Kelsey Grammer makes self-importance funny by letting us see how easily it can be wounded. We rate him highest when equally precise actors are there to interrupt him; the original Frasier gives him exactly that company.
Fi1m perspective
Frasier Crane carries on explaining himself after everyone else has understood quite enough. Kelsey Grammer makes the speech grander without hiding the embarrassment beneath it, and that is why we find this exhausting man such good company. He joined Cheers (1982) in 1984, with a recurring part that became a regular one. Moving the character to Seattle for Frasier (1993) gave him a family ready to question every qualification he added to a sentence. Grammer keeps him hopeful that another explanation will help.
David Hyde Pierce, as Niles Crane, knows how long to let him carry on. We laughed at Niles's disapproval before Pierce had said a word, because his pause let Frasier go on enjoying his own explanation. John Mahoney, as Martin Crane, answers with a plainness that makes the father seem fully attentive rather than merely impatient for his joke. Grammer leaves both actors room, and their responses give him reasons to make Frasier more ridiculous. Roy Christopher's production design helps too: the fussily chosen furniture looks right for a man expecting his taste to be discussed.
Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons, a role he began in 1990, puts Grammer's voice to work on menace as well as comedy. His animation work also includes the Prospector in Toy Story 2 (1999), a film we admire for giving its comedy the toys' fear of being forgotten. He also took a dramatic lead in Boss (2011–2012), a departure from a film career largely spent in supporting roles.
There are limits to the pleasure, particularly when Frasier lets a misunderstanding continue past its last good joke. Grammer's willingness to look foolish cannot make every extra explanation worthwhile. The complaints about the 2023 revival's missing original ensemble make sense to us: Pierce and Mahoney did much more than wait for the lead to finish. Begin with the original Frasier, and give the rest of the household equal attention.
Biography
Kelsey Grammer is an American actor. He is known for portraying Dr Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1984–1993) and its spin-off Frasier (1993–2004, revived 2023–2024), a role he originated and played for more than twenty years across the two series. He also directed more than thirty episodes of Frasier.
Grammer trained as an actor at the Juilliard School and the Old Globe Theatre. He made his professional stage debut as Lennox in the 1981 Broadway revival of Macbeth and later appeared as Cassio in a 1982 revival of Othello opposite Christopher Plummer and James Earl Jones. His other stage credits include productions of Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd and My Fair Lady.
In film and television he has voiced characters including Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons and roles in Toy Story 2 (1999) and Anastasia (1997). He has received six Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Tony Award.
