Remembering when John Larroquette asked the Emmys not to nominate him

It was 1989, and “Night Court” was still riding high as part of NBC’s “Must See TV” lineup on Thursday nights, the one that featured “The Cosby Show,” “Family Ties” and “Cheers” along with “L.A. Law.” It had the kind of ratings no one could even dream of now, since cable (much less streaming) had yet to become a major prime time force. John Larroquette was the toast of TV portraying “Night Court’s” assistant DA Dan Fielding. He was snappy. He was overbearing. He was a shameless womanizer. He was hilarious. And voting members of the TV academy agreed, bestowing four straight Emmy Awards on Larroquette for supporting actor in a comedy. Not nominations. Wins. He took home Emmys for four consecutive years and was favored to make it five in a row when the actor did something no one could have predicted.

He decided he was done and withdrew his name from consideration.

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Yes, Larroquette decided that while he was most appreciative of this fine honor, it was starting to get a little embarrassing. I had a brief discussion with him at the time in my job as TV Critic for the Orange County Register. He told me, “Look, I’m incredibly honored by everything the academy has done for me. It’s incredibly gratifying. I just think it’s someone else’s turn, so I politely remove my name for this show.”

I bring this up now because – while Larroquette himself failed to get nominated for comedy actor this year for the “Night Court” reboot 34 years after he bowed out of the nominations for the original series, another streak in the supporting category could propel Brett Goldstein to become the fifth performer to win at least three in a row (for “Ted Lasso”).

Here were the first four:

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Art Carney – His name is often excluded from the list because the category itself was slightly different when he did it in the early years of the Emmys. It cover both comedy and drama as a supporting actor on a “regular” series. In this case, those series were “The Jackie Gleason Show” and “The Honeymooners,” and the years when he won consecutively were 1954, ’55 and ’56.

Don Knotts – He won five Emmys all told for his role as Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show,” the first three consecutively (1961-62-63) and then two more in a row (1966-67). No one in the category has ever won as many, though it’s likely Larroquette would have at least matched it if he’d kept himself eligible.

Larroquette – He won in 1985, ’86. ’87 and ’88, the first and time contender in the category to claim four Emmys consecutively.

Jeremy Piven – Piven snared trophies in 2006, ’07 and ’08 for “Entourage.”

Four other actors also won three Emmys for comedy supporting, though not consecutively. Those are:

Ed Asner – His triumphs for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” came in 1971, ’72 and ’75 for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” He later won two more for playing a dramatic version of the same character in “Lou Grant.”

Michael Richards – The man who played Cosmo Kramer on “Seinfeld” was victorious in 1993, ’94 and ’97, impressive but not consecutive.

David Hyde Pierce – His wins for “Frasier” came in 1998, ’99 and ’04.

Brad Garrett – Garrett was the winner for “Everybody Loves Raymond” in 2002, ’03 and ’05.

But back to Larroquette. His Emmy withdrawal was only for that version of “Night Court,” and academy voters showed there were no hard feelings by nominating him again in comedy lead for “The John Larroquette Show” in ’94 and as guest drama actor for “The Practice” in both 1998 and 2002. He win his fifth trophy in ’98.

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