Rudy Thurber is a recurring character in season four of Only Murders in the Building. He is a resident of the West Tower of the Arconia and is portrayed by Kumail Nanjiani.
History[]
Rude met Milton Dudenoff when he was taking Dudenoff's film class in pursuit of his dream of being an actor. After watching "A Few Good Men" in class, Rudy found Dudenoff at a bus stop and performed an entire monologue from the movie. Dudenoff enjoyed this and invited Rudy back to his place to play "Oh Hell" When Rudy expressed to Dudenoff that he wanted to be able to stay in the city and keep trying, Dudenoff invited Rudy to live in one of the rent-controlled apartments he'd leased when his wife was living. When he learned he had a terminal illness, he invited all of them, except Helga, to meet him in the basement. He asked them not to tell Helga, but he had taken a large number of pills in order to kill himself. He recorded a message for them to share with Helga to explain it to her if she found out. Then he asked them to burn his body in the incinerator and tell everyone he moved to Portugal. That would allow them to keep cashing his Social Security checks and continue living in the Arconia. This worked well for a few years until development started on the Only Murders in the Building movie.[2]
Rudy lives in the West Tower of the Arconia.[3] When Sazz Pataki was shot in Charles's apartment, he was the only resident on his floor who wasn't playing cards. Wanting to talk to Rudy, Mabel went over to his apartment. She was surprised to find Eva Longoria already there talking to him. Rudy served them protein eggnog. When a ham radio nearby started playing the theme from Perfect Strangers, Rudy got up to put it away. While he was out of the room, Mabel began snooping around his apartment. She tried to make excuses when he got back, but Eva decided to be more direct as she had dinner plans. She started breaking Rudy's decorations to upset him and then pulled a gun off his wall and fired it, accusing him of being the killer. Unbeknownst to her, it wasn't a real gun. Rudy ultimately confessed that he hated Christmas, so he had no motive to kill Charles, as their proposed motive was Charles getting real Christmas trees banned from the building. He only made Christmas-themed content because it was the only content people actually watched from him. He was actually miserable keeping up the facade. Mabel apologized and asked him about the tinsel. He looked at it and attempted to light it with a lighter. Then he said it wasn't tinsel as it didn't catch the flame and tinsel is highly flammable.[1]
The Westies all took notice when Mabel began squatting in the Dudenoff apartment in the hopes of forcing him to come to the Arconia to kick her out. When Howard left the apartment unattended, they entered it and started moving Mabel's things out. She returned before they could get her bed out and she asked what kind of cult they were in. They said it wasn't a cult and finally admitted that they'd been illegally subletting their apartments from Professor Dudenoff, who had rented them himself when the Arconia was affordable. They'd each met Dudenoff at some point and he realized what weirdos they were and agreed to sublet apartments to them for only $200/month. Eventually, he retired to Portugal, but still sent them a ham once a month and collected their rent. They offered to bring Mabel into the scheme if she kept it out of the podcast. They also said that the voice on the ham radio was Rudy's ex-girlfriend Helga, who was crazy.[4]
Rudy and Vince purchased a drone at an estate sale. While they were getting ready to test it out, Charles, Mabel, and Oliver came to their place to ask them about Vince's appearance in Tawny and Trina Brothers' student film. Vince readily admitted to it and said that he did it as a favor to Dudenoff, who was their film professor as well as Tawny and Trina's. They were Dudenoff's favorites, but not the rest of the group's. They were always fawning over him. When Charles asked them to fly the drone over to the production office to spy on Trina and Tawny, they agreed. And when he suggested that Dudenoff might not be in Portugal, but in New York, they insisted it couldn't be true as he would never come to town without saying hi. They then lost control of the drone and it ended up crashing into the window when Charles pulled it down.[5]
The Westies panicked when Vince got a call on the Dudenoff phone and relayed to them that someone knew they'd been cashing Dudenoff's checks at a bodega.[6] When the trio invited them to a game of Oh Hell with the three actors playing them in the movie, the Westies accepted and happily came to Oliver's place for the game. However, after they arrived, they shut the door, pulled out a knife, and said they knew they knew about the checks. They demanded that everyone hand over their phones. They denied killing Dudenoff and, one at a time, explained how they had met Dudenoff and come to live in the Arconia in one of his apartments. Then Dudenoff made good on his dream to live in Portugal and left. And they hadn't heard from him since. They kept up the ruse by cashing his checks. Just as they finished, Helga came to the door and said she was there to tell the truth. She shared her own story of meeting Dudenoff and coming to live in the Arconia after her father's death. She believed the Westies had killed Dudenoff because she'd gotten a letter saying he had moved to Portugal and then they began acting strangely. This led to her eventually moving out. Helga's revelation forced the Westies to tell the truth. The night of the power surge, Dudenoff invited all of them except Helga to the basement. He had a terminal illness and had taken a large amount of pills. He asked them to burn his body in the incinerator and keep cashing his checks so they could continue to live in the Arconia together. He recorded a message for Helga in case she found out, but didn't want her to know because she had had a hard time bouncing back after her father's death. They showed her the recorded message and then held her as she cried. They asked her to move back in and she agreed to do so.[2]
Vince hired Rudy to be his personal trainer and they were working on exercises when Oliver and Charles came to the door, asking to get to Vince's window because Mabel was being held hostage in her apartment by Marshall P. Pope, whom they had learned was Sazz's actual killer. Vince and Rudy helped by going to Mabel's door and knocking to distract Marshall, allowing Charles and Oliver to get inside without him knowing.[7]
Personality[]
Relationships[]
He has an ex-girlfriend, Helga, who is from Finland.[4]
Career[]
He is a fitness influencer who makes Christmas-themed videos because the first one he did went viral.[1]
Notes and Trivia[]
Gallery[]
Episodic[]
Episode Stills[]
Appearances[]
| Season Four | |||||
| #01 | "Once Upon a Time in the West" | #05 | "Adaptation" | #09 | "Escape From Planet Klongo" |
| #02 | "Gates of Heaven" | #06 | "Blow-Up" | #10 | "My Best Friend's Wedding" |
| #03 | "Two for the Road" | #07 | "Valley of the Dolls" | ||
| #04 | "The Stunt Man" | #08 | "Lifeboat" | ||
| List of Characters | ||
| MAIN | Charles-Haden Savage • Oliver Putnam • Mabel Mora • Howard Morris • Jan Bellows • Oscar Torres | |
| RECURRING | Tim Kono • Donna Williams • Sazz Pataki • Teddy Dimas • Theo Dimas • Zoe Cassidy • Ursula • Cinda Canning • Uma Heller • Arnav Kapoor • Bunny Folger • Lester • Poppy White • Ndidi Idoko • Grover Stanley • Amy Huang • Will Putnam • Sam • Paulette • Marv • Alice Banks • Daniel Kreps • Joy Payne • Lucy • Ben Glenroy • Bobo Malone • Cliff DeMeo • Dickie Glenroy • Donna DeMeo • Jonathan Bridgecroft • Kimber Min • K.T. Knoblauer • Loretta Durkin • Tobert • Eugene Levy • Eva Longoria • Zach Galifianakis • Marshall P. Pope • Vince Fish • Rudy Thurber • Milton Dudenoff • Glen Stubbins • Bev Melon | |
| GUEST | Sting • Roberta Putnam • José Torres • Jimmy Fallon • Silvia Mora • Amy Schumer • Matthew Broderick • Scott Bakula • Doreen • Ron Howard | |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Two for the Road" (2024). Season 4, episode 3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Lifeboat" (2024). Season 4, episode 8.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Gates of Heaven" (2024). Season 4, episode 2.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Stunt Man" (2024). Season 4, episode 4.
- ↑ "Blow-Up" (2024). Season 4, episode 6.
- ↑ "Valley of the Dolls" (2024). Season 4, episode 7.
- ↑ "My Best Friend's Wedding" (2024). Season 4, episode 10.