Trivia: Howard Hesseman's early credits have sometimes been hard to trace, mainly because he often billed himself as "Don Sturdy." The mustachioed, prematurely balding Hesseman was a founding member of the San Francisco-based improv troupe The Committee. During his decade-long tenure with this aggregation, he was featured in such films as Petulia (1968) and A Session with the Committee (1970), and showed up on such TV series as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Dick Cavett Show. Through the auspices of his Committee cohort Peter Bonerz, Hesseman played a recurring role on TV's The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78), playing the unsuccessful producer of such TV disasters as "The Nazi Hour." His screen roles in the 1970s included a showy part as a harried TV-commercial director in the opening sequence of The Sunshine Boys. In 1978, Hesseman achieved celebrity in the role of counterculture deejay Dr. Johnny Fever (aka Johnny Caravella) on the popular sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. Following WKRP's cancellation in 1982, he spent two seasons playing Ann Romano's third (and presumably final) husband Sam Royer on the weekly One Day at a Time. From 1986 to 1990, he starred as urbane high school teacher Charlie Moore in TV's Head of the Class. During all this activity, Howard Hesseman continued showing up in feature films, playing such roles as smarmy promoter Terry Ladd in This is Spinal Tap (1984) and child star Patty Duke's manipulative manager/guardian John Ross in the TV biopic Call Me Anna (1989). Over the following several years, Hessman would remain active on screen, appearnig on shows like That 70's Show and Crossing Jordan, and in movies like The Rocker.

Trivia: Dark-haired character actor Sam McMurray has made a career of playing gaseous windbags of low moral fiber, often adding a salacious sneer to heighten the effect. However, his comic persona also sometimes slants toward lovable obliviousness, making McMurray a desired commodity in broad comedy, as well as a sitcom mainstay.The New York native got his start in acting with bit parts on television and in the movies in the late '70s and early '80s. In 1987, McMurray had a breakout year of sorts, appearing as a regular on The Tracey Ullman Show (which led to vocal work in the early seasons of The Simpsons) and snagging the film role for which he is best known. In Joel and Ethan Coen's Raising Arizona, McMurray was cast as Glen, Nicolas Cage's factory foreman boss, who runs afoul of Cage's H.I. McDonnough after he proposes swapping wives. In only a handful of scenes, McMurray creates an indelible and hilarious image of a loud, crass, humor-impaired buffoon who resides over a brood of ill-mannered children, but wants to add at least one more to the mix.Raising Arizona paved the way for supporting work in a number of high-profile comedies in the ensuing years, including National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), L.A. Story (1991), and Addams Family Values (1993). In 1991, he voiced a character in the Disney/ABC live-action TV show Dinosaurs; he would later also provide vocal work for the animated Disney program Recess (1997). Television has provided McMurray with his most regular paychecks, most often in the capacity of a guest performer, both in dramas and sitcoms. He guested as Chandler's boss on several episodes of Friends in 1997, and also made repeat appearances in such shows as The King of Queens, Freaks and Geeks, and Chicago Hope. His recent film work has included a shady detective in The Mod Squad (1999) and a scoundrel cheerleader dad in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999).