George Clooney spent most of his "struggling actor" years riding to auditions on a bicycle. His first major role came in 1984 in the television medical comedy/drama, E/R. Though it too takes place in a hospital, it should not be confused with ER, which Clooney more famously starred in several years later. Additionally, he played a handyman on the series The Facts of Life.
 
 His first significant break was a semi-regular supporting role in the sitcom Roseanne, playing Roseanne Barr's overbearing boss Booker Brooks, followed by the role of a construction worker on Baby Talk and then as a sexy detective on Sisters. Clooney achieved stardom when he was selected to play Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC hit drama ER.
 
 Prior to his success on ER, he befriended another actor named Grant Heslov, a close friend and frequent collaborator with whom Clooney later co-wrote Good Night, and Good Luck. Heslov was also the president of Section 8 Entertainment, Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh's production company. On August 2006, Clooney and Heslov started a new company: Smoke House. Clooney said in an interview that he was driving an RV through the country with Heslov, who, at the time, was getting over a broken engagement, when he got a phone call from his agent telling him that NBC just picked up ER for a full season. Clooney said, "I think I just got my career."
 
 It has been rumored that Clooney was the one to have circulated the videotape of The Spirit of Christmas (the video greeting card which would inspire South Park) around the Los Angeles area in 1995. He has always been a fan of South Park, and after calling Matt Stone and Trey Parker to tell them this, was invited to play a role in the show as the voice of Stan Marsh's gay dog Sparky in the episode Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride, a role with no dialogue except normal dog noises. He later appeared in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Despite their history, the show's creators, Parker and Stone, lampooned Clooney for his outspoken political views in their feature film Team America: World Police. However, Clooney later said that he would have been offended if he hadn't been made fun of in the film.