Life On ‘Frasier’ A Ball Especially If You Get Along With The Dog

Jane Leeves is asked this question a lot these days: What’s it like to work with Moose, the scene-stealing Jack Russell terrier who plays the adorable Eddie on NBC’s hit comedy “Frasier”?

“It’s actually improved,” she replies. “He’s sort of a scrappy little thing. He didn’t really care about affection. You could pet him and make a fuss of him and he didn’t care.”

Until the Barbie Doll incident. “Recently, he had to do a scene where he had to pick up a Barbie Doll,” Leeves recalls. “He had a lot of pain in his front teeth and they found he needed a root canal. Ever since the root canal, he has been much more affectionate. I always get to work with him now because I am sort of the most patient with him, because it takes time to learn to do the things they ask him to do. If you’re with a dog, you are going to get a laugh.”

But Leeves doesn’t need a four-legged costar to get a laugh. Last year, she received a Golden Globe nomination for her role on “Frasier” as the daffy Daphne Moon, Martin Crane’s (John Mahoney) nurturing, semipsychic physical therapist. The feisty Daphne lives with the retired policeman Martin; his son, the pompous radio psychologist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), and, of course, Eddie.

Being part of the hit spinoff of the long running “Cheers” has been a “fabulous” experience for Leeves. The secret to “Frasier’s” success, she believes, is the perfect mix of “personalities, not just between the cast, but between the producers and the writers.”

In fact, she says, “I have written a lot of my own material. They are perfectly willing to listen to you and seek out your opinions on things.”

She recalls the second day of rehearsals for the pilot two years ago, when Leeves and David Hyde Pierce, who plays Frasier’s equally egotistical married brother Niles, thought it would be a great plot twist if Niles had a crush on Daphne.

“I mentioned it (to the producers),” Leeves recalls. “It turned out that one of the producers had the same idea.” On another occasion, Leeves and Dan Butler, who plays the womanizing sports disc jockey Bulldog, discussed their idea with producers regarding a scene in which Daphne wins a date with Bulldog in an auction.

“It was originally written that I was having this hideous time and was shying away in the back seat. But Dan and I said, ‘Look, why not do the unexpected? Let him have the awful time and let Daphne get drunk.’ The next morning this wonderful sort of monologue of a drunk scene between me and Dan arrived. It was just amazing. I think we all kind of think the same way and find the same thing is funny.”

One person Leeves definitely respects is Grammer, who, she says, has created the perfect atmosphere on the set from day one. “He never sort of said, ‘I am the star of this show.’ It was very much an ensemble. He is very supportive with all of us and he will fight battles for us, for little line changes and things like that. It has to start at the top.”

Leeves believes she is so comfortable playing Daphne because the producers gave her the leeway to create her character’s personal history. “I think it helps the characters because they become more of a part of you because it’s your own creation,” she says.

“I told (the producers) Daphne would have eight brothers and that would make her comfortable living with all of these men and that she’s a care giver. She thrives on taking care of people, and (I told them about) her insecurity about herself and her feeling she’s not good for much else. I think that stops the character from being the sweet, simple girl who does everything for everybody. I think it’s the flaws in people that make them the most human and easy to identify with.”