by Telemachus Gaffiganiakis
Aug. 31, 2006
Actor Richard Kline, best known for playing the goofy yet hilarious scumbucket Larry Dallas on Three's Company, put aside rumors that he and fitness guru Gilad Janklowicz are one in the same person in an exclusive interview with The Underground Nincompoop. "I am not Gilad," Kline said, "though looking at the shape he's in, I'd certainly love to be!"
Rumors began to swirl in the late 1980s about Kline, who had done an array of guest appearances on television shows after the demise of Three's Company, potentially being the Israeli-born Gilad, who at that point, had established himself as a personality on ESPN and later on his television show "Bodies in Motion" on FitTV. "It was preposterous. I could never get into as good shape as Gilad. Didn't you see that episode where I sang at Jack's Bistro and wore the disco shirt with my chest hair popping out? Diehard fans of the show will remember it and know that my chest was not as sculpted as Gilad."
The rumors continued into the 1990s with both Kline and Gilad saying they had to continuously deny the claims to tabloid magazines and were stuck in precarious situations in which fans confused one of them with the other. "It was very annoying, but then the whole overblown Josh Saviano (Paul Pfeiffer from The Wonder Years) is Marilyn Manson rumor began to spread like crazy, and my hair began to gray, so I think people realized it wasn't possible."
"I just want to put the rumor to rest," Kline said, "and, in fact, I'd love to meet Gilad." In response, Gilad said, "I'd love to meet him, too. I loved Three's Company. It was one of my favorite shows when I first came to America." The Underground Nincompoop is arranging for Kline and Gilad to sit down to a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and skim milk. Josh Saviano and Marilyn Manson could not be reached for comment, and, presumably, will not attend the breakfast.
Could this man...
have become this man?