Locked within the serious medical drama that is
"House" (which each week chronicles the solving of a medical mystery) there is a
comedian striving to get out. He's a real comedian, too. Hugh Laurie was a popular British television presence
in the ... more1980s, part of a third wave of younger comics including Stephen Fry, Ben Elton and Robbie Coltrane, among others, picking up the
surrealistic banner formerly waved by "The Goon Show" and "Monty Python." House the
character and "House" the show both gamble with our desire that House ultimately
be a nice guy, not the angry, self-pitying, self-esteem-crushing bull in an ER
that he never fails to be. House adopts the annoying pose of the truth-teller,
that person compelled to acknowledge the elephant in the surgery, but as the
series has gone on, it's become clear that this is a strategy to deflect
self-examination. Though sentimental, "House" is also quite funny, especially in
the repartee between House and his boss, Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) and his supposed best friend,
oncologist Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), whom he abuses
mercilessly (though this season, Wilson is getting some back). Close
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