The professor could spontaneously combust in class, destroying the midterm exam you forgot to study for. That sexy TA could finally pay attention to more than your student number. You could sit on a chocolate brownie and spend the rest of the day wondering what people are laughing at behind you. There are infinite possibilities of things that could happen.
Andy Richter spends his day thinking about things that could happen: the good, the bad and the down right hilarious, in "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," his new sitcom with sketch comedic tendencies, which premiers Tuesday, March 19 at 8:30 p.m. on the Fox television network.
Richter plays a short-story writer making his living as an insignificant technical manual writer for a large Chicago company. With the mentality of a writer and the job of a shmuck, all his imagination leads to daydreams of possible, yet improbable, situations.
Andy narrates the show for the viewers, but don't get too excited if the receptionist prances into his office wearing only a trench coat - he's probably daydreaming. Viewers get to see what actually happens plus what could have, should have, and what we may wish had happened.
Many remember Richter for his work on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." For seven years he wrote for and helped produce the show, and nightly audiences laughed at him sitting alongside Conan. Richter is still referred to as Conan O'Brien's "second banana," even though he left the show in 2000. Surprisingly, it does not bother him.
"I fully expect for the rest of my life to be referred to as Conan O'Brien's sidekick and I'm absolutely fine with that," said Richter. "I was on this show for seven years and I feel like it's one of the funniest shows . ever, probably." Richter does, however, think the term second banana is "stupid."
Richter has been up to much more than staring contests since his exit from Late Night. Recently, he was in the Wayans brothers' "Scary Movie 2." He also co-stared with Richard Gere and Helen Hunt in "Dr. T and the Women."
"Anybody that watches the show is gonna know that I don't just sit on the couch. I really contribute," said Richter. "And then when I got out [to Hollywood] I realized 'oh, no one knows that at all.' They all just think I'm the guy that sits on the couch.
"Maybe that's why they were all so angry when I left, because it seemed like I had the ultimate lazy slob job - get paid money to just sit on a couch."
Before taking on "Andy Richter Controls the Universe," Richter had many other show ideas bounced off him. Richter chose this show because he believes it will be successful and is glad to be working for Fox because they "take more chances" than other networks.
Richter came up with the title for the show. He said it was originally called "Anything Can Happen," but thought that sounded too much like a game show.
"Fox actually really started to push for me to get my name in the title, which I initially wasn't that crazy about," said Richter.
Richter said he thought having his name in the title was kind of "eighth-grade queer."
"I was afraid they would come up with something cutesy and gross and something to make me cringe the rest of my life, so I started thinking of some on my own and that was one of the ones I came up with," said Richter. He is happy with the title because he wanted something that couldn't be confused with something serious.
"It's sort of my own ironic inside-joke with myself," said Richter. According to Richter, just about the only thing he does control in this universe is his "own urine stream."
Richter worried about what type of actors he may be working with on the new show. He said he doesn't get along with most actors; he is mostly used to working with improv actors. But Richter was relieved that he is nowhere near what he calls "capital 'A' actors." Everyone on the show is fun to work with, he said.
Richter joked that he was confused when he saw his pay presented in overflowing bags of money.
"I thought the money would come in wheel barrels," said Richter. Primetime does have some differences than late night. For one thing, he will be seen by more than just college students and insomniacs. Richter says he is not at all worried about the change in audience and does not think it is possible to gear a show at any single demographic type.
"Anybody that says they know how to do that is full of sh-," said Richter. "(They) might as well be creating a new snack chip."
Richter, his wife and baby, reside in California where he says his son is always making people laugh. Richter says all babies are funny, he thinks they act like "little drunks."
"They fall down a lot, they make funny faces, they have inappropriate responses to things," said Richter.
He says he enjoys the weather but sometimes Los Angeles can seem like a "giant suburb," and misses New York. One of the major things he misses about "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" is working in New York. Richer said he will always consider himself a New Yorker even though he is not a native of the Big Apple.
One thing he does not miss about the Conan show is topical humor (basically making fun of things in the news). When the show was beginning, Richter believed that unlike other late night shows, they could stay away from topical humor, but coming up with original jokes night after night is difficult.
Richter admitted that sometimes he thought "Please, Michael Jackson, do something," but says that Monica Lewinski jokes and making fun of Jennifer Lopez's butt gets old.
Richter closed the interview with some advice: "Try and have a little integrity," said Richter. Everything one does should be with integrity. "Even if your are doing fart jokes."
