Dan Butler was always a welcome sight on episodes of Frasier. The gay actor came out professionally back in the 1990s when it was still an iffy career move.

That he played it super-straight as "Bulldog" on that show was an even cooler move. Since Frasier, the actor's been seen in guest spots on other shows (House, Monk), but will renegotiate his image in the dark indie comedy Chronic Town.

Reported to be a character study (with a title appropriated from an R.E.M. album) about a lonely cab driver in Fairbanks, Alaska, the film features Butler in a supporting role as a character named Blow Job.

What this all means, exactly, is anyone's guess, but it certainly can't make a guy's life easy to have that name on his driver's license.

The film debuts at Sundance in January with a theatrical release to follow.

Last update: 12-19-2007 22:10