Dan Bucatinsky on The Comeback‘s queer legacy, Billy’s power trip & paying tribute to Robert Michael Morris
The star & Executive Producer of 'The Comeback' knows exactly why Valerie Cherish has become a gay icon.
Mark
For three seasons now and over the course of the past twenty-plus years, we’ve watched, laughed, and cringed along with sitcom actress Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow) as she’s fought to hold on to relevancy in an industry constantly moving on to the shiny new thing, whether that be reality TV or AI.
But the beautiful irony is that, in our world, Valerie Cherish will never not be relevant, and HBO’s The Comeback—no matter how many years go by between seasons—has always felt like a comedy on the cutting edge.
And Dan Bucatisnky’s been there every step of the way. An actor and Executive Producer on the series, he’s well aware that Valerie’s unflappable resilience and is what’s made her a gay icon from the very first time she uttered, “Hello, hello, and hello!” He also knows that, in 2026, we need her more than ever.
“Between season one and two, and then two and three, we always imagined Valerie Cherish in one scenario or another (Valerie in a British period show like Bridgerton; Valerie doing a TED talk… and yes, Val on Broadway),” Bucatinsky writes to Queerty. “But Lisa and Michael [Patrick King] knew it would take a big, dramatic story—a threat to the creative engine of Hollywood—to warrant a whole season of The Comeback.”
The impending era of AI is one such threat, which he notes feels like “a potential extinction moment” for so many creatives, so the timing was right: we needed Valerie to swoop in and save the day… or something like that.
“We hope Season 3, our final season, will shed light on how we imagine life could be if the worst-case scenario isn’t as bad as we feared,” Bucatinsky adds. “And, even if it is… like Valerie teaches us: we get up; we adapt; we keep going. It’s the only way to accept that, as our logline for the season states: it’s ‘time to face reality.'”
While these sharp-as-ever new episodes have found Valerie back in the limelight as the headliner of her own sitcom, we’ve seen her manager, Bucatinsky’s Billy Stanton, do everything he can to make the most of this moment, too. And, honestly? It’s a little terrifying.
“We’ve known him to be volatile, impulsive, emotional, and temperamental. But now Billy has something he’s been striving for: a title,” the actor shudders. Which means now Billy can explore “the one dream he’s been trying to harness in the years he’s devoted his efforts to Valerie’s spotlight: his own stardom.”
The showy Thom Browne wardrobe is one thing, but if you thought Billy flaking on Val for the “Variety 50 Over 50″ photoshoot was a sure sign fame had gone to his head, just wait ’til you see Billy finally hit the red carpet in Episode 7 (a scene which Bucatinsky recalls as “particularly fun and liberating” to film).
As cutting & satirical as The Comeback can still be, it also feels like it’s heart is bigger than ever, perhaps reflecting our own growing affection for it over the decades. That was never more apparent than in its tribute to Valerie’s late hairdresser & confidante Mickey—and by extension Robert Michael Morris, the beloved actor who played him & sadly passed back in 2017.
“It felt impossible for us to imagine doing another season of The Comeback without Robert Michael Morris—he was always as filled with love, joy, laughter and generosity off screen as he was on screen,” says Bucatinsky. “So, giving Mickey (and Robert) a proper, emotional, and heartfelt send-off in the new season felt essential. We were able to give Valerie the closure she needed. But it was also the closure we who loved and worked with Robert also needed to say goodbye to him in a way we knew he’d appreciate: on screen.”
No matter where this so-called “final season” goes from here (though we’ll hold out hope for a chance to check in with Valerie again in another 10 years or so), The Comeback has already cemented its legacy as a totemic treasure of queer culture that we’ve been blessed to have in our lives for the past few decades.
So, with his indispensable role in bringing this series to life, we thought it was only appropriate to invite Dan Bucatinsky to take part in our ongoing Queer Time Capsule project, which asks some of our favorite LGBTQ+ icons to hand select five items from the culture that they feel are worthy of being preserved for the queers of the future. And, don’t worry, The Comeback is very much in the running!
So, head below to find out what 5 timeless pieces of pop culture Dan Bucatinsky believes should take up space in our Queer Time Capsule:
1. A Tom of Finland catalogue
“This Finnish artist revolutionized gay aesthetics with his hyper-masculine art—and, frankly, was really hot to look at as a gay kid in the ’70s.”
2. A SILENCE = DEATH / ACT UP t-shirt
“As the slogans of solidarity and unity created the unfortunate ‘swag’ of the devastating AIDS epidemic symbolizing the power of community and activism in the face of what started as the ‘gay plague.'”
3. A DVD of the 1992 film Orlando
“Starring Tilda Swinton, based on the 1928 Virginia Woolf novel, as the film explored androgyny, gender identity, and fluidity—among the first to depict how gender is a social construct—and among the first of Queer Cinema.”
4. A DVD of the complete seasons 1 & 2 of The Comeback
“As this cult comedy hit became a favorite among the gay community for being able to tap into the struggle for visibility and relevance by a hilarious and glamorous character trying to stay in the spotlight.”
5. A Thom Browne skirt
“‘Cause anything Billy Stanton wears in season 3 of The Comeback tells you volumes about where we’ve been and where we think we’re going.”
Related
That time ‘Real Friends of WeHo’ star Brad Goreski stripped down for a messy cameo in ‘The Comeback’
Ah, memories!
