances from several notable guest stars. Paul Scheer plays Carnes, a personal injury attorney who finds himself at war with Olivia over the attention of his partner, Pellino (Rob Huebel).
Scheer has over 170 acting credits in addition to his work as a comedian, writer, and director. His most well-known projects include titles such as The League, Fresh Off the Boat, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Black Monday. The main cast of Night Court season 2 includes Melissa Rauch, India de Beaufort, Nyambi Nyambi, Lacretta, and John Larroquette.
When The Night Court Season 2 Finale Is & How Many Episodes Are Left
Both fans of the original sitcom and revival newcomers alike are wondering when the Night Court season 2 finale is — and how many episodes remain.
Screen Rant interviewed Paul Scheer about playing Carnes in Night Court, his character’s comedic dynamic with Olivia, and why he feels the reboot is such a success.
Paul Scheer Talks Night Court Season 2
Screen Rant: To start, were you a fan of the original Night Court series?
Paul Scheer: I was a huge super fan of Night Court. What’s kind of amazing about getting to go on this version of it is it’s the old version of it! It really is. They built the set based on the blueprints of the set they built in the 80s. You step on, and all of a sudden, I felt like I was in my childhood. I look to my right, and there’s John Larroquette looking as good as ever. It’s a dream come true.
A lot of times, as a kid, you’d think, “I’d love to be on that,” and very rarely do you get to be on the actual thing that you saw as a child, right? I got to be on the Sesame Street set once, and I felt the same way. I stepped into a core memory. It was just absolutely unbelievable. I sent a picture to my dad on my first day on set. I was like, “Look at this.” He’s like, “Oh, my God.” That was the show that we all watched.
In terms of the comedy and the new cast of characters, how do you feel the reboot stacks up to the original?
Paul Scheer: I think it is doing an amazing job. When Melissa announced that she was going to be developing this, I sent her a text right away, and I was like, “This is a genius idea.” It was one of those head-slapping ideas. We rush to reboot so many different things, and a lot of these shows—the reason why they worked was because of the person in it. Night Court is an amazing show because you could adjust it in any way because the premise of the show actually is the star.
You have Melissa, who is incredible. She brings her own thing. I don’t think that anyone’s watching the show, comparing Melissa to Harry. It’s just sort of like, “Oh, this is another judge. It makes sense. This is the way that the world would work.” The way that they brought back in Dan Fielding feels very natural. I feel like that’s something that reboots don’t often do.
It’s like trying to reboot Everybody Loves Raymond without Raymond. That’s a great show, and it’s an interesting premise, but what made that show so interesting was Ray Romano. For me, the concept of Night Court is so solid that you just need to have the right voices to find in it and then it’s going to succeed on its own merits.
I love Carnes and what he brings to this episode. I think his relationship with Rob Huebel’s character was the funniest aspect.
Paul Scheer: That is the dream role. I love Better Call Saul. I’m obsessed with these kinds of injury attorneys, in general. I’ve gone down rabbit holes on YouTube. I’ve watched a guy named The Hammer, who literally carries a hammer around and fights Big Rig Truck. This is my bread and butter style thing. They just wrote such funny stuff. What a blast.
And to get to do it with Rob who I haven’t performed with forever. Melissa played my wife on Black Monday, and I know Melissa from back in the UCB days. It just felt like a real treat. India and I did our Veep episodes together. India and I were running the CBS newsroom on that show for the second to last season.
You have a bit of an antagonistic relationship with India de Beaufort’s character. How was playing that and being able to make an enemy out of her?
Paul Scheer: She is so great. I love these actors on the show. They also just added Nyambi Nyambi. I think he’s amazing as well. The vibe is really fun and to get to do stuff off of India and to come at her so hard was just a blast, you know. I think her character on the show is often the hard character, so to be somebody that could stand up to her or go toe to toe with her was really, really fun.
As someone who’s worked on close to 200 projects, have you played a character similar to Carnes before?
Paul Scheer: It’s interesting. I think it was Carl Reiner who once said that there are only four plots. There are always variations on a theme. I think that I’ve never played an injury attorney. I’ve played some agents, which are different. This is a different vibe. What I liked about this character was the cravenness of him.
I don’t know if this line got left in there, but we saw a school bus outside, and we’re ready for that school bus to crash. I don’t know if that’s still in there, but there’s something about these lines that gave me a little bit more of a complete and utter craveness. I like to go back to craveness. There’s a cravenness in this character that felt fresh and different to me. That was really fun.
You touched on this a bit, but what do you enjoy most about the Carnes and Pellino dynamic? Carnes is very protective of him.
Paul Scheer: I think one of the most fun things to shoot was—there’s a double date in the episode. What was so fun about that was it was India, Melissa, Rob, and I, and you have all these characters, who are going through so much. They’re on this double date and nobody’s really listening to each other. They all have their own goals in that moment. That was such a fun thing to play. To do a scene where everyone is being so selfish in what they want, you kind of need performers who aren’t selfish.
That was really fun for me to sit in that with the three of them and do that. Rob and I have a history. We go back so long in performing, so we have a rhythm that we know. And like I said, Melissa and I have a rhythm. It was so comfortable and easy, so I think that that was the most fun. I never did a multi-cam before. This is the first time I’ve ever done a multi-cam. I can’t believe it.
I perform in front of a live audience all the time, but this is the first time I actually ever did it for TV, and I was so nervous about it. Melissa and Pam Fryman, the director, is amazing, and they basically just said, “Just treat it like one of your shows.” It gave me so much freedom. You react to the audience, and you play into the audience. It was a blast.
Were there any fun nuances that you added to the character that weren’t in the script?
Paul Scheer: Oh, yeah. The minute I read the script, I was like, “Yes. I want to do this.” I think what I loved about it was trying to find these other sides to the character and that was in there. But I think in playing the character throughout the week, Rob and I’s dynamic got a little bit cleaner. Who we both were and how we were to each other. We both kind of filled different holes.
That’s the benefit of having a week of rehearsal. You get to do these things over and over again, and you find little things. And so from the table read to Friday, when we shot the episode, you know the character. It’s like doing a play. I can’t tell you, “Oh, yes, I brought this, and I did this.” But through the workshopping of it throughout the week, we found things and that became incorporated.
I don’t know where that started and where their things ended, but I think that that’s the same with a lot of different roles. The only difference is, in my experience, you find that on the second or third episode or the the fifth or sixth day of shooting. Here, what people are seeing is the result of a week of rehearsal.
Lastly, I heard that you’re writing a book. Is there anything you can share about that?
Paul Scheer: Yes. My book is called Joyful Recollections of Trauma. It is available for pre-order right now. It was inspired by the stories that I tell on How Did This Get Made? about my childhood. I never thought I had such a crazy childhood until I started telling these stories on How Did This Get Made? and I watched the reactions of Jason Mantzoukas, and my wife, June, who didn’t even hear these stories. The audience of How Did This Get Made? really got behind the stories and make blog posts and made supercuts on YouTube.
There’s a part of me that was like, “Maybe I should write some of these down.” People always tell me I should write a book. I was like, “If I’m going to write a book, I don’t want to just tell anecdotes. I have to have something a little bit more meaningful.” So I sat down to start writing, and I found some stuff that kind of surprised me, actually. I think that fans of How Did This Get Made? are going to get exactly what they want, but also get something completely different.
It’s available for pre-order right now. We just announced it last week. It’s been exciting to see. Get it as an audiobook, get it as an ebook, wherever books are sold. If you get the pre-order, I am doing a very special thing. I’m spending a lot of money out of pocket to make sure that anyone who pre-orders and keeps the receipt, they’re going to get something very special from me and get access to all this stuff. I want to make, like, the DVD special features of books. So I’m excited.
About Night Court
Court is back in session! When the perpetually sunny judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) takes the night shift in her father’s old courtroom, she presides over some of New York’s most unique and unusual cases – with an oddball cast of characters by her side. This includes former night court District Attorney Dan FieIding (John Larroquette), who now serves as the court’s public defender.
Check out our previous Night Court interviews here:
- Melissa Rauch
- India de Beaufort
- Lyric Lewis
- Kurt Fuller
- Melissa Villaseñor
Night Court
Night Court was a TV comedy that ran for nine seasons between 1984 and 1992. The series centers around Harry Anderson’s character, Harry T. Stone, a presiding judge who works at the night court in Manhattan. In 2023, the series was brought back by NBC, this time starring Melissa Rauch as Manhattan Municipal Court’s new Judge. While the revival hasn’t been as critically praised as its predecessor, it has garnered attention for bringing back John Larroquette, who played Dan Fielding in the original series.
- Release Date
- January 17, 2023
- Cast
- Melissa Rauch , India de Beaufort , Kapil Talwalkar , Dan Rubin , John Larroquette
- Seasons
- 1
- Story By
- dan rubin
- Writers
- Dan Rubin
- Network
- NBC
- Streaming Service(s)
- Peacock
- Directors
- Dan Rubin
- Showrunner
- Dan Rubin
