CHICAGO — As Murray Bauman on “Stranger Things,” Brett Gelman said he channeled a number of Chicago performers into the character, from John Belushi to Harold Ramis to Bill Murray. “All those guys are very influential on the Murray performance because all those guys were omnipresent forces in ‘80s comedy” — which makes sense for a show set in the ‘80s.
“I’m just grateful for the whole arc that (show creators Matt and Ross Duffer) gave me this season,” said Gelman. “They made Murray very much a hero. I was talking to Matt the other day and he was like, ‘People are liking Action Murray!’ I get to fire a flamethrower! You start a career and you find a niche and then the artistic process is like, what more can I do? And being able to do martial arts and action sequences, it made me really hunger to do more of it.”
A Highland Park native, Gelman’s credits include roles on everything from “Fleabag” to “American Dad.” Up next, he’ll star in his own comedy series for Showtime called “Entitled,” about an American widower who travels to a crumbling gothic mansion in the English countryside to meet his wife’s estranged family.
