 In 2006 , he made his Broadway debut in Herman Wouk 's two @-@ act play The Caine Mutiny Court @-@ Martial . Schwimmer played the role of Lieutenant Barney Greenwald in the production , which was directed by Jerry Zaks . In an interview with New York magazine , he revealed that he had wanted to try Broadway , however said " a couple of things came up that just never quite felt right . Either because I liked the play but wasn ’ t hot on the director , or there was another star attached that I wasn 't jazzed about working with " . He further added that when showed a copy of Wouk 's novel " ... I was shocked at how good the writing was " . His next film role was in the 2006 black comedy Big Nothing , in which he played a bitter , unemployed scientist . 
