Standing outside the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto Thursday night, in a long lineup to see a screening of Paramount+’s Frasier, a passerby stopped to ask me what all the fuss was about.
“We’re here to see Frasier,” I told the gentleman. He seemed puzzled.
“Kelsey Grammer, the star of Frasier, is appearing here in person,” I added. Still a blank stare.
“Frasier was a TV series that was a big hit in the ’90s and early 2000’s,” I further explained.
The gentleman feigned interest and went on his way. Perhaps, like Dr. Frasier Crane himself, this man was more of an opera buff. Pah, television. Like cheap wine, best left to the great unwashed.
Certainly there were no shortage of Frasier fans at the packed screening. For viewers at home, Season Two started streaming Thursday on Paramount+.
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Grammer flew in that morning and was on stage along with co-star Jess Salgueiro and host Gurdeep Ahluwalia from 98.1’s Pooja & Gurdeep morning show.
Grammer, who has played the character for 22+ years on Cheers, Frasier on CBS and now Frasier on streaming, was in a talkative mood. He praised his Canadian co-star Salgueiro, who used to live in Toronto, as a strong castmember who won him over quickly at her audition. He said she brought an “effervescent” quality to the role and then, thinking about her audition, got a tad choked up.
“It’s just such a beautiful character and Jess embodies her,” he said. “Her Canadian-ness is probably a good thing.”
Grammer is an executive producer as well as the star of new Frasier. He talked about being one of the bosses on the show and said he was careful about invoking “the Guerilla thing” — alluding, one guesses, to the 800 pound variety — which he said he didn’t really have.
Ahluwalia asked him what he liked best about Toronto. Grammer thought back to his more adventurous days in the city in the ’80s and ’90s, including a veiled incident with a special someone as they traveled up to the top of the CN Tower. The audience tittered.
It is well documented that Grammer was a bit of a hell-raiser back in the day. The Frasier cast forced him into a few interventions when drinking and other demons got out of hand. Grammer said he quit drinking altogether for about five years and now, with fourth wife Kayle Walsh and three young children at home, behaves much more responsibly.
Ahluwalia did not ask about David Hyde Pierce, Grammer’s former costar who is irrevocably connected to the original series. While that actor turned down an opportunity to be part of this series, the first new episode this season does manage to sneak in his typically snarky thoughts about an autobiography brother Crane is writing.
The second new episode features another strong character from the old show, Harriet Sansom Harris as Frasier’s always scheming agent Bebe Glazer. Grammer was thrilled to have her back.
Grammer stands out in Hollywood for his more pro-Republican leanings. He made reference to COVID and seemed on the verge of a rant about former chief American medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci but kept those comments short. Had he been before a different crowd in a Blue State, it might have triggered some applause.
After the screenings, Salgueiro attended a VIP afterparty. The new show, she told me, is shot on the same, storied Paramount studio lot in Los Angeles, albeit on a different soundstage. Stage 18, however, is no less storied; it was where the classic ’60s film “The Graduate” was shot.
Look for Salgueiro to guest in the coming weeks on an episode of brioux.tv: the podcast. Episode One of the new, second season of Frasier is streaming now on Paramount+.
