This week’s episode ofNight Court, “Abracadabra Alaka-Dan,” featured special guest star Mo Collins as a figure from Judge Abby Stone’s (Melissa Rauch) past. Collins, a veteran of comedy (Mad TV, Parks & Recreation) and drama (Fear the Walking Dead), plays Starla, erstwhile “magician’s assistant” to Judge Harry Stone. She’s back now after more than thirty years and wants Judge Stone’s secret book of magic tricks, and she’ll go to extreme lengths to get it.
While Mo Collins never appeared on the original show, the episode did feature another surprise special guest: Wesley Mann as Danielson, reprising his role from the original series' sixth season episode, “Yet Another Day In The Life.” All these years later, and Danielson still suffers from the (hilarious and fictional) disorder, Tortoise Nervosa. But whileNight Courtderives plenty of enjoymentfrom calling back to its predecessor, its beating heart remains the friendship between Abby and Dan Fielding (John Larroquette).
All 3 The Big Bang Theory Actors Who Appear In Night Court
Several Big Bang Theory stars have visited the revival of Night Court since Big Bang Theory alum Melissa Rauch landed the leading role.
ScreenRantinterviewed Mo Collins about hergrand entrance intoNight Court, as well as some of her other notable roles. She spoke about the cozy comfort of a workplace sitcom that effortlessly balances nostalgia, silliness, and genuine heart. She also recalled her turn onFear The Walking Dead, which she calls “the hardest job” she ever had in show business.
Mo Collins Brings Harry Stone’s Magic Back To Night Court
“I Can Go Toe-To-Toe With Anybody”
Night Courtis so singular, but this new cast and John, of course, just understand and nail it. And you being in it feels so natural.
Mo Collins: It just makes sense, doesn’t it? But that’s partly because I’m from back then, too. Do you know what I mean? I’m sort of in that nostalgia circle where people want to see people they kind of grew up with, that made them feel comfortable, that made them laugh. And so I can see where, you know, me showing up on the show, there’s a certain level of comfort, like, “Oh, it’s ol' Mo Collins. Good for her!” I think there’s something to that.
Tell me a little bit about playing with this cast and getting to go, you know, toe-to-toe with John Larroquette. I mean, he’s a tall glass of water, but so are you.
Mo Collins: That’s exactly right. You want to talk about big toes? I got big toes, Zak! You know, I can go toe-to-toe with anybody. I really can. And I like doing that because that’s always fun. I can go toe-to-toe. It’s fun. It had been a long time though, since I had done a sitcom, with multi-cam and a live audience. There were definitely nerves, I’ve got to tell you. I was like, “Wait, this isn’t exactly like riding a bike. How does this work again?”
You have to learn the whole scene top to bottom, and the camera’s not going to stop. You’re doing the scene, but you’re also performing the scene. It’s like doing a play in a way. The audience is there. So it was good to step into using those muscles again. They were just ever so slightly atrophied, but only for a moment.
Some of my favorite episodes of the new show are ones that find ways to incorporate characters whose actors are sadly not around anymore. Harry Anderson is one of the great sitcom leads of all time, and you get to channel a little bit of his energy with the story of the episode and your interactions as a character who knew him.
Mo Collins: Yeah, I know. It was such a nice way to bring Harry back in, and I really love how the episode goes, and getting to work with Melissa and just sort of grounding those, those moments with her, too. And keeping in mind Harry and what was, you can feel that when you’re doing it, and you should feel that. That was really cool.
It works so well anytime you get John interacting with the personal world of his old friend. I love how his character has changed so much since the old show, but you can still see bits of him come out, especially when Harry’s involved.
Mo Collins: Yeah. It feels good, doesn’t it? Nostalgia feels really good right now. I think nostalgia is a commodity right now. And yeah, it was good to lay into that. It’s familiar. We like that. That feels good. And it’s good, silly fun, like silliness, but with heart. Good stuff!
I like how it’s juxtaposed. You’ve got this, byNight Courtstandards, heavy story, and then the reappearance of the guy with the Tortoise Nervosa played by the same actor!
Mo Collins: Wesley Mann! That’s so cool. But it also honors that Night Court tradition. Remember how they’d have people come from other shows and things and return, and stuff like that, too? They were even doing it back then. They were doing familiarity and things that made us comfortable back then, by having somebody from another show, come be a guest star on this show. It’s like just doing stuff that was like comfort food for TV.
“We Were Raising Kids Across The Country”
ScreenRant: I used to watchMad TVevery week with my dad. We’d record it on VHS and watch it the next day because I couldn’t stay up that late.
Mo Collins: Yeah, because you were… How old were you? You were supposed to be in bed!
What was your first year on the show?
Mo Collins: My first year was ‘98.
I was seven years old.
Mo Collins: Yeah, what does mama say about staying up late?
A lot of the humor went over my head, but I grew up with it, so it’s baked into my DNA now. you’ve honestly become a big part of my personality.
Mo Collins: I hear that all the time! Like, I didn’t realize we were raising kids across the country.
If you did, you would have done things differently!
Mo Collins: We might have! And here I was, myself, on set with my son, who was little at the time, you know, and I was protecting him from what we were doing. [Laughs] But meanwhile, America’s children were watching. Whoops!
Mo Collins Couldn’t Be More Relieved To Have Survived Fear The Walking Dead
You were a regular onFear The Walking Dead, which was a fantastic show. Spoiler alert, but you didn’t get eaten by zombies.
Mo Collins: As far as I know.
When you signed up, was there a part of you that was like, “Oh, I can’t wait to get eaten by zombies at the end of this journey?” Or were you glad that you got to survive?
Mo Collins: No! No, that’s the scary thing. Every time you’d get a script, you’d be like, “Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please don’t let me get eaten or killed.” It was nerve wracking to get a new script. You didn’t know! They don’t necessarily tell you in advance.
And there were a lot of characters on that show in particular.
Mo Collins: Yeah. A lot of characters. I feel like I’m in a special club that I got to do that kind of a show at all, right? It’s the hardest job I ever had in this business. it’s one of the most unique, and I got to be a part of that world. That’s really cool. And to play a bad-ass in my fifties? That was fun.
And was it fun to play like against type? Like, “Hey, it’s Mo Collins, the funny lady!”
Mo Collins: Of course. Although, when I was hired, the producers said my character “was there to bring light to the dark.” So, in a way, I knew that comedy was supposed to be part of it. I was still doing some comedy, but doing comedy on a drama is very, very different.
Whatever you do next, I hope I get to talk to you for that. Do you have a show right now?
Mo Collins: I’ll give a shout out to Lil Kev, which is an animated series I’ve got coming out March 5th. It’s Kevin Hart’s new show on BET+. The other stuff, I can’t talk about yet.
New episodes ofNight Courtseason 3 air Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on NBC.
