Sold-Out ‘Three’s Company’ Reading Starring Adam Devine and Kaley Cuoco Honors John Ritter’s Legacy
Laughter is calling for you once again on Friday night, Sept. 12, when top stars and original cast members of Three’s Company hit the Sunset Room in Hollywood for a staged reading of the classic sitcom. It’s the season seven episode “Going to Pot” (from 1982), which centers around a misunderstanding, because, of course it does.
The sold-out event (tickets ranged from $750 to $1,000) is part of the yearly fundraiser for The John Ritter Foundation, spearheaded by the comedy icon’s widow, Amy Yasbeck. Adam Devine will be stepping into Ritter’s role of Jack Tripper with Kaley Cuoco playing level-headed Janet Wood and Jason Alexander taking over for Don Knotts. They’ll be joined by original cast members Priscilla Barnes as Teri Alden and Richard Kline, who returns as everyone’s favorite wingman, Larry Dallas. The rest of the reading’s eclectic cast features Steven Weber, Reno Wilson, Ron Funches, Holly Robinson Peete and Tom Bergeron.
Directing it all will be Dennis Dugan. As it happens, the frequent Adam Sandler played the role of matchmaker when he cast Yasbeck to play Ritter’s wife in his 1990 comedy Problem Child. “They met in our living room for the first read-through and that was the first time they ever met,” says Dugan. “They fell in love and got married, so I’ve always had like a deep connection with both Ritter and Amy.”
Cuoco, who played Ritter’s daughter on 8 Simple Rules, said “John was one of my favorite people on Earth so I’ll spend any moment I can to honor and remember him.”
Jason Alexander comes in with a deep admiration for the late Ritter. “John was an absolutely brilliant comedian. Frankly, he was a brilliant actor… and Knotts was a great example of ‘Use what you’ve got.’ Knotts took that wide-eyed, wiry, fidgety frame and used it to create the great underdogs and pretenders. Ritter and Knotts were both singular performers and it’s a joy to celebrate them.”
Asked to explain Three’s Company’s enduring appeal, almost fifty years after its premiere, Richard Kline has a theory: “I think the reason is that the writers never tried to do anything that was topical, political or, in essence, really thought provoking. It has endured because it is an existential farce. The show has been marked as the show about misunderstandings, but basically that is the essence of farce.”
Yasbeck thinks Ritter would be amazed by the show’s ongoing popularity. “He would be thrilled by it! He would light up anytime people came up to him to profess their love of the show and how much it meant to them.”
Perhaps Ron Funches had the simplest and best take about the show’s longevity. “It is timeless. It has a profound rhythm and easy to understand stories. It also has the best sitcom theme song of all time.”
You can watch the reading LIVE from L.A. via livestream on Friday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. on the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health website.
Pluto TV — which has a dedicated channel for Three’s Company that runs the show 24/7 — will then host the event on demand.
