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I love Patrick Warburton.
I probably should have led up to that admission with a little more journalistic finesse, pretending that my love for him wasn't the subtext of this entire article, but since I couldn't be at all objective in assessing him, I won't pretend I could. I just love him. My love is deep and pure, unqualified and unconditional.
My love for Patrick Warburton was first kindled when he played David Puddy, Jerry's mechanic and Elaine's on-again, off-again boyfriend, on several episodes of Seinfeld. Most of Elaine's paramours didn't last longer than the span of a single episode, but Puddy was different. His stoic squint and laconic, deadpan delivery proved the perfect counterpoint for Elaine's manic volubility, and their chemistry was evident in the half-dozen or so episodes in which their relationship played out. While most of Elaine's other boyfriends were endowed with one or, if they were lucky, two character quirks (this one's a close talker, that one doesn't do "everything" in bed, this one's screwing her out of a discount on a Nicole Miller dress, that one's...um, Keith Hernandez), Puddy grew into a multi-dimensional character with a variety of interests: a devoted Devils fan, a germophobe, a Christian who believed Elaine was going to Hell, a man-fur wearer, and the only honest car mechanic in New York, besides. Puddy had enough objectionable habits to fuel storylines for ten of Elaine's boyfriends, but it's a testament to Warburton's excellent comic timing, and his chemistry with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, that producers chose to keep him around for so many episodes instead of giving these plots to a succession of forgettable boyfriends-of-the-week. It's also a testament to the character Warburton built -- seemingly dim, yet with an inner life Elaine knew nothing about (as in the episode where she discovers the Jesus fish on his car and notices that all of his car radio settings point to Christian radio stations); good-natured, but with his limits (as when he finally explodes at Elaine for being too "bossy") -- that Puddy was a substantial enough presence to make us believe that Elaine would have good reasons to spend so much time with a germophobic Christian Arby's enthusiast.
After Seinfeld, Warburton took the decidedly un-Puddy-like role of Johnny Johnson on Newsradio. Johnny is an executive in Jimmy's company who has Jimmy arrested and sent to federal prison so that Johnny can take over Jimmy's media empire. However, it's hard for the WNYX staffers to tell, at first, that Johnny is evil, because he exhibits none of the attributes one typically sees in an evil sitcom boss -- he's friendly, jovial, good-natured, and accommodating. He seduces Lisa, not to trick her into doing his bidding, but because he genuinely likes her. In fact, he doesn't even do anything all that evil: we're given to understand that Jimmy actually did commit the crime for which he's been arrested, and beyond that, the worst thing he does is to make Dave sit in a child's school desk. Ultimately, Johnny is redeemed, marrying Lisa (though also getting sent to jail the same day for stealing her engagement ring). That the show's producers liked Johnny enough to keep Lisa married to him through the end of the season, instead of contriving a way to reunite her with her longtime love Dave, suggests -- at least to me -- the affection they must have had for Patrick Warburton.
As an actually big person in Hollywood, where the stars tend to be pocket-sized, Warburton's physiognomy is an intrinsic part of every major character he's played. On Seinfeld, it was as simple as seeing a big man, in a fey fur, accompanied by a woman only about 32% his size. On Newsradio, it was the juxtaposition of him with the small, slight Dave, since both had sought a relationship with Lisa. In The Dish -- the unjustly overlooked Australian film in which Warburton plays Al Burnett, a NASA engineer temporarily working at a satellite dish in the middle of sheep country, in order to facilitate the live telecast of the 1969 moon landing -- it's the contrast between a gigantic American in a severe black suit and tie and chunky, Clark Kent eyeglasses, and a trio of wee Australian engineers in shorts. Burnett strikes a complex figure in the film. Since it's set in a rather provincial region of Australia, the locals are eager to impress their American visitor, and he is almost as anxious to fit in with them despite the fact that he is, in the context of the story, essentially the embodiment of all of America -- big, stolid, affable, perhaps a little patronizing, yet with a vulnerable, gooey centre.
Warburton's physical heft has never been more at issue than in his current title role in The Tick. The character is unable to detect sarcasm, unwilling to accept criticism, and incapable of accepting defeat; in these uncertain times, in other words, The Tick exemplifies exactly the kind of hero we crave: shoving people around first (though never mortally injuring anyone), and asking questions later -- if ever. Only Warburton could play this part -- a remarkably strong if generally ineffectual superhero whose clueless charm stops just short of smarm. The Tick blends all of Warburton's above-named roles: good-natured and quintessentially American like Al Burnett; blustery, eloquent, and with a booming, car-salesman voice like Johnny Johnson; and slow on the uptake like Puddy.
There are those who say that Warburton doesn't have a lot of range. Perhaps that's true. But I don't care. He's so funny doing what he does best -- being the comic version of Everybody's All-American -- that I'm not sure I want to see him doing anything else. Why should he dangle by his fingernails off Ayers Rock or strum a mandolin in the direction of Penélope Cruz when he can make me laugh with a silent furrow of his brow? Why should he prance about dressed as a Roman gladiator when he brings us so much pleasure while encased in a blue plastic suit, complete with expressive antennae?
Patrick Warburton is now a prize...well, not a thoroughbred -- more like a reliable Clydesdale in director (and Tick executive producer) Barry Sonnenfeld's stable; Warburton will star in Sonnenfeld's next two movies, Big Trouble and Men in Black 2. We hope this results in a wider recognition of his unique comic talents, and his elevation as a comic character actor in more and bigger movies. If not, we just hope Fox doesn't cancel The Tick, because it's funny.
And, also, because I love him.
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