Frasier: Why Eve's Friend June Looks So Familiar - Looper (2024)

Television Sitcoms

Paramount+

ByNina Starner/Nov. 21, 2023 7:00 am EST

Not every member of the original cast of "Frasier" returned for the Paramount+ reboot, but Kelsey Grammar, who made the talk show host and psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane famous on the original series, sure did — and he's still looking for love in all the wrong places. Single and living in Boston so that he can mend his relationship with his son Frederick "Freddy" Crane (Jack Cutmore-Scott), Frasier is on the prowl, and in the sixth episode of the reboot's first season, he meets a new woman named June thanks to his and Freddy's friend Eve (Jess Salgueiro), with whom he thinks he's supposed to go on a blind date. Things go awry, though, when Frasier and Freddy can't figure out which one of them she's supposed to go out with.

So who plays June?That would be June Diane Raphael, the super-busy television and film actress who's popped up in everything from popular sitcoms to Emmy-nominated short-form content to Netflix originals. Trust us, you've seen June Diane Raphael before. Here's where.

NBC

If you liked half-hour sitcoms in the early aughts, then you definitely remember June Diane Raphael popping up in quite a few of them. First up is "Party Down," the beloved cult classic on Starz that followed a (frankly terrible) catering company from event to event. Raphael shows up in the episode "Coas Danielle Lugozshe," as the daughter of Michael Hitchco*ck's catering power player Bolus Lugozshe, who ends up seducing Party Down Catering's hapless manager Ron Donald (Ken Marino). Shortly thereafter, Raphael showed up on another beloved comedy that was canceled too soon — ABC's "Happy Endings," where she plays Melinda Shershow, fiancé to the main gang's former punching bag Jason Shershow (T.J. Miller), in the Season 1 finale "The Shershow Redemption." Melinda also thinks Alex Kerkovich is a "wedding jinx," and when you consider that this entire series opens with Alex leaving her fiancé Dave (Zachary Knighton) at the altar for a guy on rollerblades, you start to see her point.

Perhaps the most recognizable of these one-off appearances, though, was Raphael's turn in the Season 6 episode of "Parks and Recreation" titled "Doppelgangers" as Tynnyfer, the haughty, empty-headed Eagleton department employee who serves as the "doppelganger" to Aubrey Plaza's deadpan Pawnee resident April Ludgate. Tynnyfer is a soulless nightmare, so naturally, April loves her. "She's the worst person I've ever met," April intones, directly into the camera. "I want to travel the world with her."

Adult Swim

Adult Swim fans know that the late-night programming block is chock full of irreverent content, and that definitely includes "NTSF:SD:SUV." A series that started its life as a series of fake ads that aired during the (more well-known) Adult Swim show "Children's Hospital,""NTSF:SD:SUV" is a spoof of popular crime dramas with the full title of "National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle."

The series was created and led by comedian Paul Scheer, who, as it happens, has been married to June Diane Raphael since 2009 — and alongside the two, Martin Starr, Brandon Johnson, Rob Riggle, Kate Mulgrew, Karen Gillan, and Rebecca Romijn also appear on the show. So who does Raphael play? That would be Piper Ferguson, an intrepid agent within the obviously fake law enforcement agency. Oh, and she also has an alter-ego named Isabelle Gareth who's a violent assassin, so sometimes she tries to murder all of her colleagues. If you're not familiar with "NTSF:SD:SUV," it's silly and over-the-top, but it's still a great time.

Yahoo! Screen/E!

Like "NTSF:SD:SUV" before it, June Diane Raphael's "Bachelor"parody "Burning Love" — written and created by Erica Oyama — is made up of short episodes that run at about twelve minutes on average — but it's still packed full of excellent jokes and an all-star cast. Raphael appears in the show's first season as Julie Gristlewhite, described as the show's apparently obligatory "damaged goods contestant," who's vying for the heart of eligible bachelor Mark Orlando (Ken Marino). In Season 2 of "Burning Love," though, Raphael takes center stage as the main bachelorette looking for love, with contestants played by comedy favorites like Adam Scott, Raphael's real-life husband Paul Scheer, Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Kroll, and Michael Cera. Michael Ian Black also shows up as the fictional dating show's host Bill Tundle.

Despite flying largely under the radar with audiences — perhaps due to the fact that it originally aired on Yahoo! Screen and was later picked up for syndication by E! — "Burning Love" boasted plenty of star power both in front of and behind the camera. Ben Stiller served as one of the series' executive producers (and shows up in an occasional supporting role as a financially devastated former bachelor). Ultimately, the show received a major honor in the form of an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Special Class: Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Program category in 2013, but lost to "Children's Hospital."

Fox

"New Girl" has remained extraordinarily popular since it wrapped up its original run on Fox in 2018, but even if you've binged it a few times, you might have forgotten that June Diane Raphael plays a small yet significant supporting role throughout the entirety of the series. Raphael plays Sadie, a friend to both the titular new girl Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Cece (Hannah Simone) who pops up for various reasons thanks to her job. See, Sadie is a doctor — specifically, she's an OB-GYN. While she's also just one of Jess' friends who doesn't happen to live in the loft she shares with Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Winston (Lamorne Morris), Sadie also helps the gang out with a few medical issues.

In Season 1, after Nick gets hurt during a football game, Sadie tends to his injuries despite constantly reminding him that treating male patients isn't exactly her job. Then, in Season 2, Sadie helps Jess and Cece check on their fertility — and has to deliver some agonizing news to Cece when it turns out that her egg count is on the low side. Sadie doesn't appear in every single season of "New Girl," but she's always a welcome presence — and even appears in the show's final season to help Winston with his greatest-ever prank.

A24/Warner Bros.

If you're familiar with Tommy Wiseau's directorial debut "The Room," you know that it's both strangely delightful and a total disaster. The dialogue is bizarre and stilted, characters disappear with absolutely zero explanation, and Wiseau's central performance as Johnny — a man who has it all until he's wronged by his beautiful fiancé — is, to say the least, completely baffling. Years after "The Room" was released, fans of the weird cult classic had some of their many, many questions answered by Mark Sestero's account of the filmmaking process, "The Disaster Artist,"which hit bookshelves in 2013.

In 2017, James Franco adapted the book for the big screen, pulling double duty by directing and starring as Wiseau himself alongside his brother Dave Franco (who played Sestero). The movie features a stacked cast that includes Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Zac Efron, Josh Hutcherson, Jacki Weaver, Paul Scheer, and June Diane Raphael. Raphael plays Robyn Paris, the real actress who played Michelle — best friend to Lisa, played by Juliette Danielle — in Wiseau's original movie. Describing Michelle as a character is tricky, but luckily, Raphael gets to play Paris in most of her scenes and fire off some solid jokes about how odd Franco's Wiseau is.

Lionsgate

The 2019 romantic comedy "Long Shot" somewhat flew under the radar when it was initially released, but it's a charming story focusing on the U.S. Secretary of State and her childhood acquaintance turned speechwriter, played respectively by Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen. After Rogen's Fred Flarsky finds himself out of work, he and Charlotte Field (Theron) unexpectedly reconnect, and Charlotte, charmed by his humor, decides to hire him to write her campaign speeches as she embarks on her run for President.

Alongside Theron and Rogen is June Diane Raphael, who plays Charlotte's chief of staff Maggie Millikin. Maggie is Charlotte's right-hand woman throughout the film and, in playing her, Raphael shows off a tougher side, strongly disapproving of Charlotte's decision to hire Fred. Later, when the two strike up a secret relationship, Maggie is supportive but extremely hesitant, concerned that the public would never approve of Fred as Charlotte's boyfriend. Maggie might be stern — and really dislike Fred — but it all comes from a place of genuine care for Charlotte (and in case you were wondering, Raphael's husband Paul Scheer has a small cameo in the movie.)

Netflix

Even if you haven't watched Netflix's original series "Grace and Frankie," you're probably a little familiar with the show's conceit — which is that the uptight Grace Hanson (Jane Fonda) and free-spirited Frances "Frankie"Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) find themselves in an unlikely friendship after their husbands (played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) reveal that they've fallen in love. After they divorce their husbands — who then marry each other — Grace and Frankie have to navigate their new lives when it comes to dating and aging, as well as their now-blended families.

That family includes Grace's daughter Brianna, played by June Diane Raphael. As Grace's eldest child — Brianna's younger sister Mallory is played by Brooklyn Decker — Brianna is a career woman like her mother, even running a cosmetics company bequeathed to her by Grace when the former mogul retired. Where Mallory is sweet and kind, Brianna can be prickly, to say the least. She's not exactly a great boss, secretly dates one of her employees and doesn't treat him well, and reveals Grace's real age to Grace's former employees ... but thanks to Raphael's performance, she's really, really funny.

Axelle/bauer-griffin/Getty Images

Beyond her extensive work in film and television, June Diane Raphael is also the host of one of the most popular film podcasts in the genre — "How Did This Get Made?" The podcast features Raphael, her husband Paul Scheer, and their frequent collaborator Jason Mantzoukas as they watch some truly awful movies, picking them apart and deciding if they're even worth watching, alongside regular features like when the hosts read positive Amazon reviews of the clunkers. The podcast tours fairly regularly, with many of the episodes recorded at live shows, and Scheer helms "mini-sodes" on the show's off weeks where he runs what he refers to as an "explanation hopeline."

"How Did This Get Made?" is so popular that it's earned a handful of spinoffs. "How Did This Get Made? Origin Stories" was the first one, where host Blake J. Harris interviews creators behind the movies featured on the original, and that was followed by another Earwolf podcast "How Did This Get Played?" which focuses on bad video games. Scheer also runs "Unspooled" with his friend and film critic Amy Nicholson (a serious source of contention with Mantzoukas and Raphael on the main podcast, who frequently complain about the fact that Scheer gets to talk about good movies and didn't ask them to participate). Other countries have gotten in on the action as well, with French and Danish adaptations titled"2 heures de perdues" ("2 hours wasted") and"Dårligdommerne" ("The bad judges"), respectively. Wondering where to start?Consider the podcast's "Fast and Furious" series, which usually features Adam Scott as a guest, or the episode about "Cats" where Mantzoukas goes on a lengthy rant and calls the film a "war crime."