Suits LA Guest Star Enrico Colantoni on Bringing Levity and His Love for Galaxy Quest
Suits LA had Enrico Colantoni playing himself on the latest episode where he got deep about Galaxy Quest.
Suits LA is continuing to be a bright spot on Sunday nights thanks to its intriguing plot, the return of a major character from the original show, and, in Episode 4, another funny guest star playing themself in legal peril. This week, Galaxy Quest and Veronica Mars star Enrico Colantoni joined the cast in the most hilarious episode of the show to date.
The episode opens with the actor behind bars for allegedly carving a… we’ll just say "lewd body part" in his neighbor’s shrubbery. He calls on his new attorneys, Rick Dodsen (Bryan Greenberg) and Stuart Lane (Josh McDermitt), to help him out of the situation. The reason he gets two of the firm’s best is that, well, the fictionalized version of Colantoni has a reputation for being a bit of a pill and demanding preferential treatment due to his role in movies like Galaxy Quest.
Speaking with NBC Insider in a recent interview, the actor revealed that while he is far more polite than his on-screen self, he does indeed have immense pride in his role in the science fiction comedy film.
Enrico Colantoni movies and TV roles
There are a lot of places where one might recognize Colantoni. He played Keith Mars in the hit series Veronica Mars, Elliot DiMauro on Just Shoot Me, and was most recently seen as Principal Grant Moretti in English Teacher. When it comes to movies, he’s been in several but is perhaps most proud (as he mentions in Suits LA) of playing the leader of an alien race with a profound misunderstanding of how television works, Mathesar, in 1999's Galaxy Quest.
On Suits LA, at one point he demands a better tone out of Lane simply because he was in the movie. However, the real-life actor would never big-time anyone in that way.
“It took me forever to actually say that [seriously]. I can't imagine. I can't imagine,” he said while chuckling. “That was the only difficult line to say. I would never! But it was fun to say it.”
While he wouldn’t use the role to get preferential treatment, he does credit it with him breaking through as an actor in many ways despite having a robust career before Galaxy Quest.
“All roads sort of intersect to Galaxy Quest, right? I've got people who love Veronica Mars and are, like, diehard Marshmallows. And you've got, in Canada, they've got big Flashpoint fans, and you've got Person of Interest fans,” he explained. “But they all seem to know Galaxy Quest. They all seem to sort of intersect at Galaxy Quest.”
The movie isn’t the only role he’s proud of, though. For example, he had nothing but good things to say about Suits LA and getting to add some comedy to the legal drama.
Enrico Colantoni on Suits LA’s funniest episode to date
Colantoni is a master of blending drama and comedy, often flipping between the two in his roles. However, when it came to Suits LA, it was a surprising full-circle moment for him and series creator Aaron Korsh, who worked with Colantoni on Just Shoot Me. Since he was familiar with the tone of the original show and Korsh's sensibility, he could tell from the script they were looking for something lighter than usual. So, Colantoni was excited to get on set and play around.
“Well, certainly, I only worked with Bryan and Josh. I felt like I was working with two other little kids. And Aaron, all I could hear was Aaron off-camera laughing. So, I thought, 'Hey, this must be a comedy,'" he said. “I know what they were trying to do. It's just sort of like, just give it a little levity. And I'm glad I could be there for that. I am so pumped for this, for people to see this.”
While he had some laugh-out-loud moments in the show, he had to flex those chops switching between comedy and drama when confessing to Rick that the reason he is in a neighborly war at all is because his young, TikTok-famous neighbor is more well-respected by his kids. It’s a vulnerable moment that breaks through to Rick and convinces him to go a little above and beyond for his client and acts as the heart of the episode’s storyline.
When asked what his secret is to so seamlessly shifting between the two tones of the show, Colantoni noted that good comedy and drama often go hand-in-hand.
“I think, it comes from the same place, right? It comes from… Comedy comes from a broken heart,” he said. “You know, the whole Pagliaccio kind of thing, you know, the clown?”
He added with a touch of sarcasm: “We put that mask on, which is sort of revealing of who I am and how I live my life… I need to laugh through it. I need to laugh through my brokenness.”
The actor couldn’t say whether or not we’d see more of him in Suits LA going forward but he noted again how much fun he had playing himself on the show and admitted he’d love to do it all again.
“Well, family members are just going to roll their eyes, and they'll say, ‘Oh, finally, you get to play yourself,’” he joked. “Because if I can kick you in the shin and just get away with it, that’s who I am. It's just like, ha-ha-ha. So, I get to play that part of me that just, how far can I go before I get in trouble? And if I get caught, how would I handle it? It's just like, I would still try to hide it.”
Catch Suits LA Sundays at 9 p.m. on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.
