Trivia / Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist

• Creator Backlash: Animator Karla Zimonja found the job limiting (via her Wordpress):
  Carla: I was sort of constantly upset while I was working there, because the style was so anti-animation, but I did get to do a lot of weird things that got on television, so I expect it evened out.
• Creator Breakdown: Annette Cate, the art director for the series, described working on it in this interview:
  Annette: It was the kind of job where one worked morning til night, and it was really stressful. Really stressful, killer deadlines, some ridiculous crisis or another every week. I was practically having panic attacks. I was working very long hours and the only time I was ever outside practically was when I trudged back to my car, usually in the dark. Everything in my life was seriously out of whack.
• The Danza: Almost all characters are credited in the style of "Laura Silverman as Laura". Arguably the characters also play themselves. H. Jon Benjamin as Benjamin Katz puts a little bit of a spin on it, where the actor's last name is the character's first name. Perhaps they didn't call him "Jon" since his father was already named Jonathan.
• Marathon Running: Dr. Katz's sixth season contained 18 episodes; however, only six of them aired as planned before the series was cancelled. Comedy Central decided to air nine of the twelve unaired episodes in a 1999 Christmas Eve marathon, along with three reruns from the previous season, totaling six hours. However, the remaining three were initially unaired in the U.S. until 2002.
• Production Posse: Much of the cast/crew later went onto Home Movies and subsequently Bob's Burgers.
• Short Run in Peru: The last three episodes, "Bakery Ben", "Uncle Nothing", and "Lerapy", didn't air in the U.S. until 2002, despite airing overseas before that.
• Technology Marches On:
  • In one episode, Dr. Katz tells Stanley and Julie a joke about a guy who was coming home early from a business trip, but catches his wife having sex with another man. The husband is devastated, and goes to see a shrink. After describing the problem, the therapist wonders, "Maybe she didn't get the fax." Nowadays, when such a message would likely be sent via cell phone or email, it's less likely that someone would send a fax saying they'll be home early.
  • In another episode, Katz gets a fanny pack to store his cell phone, beeper, electronic organizer, and voice recorder. A space-saving smartphone has the functionality of all those devices, and the first major ones would be introduced a little under a decade later.
• Throw It In!: As the show was improvised using a rough plot outline, this occurred in virtually every episode.
  • In "Expert Witness", as Katz is talking with friends, he stumbles and accidentally calls one of the characters "Judy", resulting in the other actors just losing it. This got left in.
• Uncredited Role: While the show shied away from having speaking roles outside of the main cast and guest stars in its early days, by the fifth season there were some extras that had brief speaking parts. In nearly every instance, it was not listed in the credits who voiced them:
  • Cindy from Telepurchases in "Phone Luv". Not confirmed, though imdb claims it's Jennifer Harrison.
  • The theater director Mr. Hammer in "Community Theater". Voiced by a pitched-up Will LeBow.
  • The teacher in "Past Lives". Also voiced by Will LeBow.
  • The dentist in "Wisdom Teeth". Unknown.
  • The newspaper saleswoman in "Vow of Silence". Unknown.
  • Sam Brown's family members in "Vow of Silence". Also unknown.
  • Roger in "Expert Witness". Voiced by H. Jon Benjamin.
• What Could Have Been: If Ray Romano hadn't gotten the starring role in Everybody Loves Raymond only a year into the show, he could've been a frequent guest star like Dom Irrera.
• You Look Familiar: The audio version. Todd Barry was a guest on a few episodes before playing a regular character, Todd the video store clerk.