John Cage (character)
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John Cage is a fictional character in the television show Ally McBeal, played by Peter MacNicol.
John Cage is one of only five characters to have appeared as a regular in all five seasons of the show. The other four characters are Ally McBeal, Richard Fish, Vonda Shepard, and Elaine Vassal.
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[edit] Background
John Cage founded the law firm Cage & Fish along with his best friend Richard Fish (played by Greg Germann). John is initially a shy and reclusive person who isn't seen around the office much. However, when Richard hires new associate Ally McBeal, the two become friends and John slowly becomes a more easy-going, social person. John first met Ally when she had to defend him in court for hiring a prostitute. After this the two forge a close personal relationship with Ally often turning to John concerning her insecurities, relationships, and more often than not her hallucinations. It soon turns out that John and Ally both have very vivid imaginations which is the main reason why they 'get' each other.
John also proves himself to be an excellent litigator, usually winning his cases with tricks and distraction tactics rather than winning the case on the merits. John takes pride in his superiority in the court room, claiming it is one of the only places where he knows for certain he won't be ridiculed.
John has a pet frog called Steffan whom he has trained to perform several tricks. He later gets a second frog from his colleague Nelle Porter which he calls Millie, as a tribute to the hamster that Nelle had as a child.
To outsiders John often comes across as a 'funny little man', which is also the nickname by which colleague Ling Woo continually calls him. Close friends often refer to John by the nickname 'The Biscuit.' Cage told a story of the nickname once, indicating that he had been a chubby child, and that the nickname was a reference to the Pilsbury Doughboy. John also has a few 'catch-phrases'. Whenever he feels attracted to a woman, he confides in Richard by telling him: 'Richard, I am drawn to that woman'. In court, John often tells the judge 'this jury pleases me' whenever the jury has given a satisfactory response. Whenever John has problems with something he will express it by telling everyone 'it troubles me'. Last but not least, John is also known for his often used phrase 'I'm going to take a moment'. These catch-phrases became so recognizable that at one point, when Richard was highly agitated, Richard yelled at John: 'and if that troubles you then go stand on a railroad and take a moment'.
[edit] John's eccentricities
[edit] The Dismount
The law firm of Cage & Fish is famous for its unisex bathroom. A running gag throughout the show is John's falling out of a bathroom stall with the excuse that he is unable to perform his dismount. The dismount is presumably a gymnastic procedure. When he is finally able to do the dismount you see him do a 360 degrees swing on the frame of the toilet cubicle and release in mid air, ending up landing on his feet. However, there have been a great many mishaps with John's dismount. Once, he did not see Ally, began his dismount and knocked Ally into a toilet.
[edit] Barry White
Barry White is John's idol and he cannot perform properly in court or in the bedroom if he cannot draw inspiration from the persona of White. Whenever John needs inspiration he stands in front of a mirror, most often in the unisex bathroom, and starts dancing to White's song "You're My First, My Last, My Everything" which he hears in his mind. Occasionally, John also dances to other songs by White. Whenever other people walk in on John's dancing they often join in.
[edit] Nose Whistle
John was famous for his nose whistle, a whistling sound he would make, both on purpose and involuntarily, through his nose. The nose whistle was also one of John's tactics for making opposing lawyers nervous in court since John was also capable of making it sound as if the whistle came from someone else's nose.
[edit] Remote Controls
John has a remote control that operates one of the toilets in the unisex bathroom. The remote control makes it flush before he enters the room. A later update of his remote control also puts the toilet seat up and down. John's excuse for the remote control is his much heard excuse "I like a fresh bowl".
Besides the remote control for the toilet bowl, John also has a remote control for his girlfriend Nelle Porter. Due to the significant height difference between the two, John invents remote controlled shoes for Nelle so he just has to push a button for the heels of Nelle's shoes to shorten, thereby making Nelle shorter. Later on he also designs a remote control that controls Nelle's hair pins.
[edit] The Hole
In the bathroom stall that John always uses, the back wall slides back to reveal a small concealed room which John uses to escape from the real world when he needs to think. He hasn't shown the room to anyone when he first shows it to his girlfriend Melanie West (played by Anne Heche). He later also shows the hole to Richard when he wants to strengthen their friendship.
[edit] John as a Trial Attorney
Whenever someone had a case that was almost impossible to win, they would turn to John. If a case couldn't be won on the merits, John would employ an impressive array of stunts and distraction tactics ranging from his famous nose whistle and creaking shoes to accidentally setting off a blow torch in the court room or having the jury sing along to the song "You've Got Trouble" from the film The Music Man. This way, John managed to win quite a few cases that would otherwise have been impossible to win.
John prepares the first draft of his closing by walking around in the office bare-feet.
[edit] Love Life
When John meets his new colleague Nelle Porter (played by Portia de Rossi), he immediately confides to Richard that he is "drawn" to her. Nelle finds out (because Richard told her) and confronts John after which they start a tentative relationship. However, the relationship brings up many embarrassing situations. One such situation was when John overheard Nelle telling Ling that she had a fantasy of being spanked, after which John decided to be spontaneous and attempts to fulfill Nelle's fantasy. Unfortunately, John failed to hear the part where Nelle told Ling that she did not want the fantasy to become a reality. So when John suddenly started spanking Nelle frantically with a hair brush, Nelle screamed in pain and threw John out of her apartment. After many more arguments and misunderstandings the relationship eventually dissolved.
A while later John starts dating Melanie West (played by Anne Heche), who has Tourette syndrome. The relationship becomes so serious that John eventually asks Melanie to marry him. When she declines because she doesn't believe in marriage and then tells John she isn't capable of spending her entire life with one person, John ends the relationship.
At the beginning of season five John realises that he is in love with Ally, something he was already thinking about since the first season. He eventually picks up the courage to ask her out but she rejects him. He seems okay with this decision until he discovers that Ally is interested in a newly hired assosciate named Glenn Foy. John then disappears for 4 episodes. He returns for three episodes but subsequently leaves again on a trip to Mexico, it is then later revealed that John is a member of a mariachi band in a Mexican restaurant.
