HEY, IT'S THAT BALD, NOT PARTICULARLY LIKABLE GUY! Reviewing this week's TV, I have a H!ITG! submission. With appearances on "Jack and Bobby," in a recurring role as Pres. McAllister's James Carville, "Joan of Arcadia," as a manipulative litigator representing the Girardi family, and "Without a Trace," as a skeevy photogapher, this week, Evan Handler has been that guy. You've assuredly seen him in something, be it his work as millionaire Shrug on the underrated 90s comedy "It's Like, You Know", or his work as Charlotte's unlikely divorce lawyer/Prince Charming on "Sex & The City." He's also shown up on "The West Wing" (as a political consultant working with Ron Silver) and on the late, lamented, "Ed" as Stuckeyville institution "Dr. Crazy," or maybe in the 2000 "Three Stooges" telemovie as Larry.
Handler almost always plays a variant on the same character--a brash and not particularly likable (at least at first) fellow who's smarter than you and he knows it. However, usually, although not always, Handler's character turns out to have a heart of gold and is willing to use that brain to help, and there are few actors that do comic intellectual exasperation as well as him. Unlike a true "H!ITG!," Handler hasn't shown up in a ton of movies, but his ubiquity on television makes him worthy of the title.
So for this week, Evan Handler, you are that guy.
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