[Vocabulary] time killer

[maiabulela]

Dear all,

what is the meaning of "time killer" in the follwoing context?

I'M A RIOT. THE REST OF THE SHOW IS WEAK. UH, I'VE GOT TO BE HONEST, THINGS I SAY ARE BRILLIANT. TOM HANKS AND TIM ALLEN, YOU KNOW, TIME KILLERS.

It was said by an actor about his character. Doeas he mean that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen play just a secondary roles? It will be so weird then to mean that!!!

Waiting for your reply.
Thanks a lot.

 

[Barb_D]

I assume the person is joking, since the other two are very well-known actors.

He is saying that he's the important ones and the others just take up the time until he gets to be funny himself.

Again, I assume he's joking.

 

[BobK]

'Killing time' is an idiom - filling in by doing something trivial, waiting for something more important to happen.

The saying 'Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them' is attributed to Dion Boucicault, but I'm not sure whether it was Dion Boucicault - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia or his son of the same name. Whichever it was, it's pretty neat. ;-)

b