Working Class Demon by Tara Dilullo
Many highly memorable recurring characters have come and gone throughout Angel‘s five-year run – Holtz, The Beast, Mr. Pee Pee – but demon Skip definitely proved to be one with viewers. Actor David Denman discusses his stint on the show.

The scene: a fiery Hell Dimension…
    Angel: “So, ah, you live in here, Skip?”
  Skip: “No, I commute. It’s not too bad – about 20 minutes.”
  With those immortal words, a demon star was born. Over five seasons, Angel has introduced a multitude of beastly creatures, but few have attracted the fans’ love like the ferocious-looking but laid-back demon, Skip. Introduced in Season Three’s ‘That Vision Thing,’ Skip became an immediate cast and fan favourite returning for three more episodes over two seasons. The down-to-earth demon was eventually revealed to be far more diabolical than ever expected, which, in turn, provided the actor behind the towering creation, David Denman, an ever-exciting recurring stint on the series.
   Originally from Orange County, California, David knew in high school that acting was his calling. A Julliard graduate, theatre was his first love, but despite his plans to pursue a career in New York City, Los Angeles grabbed him first. “I came back to LA on a vacation to see my family and I agreed to do some auditions while I was there, One of my first auditions was ER and I got the job, so my agents convinced me to stay in LA,” David details. “Then I worked as a waiter for six months before getting TV work on Chicago Hope and a pilot and since then I haven’t had to take a regular job.”
    David reveals that one of his most memorable gigs was a guest spot on The X-Files, in Season Six’s mind-bending ‘Field Trip’. “My roommate was a huge X-Files fan and made me watch it every Sunday night, and I really got into it. When I got an audition for the show, I was really pumped and I got it! It was really fun, but it did blow all the mystery out of it because I was walking around Mulder’s office and hanging out with the cast for lunch. I don’t think I’ve watched the show since,” he muses.
    Almost two years later, David landed another genre role – this time on Angel. “I think I had seen the show once or twice and I knew what the premise was as I had read the pilot. But I read for Buffy a couple of times and met Joss Whedon when I read for Riley. He wasn’t there when I auditioned for Skip, though.” When David auditioned for the role, he was only given the slightest inclination of what he was about to embark upon. “They asked if I had a problem with prosthetics and I thought it would be really cool because I had never done anything like that before.” David was quickly awarded the part and then the fun began. “Within a couple of days, I had to get a complete body cast at Almost Human. I had to put all the goop on and they were very clear on what I should expect. They made me very comfortable.”
    Afterwards, David was shown the designs for Skip and he got a bit nervous. “It was pretty impressive. I got to the make-up department, and three-and-a-half hours later I was like, ‘Wow, this was more than I anticipated.’ The first day took 16 hours, because you have to come in early and stay late after to take it off. The make-up for Skip was so extensive; I was fried,” he laughs.
    David related that wearing the Skip gear was a completely new experience for him as an actor. “It was inhibiting, but it was difficult talking through the teeth. The hardest part was hearing. It was kind of like being underwater. I remember doing a scene with David Boreanaz where he was far away and he was talking to himself, but my lines were coming in and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear. Someone is going to have to point to me when it’s my turn to speak’,” he laughs. Being graceful was another problem, too. “The difficulty was getting in and out of doors with the big spikes. I’m 6’4” and, with them on, I was about 7′. I would have to duck and turn sideways and inevitably I’d forget. And then there was the time when I had to go to the restroom. It was raining so I couldn’t go to the regular restroom and they sent me to an office building. It was late at night and I’m looking for the restroom in full costume and I ended up walking by a whole boardroom meeting and they gasped. I said, ‘I’m looking for the restroom?’ I think they were the Star Trek: Enterprise people so they were kind of used to it, but they were still shocked,” he chuckles.
   Despite the hardships, David loved the initial direction the producer took the character. “The joke is that he is just this regular guy. I think Jeff Bell, when he wrote it, had him clearly in mind from the beginning. He wrote a great part. I think their comments at the audition were, ‘He’s just a regular guy doing a job.’” With his episode scenes complete and the make-up removed, David admits he had second thoughts about ever donning such extensive prosthetics again. “After that first episode, I felt that it was an extreme experience and I didn’t feel like I wanted to do it again. But everyone liked the character and they brought him back. I really liked him too, but I wasn’t excited about getting all that make-up again. But alas, I kept saying yes!” he smiles.
    Returning as Skip was actually a big surprise for David. “It was always a one-shot deal, but I had been told it was ‘possible-recurring’. I remember talking to Jeff Bell about it, asking what ‘possible-recurring’ means. He said, ‘you never know with this show because we bring people back’.”
    It was the outpouring of Skip support that helped resurrect the cameo demon, a fact which David was completely oblivious to. “I had no idea people dug him so much. I went to the 2002 Posting Board Party and that’s when it all became clear. I was blown away by the fans’ enthusiasm. But what’s funny is that nobody knows what I look like outside of the make-up. On set, you just become that guy playing him. The only person who really knew me was the PA who let me in and out. At the party, I remember seeing the cast members and saying, ‘Hey, I’m David,’ and they were like, ‘Who are you?’ and we had spent days talking and eating lunch together. It was so bizarre! But I did run into Jeff Bell there and he told me I was probably coming back. They talked at the time about bringing me back as the nanny for Connor, but they went with Lorne instead.”
    True to his word, Jeff Bell brought Skip back in an interesting role  as Cordy’s spirit guide in Season Three’s ‘Birthday’. “When I got back on set, everybody continued to fill me in on how popular the character was,” David explains. “I was still kind of oblivious to it, but since I have done more episodes, I get it now. Also, a good friend of mine watched the show religiously and he didn’t even know I was Skip, because I didn’t tell him I was on the show. When he found out, he was like, ‘That is one of my favourite characters!’” David laughs. “So whenever I got called back, I would ask him what had been going on since I was gone. He filled me in on everything.”
    After ‘Birthday’, Skip made one last appearance in the Season Three finale ‘Tomorrow’, as Cordy ascended. “They brought him back as a guide and I thought for sure that would be my last time on the show. ” Wrong again. David was called back for the fourth season episode, ‘Inside Out’, and all hell broke loose with his character. The apparently innocuous demon turned out to be evil – a key player in manipulating the Angel gang into helping bring the Big Bad, Jasmine, to Earth. “There was no prior warning leading up to that, but I loved the script,” David says. “I loved my last episode and that he is the bad guy. It was my favourite episode.
    Skip didn’t return to the series before it ended – he’d been shot and chopped into pieces, after all – but David was proud of the mark his character left on the show. “What was so great about Angel was that a character like Skip could exist. Where else do you see that? Nowhere. It was written very well and the creative process was such that we worked together to bring him to life. It was such a collaborative process.”