Frasier Stars, EPs Talk Bebe Glazer’s Grand Return, Rachel Bloom’s ‘Terrific’ Turn as Her Daughter Phoebe

Our favorite Frasier character is back… and she’s brought reinforcements.

Harriet Sansom Harris reprised her role as Frasier’s ruthless agent Bebe Glazer in Thursday’s episode, trying her best to talk Frasier into returning to his lucrative TV talk show. She also introduced Frasier to her daughter Phoebe (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom), who hit it off right away with Frasier thanks to their shared love of opera and musical theater. Frasier even started to think that Phoebe might be his daughter (!) after a mid-’90s tryst with Bebe, but he later discovered Phoebe was faking their shared interests to win him over so she could be his agent. Frasier refused to return to TV, but he did agree to let Phoebe sell his new memoir — and Bebe and Phoebe later cackled together in delight. That was their evil plan all along!

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Bebe is still a total nightmare as a human being, but as Peri Gilpin (Roz) tells TVLine in the video above, “that’s your perfect agent!” Kelsey Grammer, who stars as Frasier, recalls that Cheers director James Burrows once told him, “‘You need a human being who’s your a–hole’… So Frasier has aligned with Bebe Glazer because she’s his a–hole.” Grammer adds that he and Harris have known each other “since we were 18… We went to school together,” so the comedic chemistry between him and Harris comes naturally.

So did the writers ever consider not making Phoebe as manipulative as her mother Bebe? “I mean, where’s the fun in that?” executive producer Joe Cristalli replies with a laugh. “No, her being just a serpent like her mother seemed way more fun.” He also lavishes praise on Bloom, who is “playing three characters” in the episode, he points out, with all the false identities Phoebe puts on. “Going up against Kelsey and Harriet is not easy, because those two bring it. And God, she’s funny in it. I think she’s terrific. I don’t know who else could even do that.”

Press PLAY above for more from the Frasier stars and EPs on Bebe’s return, and then hit the comments and tell us: How’d you like this week’s episode?

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