Abe Vigoda will forever be identified with the character he played on the 1975-82 sitcom "Barney Miller" — laconic Detective Fish. (A character who was briefly spun off into his own series.)
According to Vigoda, he got the part because he was a jogger.
"I was jogging five miles and I was very tired," he said. "My agent came running to me and he said, 'Abe, a Danny Arnold wants to see you. They're doing a pilot titled "Barney Miller" and they'd like you to go up there immediately.' "
Vigoda said he was told there wasn't even time for him to take a shower — that he had to rush over to meet Arnold, the show's creator, writer and executive producer. So he did.
"He looked at me and he said, 'You look tired,' " Vigoda said. "So I said. "I am tired. I've been jogging five miles.'
"And he said, 'You know, you look like you might have hemorrhoids.' And I said, 'What, are you a doctor or a producer?'
"And, just like that, he said, 'You've got the job.' "
ON TV LAND: If you're a "Barney Miller" fan and you've got a cable or satellite hookup, you can relive all that police station humor — the show airs weeknights at 7 p.m. on cable channel TV Land.
TRUTH VS. FICTION: Lots of actors become closely identified with the characters they play on TV, which is not always a good thing. Just ask Ron Glass, who played Det. Harris on "Barney Miller," about the trouble he had at the cleaners.
"I've been at this cleaners more often than most of the people who work there," he said. "I mean, they change more often than I do."
Despite all the personnel changes, Glass continued to take his clothes there for years — even when they lost a bunch of his apparel for half a year.
"After about six months, I got a call from the guy who owned the cleaners who said that they'd found my clothes," Glass said. "And the reason that they had been lost is that the new girl had put my clothes under 'Harris.' "
NEW LATE-NIGHT SHOW: NBC has announced it will launch a new late-night comedy show on Friday, Jan. 5 — actually, early Saturday, Jan. 6 — after "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."
The still untitled show will feature "five up-and-coming comedians in a club atmosphere. The show will replace "Friday Night," which signs off on Dec. 29.
Whether the show will be seen on local NBC affiliate KSL-Ch. 5 — which, of course, does not air the network's other late-night comedy show, "Saturday Night Live" — remains to be seen.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com