Herman Judd

## Herman Twam Judd

**Herman Twam Judd** is a character in the HBO television series *Avenue 5*, portrayed by actor Josh Gad. He is the billionaire face and name behind *Avenue 5* and the whole Judd brand, including hotels, fitness clubs and space tourism. He made his fortune from holiday resorts.

## Personality

HBO describes the character as being "used to a life of luxury" and indicates that following his success with holiday resorts, he "thinks he's good at everything else." However, he is "terrible at science," for which he relies on other people he employs. While he likely comes off as eccentric or just irritating to many, Herman Judd has displayed narcissistic tendencies.

## Appearance

Judd is a chubby and short man with bleached blond hair and dark stubble. It is likely that he's part of Generation Alpha. He wears tracksuit style clothing and normally sunglasses.

## Character Biography

### Avenue 5

Judd has done nothing but cause issues and problems since the gravity shift incident aboard the ship. He insults Susan and NASA to the point she walks out of Judd Mission Control and leaves them to fend for themselves.

When it is revealed in I'm a Hand Model that the Bridge Crew are all actors, it comes to light that Judd has given out so many convoluted and nonsensical orders and demands to his people that he himself no longer knows how the ship is run or what is fake.

InWait a Minute, Then Who Was That on the Ladder? he meets with small groups of passengers in an attempt to keep everyone calm, this isn't due to a sense of guilt over what has happened but a simple attempt to not be sued and end up financially ruined. Throughout the small cocktail party he doges every question involving money and culpability which doesn't actually improve the passengers view of him. When he speaks to Karen Kelly he instantly takes her suggestion to take a photograph on the bridge as something to send back to Earth as a show of unity, not because he thinks it will make people happier or feel safer but because he sees it working out nicely for himself. This plan, of course, fails when the wetsuit pipe ruptures and excrement is blasted out the ship on livestream.

Judd's reckless behavior reaches a high point in He's Only There To Stop His Skeleton Falling Over when he actively encourages the angry passengers to toss Frank Kelly out into space. He jumps on this bandwagon firstly because it shifts blame from Judd himself and his ship to Frank, and secondly because he gets caught up in the mob mentality and doesn't think of the consequences for his encouragement. It isn't until Captain Ryan Clark is forced to step in that Judd calms down and realized what he had been doing. As a result of Ryan's voice of reason Judd claims he'd been making a joke and that everyone else had blown it all out of proportion once again attempting to deflect any and all blame.

In Was It Your Ears? when one of his passengers gives birth he attempts to film the whole whole thing so he can act as 'executive producer'. Judd also thinks it a good idea to use a vacuum to remove the baby from the womb as he wants to 'suck a person our another person'. Judd further displays just how oblivious to other people's thoughts and feelings he is by cutting the umbilical cord - which he calls 'string' - and when less than a minute after the woman has given birth he announces that he intends to keep the placenta, Judd then hands the umbilical cord off to his assistant, Iris, and instructs her to flash freeze it all.

Later, while sulking in his private cabin, Judd speaks with Matt who tries to comfort Judd about the birth of the baby. Unfortunately Judd gets it all messed up by his complete lack of common sense and thinks Matt was suggesting that Judd use lasers to illuminate the excrement that had formed a ring around the ship.

When Karen organizes a meeting between the crew and passengers to air their grievances he dismisses her request for an apology for almost getting her husband, Frank, killed claiming that never says sorry like his hero, Gandhi. Judd then informs everyone about his plan to turn the ring of excrement into a positive thing. No one seems enamoured with the idea and they soon move on to the oxygen issue. Judd quickly latches onto Mia's idea to not let fat people near stairs or inclines until Iris points out that Judd himself is overweight.

With Matt's help Judd announces to the entire ship that they are leaking oxygen and running out of breathable air. He then urges everyone to avoid stairs, breathe less, cut out any unnecessary talking and to only be passive aggressive with one's eyes. Eventually Judd unveils his plan to light up the faecal matter orbiting them and is pleased when everyone thinks the burst of pinks, yellows and purples as well as the glitter is actually rather pretty.

Judd continues his rivalry with Harrison Aimes throughout Are You a Spider, Matt? Most prominently when he plays virtual golf with Harrison, Ryan and Iris. His avatar for 'Judd Golf' is a Judy Garland-like take on Judd with him in a long dress, lipstick and evening gloves, Harrison describes this as 'tragic' which, of course, Judd instantly takes offence to before they're all interrupted by Matt who informs them of the comms coming back online. When Harrison checks his messages he once again yells at Judd and storms off. Judd tries to shout a come-back but it fails miserably and Iris points out that they need a lot of work.

A short time later Harrison serves Judd with legal work and a damning determination to sue and ruin Judd. Iris makes it clear that if Harrison does sue them then there wouldn't be any rescue money for the Avenue 5, as a result Judd steals Iris' idea to have Harrison 'schmoozed' by Ryan. This plan doesn't work and instead Ryan breaks down due to a combination of his impending divorce and the people around him being either stupid or aggravating. Judd corners Ryan so he can yell at him but Ryan pays very little attention and doesn't care all that much. However, after Ryan and Billie announce that they can rendezvous with the rescue ships in six months Judd quickly changes his stance with Ryan and flicks back to liking him. His position changes yet again when he learns that six months wouldn't be enough time for Ryan to learn how to dock the ship with the rescue ships.

After comments made by Matt Spencer about Ryan in This is Physically Hurting Me, Judd stages a pathetic excuse for an intervention for Ryan. What starts out as a calm conversation soon escalates and Judd fires Ryan as captain of the ship. Outraged that he'd being ordered around by a moron Ryan and Judd get into a yelling match which results in Ryan ripping off his hairpiece to the horror of everyone and storming off. Realizing that everyone is staring at him he demands that his assistant, Iris Kimura, gets a new captain quickly; she chooses Spike Martin. Continuing to jump from one argument to another, not long after his confrontation with Ryan, Judd is cornered by Harrison Aimes who had somehow learned about the shuttle coming to pick Judd up. In Aimes' usual way he torments and ridicules Judd only to which Judd reacts ridiculously by doing a very bad English accent in an attempt to insult Harrison. Iris is forced to step in and scare Harrison away which works rather well. As soon as Harrison leaves he's confronted once again by Ryan but it all backfires when the passengers start to think everything is fake and that they could strut out the airlock because they don't believe they're actually in space. Instead of doing anything to calm the situation Judd just stands there confused and looking ready to cry. As things become more serious Judd realizes he needs Ryan as the captain and so reinstates him in an attempt to calm things down. This doesn't work however as one passenger does jettison himself out the airlock. Though he hates Harrison Aimes, Judd does try to get through to him that they are in space and stop Aimes going out but Aimes offers money to anyone who'd help him escape and starts the riot straight back up and Aimes smugly goes to his death.

In the wake of all the deaths Matt vanishes with the airlock codes leaving everyone with no choice but to go in search of him. Ryan breaks everyone down into small groups and sends them off to look while Judd just follows Ryan around like a school boy, he happily admits that he likes seeing Ryan take charge of the crew again and really be a captain. They eventually find Matt completely accidentally only to have the other searchers and Rav Mulcair stumble across them in mass a few moments later. She clearly isn't happy and demands Judd says sorry and explains what has been going on; Judd genuinely seems confused by her insistence for an apology. Judd claims that she works for him which gets him slapped twice and then he runs off to the shuttle to save himself. He yells at Paul - the pilot - to leave but as it's all automated he just pushes a button and sits there. After a quick speech from Jordan Hatwal about how much people on Earth hate him and would likely do him harm, Judd decides not to go back home and thanks Paul for the story about his name. How ever this sparks a free for all over the seats especially when the pilot goes to the bathroom. After Karen's mistake with the airlock is realized and Cyrus says it would be *eight years* until rescue, Iris becomes trapped in the shuttle while Judd screams her name and slams on the large window.

Since Karen's unintentional extension to their time in space, Judd has done his best to distance himself from the problems going on. He's attempted to make himself appear as a non-executive figurehead who has no real input when it comes to the vessel's day-to-day running; Mads has helped him slightly with this. Of course, Judd does actually know what is going on in regards to their lack of food and the eight years it will now take to get back to Earth. When informed of Rav's plan to imprison half the passengers in the lower decks his only response is 'what the fuck', a clear sign he is as against it as the others. This is somewhat surprising for Judd as he's normally the one to endorse the radical or immoral plots and ploys.

While giving a tour of the bridge with Mads to his passenger friends, Iris contacts him to inform Judd of the fact Mission Control has been taken over and that comms will be restored. This accidentally informs the touring passengers about the eight years they'll now have to spend in space. To shift blame from himself Judd ends up enticing a small mob to confront Ryan about the problems and learns that they're now heading for the Sun. He screams at the young girl who caused the course change and starts to panic like everyone else.

## Relationships

### Matt Spencer

Judd doesn't seem to actually like very many people but Matt is one of the small few. Matt has probably entered the list due to him not caring about Judd's stupid comments and the fact he will often play into them. In Was It Your Ears? the pair discuss violence to the newborn baby because Judd is jealous that the baby inspires hope while the passengers have none in him. Later on at the meeting Judd grabs Matt by the arm so they can loop them and refers to him as 'Matty'.

### Harrison Aimes

Judd and Harrison Aimes have a very hostile relationship, the two intensely dislike one another and Judd feels rather inferior compared to Aimes. Harrison is on of the VIP passengers aboard Judd's Avenue 5, and doesn't hesitate to make his irritations and frustrations clear to Judd even if it means yelling in his face. Aimes sees Judd as a pathetic man worth pitying while Judd is quite frankly scared of Aimes in the same way a parent would be scared of getting yelled at by a parent.

### Iris Kimura

Iris Kimura is Judd's personal assistant and the person he relies on to do just about everything for him, whether that be business dealings or simply things such as getting him a meal. While she is sarcastic and sometimes plain rude with him, it is Iris who has the closest relationship with Judd almost to the point of a strange friendship.

## Quotes

* "They're not gonna sue the man who owns the oxygen supply," (Judd to Iris)
* "Regardless, It's my tree and I say yes, we tell now." (Judd to Ryan, Billie and Iris)
* "First of all, I have a much greater social media presence than NASA does. Second, don't you ever talk to me like that again, unless you do it in proper English, which is American." (Judd to Ryan)
* "Iris, come find me. I'm in chickens." (Judd to Iris)
* "I believe in you, but if for whatever reason it doesn't work out I'm gonna name a sports centre or artificial ski slope after you." (Judd to Ryan)
* "I'll be in my cabin with a protein ball and a gun." (Judd to Iris)
* "We're gonna suck a person out of another person." (Judd to Billie and Ryan)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1  HBO. Armando Iannucci to Bring Humor to Space with ‘Avenue 5’ hbo.com. Retrieved on November 24, 2019.