A guest appearance on the new Night Court reboot might cause some stars to have backstage jitters, as the NBC sitcom has been ruled a runaway success! The premiere episode received 7.4 million viewers, marking the highest total viewers for any comedy debut since 2018! But when the guests happen to be figure skating icons Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, the nerves are gladly welcomed! In an EXCLUSIVE interview with HollywoodLife, the famous friends dished on how their Olympic experience prepared them for their hilarious Night Court episode airing Tuesday, Feb. 21.
“There’s always preparations for both,” Tara said laughing. “We always say, ‘if you’re not nervous, you don’t care,’ so we’re always nervous, whether it’s as athletes or commentators on live television. So those little nerves and the adrenaline rushing when you step into the courtroom… it’s something we know very well.”
“Agreed,” Johnny chimed in. “Tara and I both have acting experience, but we haven’t really acted tons together. So any opportunity we have to spend time with our bestie is, is time well spent. And, we loved this and we would love to continue doing it, acting. But really, we just have such an optimism about life and our careers and we’re so thankful for every opportunity that we have. So when ‘Night Court’ called, we said to each other, ‘are you busy this weekend?’ No. ‘Are you busy?’ No. ‘Let’s do it.'”
And they certainly did it! Tara and Johnny absolutely slay while playing themselves in the episode where Judge Abby Stone (Melissa Rauch) is in a race against time to meet them, her two favorite celebrities, in her own courtroom. Along the way, the figure skaters-turned-sports commentators have a side-splitting scene with John Larroquette’s attorney Dan Fielding. It’s definitely a gold medal performance from Tara and Johnny!
The Night Court appearance even referenced Tara and Johnny’s incredible friendship, one they formed then they began to commentate on figure skating for NBC. Despite working together on so many projects, like Night Court, the pair told HollywoodLife that their professional relationship never interferes with their personal one.
“It’s really crazy and I think that’s why it’s sort of meant to be,” Tara explained. “I knew of Johnny Weir, it’s a small world of sport, but when we actually spent time together for the first time — I just always remembered that it just felt like he was like my long-lost soulmate. And you know, in our sport we were individual athletes so focused on yourself and it’s such a competitive sport that I think what we have is so rare and it’s something that I wouldn’t trade for anything. We just have formed this really incredible friendship and bond and when we finally paired up and matched up, it was just, at least for me, it just felt meant to be.”
Johnny was a bit more succinct when he began by saying, “We don’t fight.” He then added, “First of all, the world that we come from, it’s so rare to really find a friend. It’s so competitive and there’s such little chance for opportunity in the sport — only one person gets to be the Olympic champion, right and your entire life boils down to six minutes in front of the world if you even make it to the Olympics — so with that kind of background, it could be really hard to normalize yourself.”
“Tara and I… I want her to succeed more than I want myself to succeed. And I know she feels the same,” Johnny continued. “And you can’t fake this. People have always asked us since the beginning, like ”is this just for the camera?’ and, I mean, we’d be Meryl Streep if we could act this touch and in love.”
And despite being just toddlers when the original Night Court ended its run in 1992, both Tara and Johnny were extremely excited to be a part of the reboot, as was their families! “Like when I told my mom and some of my friends, it’s one of those times where we do a lot of things and sometimes they’re like, ‘Oh, that sounds fun.’ — but this… they’re like, ‘No, this is amazing. Can’t wait.'” Tara shared.
“My parents were both very excited that we were doing this reboot,” Johnny gushed. “And honestly, I haven’t had a moment’s breath to sit down and really take in what’s happened, but I know it’s receiving great ratings and people are loving it. That makes me so proud. And obviously NBC is our home for Olympic coverage and we’re always so excited when there’s something so special happening with our Peacock family.”
Catch Tara & Johnny’s hilarious Night Court episode “Train Court” on Tuesday, February 21st at 8pm ET/PT on NBC.
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