Why The Comic Book Clerk In Flora & Ulysses Looks So Familiar
February 19 sees the addition of a new superhero to the Disney stable of characters, a marriage of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and a picture-perfect Deadpool superhero landing: Ulysses, the rodent with a soaring intellect and a twitchy, wee nose for justice. And as any very patient partner to a nerd can attest, it's just not a superhero movie without a fan of the medium explaining every facet of the genre. In most cases, this role is filled by the guy you're stuck with on the car ride home, but Flora & Ulysses' resident expert comes in the form of a comic book shop clerk, credited in a super on-the-nose nod as "Stanlee."
The character in question is played by Bobby Moynihan, and if you're not familiar with his work, it's for one of two reasons: you're either old enough that you stopped watching SNL after Will Ferrell left, or young enough that you think of Pete Davidson as the old guard. Alternately, you're super familiar with his work, but don't recognize his face because his resume includes more voice acting than we ever could imagine. Since debuting with the Derrick Comedy sketch group and making a splash at the Upright Citizens Brigade in the 2000s, he's become one of the comedy community's most surefire human weapons. Let's take a look at some of his more well known work.
Bobby Moynihan tore it up on SNL for nearly a decade
Step one when describing Bobby Moynihan, circa 2015: say "You know who I'm talking about, the SNL guy. The one that's been on forever." Step two: say "No, not Kenan Thompson. The other one." From 2008 to 2017, Moynihan served as one of those Saturday Night Live silver bullet performers who consistently elevated the material he was given. The show gave him an international audience to mug to, whether he was going big with characters like Drunk Uncle and Spock's brother Spocko, or agonizingly grounded like in "Meet Your Second Wife" and his wrestling banter sketch with Dwayne Johnson. He even pulled off that grandest of show business achievements: appearing in the original David S. Pumpkins sketch as one of the dancing skeletons and forever winning a place in the part of audiences' brains dedicated to having any questions.
By the time that Moynihan left his post, Deadline reported that he'd already secured offers on a handful of sitcoms, and the comedian re-entered the workforce as a hot commodity when he relocated to Los Angeles.
Moynihan was the stuff of adorable nightmares on Comedy Bang! Bang!
Comedy Bang! Bang! has become an underground institution since it first premiered in 2009 as Comedy Death Ray. The success of the podcast, created and hosted by Mr. Show alum Scott Aukerman, eventually led to the creation of an IFC television series, with a stable of improvised characters carrying over to the new format. Among the show's most memorable guests was Fourvel — "like Fievel, but one less" — the adorable little orphan boy originally introduced in the podcast episode "Time Bobbies." Played with excruciatingly brilliant timing by Moynihan, Fourvel had all of the qualities inherent in a downtrodden guttersnipe, from the pouting lip and speech impediment, to the short fuse and absolute willingness to stab someone to death if he didn't get what he wanted.
Fourvel, appropriately, made four appearances on the Comedy Bang! Bang! television show throughout its five season run, making him one of the program's most frequent recurring guest characters. His two most recent appearances were on the Comedy Bang! Bang! Podcast's 10th anniversary special in 2019, and right this minutes, standing right behind you.
Moynihan tried desperately to Kill Gunther
A year before Moynihan's SNL exit, his long-time coworker Taran Killam left the series after 126 episodes. Then, in 2017, the pair teamed up for Killam's Killing Gunther, marking the first time in human history that two colleagues actually hung out after promising they would when they stopped working together. Killing Gunther saw Moynihan playing Donnie, AKA Boom Boom, an explosives expert enlisted to help an assassin (Killam) in his quest to kill a notorious fellow hitman (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). There's more to the story — it's bananas, and a lot more fun if you experience it for yourself — but it serves as yet another reminder that Moynihan is the comedy world's flavor enhancer.
The mockumentary film divided critics when it arrived on VOD services in September of 2017, racking up a 48% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, for the discerning viewer with particular tastes, it remains a hidden comedy gem, with a tone nuzzled somewhere between a Christopher Guest movie and a live action Itchy and Scratchy adventure.