STRICTLY ON BACKGROUND, PT. 13: "MADAM SECRETARY"

It's a funny old job, this extra work. In July, I spent three straight 10-hour days working on Bull as part of a legal team defending frat boys on a manslaughter charge. (As a lawyer, I make it a point of taking the most unpopular cases.)

When it finally aired a couple of weeks ago, I was nowhere to be seen in any of the three segments I worked in, thanks to the magic of editing and camerawork. My reward: Six great meals (breakfast and lunch), and three nice checks in the mail. Oh, OK, it'll do.

Then there's Madam Secretary, which I shot a week after Bull. My total time on set was no more than two hours -- but the only thing they had in common was that they were both shot in Brooklyn studios

Even without seeing a script, I knew it was a climactic scene: a gathering of State Department workers getting laid off during a government shutdown -- to which many on the right would say, If only!

It was a big scene, too, at least 100 of us. It's on days like that when my job is like going to the office, seeing the same people all the time. Some of them, you know their names, and chat over coffee; others are the kind you recognize in the hall and greet with a quick "Hi."

As we were led onto Madam Secretary's State Department set, my heart sank. It would be easy to get lost in this sea of pinstriped government workers. 

Looks like I'll have to put off buying that Tesla for a while.

Glory to God and the A.D. -- well, really, the A.D. -- a bunch of us were brought up toward the front. You can see me directly behind the African-American woman in the center. (That shot was also used in the promo earlier in the day. From writing promos to appearing in them -- what a country!)



Having already been laid off my previous job, I used sense memory to get my feelings across. Nah, not really! I just did what I was told -- the hallmark of a great actor. So great, I even made the reverse angle where, for better or worse, I immediately recognized myself toward the left of the screen. 

I've always wanted to see an aerial shot of my scalp.

But the money shot was yet to come: the personal farewells to the staff, where Tea Leoni would start shaking some hands. I really wanted this to happen. The only time I had an interaction with a star so far, it was Triumph the Insult Comic Dog outside the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City -- another time of winding up on the cutting room floor. (I didn't take it personally. About 1% of the footage made it to air -- probably for legal reasons, since, among other reasons, I played the gravedigger who buried the hookers killed by Donald Trump.)

Tea didn't come my way on the first take. Had I missed my moment? 

Not at all. There's no such things as one-take shots. Because on the second, Tea Leoni walked straight to me and stuck out her hand.

Me on the right: Just another day at the office.

She did it! Madam Secretary's 6.60 million viewers saw Tea Leoni shake my hand! And not only that, she looked me in the eye and quietly ad-libbed a line to me: "We'll have that drink later." Was it her talent or my stupidity that made me wonder, Did she mean it? My friends and loved ones will set you straight on that. 

Extra work is a good gig. Not always exciting, but usually fun. Occasionally, time drags by. But Madam Secretary gave me the chance that evening to burst into my living room and tell my wife, "I love my job!" Even if I had just gotten laid off from a cushy government position.

By the way, see that other guy with the glasses in the photo above? Had you watched the final episode of Homeland last season, you'd have seen us standing together as protesters, as well as in a scene from Gotham. And the guy between us? I can't keep track of the number of shows we've done together. I sometimes wonder if there are OCD-afflicted TV viewers who say, "Hey! These people are on every freaking show I watch!"

And you know what? We are. Except for the ones we aren't.

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