Deadline has reported that Lacretta has been cast as a bailiff in NBC’s Night Court.
The upcoming half-hour series will act as a follow-up to the classic comedy series Night Court which ran from 1984 to 1992. The original starred the late Harry Anderson as Judge Harry Stone and John Larroquette, who will be reprising his award-winning role in the new series, as Dan Fielding, and followed the goings-on of a night shift at a Manhattan arraignment court. The new series is set to pick up years later as Harry’s daughter Abby (Melissa Rauch) follows in his footsteps in the courtroom and tries to bring order to the courtroom’s collection of oddballs and cynics.
Lacretta is set to play Donna “Gurgs” Gurganous, a court bailiff who takes her job very seriously. Gurgs is big-hearted, intense, and not big on boundaries, leading to her being easily riled up but fiercely protective of her night court colleagues. She is also a dog lover, living in a small apartment with multiple large dogs.
She has some big shoes to fill, as in the original series, Richard Moll played the primary bailiff Nostradamus “Bull” Shannon and was one of the series most beloved characters. Not to mention the series’ female bailiff, who was played by Selma Diamond in seasons 1-2, Florence Halop in season 3, and Marsha Warfield in seasons 4-9, were all fantastic in their own right.
This marks Lacretta’s first series-regular role, although she has previously guest-starred on Law & Order, 30 Rock, and Broad City. She has also had a notable stage career, including the national tour of Book of Mormon, Disaster! The Musical on Broadway and Avenue Q and Neurosis Off-Broadway. It will be exciting to see what she can do.
