A truly golden scene-stealer ... RIP Estelle Getty. Photograph: Reuters
This week, the world lost a brilliant comic actress. Tiny and fierce with white hair and big glasses and immaculate comic timing, Estelle Getty played many roles, but is best remembered by many as extra-Golden Girl Sofia.
In honour of Estelle, this week we're trying to think of sarcastic sidekicks and comic scene-stealers - people who may not have been the main character, or who were just one of the ensemble - but who got the best lines and the biggest laughs: the characters you were always pleased to see.
And here, not a definitive list, not an authoritative one, just a few thoughts to get the ball rolling. Ten, perhaps, 10 thoughts, or rather...
Ten top sarcastic sidekicks and comic scene-stealers In no particular order
1. Sofia: The reason for the list. While not one of the three Girls - not that many storylines revolved around her - she was always there with a pithy putdown or a sarcastic comment. RIP.
2. Niles Crane - the only man who could out-Frasier Frasier, and a guarantee of quality in every scene he was in.
3. Dr James Wilson: House is caustic, but Wilson is a perfect sarcastic foil.
4. Sir Humphrey Appleby. Best sarcastic foil in the history of foil. And clingfilm too. Of anything, basically.
5. Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld). The entrances, the exits, the general lanky clumsiness, no one steals a scene like Kramer. Although Newman came close.
6. Super Hans. No one introduces a air of grimy anarchism to proceedings like Peep Show's resident crackhead.
7. Keith from The Office. In a monosyllabic kind of way.
8. Karen Walker. Or possibly Jack. Because, lets face it, Will and Grace weren't that interesting. Or remotely funny. I don't know why they bothered turning up, in fact. Apart from the fact their names were in the title, perhaps.
9. Ken (a young Seth Rogen) from Freaks and Geeks. Sarcastic in a reassuringly inarticulate teenage way. Also I was just being wilfully obscure.
10. Norm from Cheers. Always on the sidelines, always on a stool, always ready with the sarcasm or the quick gag (usually about beer).
Now. Who else might not have been the main character but either should have been or showed them up? Brilliant scene-stealers and sarcastic sidekicks, anyone?
In tribute to Estelle Getty, all of it.
