Somehow, the sooner the better, David Hyde Pierce should be designated an official National Treasure. My theater buddy and I ...

"We did not know at that time that either one of us was gay, and we just hung out as best friends," David Hyde Pierce tells PEOPLE about first meeting his now-husband, Brian Hargrove, in 1982 ...

Regardless of the role, David Hyde Pierce plays basically the same nebbish guy — and always, he's simply marvelous on stage.

All David Hyde Pierce has to do is step out on stage, and he gets applause, even before he launches into the idiotic tongue-twister from "The Pirates of Penzance": With practically no expression ...