Yahoo News Call Me Kat Taps Another Sitcom Favorite to Step into Late Star Leslie Jordan's Role at the Cat Café
Leslie Jordan's last appearance on Call Me Kat aired last month, but the show waited a beat to reveal how it would move ahead to fill the space left by his character Phil.
On Thursday, it was announced that 30 Rock alum Jack McBrayer is joining the show as Gideon, the new hire at the cat café owned by Mayim Bialik's title character. The news, which was shared by TVLine, comes after Jordan's character received his farewell in the form of an off-screen wedding in Tahiti and a special end-of-episode tribute from longtime friend Dolly Parton.
In a sneak peek for Thursday's episode, Kat introduces the new coworker to her friends: "The search is over. We finally found our new baker. This is Gideon."
Viewers quickly get a sense of McBrayer's unfiltered Amish import, who flusters Kat's friend Carter (Julian Grant) and Kat's mother Sheila (Swoosie Kurtz).
RELATED: Watch Leslie Jordan's Moving Call Me Kat Tribute: 'I'm a Big Believer in Celebrating Every Moment'
Tommaso Boddi/Getty, Lisa Rose/FOX
McBrayer, 49, is best known for playing 30 Rock's folksy NBC Page Kenneth Parcell, and it's a reunion of sorts since Call Me Kat star Cheyenne Jackson also appeared in 12 episodes of Tina Fey's Emmy-winning sitcom.
McBrayer has also starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky and Bobby, Wreck-It-Ralph and Bob's Burgers.
McBrayer is the latest actor who'll carry on Phil's legacy on the show, in a nod to Jordan's contributions to Call Me Kat before his death at age 67. It was previously announced that Jordan's friend and former The Cool Kids costar Vicki Lawrence would appear as Phil's oft-mentioned mother Lurlene as a special tribute to the late actor.
RELATED VIDEO: Leslie Jordan Dead at 67
Jordan's death shocked his friends and fans around the world on Oct. 24 when an unexpected catastrophic event — later determined to be a "sudden cardiac dysfunction" — caused him to crash into a building in Hollywood, California. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.
Call Me Kat temporarily paused production to process the loss of their friend and costar, with Bialik, 47, issuing a statement.
"There aren't words to convey the loss we are experiencing as a cast and a Call Me Kat family," the statement began. "Leslie Jordan was larger than life. He was a Southern gentleman; tender, wise, naughty and hilarious. We got to know and love him at the height of his happiness and joy and it is inconceivable to imagine a world without our Leslie: the man who would spit on his contact lenses before putting them in his eyes, the man who had a story about every man in Hollywood and some of the women as well, the man who lived to make people laugh."
The statement continued, "We will be taking time to grieve and to celebrate the many gifts Leslie gave to us and to the entire world and we appreciate privacy at this time."
Lisa Rose/FOX
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Call Me Kat airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
