As a seasoned gamer with a soft spot for both gaming and sitcoms, I must admit that the Frasier revival has been a delightful surprise. The Season 2 premiere, titled “Ham,” was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, laughter, and an unexpected appreciation for the art of ham handling.
Warning: SPOILERS for the Frasier Season 2 premiere, titled “Ham,” are ahead!
The comeback of the revived series “Frasier” is now on the 2024 TV lineup, with the debut of Season 2’s first two episodes becoming available today to Paramount+ subscribers. In the premiere episode, titled “Ham,” writers David Crane (Anders Keith) and Eve Salgueiro (Jess Salgueiro) got into some mischief involving an expensive ham that Kelsey Grammer’s character Frasier and Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Alan Cornwall bought to celebrate their 40-year friendship. In the signature style of “Frasier,” this piece of meat experienced a series of unfortunate events in a matter of minutes, and Keith and Salgueiro shared with me their experience filming that peculiar and “very slippery” scene.
In addition to Frasier Crane’s anger towards Alan about Freddy dropping out of Harvard and becoming a firefighter without informing him, which posed a threat to Ham Day, complications arose when David had to preserve the ham while his uncle was away. This became challenging as he and Eve indulged in sampling some exquisite Spanish ham during the filming of the episode where the ham was treated poorly. During my interview with Anders Keith for TopMob’s coverage of the Frasier Season 2 junket, I asked him about his experience shooting this part of the episode and he responded by discussing the ways in which the ham was mistreated on set.
It was a lot of fun, I had to come in early some mornings and work on that ham. I lost a pair of pants because they were just so infused with grease. ‘Cause we used a real ham is the thing! So it was a real Iberico ham, and the fat cap on it is huge. So I was wrestling it. There were many different versions… I’m pushing it on the ground, slipping and sliding around. Only towards the end was the cake added. That’s a whole science of, ‘Anders, you gotta make it landed perfectly in the middle of the cake.’ It takes real effort to do physical stuff like that, and well worth it I say. It was a lot of fun, some of the most fun I had in the season.
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As I found myself ensnared in a confectionery predicament, submerged within a cake, then trapped within a waste disposal unit, and pinned by shards of broken glass, it’s astonishing that the genuine ham was utilized instead of a convincing replica. Yet, these misfortunes provided an abundance of humor, serving as another testament to Anders Keith’s skill in recreating the physical comedy reminiscent of David Hyde Pierce’s portrayal of Niles in the original Frasier, who unfortunately won’t be reprising his role in the upcoming revival.
Nevertheless, there was a silver lining, as during the closing credits, the main characters of Frasier were treated to samples of the ham. Once the glass was set aside, it’s worth noting that the show’s prop master was considerate enough to accommodate Jess Salgueiro’s vegetarianism during this scene.
In a surprising gesture by our prop master Jim, he created a small opening in the ham and filled it with vegan substitutes for me since I’m a vegetarian. It was thoughtful and made for an entertaining experience. Working alongside Anders is always enjoyable. However, the set was quite slippery, which I didn’t anticipate, even though it’s part of his acting. The authenticity was astounding.
If you’ve made it this far but haven’t yet seen “Ham” on Paramount+, it’s high time you remedy that! Also, don’t forget to catch the second episode of Season 2 of Frasier, titled “Cyrano, Cyrano.” As the title suggests, this installment finds Frasier attempting to mend the romantic troubles between characters Olivia and Moose, which leads him to channel the character from Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play. During this endeavor, he encounters a barkeep named Holly, portrayed by Kelsey Grammer’s costar from Back to You, Patricia Heaton.
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2024-09-19 15:07