We at Cinema Blend wanted to allow viewers the proper amount of time to mourn the loss that occurred at the end of last week’s episode of Community. NBC’s comedy spoofed Law & Order for Season 3’s “Basic Lupine Urology” and one of the recurring characters didn’t make it out of the episode alive. Sadly, after his car - makeshift meth lab was rear-ended, Star-Burns blew up in the ensuing explosion. Sorry, Alex Osbourne blew up in the ensuing explosion. In a pitch perfect ending to the L&O homage, Professor Kane (guest star Michael K. Williams) answered the Dean’s phone to receive the tragic news, but what inspired the writers to write off one of the show’s cult favorites in the first place? Apparently, he was asking for it.
EW’s Inside TV caught up with Dino Stamatopoulos to discuss the untimely departure and learned that he actually requested Star-Burns be removed from the series in order to focus on his day job, being a writer and producer of Community. He originally got the part simply because he was willing to save the show money and sit though the make-up tests for his soon to be famous affectation. Dan Harmon, the series creator, must have liked what he saw when Stamatopoulos was transformed into Star-Burns because he ended up using him in the series. And a character that was supposed to be a one-note gag (a guy with ‘star-burns’ who didn’t like being called Star-Burns) evolved into the drug dealing, bag stealing, top-hat wearing, scumbag we all came to love but eventually he just got fed up with the trappings of being on camera...
“I’m not an actor… I don’t enjoy waiting around for hours on set, I hate when people touch my eyes and neck (make-up department!), I can’t learn lines quickly (yes, even the amount of lines I get), and I don’t need other actors (Joel McHale) asking me why I never got my teeth fixed.
Of course, there was some trepidation in killing off Star-Burns but, since we didn’t see a body, there may still be hope that the man with hairy stars on his cheeks may have survived the incident. Joel McHale thinks we might see more of Stamatopoulos just because he doesn’t want to be there, adding, “My guess is Dan will find a way to make him a ghost and continue to torture him by making him stay on set. Who knows? His twin brother will show up and it’ll be like, ‘What the f—?’”
Either way, ”Basic Lupine Urology” won’t be the last time we time we see Star-Burns as he’s set to make his final appearance this week in ‘video form’ as the show stages his funeral. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Stamatopoulos simply said, “with a memory. I’m not joking. Do you even think that guy will be remembered?” Yes. Yes we do…
Community airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on NBC. The full article includes comments from Stamatopoulos, Harmon and McHale as well as “Lupine” writer Megan Ganz and is really worth the read.
