Why Tommy Lee's Famous Member In Pam & Tommy Sounds So Familiar
Episode 2 of Hulu's "Pam & Tommy" features a scene unlike any other in the history of television. After spending the night with Pamela Anderson (Lily James), Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) announces that he has fallen in love with her (despite a very recent divorce and the fact that he has known Pam for less than 96 hours). As he stands in a hotel bathroom, Tommy appears to address the mirror in front of him.
From the initial vantage point, most viewers likely assumed that Tommy was either speaking to his reflection, someone offscreen, or, perhaps, even over the phone to a dedicated member of the Mötley Crüe fan club. However, as the voice grows louder, it quickly becomes clear that Tommy is instead carrying on a conversation with the "member" between his legs. As Tommy converses with it, the organ moves sharply left and right, as if to shake its head in disapproval.
If the voice coming from just below Tommy Lee's midsection sounds familiar to you, that's because it's the voice of actor Jason Mantzoukas, someone you've probably seen, or at least heard, in a number of other television series. Here's a handful of the actor's most notable television roles.
Mantzoukas recurred as Adrian Pimento on Brooklyn Nine-Nine
So far, one of the biggest television jobs of Mantzoukas' career is his recurring role on "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." The Fox-turned-NBC show focuses on the humorous escapades of a New York City Police Department detective (Andy Samberg) and his coworkers in Brooklyn's 99th Precinct. Throughout its eight-season run, the comedy series proved massively successful, earning praise from fans and critics alike (via Rotten Tomatoes), in addition to taking home plenty of awards (via Emmy Awards).
Mantzoukas first appears as the episode's title character in Season 3, Episode 17 ("Adrian Pimento"). In his first episode, Adrian returns to the precinct after nearly 12 years of undercover work with the mob. Adrian discovers a workplace decidedly different from the one that he left more than a decade prior (except for Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller), of course). Upon learning of his expertise and time with the mob, Detective Jake Peralta (Samberg) excitedly requests to work with him, a partnership that doesn't work so well at first. Despite occasionally disturbing some of his colleagues, Adrian begins a romantic relationship with Detective Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) in Season 3, Episode 18 ("Cheddar"), something that becomes a recurring storyline for the two during his later appearances.
Mantzoukas makes his final appearance in the penultimate episode of the series, Season 8, Episode 9 ("The Last Day Pt 1").
He also recurred as Derek on The Good Place
In 2017, Mantzoukas started a recurring role on NBC's "The Good Place," a comedy series about a woman, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), who dies, travels to a happy afterlife, and discovers that she may not be where she belongs. In addition to the aforementioned Bell, "The Good Place" also stars: Ted Danson as Michael, the architect of the afterlife; D'Arcy Carden as Janet (D'Arcy Carden), the all-knowing artificial intelligence of the afterlife; as well as William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, and Manny Jacinto as other supposedly mistaken inhabitants of the brighter side of the afterlife (via IMDb).
In the second season of the series, Mantzoukas appears as Derek Hofstetler, a character created by Janet. After Eleanor suggests that Janet find another boyfriend, Janet opts to create one instead. While Janet's abilities to study all humans throughout history has granted her vast amounts of knowledge (she claims to know everything), her person-making abilities still leave much to be desired. Despite sharing Janet's exuberant personality, Derek is dimwitted and often easily confused. However, just as occurs with Janet, later reboots of Derek result in increased intelligence. After 151 million reboots, Derek eventually achieves God-like sentience.
According to "The Good Place" Fandom, Derek also has a notably unique member, as a result of mistakes made by Janet during his creation.
Mantzoukas lent his voice to two characters in Big Mouth
Outside of his on-screen work, Mantzoukas would also seem to spend quite a bit of time in a sound booth. So far, the longest-running voice job of his career is on Netflix's "Big Mouth," an often explicit cartoon focused on the main character's journey through puberty. In addition to Mantzoukas, "Big Mouth" episodes regularly star Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, and Jordan Peele (via IMDb).
Since Mantzoukas started working on the series in 2017, he's voiced a total of seven different characters. However, most of Mantzoukas' appearances result from his regular role as Jay Bilzerian, a perpetually aroused classmate of Nick Birch (Nick Kroll) who is known to relieve his sexual urges with a rather inventive use of a pillow (via Fandom). Mantzoukas has voiced the role in more than 50 episodes so far and is expected to return for the upcoming sixth season.
In addition to Jay, Mantzoukas has also voiced "Big Mouth" characters like Guy Bilzerian (Jay's father), the Ghost of Socrates, a Radio DJ, Sperm #1, and the residents of Pornscape.
He voiced Rex Sloan (aka Rex Splode) in Invincible
Amazon Prime Video's "Invincible" is another R-rated, animated series that lists Mantzoukas among its cast. The superhero series, which premiered on the streamer in 2021, is an adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic book of the same name and stars Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons, Zazie Beetz, Grey Griffin, and Kyle Michael Richardson, among a plethora of other talented voice actors (via IMDb).
Mantzoukas makes his first appearance as Rex Sloan (aka Rex Splode) in Season 1, Episode 2 ("Here Goes Nothing") and is present in each of the remaining episodes of the first season. Rex's powers allow him the ability to convert any object into an explosive, certainly a useful tool for a superhero. Like many characters portrayed by Mantzoukas, Rex takes great joy at being astoundingly crude to those around him.
Mantzoukas is currently expected to return to the role for the upcoming second and third seasons of "Invincible," which were ordered by Amazon back in April 2021 (via Variety).
Mantzoukas also voiced Jankom Pog in Star Trek: Prodigy
Both of the prior animated series we've talked about have focused on Mantzoukas' contributions to R-rated animation. However, his vocal work goes well beyond the R-rated kind. Beginning in 2021, Mantzoukas started "boldly going where no one has gone before" with his first appearance in the "Star Trek" universe. On "Star Trek: Prodigy," Mantzoukas voices Jankom Pog, a 16-year-old Tellarite who joins Dal R'El (Brett Gray) on the USS Protostar. Notably, Pog is the first series regular member of the Tellarite species in "Star Trek" history, with all other Tellarites only appearing in guest-star or recurring roles (via Memory Alpha Fandom).
"Prodigy" is one of three animated "Star Trek" series since the franchise first began in 1966 (the other two being 1973's "Star Trek: The Animated Series" and 2020's "Lower Decks"). However, "Prodigy" is quite different from prior animated "Star Trek" ventures in that it is the first series in the franchise specifically geared towards younger audiences. "Prodigy" also stars Rylee Alazraqui, Dee Bradley Baker, Brett Gray, Angue Imrie, Ella Purnell, John Noble, Jimmi Simpson, Kate Mulgrew, and Bonnie Gordon (via IMDb).
The series was renewed for a second season in November 2021 (via Deadline).