'Succession' star Fisher Stevens appeared as Phoebe Buffay's psychiatrist boyfriend Roger on 'Friends'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: HBO's critically acclaimed satirical family drama show 'Succession' is in its fourth and final season, and now that the show's fourth episode recently dropped, fans are realizing that there's a familiar face who was also seen on NBC's popular sitcom 'Friends'.
The fourth episode of the show focuses on the aftermath of Logan Roy's death and the children attempting to take over the company, with Roman Roy, played by Kieran Culkin, and Kendall Roy, played by Jeremy Strong, making a decision to run the company as co-CEOs. They pledge to involve Shiv, played by Sarah Snook, in all operational decisions, but she remains disheartened. Hugo and Karolina suggest a publicity initiative questioning Logan's judgment in the lead-up to his death, which Roman rejects. Kendall, on the other hand, privately persuades Hugo to carry out the strategy.
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Fisher Stevens' skills got him promoted as a series regular
Fisher Stevens is an actor, writer, director, and producer best known for his roles as Ben in 'Short Circuit', Chuck Fishman in 'Early Edition', villainous computer genius Eugene 'The Plague' Belford in 'Hackers', Marvin Gerard in 'The Blacklist', and others. He is currently starring in HBO's hit satirical-comedy-drama 'Succession' as Hugo Baker, a senior communications executive who handles the repercussions of any conflicts that occur at Waystar Royco.
Stevens first appeared on the show in Season Two Episode Six, 'Argestes', which was written by Susan Soon He Stanton and directed by Matt Shakman. Hugo Baker was introduced as a person who was actively trying to assist Logan Roy and the Waystar Royco team with trying to deal with Congress during the Waystar Royco hearing. Interestingly, Fisher Stevens, who joined 'Succession' as a secondary character who'd appear in a few episodes, pleased everyone with his dedication and abilities, which led to him being promoted to series regular on the show. Stevens characterizes his time on 'Succession' as being on the set with the best ensemble cast he has ever worked with.
In an interview with The Ringer, the actor said that being on ‘Succession’ is such a great job because even though he doesn’t say much, he gets to watch everything. He further stated in the interview, “This is the kind of job as an actor where I don’t care if I have one line or 50 lines. It’s just so cool to be in the room with these people. When I first started on this show, as opposed to most shows, it felt like a theater company. Everybody is supportive. Everybody is cool. Everybody likes each other. You rehearse on your off time. It really reminds me of that kind of space. It’s a joy and it’s rare.”
Fisher Stevens dubbed as The Pandemic King
Fisher Stevens is known not only for his recent work but also for some of the unbelievable work he did during the world's most critical time in recent years — the pandemic — with 'Tiger King,' a Netflix docudrama about Joe Exotic, the vibrant owner of an Oklahoma zoo filled with caged big cats. Stevens is one of the series' executive producers, and while the cast did not have a global premiere for the show, it did end up being launched in the popular culture zeitgeist as it was the sole thing people were watching and talking about at the time.
Stevens says the idea for the project came to him about a decade ago, around the time he was working on ‘The Cove’ which, like ‘Tiger King’, focused on the often-contentious intersection of animal rights and human desires. The actor, producer, and writer stated that timing was everything for their documentary because when the premiere was canceled, they hoped that the world would be at home, which meant that they'd end up watching their documentary, which was true.
Hugo Baker's ‘Friends’ connection
Fisher Stevens is also remembered as the actor who played Roger on 'Friends', the psychiatrist boyfriend of Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow, in the episode 'The One with the Boobies'. After initially being impressed by the eccentric personalities of the lead characters, he eventually riles them up by demonstrating his analytical capacity to correctly guess unpleasant facts about their backgrounds and lives, even when he hasn't been asked to do so. With all of them showing up and telling Phoebe how much they despise Roger, she realizes he is an obnoxious person with psychological power over others.
During one of the interviews, Stevens admitted that he was rude to the actors since he was only a guest on the show, and he apologized to the cast. He had never done a sitcom before, he stated. Surprisingly, Stevens' Hugo Baker from 'Succession' and Roger from 'Friends' are not well-liked characters. Whereas Hugo Baker comes across as a sycophantic individual sucking up to the Roys, Roger ridicules his girlfriend's friends and comes across as a snobbish person.
The actor also directed 2021's 'Palmer', a feature film on Apple TV+ about a pair of beautiful misfits in a small town in Louisiana, which shows that the actor knows how to navigate his way through the script and find his comfort among the actors. Eddie Palmer, the main character, was played by Justin Timberlake. The film had the platform's second-largest film launch and the third-largest overall. It also contributed to a 33% increase in viewership during its first weekend, setting a new record for Apple TV+.
‘Succession’ is streaming on HBO.