Beyond therapy

Enjoying a smoke in the Crane kitchen, Leeves is deep in concentration. She has worked out a whole history for her character and, as Gilpin says, "can tell you where Daphne was in '82." Leeves offers an example: "I told the writers that Daphne's comfort with these men is that she comes from a large Catholic family where they all got into fights. She was the only girl, so she took care of them all. She got her hair pulled, but she can fight back."

Maybe Leeves, 33, could learn something from her character: The actress is often the butt of Grammer's and Mahoney's teasing. "There's always one person in a cast who gets 'Kick me' written on their back," she acknowledges with a smile, "and that's me." At one point, when Leeves tarries, Grammer chides, "Damn you, my good woman!" A bit sheepishly, he then adds, "I'm just in a hurry to get back to my nap."

Pierce, meanwhile, usually maintains his best Niles stone face. During a later break, the actor sits at Frasier's grand piano and softly plays an opera aria from memory. He hates being idle: "You get an episode where you only have one scene, and that depresses you, because it's so exciting to do stuff on the show." This week Niles is busy preventing Daphne from admiring her blue-collar suitor, so Pierce studies an open script as his fingers play a waltz.

Grammer, by contrast, seems to consult the script as little as possible. When he can't remember a line, he stumbles through it or waits for the script supervisor to call it out. Or, as in the case of the wine-tasting scene, he'll make up something. Another line—The brie is sweating up a storm—trips him up time after time. At one point, Grammer says, "The brie is...sweatin' its ass off!"

"He really likes to fly by the seat of his pants," says Leeves. "He freaks guest stars out on show day because we have a line-through in makeup and it appears he doesn't know what he's talking about. But then when we're on the set, it's right there."

Casey admits that when creating Frasier, "there were certain concerns on our part" about Grammer's work ethic. "Of course, when we were at Cheers, Kelsey was having quite a few personal problems. He has since become far more reliable and steady."

Whether he's cajoling and blustering on the set or openly discussing his demons (a past cocaine addiction, two failed marriages—including one to a former exotic dancer who Grammer claims was abusive—and, in separate incidents, the murders of his father and sister) in his soon-to-be-released autobiography, So Far..., Grammer refuses to hold back. (One exception: He won't comment on the allegations of sexual misconduct with a then 15-year-old New Jersey girl. Though two courts refused to charge Grammer, a civil suit is still pending.) He seems to be saying This is me—take it or leave it.

"He is the most un-uptight person on earth," says Gilpin. "There's nothing about him that wants to give you a different impression about who he is."

"Kelsey's emotions are right there," says Mahoney. "He cries very quickly, he laughs very quickly, he loves very quickly. What we have in Kelsey is probably the most generous actor any one of us has ever worked with."

Ah, but beware if you are the poor guest actor who stumbles into these ranks unprepared. This week, the key role of Daphne's new love interest is played by Tony Carreiro (Lethal Weapon 2). During Carreiro's first rehearsal Grammer seems displeased. "Can we get Tony to open it up a bit?" he bellows in (almost) jovial frustration.

Carreiro quietly assures the star that he'll do better. "You got a wife and kids now?" Grammer challenges, as if in 30 seconds Carreiro has fleshed out the personal history of his character. "So that's the cut of your jib."

"You're starting to scare me," Carreiro jokes with a nervous smile.

"You gotta step up to the plate," Grammer says later. "You can't walk into a show like this and not be in fightin' trim. Because we'll kill ya. I mean, we're not all that generous."