Does anyone here remember Paul from Cheers? Here was an underappreciated guy. He had tons of lines in the final few seasons and even was part of the group when they went on outings. Did he ever get full credit in the cast or even get noticed?
Nope.
Well, I salute thee, Paul. You were never there when major things happened. You struggled with your weight but still wore suspenders. You nailed Carla.
Any other important minor-roles you’d like to salute?
Old man in his 70s (or late, late sixties) sitting at the bar. Don’t remember his name. Always looked as if he had had one too many. Strictly one-liners. Air time: about 30 seconds per episode (in which he appeared, which was on an irregular basis).
Then by jingo, I salute the messenger page-boy from Blackadder I. He was comically fat and dressed in full pageantry-style outfit, and after delivering his message he would simply repeat whatever anyone said, and physically copy whatever they did. The canned-laughter audience never picked up on him, but he was a really good mirror-image mime, and even when Edmund tried to push him out of the room, he’d push back. He was so incidental to the plot you never even noticed him (unless you bought the videos and watched them endlessly, as I did).
I’d love to understand the logic behind this joke. Why a messenger would copy everything you said, and imitate what you did. Don’t get it. Laughed my ass off anyway.
That was Philip Perlman, Rhea Perlman’s RL father.
Didn’t know that or pay attention. Now that you’ve mentioned the RL name of the guy, I think his character’s name was also Phil, if I’m not mistaken.
I liked the mother on the Golden Girls, she had lots of good lines, and most of them zingers, but she was never considered when people wrote about the show. (And she wasn’t even actually the oldest!)
Lt. Kyle in Star Trek. He was the guy always helping Scotty run the transporter (“It doesn’t seem to be responding.”). The IMDB only has him listed in one episode, but he was in quite a few of them.
Can I nominate Timmy from South Park?
No? Oh.
• Joan Shawlee, who played Buddy’s great doxie wife, Pickles, on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
• The great Marion Lorne, Aunt Clara on “Bewitched.”
Newman!
A Sparks quote? Loved those guys!
I nominate Hirsch, Mother Carlson’s elderly “houseboy” on WKRP in Cincinnati. Every line he spoke was hilarious.
I was just yesterday thinking of that line, from “Christmas in July” by Preston Sturges. If he’d made sitcoms, this thread could go on for a dozen pages just on the strength of his creations.
Skippy Handelman, from Family Ties.
Slithy got it. Never heard of “Sparks,” but I’ll bet they heard of Sturges. 
After seeing a special on TV Land:
Hymie the Robot on “Get Smart”
Siegfried, too.
Kellye Nakahara as Nurse Kellye in MASH
Loudon Wainwright III as Capt. Calvin Spaulding in MASH (he was even announced as a regular, but was only in three episodes).
Well, I could just name of the entire town of Springfield, but I’ll refrain from doing so.
Hmm…I gotta go for the Drazi ambassador from Babylon 5. I always wished the Drazi had a bigger role in the show, but alas, they didn’t. The ambassador ruled because, although the League of Non-Aligend Worlds had no offical leader, they all seemed to follow him and whatever he decided, which included helping in the Shadow War and liberation of Earth.
Anyways, I’m rambling, so I’ll stop now.
Boy, are you in luck!!! Tomorrow’s edition of ET (Entertainment Tonight), in their never-ending series “Where are they now” will feature, among others…
YES, you guessed correctly: Skippy Handelman
alongside with J.J. “Dyno-mite” Walker, et al.
DON’T MISS IT!!
Forgot to mention the perennial Donny “In-and-Out-and-In-and-Out-and-In-and-Out” Bonaduce…
Robert Karvelas - Larrabee on “Get Smart”
Ralph Tabakin - Scheiner, the m.e. on “Homicide”
speaking of good times…
that guy…buffalo butt.