In the short-lived “Men of a Certain Age,” which ran from 2009 to 2011 across two seasons and 22 episodes, Andre Braugher portrays Owen Thoreau Jr. He’s a family man who works at his father, Owen Thoreau Sr.’s (Richard Gant), car dealership and is friends with Joe Tranelli (Ray Romano) and Terry Elliott (Scott Bakula). Despite not being an actor known for his comedy chops, Braugher thrives in the Owen Jr. role, hence why Romano is so glad he took the chance on him when the series was coming to fruition.
“We Googled ‘Andre Braugher comedy,’ and Google said, ‘You win — we have nothing,'” Romano told Variety, jokingly driving home how separate Braugher was from the world of comedy at the time. While some may see this as a negative, Romano saw it as a positive, believing his comedy could come from a more genuine place. In Romano’s eyes, Braugher made the most of the opportunity and then some. As for Braugher, he was thankful to have gotten the chance to work with Romano in the first place. “Both as a writer and as a performer, I found him to be just a wellspring of knowledge. He’s aces, period,” he said.
Even though it was a bit out of his wheelhouse, “Men of a Certain Age” proved to be a standout credit for Andre Braugher. It gave him a platform to explore a different side of his profession while charting a new course in his career. It’s just too bad the series didn’t stick around a bit longer. Still, it gave Braugher the chance to flex his comedic chops just a couple of years before “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” debuted.
