Richard Kind is Having a Moment, And I’m Loving Every Minute of It

It’s difficult to refer to an actor who’s been consistently working for over 25 years as “underrated,” but we’re going to make an exception for Richard Kind. Best known for his work on Mad About You and Spin City, Kind is the type of actor you know by face but perhaps not by name. Will Harris recently interviewed the veteran performer for Decider and deftly described Kind as “the one who played that character in that thing you liked, plus he was also in that movie you can’t remember the name of.” His penchant for playing a sad sack (The Other Two), loudmouth (Spin City), or perpetual nuisance (Scrubs) belies the actor’s theatrical versatility. Kind brings a certain type of ineffable gravitas to his performances. There are plenty of actors out there, but Kind is a true Actor; someone who (probably) has thoughtful insights on the Meisner technique and can (most likely) recite a medley of arcane Lee Strasberg anecdotes off the top of his head.

I’ve always appreciated Kind’s work, but I didn’t fully absorb his recent string of performances until I noticed a tweet from venerable comedy writer Brian Stack. “I can’t stop thinking about Richard Kind’s character on Documentary Now asking with tremendous sincerity, ‘Am I bad at singing and acting?'” Stack tweeted. I watched the episode — “Original Cast Album: Co-Op,” which was co-written by Seth Meyers and John Mulaney — and wholeheartedly agreed with Stack’s assessment. Kind received plenty of deserved acclaim for his musical performance in Documentary Now, but it’s his skillful mix of understated humor and immense vulnerability in this 25-second scene that demonstrates just how valuable Kind is at taking something good and turning it into something great.

The actor’s appearance on Documentary Now was just the latest in a recent spate of roles for the actor. Back in 2016, Decider embraced the Paul Reiser boom (otherwise known as The Reiser-ssance), and now it’s Reiser’s former Mad About You co-star who’s finally receiving the credit he so richly deserves.

The calendar may only read April, but Richard Kind has already had an impressive 2019. Aside from his aforementioned scene-stealing performance on Documentary Now, the actor also nabbed a recurring role in Comedy Central’s The Other Two and portrays a floundering producer with a penchant for overalls, Gus, in the new season of IFC’s under-appreciated comedy Brockmire. Premiering April 3rd, Gus’s lackadaisical attitude towards broadcasting, underwear, and life in general makes him the perfect foil for Hank Azaria’s acerbic silver-tongued baseball announcer.

Kind portrays a similarly hapless character on Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider’s The Other Two, which if you haven’t seen it, just so happens to be one of the funniest shows of the year. Kind plays Cary’s (Drew Tarver) pseudo-agent Skip, a man who embodies the “jack of all trades, master of none” moniker to perfection. In the hands of a lesser actor, these characters could come across as tragic, but the veteran actor keeps finding new ways to convert the melancholy into humor.

In hindsight, Richard Kind’s recent ascent seemed inevitable. Kids recognize his voice from Inside Out, Toy Story 3, Cars, and A Bug’s Life; adults know him from his aforementioned sitcom work or from Argo or A Serious Man; and comedy nerds are familiar with Kind from Big Mouth, Amazon’s charming coming-of-age comedy Red Oaks, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Plus, the guy is friends with George Clooney! The guy from E.R.!

Maybe he doesn’t fit the traditional definition of the term, but yeah, I’ll say it, Richard Kind is pretty freaking cool. I don’t know how long this renaissance will last, but Documentary Now, The Other Two, and Brockmire have illustrated that television is just a little bit better when you add some Richard Kind into the mix.

Where to stream The Other Two