Robert Wuhl
Robert Wuhl is an actor, best known for his work on the HBO series Arli$$, as well as his roles in Batman and Bull Durham.
To watch the interview with Robert Wuhl, click the play button below (or click here to open the video player in a new tab/window).
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Mike Reflects
Batman was probably one of the first darker, more grown-up movies I watched as a kid, and I loved it.
A lot of people look at the MCU, and the current slate of superhero movies and credit Sam Raimi's Spider-Man for paving the way.
While that is partially true, especially after Batman Returns was so dark that it took us down a path that ended with the nightmare fuel that was Batman & Robin, Tim Burton's Batman was a proof-of-concept that demonstrated that, if done right, serious dark and gritty superhero movies can work.
I also watched Arli$$ years ago. Not "when it originally aired" years ago, but pre-COVID, On Demand years ago.
While I don't dislike sports, I don't generally follow them super closely, so I wasn't sure how much I'd like it.
Like I said in the interview, it ended up being a show where "sports" was just a colorful backdrop that could've been almost anything else.
They did have athletes, who, as Robert said, provided (what he called) a level of "texture", I wasn't familiar with all of them, and I don't feel I missed much.
I was much more fascinated by the guest actors, as well as the stories themselves.
As I much as I love (and I very much do) Batman and Arli$$, I was probably most excited to discuss his role on American Dad.
Many people who know me would say it's a very "Mike thing" for me to latch onto that, and I agree.
But there's something about this character being based on this real person that the writers never met and didn't know, being played by that real person, that tickled me.
If Robert hadn't taken affirmative steps to answer the question before I asked it, my very next question after bringing up the subject would've been if he liked potato salad.
I do agree with him that it's one of those memory-based comfort foods.
For me, my favorite potato salad is deviled egg potato salad, which is weird, because, generally speaking, I don't particularly like deviled eggs or potato salad.
But even though neither of us particularly love potato salad, the level of serious insight and comedic timing with which he discussed it tells me that, even if they did it by complete accident, the American Dad team picked the right actor for their potato salad loving maniac.