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Ever since Woody Allen turned the sputtering, hand-fluttering neurotic nebbish into an American archetype, Hollywood has been awash in sputtering, hand-fluttering neurotic nebbishes. (Nebbishi? Nebbosh? Nebbishex?) This is why Bob Balaban is very smart. Rather than pull himself aboard the overcrowded caboose of the Woody-Allen-Manqué Express, he took a more relaxed and ultimately more productive tack, recognizing and exploiting a previously unfilled nebbish niche: the soft-spoken, occasionally sardonic nebbish.

From his very first small role in 1969 as "Homosexual Student in Theatre" in Midnight Cowboy to his signature turns in the '90s as the head of NBC (which he's played in two different forms: once, as the Warren-Littlefield clone "Russell Dalrymple" on Seinfeld, and later, as the actual Warren Littlefield in The Late Shift), Balaban has perfected a delivery that is, paradoxically, equal parts droll defeat and deadpan disdain -- a skill perhaps most brilliantly displayed in his performance as Dalrymple. Balaban effortlessly fluctuated between wearily dismissing George (a full-time student in the school of sputtering, hand-fluttering neurotic nebbishes) and doggedly stalking Elaine, thus transforming Dalrymple from a typical one-note sitcom standby to a strangely sympathetic, even comically tragic, character.

Balaban's talent for dreary deadpan -- he's kind of like a hyper-intelligent version of Droopy Dog -- have since been on display in Waiting for Guffman (as longsuffering teacher Lloyd Miller), Clockwatchers (corporate drone Milton Lasky), and Best in Show (exquisitely-named dog expert Dr. Theodore W. Millbank III). Balaban can currently be enjoyed in Ghost World, which is limited-releasing its way across the country this week. And, as if you needed one more reason to like and admire Bob Balaban, try saying "Bob Balaban" several times as quickly as you can. It will make your lips feel nice.