A star is born: This TV exec is funny

Is that Jeff Zucker playing with his Game Boy while chatting on the phone with one of Hollywood’s top agents and then forgetting his name?

Is that him cursing in the hallways of NBC, in utter disbelief as Kirstie Alley walks by? Is that Zucker, the president of NBC Universal Television Group, yelling at her agent on the phone, “You are such a liar! She is so fat.”

Yes, yes and yes.

When Showtime launches “Fat Actress” in March, a “fictional reality” comedy starring Alley, viewers will see Zucker playing himself in the improvisational show’s pilot episode.

If it seems odd that a TV executive would take an acting gig, others have come before him.

Leslie Moonves, who oversees CBS for Viacom, has made a side career out of playing himself on television (“The Practice” and “Chicago Hope”). Former NBC entertainment president Warren Littlefield gave it a shot a time or two in the 1990s. And even HBO Chairman Chris Albrecht dabbled in it at this year’s Emmys live telecast, opposite Moonves.

“That he [Zucker] agreed to do it was not that surprising,” said “Fat Actress” executive producer Brenda Hampton. “That we got such a great performance out of him was thrilling.

“When we saw what he could do, we just kept adding to it,” she said. “He was so comfortable in front of the camera, and he was genuinely funny.”

“Fat Actress,” which stars Alley as herself and other celebrities who sometimes play themselves, is an improvised comedy like HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” In the pilot, John Travolta plays himself, but his wife, Kelly Preston, plays a wacky healer named Quinn Taylor Scott.

Alley demands that her agent, Sam Rascal (a fictional version of William Morris’ head of television, Sam Haskell), land her a meeting with a network executive to pitch her own show. Since Alley spent several years on the peacock network working on “Cheers” and “Veronica’s Closet,” Zucker was a natural fit, said Haskell, who approached the executive about his small-screen debut.

As president of NBC Universal Television Group, Zucker oversees the network’s television operations, including prime-time and cable programming. So he has dealt firsthand with pitches for new programs.

“We’ve all been in those awkward network meetings and people try to keep the conversation going and be nice to each other,” said Bob Greenblatt, president of programming at Showtime.

“He did it very realistically. He did a lot of asides, looks to other people, the rolling of the eyes.”

Greenblatt said he’d hire Zucker for any of his new shows, including the dramas. And Hampton, the show’s executive producer, said a song-and-dance number could be in Zucker’s future if he returns to “Fat Actress.” At the end of each episode, Alley dances with someone famous.

Zucker declined an interview but issued a statement to The Times saying he found it most challenging to keep a straight face “when I was continually calling Kirstie a fat slob.”

So will Zucker exchange his power suit for performing? Haskell said he was ready to have the NBC executive sign “a rich and famous contract” so he can become his agent and help land him other television appearances.

“Even I had to laugh out loud when he forgets who he is talking to when he’s on the phone with the guy who plays me,” Haskell said.

“Of course, that would never happen in real life.”