On The Muppet Show, Kermit told his guest to just relax and be himself. The most famous comedic actor on the planet replied, deadpan, that this would be impossible: there was no him, no self at all. He wasn’t doing a bit. He meant it.

This episode explores the ultimate paradox of Peter Sellers, a man who could flawlessly mimic anyone yet was a complete void off screen. We trace how a fractured childhood produced a chameleon with total control over his characters and none over the man playing them, laying the foundation for generations of comedians.

• Being named after a stillborn brother and raised a Jewish boy in a Catholic school by warring parents
• His drummer’s sense of rhythm and the secret tape recordings he used to let characters take over
• The dignity that made Inspector Clouseau timeless and his three roles in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove
• The eight heart attacks in three hours and the paranoia, jealousy, and cruelty that wrecked his family
• His final triumph in Being There, a role mirroring his own emptiness, and the spiteful jokes he scripted from beyond the grave