John Larroquette has nothing but fond memories of working with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe on their 2011 Broadway production, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
“I’ll be real honest. I had some reluctance when I was offered [the part],” Larroquette, 77, begins while exclusively chatting with Parade about his career, returning to Night Court and more. “Because as I say, Dan has been famous since he was a fetus and meeting a young man who’s been that famous, sometimes it can go in several directions. But Daniel Radcliffe is the most of a gentleman I’ve ever met in my life.”
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He continues, “He’s educated, funny, sincere, honest, charitable, loves everybody, knows everybody’s name. For that year that I spent with him on Broadway, it was [a] spectacular time to have met him and know him, and we still occasionally stay in touch. He’s a great guy.”
Larroquette goes on to tell Parade about the nightly ritual he and Radcliffe, 35, along with two other cast members, participated in during their performances — and what they ended up calling themselves amid their special bond.
“Radcliffe and I stay in touch,” he says. “There’s like four of us. We call [ourselves] the Alley Boys. We used to sneak out of the theater at intermission and smoke cigarettes and have a talk. And I had these Zippo lighters made and engraved ‘The Alley Boys 2011.’ So, four of us in the cast used to just hang out a lot together.”
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In addition to reflecting on working with Radcliffe, Larroquette also tells Parade all about returning to Night Court as district attorney Dan Fielding more than 30 years after the original sitcom ended. The series premiered on NBC in 1984 and ran for nine seasons until 1992. A reboot series of the same name, starring Big Bang Theory‘s Melissa Rauch, premiered in January 2023 and is currently in its third season.
“At first, it was daunting. It was bittersweet,” he recalls. “It took me a long time to say yes. But walking back on the set that I had spent nearly a decade of my life in, in the ’80s, felt like a ghost town, literally, because so many of the cast members had died, before we ever did the reboot.”
He continues, “So, it was tough for me to remember it was great because it changed all of our lives. That show was sort of a launching pad for all of our careers. It was very popular and successful. And to see it, without those people in it, was strange at first, but I’ve obviously grown to love the new people that are there as well.”
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As for why he thinks the show “still works” decades after first hitting the air, Larroquette tells Parade the answer is simple.
“Hopefully because it’s funny,” he says. “I mean, I don’t see any other reason to define it in any other terms. If it’s funny, it should be successful. And the idea that if you could sit down and for 20 minutes have laughs that aren’t dependent on what’s happening in the world, we’re never political, it’s never current,”
He adds: “The jokes could be 50 years old. They could be from tomorrow. You know, it’s just comedy. Just sit down and laugh if you can.”
New episodes of Night Court air on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC and can be streamed on Peacock the following day. The first two seasons of Night Court can also be streamed on Peacock.
Related: The Original Cast of ‘Night Court’: Then and Now
