‘Odd Couple’ actor Thomas Lennon re-imagines Felix

Thomas Lennon knows what the skeptics think about a new version of The Odd Couple.

The same thoughts raced through his mind when he first heard the idea.

“I had many misgivings,” the Reno 911 funnyman says. “My first reaction was that it shouldn’t be done, that it can’t be done.”

But here is Lennon, inhabiting the iconic role of neat-freak Felix Unger, opposite Matthew Perry as super-slob Oscar Madison, in a new TV version of a comedy classic about mismatched roommates.

The Odd Couple premieres at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on CBS.

“I feel at times as if I have the sword of Damocles hanging over me,” Lennon says of the risk in trying to re-invent an enduring viewer favorite.

“But I’m a pretty discerning judge of comedy. I would not have done these episodes if I did not think there was something new here, if I didn’t think the scripts were really funny.”

A long, funny history

The Odd Couple originated as a Neil Simon play, with Walter Matthau (Oscar) and Art Carney (Felix) introducing the roles on Broadway in 1965.

Then came a 1968 movie pairing Matthau with Jack Lemmon, then a sitcom in which Jack Klugman (Oscar) and Tony Randall (Felix) both won best-actor Emmys during the 1970-75 run.

There have been many stage revivals, including a 1980s Broadway version featuring a female Odd Couple (Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers as Olive and Florence), and a 1980s sitcom with an African-American Oscar and Felix (Demond Wilson and Ron Glass).

While Perry (of Friends fame) has expressed a lifelong fondness for the 1968 movie version, Lennon says he loves the original sitcom best.

“There is probably not a bigger Tony Randall fan in the world than me,” he says. “But I thought, ‘Damn the torpedoes. I’m going to commit. I’m going to see if I can do something new with this character.’

“The way I see it, if Tony Randall had been daunted by Jack Lemmon’s performance, we wouldn’t have Tony Randall’s performance, which is one of the all-time great TV performances.”

Shorts story

Now is a good time to point out that Lennon is a hypocrite when it comes to remakes and revivals. After all, if someone got the bright idea to re-do a Reno 911 with a new cast, Lennon would have serious issues with another actor playing Jim Dangle, the sheriff’s deputy who wore ridiculously short shorts.

“I’m very possessive of Lt. Dangle,” he says. “I’m going to be buried in those shorts. They can have those shorts when they pry them from my cold, dead thighs.”

So it’s OK for Lennon to re-imagine Felix, but not OK for another actor to play Dangle?

“You’re making a very good point,” he says. “I am terribly ashamed right now. So how about this? If someone’s got the legs and a good-enough mustache, I guess I should say I would give my blessing.”

Character similarities

Perry, who is one of the show’s executive producers, worked alongside Lennon in the 2009 Zac Efron movie 17 Again. Based on that experience, Perry was convinced that he had the perfect Felix.

“I have 100 percent of the neuroses that Felix Unger has,” Lennon admits. “It’s not just that I’m a neat freak. It’s that I despise clutter and chaos. I also am terrified of germs. I always have Purell on me.

“But I think the real reason Matthew thought of me is that I genuinely get on his nerves. I think there is a chemistry that you can see onscreen and we crack each other up. I know he would tell you that he loves me. But some of my OCD-ness irritates him.

“So it’s a real friendship where we get to have pretend fights about things that we really sort of feel about each other.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 12:55 PM with the headline "‘Odd Couple’ actor Thomas Lennon re-imagines Felix."