Profile : Brian Benben’s Recurring Dream

Brian Benben’s a funny guy.

That’s no secret to fans of HBO’s award-winning adult comedy series “Dream On,” which begins its fourth season Wednesday. The one-hour opener, directed by executive producer John Landis, features Tom Poston, Tommy Smothers, Phyllis Diller, Jack Carter, Jason Alexander and James Woods.

As Martin Tupper, the divorced baby-boomer book editor who grew up in front of the tube, Benben is one of the most physically adept comedic actors working today. In person, the easygoing actor is just as R-rated funny as his small-screen alter ego. And like Martin, he grew up watching old TV shows and movies.

“The television I was watching was mostly stuff from the ‘50s, repeat shows like ‘My Little Margie,’ ” Benben says, during a break in filming.

A major movie buff, Benben plasters the walls of his dressing room with such movie posters as “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Sex and the Single Girl.” His favorite classic film, he says, is George Stevens’ comedy “The More the Merrier.” And Benben does a mean impression of Tony Curtis in “Spartacus.”

Until “Dream On,” Benben, married to actress Madeleine Stowe (“Last of the Mohicans”), was known primarily for his dramatic work--in films (“Clean and Sober”), TV (“The Gangster Chronicles”) and theater (“The Slab Boys”).

“It seemed like really early on when I was in New York doing theater I always played some kind of slimy character,” recalls Benben. Like his character in “Slab Boys,” whom he describes as “a very officious kind of snob who had the worst skin in Scotland. That’s the main memory of that character,” Benben says, laughing. “It was funny. Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Val Kilmer were in it, and they were all becoming these sort of young movie stars. They would walk on stage and the first 10 rows would be nothing but young women going, ‘ Whew! Whew!’ Then I could walk out and they would go, ‘ Oh , God!’ ‘

Benben wasn’t really the “Dream On” producers’ first choice for Martin. “There was some thought of finding a ‘major star,’ ” acknowledges executive producer Kevin S. Bright. That’s until casting director Karen Rea brought Benben in to audition. “When we saw Brian, that was it,” Bright recalls. “There wasn’t any doubt in our minds, he was the character.”

“It was pretty fast,” Benben recalls. “I auditioned and we started to work.”

“From the beginning, it became very quickly apparent he was such a great physical comedian,” Bright says. “We knew he was a great actor and knew how to sell the joke, but the physical part of it is the unique talent.”

A good part of the show’s charm comes from Benben’s remarkable, subtle ability to react to the clips from vintage TV shows and movies that illustrate his inner thoughts, and which are a hallmark of the show.

“He really created a new style of acting, the thing with the clips and relating to them, not making it into a self-conscious thing,” Bright says. “It becomes very organic.”

Sometimes Benben’s just told to smile, frown, crinkle his eyebrows or just give ‘the famous clip look,’ ” as Bright calls it.

More often, Benben has a chance to view the clips so he can work on his reactions. “If you can match them physically, you can match them physically in different ways,” Benben says.

The actor has genuine affection for Martin. “It’s funny because I have heard the character described to me as some kind of a zhlub ,” he says. “I always take exception to that because that is not how I view him at all. He seems like somebody who is always fighting against things. He is always optimistic.”

And Benben’s protective of Martin. In the new season’s first episode, Benben wasn’t happy with a plot point. “It was very hotly contested,” he says.

The episode finds Martin videotaping his teen-age son Jeremy (Chris Demetral) when he accidentally tapes a children’s TV host, Uncle Bouncy (Tom Poston), in a compromising position with a hooker in the alley.

“He is told by various people to take his tape and make some money,” Benben says. “Originally, they had Martin selling it to the networks. I said, ‘You can’t do that because he is so culpable there is not really a road back from that, at least in my mind.’ ”

Benben won the argument. Instead of selling the tape, Martin takes it to Uncle Bouncy, who turns out to be a foul, disgusting person who treats Martin like dirt.

For all its silliness, “Dream On” has tackled controversial subjects. Last season, it presented a tender episode in which Martin befriends a writer dying of AIDS. And in an upcoming show, Martin and his latest girlfriend Kate (Roxanne Hart) break up because he supports her pregnant daughter’s wish to have an abortion.

“It seems there is room for both” kinds of shows, silly and serious, Benben says. “We have some shows that are very issue-oriented, and there are those others which are just a sort of silly romp.”

Though there are still plenty of sex-capades on ‘Dream On,” fans have noticed less nudity. “As time goes by, we are more successful than not in making the nudity less germane,” he says, adding with a wide grin, “the older I get, the less I will be nude.”

“Dream On” airs Wednesday at 10:45 p.m.; it will air subsequent Wednesdays at 10:30 p.m. on HBO.