The Fun Part of the Show: Frasier and Roz Doing The Radio Broadcasts

I've been watching a lot of Frasiers to tide over these dark days of lockdown. They are well-written and well-timed and the actors have a lot of fun doing slow burns and double takes.

Though a lot of the action takes place at Frasier's home base(where the best actor on the show resides -- the dog who plays Eddie) -- I've come to enjoy most the radio broadcasts that often open the show.

Most sitcoms are built around "work and home" -- with the workplace set and the home set, but Frasier's workplace has its own rhythm, with Roz expertly handling the callers and pushing the buttons and slipping in the commercial cassettes on a dime while Frasier uses his deep, relaxed voice to handle the troubled callers.

Roz -- with her sexpot character and sultry voice -- tells Frasier what the caller's problem is --"The next caller has a problem with his in-laws" -- Frasier takes over, and the comedy goes from there.

I particularly like the cuts to Peri Gilpin as Roz silently reacting in deadpan to either the caller, or to Frasier's advice, with subtle little facial expressions: she's amused, she's angry, she's enticed, she's disgusted. Or sometimes(funnily enough) she's asleep. Or reading.

And I like how Frasier gets bugged when Roz "butts in and gives advice of her own." He capped one of Roz's butt-ins with a sardonic, "Yes, and welcome to Frasier and Friends!"

The expert ping-pong back and forth of Roz behind the glass and Frasier outside doing his broadcast led to one funny bit where Frasier , angry that Roz put his ex-wife Lilith on the line, held up a sign to Roz that said "You're Fired!" and Roz upt her own sign up to the glass that said : "I'm union!" For sometimes these two can't talk and be overheard by their listeners.

And of course, this: how often the "caller" is a guest celebrity...sometimes several , usually just one. I'm disappointed to report that I can almost NEVER tell who they are, but sometimes the voice is distinctive enough and it is joyous catching on immediately: "Hey, that's gotta be Mel Brooks."

There's a lot of comedy in many locations in Frasier(Frasier's apartment, Niles homes, the requsite coffee café) but...I think its at the radio station where the most professional, funny and (sometimes) sexy fun can be had.