When an actor plays himself, who is he really?

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In this Sunday’s Calendar, I consider some of the ramifications and resonances of actors playing themselves, from the late David Nelson (‘The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet’) to the very present Matt LeBlanc (Showtime’s now-running ‘Episodes,’ pictured here). It’s an old tradition, with roots in radio and early television, but it has developed a modern ironical flavor: In shows such as ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ and ‘Extras’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ actors play doubly against type -- setting up a kind of tension both with the sorts of roles they ordinary play and with the people we imagine they are. It can be a liberating move: These negative images, which only seem like self-indictment, are meant to show that one is in on, and therefore above, the joke.

Read more about this collision of the actual with the artificial -- plus a few related thoughts about reality TV -- in the full essay, ‘Matt LeBlanc gets to be himself, sort of.’

--Robert Lloyd