Celebrity Scoop: Garret Dillahunt

On the freshman Fox comedy "Raising Hope," airing Tuesdays (and already renewed), Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton play Burt and Virginia Chance, the good-hearted but hard-luck parents of 20-something Jimmy (Lucas Neff), who has suddenly become the single parent of baby girl Hope (played by twins Baylie and Rylie Cregut).

"Martha and I are both glad it was a plot point," says Dillahunt, "that we're young grandparents."

And he doesn't mind co-starring with babies.

"They turned 1 toward the end of the season," says Dillahunt. "We really like them, and they're getting very comfortable with us. I find myself missing them.

"They are great. I think we won the baby race, if nothing else. They have different skills. Rylie's the Meryl Streep of babies. You bring her in for all the emotional stuff and all the spit-take-type stuff. Baylie's the stunt baby."

After dramatic roles in "Deadwood," "The 4400" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," Dillahunt is also enjoying the half-hour comedy life.

"You know, I'm kind of a goofball in everyday life," he says. "So at least this character, in its way, is much closer to me than anything else I've played. I sure like going to work every day and trying to make each other laugh.

"I started in comedy. One of my first jobs in television when I came out from New York was in a comedy, 'Maximum Bob,' that was an hourlong comedy. The same year I got 'Deadwood,' I got 'A Minute With Stan Hooper.' It was on for 13 episodes, but it was great for me, because it paid for my recurring status on 'Deadwood.'

"It's funny, because I couldn't get an audition for dramatic stuff to save my life for the longest time, because they thought I was a sitcom guy."