It's nice to have a recurring role on a show like "Boston Legal" and even nicer when you win an Emmy for outstanding guest actor for it. But what is nicest of all for actor Christian Clemenson is that starting with tonight's season premiere, he is a regular member of the cast as Jerry "Hands" Espenson, a lawyer with Asperger's Syndrome.
"I have a contract now," says the actor. "And that's always nice."
The ABC show has a 90-minute premiere airing at 9:30 p.m. after "Dancing With the Stars." I caught up with Espenson less than a week after he lost his bid for a second Emmy. He told me he keeps the satuette from 2006 in his bathroom at home so his friends, who are mostly actors, can make a fantasy speech in the mirror without anybody knowing about it.
There certainly is no shortage of Emmy winners on the set of the legal drama: "I did a scene last week and there was John Larroquette with five Emmy awards, Candice Bergen with five Emmy awards, William Shatner two Emmy awards, James Spader [three] Emmy awards and me with one Emmy award. What other show has a cast like that? I felt like, 'You have to be good because this is unbelievable! So, it's great. It's a dream job. I pinch myself all the time to make sure it's really happening."
So what's in store for his character this season?
"He, who had no social life, suddenly has a social life. And that creates havoc and comedy, terror and a lot of wonderful things."