Being a pompous, macho jerk... is that what a Friend is for?
An oxymoron is two words which don’t go together – like open secret, fine mess… or military intelligence. Incompetent security chiefs are a comedy trope stretching back to Dr Strangelove, and new Sky comedy Intelligence brings a bit of a culture clash to the genre – with a little help from a Friend.
David Schwimmer stars as an analyst who joins MI5 and makes waves as only Americans can.
The pompous and maverick agent Jerry teams with writer and actor Nick Mohammed, who plays inept computer analyst Joseph.
“Jerry is an alpha – a conservative, unknowingly racist, sexist, homophobic, ignorant, pompous guy,” explains David.
“He’s the guy, you know, who’s very patriotic. He’s very pro-USA, he’s very proud.
“He’s not incredibly intelligent but he’s got a lot of charisma, and a lot of self-belief which, as we know, can be seductive.”
After playing neurotic Ross in Friends for a decade, playing a macho American was a change for David.
“It’s certainly fun playing the bull in the china shop,” he added.
“We’re trying to really enjoy and illustrate the difference between an American like this and a Brit.
“For instance, he’s ver y physical. He is in your space and owns your space.
“That’s partly a very American male thing to do in this power position, but it’s also a passive-aggressive way of asserting his power and control over you.
“It’s fun to play that, but again, it wouldn’t be fun to just play that guy if he weren’t hiding some deeper problems.”
It’s those deeper problems which drew David to the role.
“It’s been a year and a half that we’ve been working with these characters,” he said. “Initially, I felt in playing him that it was just surface – he was this brash, American jerk.
“We were looking for a more human and vulnerable side to him and I think we found that in his backstory.
“First of all, it’s not that fun to just play a one-dimensional character like that but also it’s not as interesting or sympathetic, so we wanted him to be more complex.
“I think Joseph, Nick’s character, as well is quite complex – on the surface you can just say he’s a numbskull but he’s more than that.
“He’s got a romantic interest growing and a lot more going on with him.
“So hopefully you’ll feel that there’s something more going on with Jerry and he’s actually covering up a huge amount of pain and insecurity.”
Intelligence, Sky 1, Fri, 9pm