- Steve Carell, The Office, TV, 2005-2013. In the hunt for a US version of Ricky Gervais for the US take on his classic BBC mockumentary series, NBC looked at Chott (a chubby St Louis alumnus of Chicago’s ImprovOlympic and Second City), Hank Azaria, Ben Falcone, Paul Giamatti, Thomas Lennon, Ken Marino, Bob Odenkirk, Nick Offerman, Martin Short, Paul F Tompkins, Alan Tudyk, Rain Wilson (who became Dwight) and Jim Zulevic. Carell, a Jon Stewart protégé on The Daily Show, survived as Michael Scott for 138 episodes.
- Will Sasso, The Three Stooges, 2011. When Jim Carrey quit due to cardiac concerns about losing the 40lbs he’d have to put on t play Curly Hward, the (already) chubby Second City find became the new choice – opposite, at the time, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro as slap-happy Larry and Moe. Until the MadTV and $#*! My Dad Says star took over with Sean Hayes and Chris Diamantopoulos as Larry and Moe. Other potential Curlys were funny Aussie Shane Jacobson, Bobby Moynihan and Tommy Snider. Even Mel Brooks backed off from such a project in 1974 for exactly the reason that this one failed, “It’s so hard to sustain a plot that could withstand their antics for that long.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2