The Voyager actor you forgot had a major role in Home Improvement

Robert Picardo is an accomplished singer and actor whose career has lasted 45 years and shows no sign of slowing down. He has been performing professionally since he was in college in the mid-1970s, appearing on stage in upscale productions such as Leonard Bernstein’s “Requiem” and singing a cappella at his college. After graduating from college, he was honored for his performance in the 1976 production of David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversion in Chicago.”

His transition to television was a natural one for a hard-working actor, starting with small roles in high-profile hit shows. He appeared in two episodes of “Kojak” in 1977 and has not gone through a “downturn” since then. He subsequently appeared in “Taxi,” “Silver Spoons,” “Alice,” “Benson,” “21 Jump Street” and 15 episodes of “The Wonder Years” as the stubborn Coach Cutlip, in addition to dozens of other cast appearances. Other TV shows are too numerous to list here. On the big screen, Picardo became a “lucky mascot” for director Joe Dante, appearing in most of the director’s films; He was the werewolf in “The Howling,” multiple characters in “Explorers,” the cowboy in “Innerspace,” took out the trash in “The ‘Burbs,” and battled a Gremlin in “Gremlins 2: The New Batch.” He also appeared in Ridley Scott’s “Legend”, was the robot taxi driver in Paul Verhoeven’s “Total Recall”, and appeared in many other successful films besides.

In other words, Picardo is one of the hardest-working and most reliable actors in the business. By the time he was selected The anthropomorphic Doctor in “Star Trek: Voyager” In 1995, he was already a darling “Hey, that guy!” actor. However, it was “Voyager” that made his name memorable, and it remains his longest and most famous work.

Immediately before “Voyager”, Picardo had a guest spot in two episodes of the third season The hit sitcom “Home Improvement”. He played a character named Joe Morton who met twice with Tim (Tim Allen) in his garage.

Picardo first appeared in the Home Improvement episode “A Sew, Sew Evening” (October 6, 1993). He played Joe Morton, Tim’s new neighbor, who had an arrogant personality. They’re both obsessed with cars, and Joe accidentally crashes Tim’s car, causing some tension between them. Picardo’s only job was to be annoying and self-confident, two of Tim’s least favorite qualities among others. Joe Morton was a broad archetype, but Picardo played the role with aplomb.

The character returned in “Blow Up” (November 3, 1993), but he played only a minor role in that role. According to the episode’s trivia page on IMDb, Picardo was slated to become a semi-regular participant on “Home Improvement,” and producers have already speculated that they will include him in more episodes. However, in 1994, Picardo began the process of auditioning for Star Trek: Voyager, and had to stick with the sci-fi series instead. Picardo was initially unsure whether he should be involved in a “Star Trek” spinoff or whether he would have more success with the already popular “Home Improvement.” Apparently Tim Allen, a Trekkie, encouraged him about the former.

However, Picardo was not the type to rest on his laurels. During the audition process for “Voyager”, Picardo was able to star in a TV movie of Lee Harvey Oswald, an episode of “Tales from the Crypt”, the sequel “Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love”, and an episode of “Rebel”. Highway”, a TV thriller called “White Mile”, and an episode of “ER”. He was also on “Wagons East!” and “Pagemaster” at this time. He went on to appear in 172 episodes of Voyager from 1995 to 2001.

Picardo didn’t stop there either. Even after “Voyager,” his television credits reached the dozens. He continued to work with Dante (he was in the movie “Looney Tunes: Back in Action”) and even appeared in other projects of the “Star Trek” series. He also lent his voice to video games and reprized his role as the Doctor in the animated series “Star Trek: Prodigy.” At the time of writing, he was also scheduled to appear in it The upcoming Star Trek show “Starfleet Academy.”

Home Improvement was just one gig among hundreds for Picardo.