A look back at Stars Hollows best and worst gigs with its most relentless entrepreneur.
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Kirk Gleason has a net worth of $250,000.
Its treated as a shock, and yet makes total sense:Of courseKirk has amassed a small fortune.
He has worked as a mold inspector, skydiver, pedicab driver, ribbon collector, etc.
And it doesnt hurt that hes been living with his mother for his entire life, too.
Ive been working for eleven years, Kirk explains in the episode.
Ive had 15,000 jobs.
That is, until the show saw potential for a larger oddball role.
Theyre bringing the DSL installer back?
They wrote a character who was delivering swans at a wedding two episodes later.
They looked at a couple of actors, and Amy Sherman-Palladino was like, No.
Hed go on a program likeThe Lucy Showmultiple times and play different characters.
Something about that was funny to her.
So they booked me as the swan delivery guy.
I kept thinking that the gag was going to grow thin.
Every time I got a call, it would be a surprise to me.
I thought the calls would stop coming, but they never did.
Thats a testimony to how many different fun little aspects of Kirk there were to play, Gunn said.
I got to do so much, and Im very, very grateful for it.
Kirks Diner owner (season seven, episode two)
That job is funny and encouraging.
But honestly, it has to be ranked last.
Its a little bit of a different show [in season seven] without Amy.
That said, it was a promising start.
A scene that I was in, at least.
They whipped the pauses out of me over the years.
So I tried something with those beats, and they edited all of them out.
And I dont think the comedy works as well because of it.
I wasnt fully happy with my performance in that episode.
Im a maniac when it comes to that.
You hear about actors who dont like to watch themselves act because theyre super-critical?
I watch everything I do and make mental notes about everything Im trying to accomplish.
Im doing that constantly.
Thats a fun little piece of minutiae and shows you how early the episode was.
It was always fun to be where I felt I was a stranger.
That was so,soweird after 15 years of never doing a scene there.
Our town is fictional, sure.
But its a pretty decent fictional version of what those towns are actually like.
There are cool shops and town squares and gazebos.
Everything in Stars Hollow works a little better than anywhere else.
Some scenes really stick out and are still clear as day to me, but not this.
I do recall Kirk giving skincare advice, so its nice for him to embrace a softer side.
This is the best example of Kirk as a tool for the show, though.
We follow the Gilmore girls walking in the town and popping into stores.
But I love dogs and all animals, so it didnt bother me too much.
I kept cracking up at those damn dog names.
I didnt break often, but I did for that scene.
Babette Ate Oatmeal is pretty common.
This would be one of them.
My mind is blown that, two decades later, people are still wearing and buying those shirts.
Mailman (season three, episode 16)
I love that job.
Kirk also sold mailboxes, which I always think of as being tethered to the post office.
It seems like the quintessential Kirk job to me.
It was a fun set that we didnt use very often.
Kirk considers himself an avant-garde filmmaker, so it makes sense that he would want to work there.
Hes like,This is great.
This is what people say art is, so Im gonna say its art too.
Hes not even dangerous enough to be a teenager.
He can have major bouts of immaturity.
Ooober proprietor (A Year in the Life)
Just an awesome job.
Of course Kirk wouldnt know what Uber is.
But its also tricky.
As a character actor, its harder to break out into broad comedy.
I was filmingGuardians of the Galaxy Vol.
It took a lot of mental work to stay focused.
But the good thing is Kirk was like an old slipper.
But people are constantly fucking asking me to say Ooober, like Im an organ-grinder monkey.
I dont play Kirk on Cameo.
The reason for that is you cant afford me as Kirk.
But I certainly didnt have a big acting career.
I moved to Los Angeles from Chicago around 1998.
It was between him and Lorelai.
I read it and was like,I totally understand this material.It was rapid-fire.
So I decided to take the role anyway.
I knew who Lauren Graham was from being a television junkie and knew she was a good actress.
Everyone was super nice.
I had an absolute ball.
I loved the style ofGilmore Girls.I felt very comfortable doing that scene right out of the gate.
Hockey announcer (season three, episode 15)
I love that episode so much.
I remember filming it like it was yesterday.
The hockey-announcer job was one of my favorites because it was easy.
I wasnt in most of the shots that day.
I got to sit down for hours.
They put one camera on me, and I just tried to be funny with what I was saying.
Of course, by then, Ill be 70 years old.
A lot of the rest of you will probably be dead.
Taylor, youll be dead.
Miss Patty, youll be dead.
That man in the hat, youll be dead.Hes so nonchalant about it.
That moment has tickled me for 20 years, I laugh about it all the time.
I should note there was no improvising at all.
There isnt a single syllable that has ever been improvised by anyone onGilmore Girls.
Every syllable was verbatim.
If you said didnt and the script said did not, wed have to do it again.
I say that from experience.
They were both actors who I already admired.
We were firing on all cylinders.
I still see people wearing Film by Kirk shirts, which gives me so much joy.
Where I take my shirt off?
To quote the man himself,I have good taste.
