I HEARD WHAT YOU WERE SAYING! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY WORK! YOU MEAN MY WHOLE FALLACY IS WRONG. HOW YOU GOT TO TEACH A COURSE IN ANYTHING IS TOTALLY AMAZING! As the world pauses to reflect on his intellectual legacy upon the centennial of Marshall McLuhan's birth, I'll go in a different direction—name your favorite cameos by non-actors portraying themselves on screen.**
Three films with which I'll start: Bill Murray in Zombieland; James Taylor and Eminem in Funny People; and Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. ("You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friends says you owe him.")
** Okay. I totally went away from "non-actors" when it came to constructing the list. Oops. Pretend I listed Kareem Abdul-Jabaar in Airplane! and Jann Wenner in Almost Famous instead.
(Wait, the first and third are non-actors?)
ReplyDeleteSpringsteen in High Fidelity.
Stan Lee in Mallrats.
Mike Tyson in Black and White.
ReplyDeleteKareem Abdul Jabaar in Airplane!
Everyone in that end sequence in Jay & Silent Bob gets a prize, especially the Dawson and the Pie F***er.
ReplyDeleteKurt Vonnegut in Back To School.
Alice Cooper's wonderful Mila-wa-kee speech in Wayne's World.
Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore.
I have more but I can't wait to see what else people come up with.
Both excellent choices. Lee is great powering through Jason Lee's insane questions.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could describe that Tyson-Downey Jr scene. It's really electric.
ReplyDeleteLance Armstrong in Dodgeball.
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie in Bandslam
ReplyDeleteNot sure if it counts, but I liked the Roy Firestone cameo at the end of Jerry Maguire in which he interviews Rod Tidwell and goads him into crying.
You know, I still have a soft spot for Brett Farve in the end of Something About Mary (and I don't like football nor Farve, so this soft spot is kind of weird and alarming, maybe its mold?)
ReplyDeleteDavid Bowie in Zoolander.
ReplyDeleteDoes NPH in Harold and Kumar count?
ReplyDeleteXavier McDaniel in Singles.
ReplyDeleteVernon Jones on The Good Wife, Just kidding. He was kind of painfully bad.
ReplyDeleteShawn Colvin on Treme?
Going with more Cameron Crowe, Mookie Blaylock/Pearl Jam in Singles, listening to Matt Dillon's free-form nonsense and nodding along.
ReplyDeleteLance Armstrong in Dodgeball.<span><span> "I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever."</span></span>
ReplyDeleteThe Altman fan in me wants to say Alex Trebek in "Short Cuts", even if it was dialogue-free. The geek in me wants to say Alex Trebek in the X-Files episode "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'".
ReplyDeleteBowie already had a number of legit film acting credits under his belt by the time of these two cameos (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Hunger, and Absolute Beginners, just to name a few), so I'm not sure he fits the category. But in any case, my choice for a Bowie cameo as himself would be his bit in "Extras."
ReplyDeleteBowie already had a number of legit film acting credits under his belt by the time of these two cameos (The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Hunger, and Absolute Beginners, just to name a few), so I'm not sure he fits the category. But in any case, my choice for a Bowie cameo as himself would be his bit in "Extras."
ReplyDeleteAnd the Cliff Klavin fan in me would say Alex Trebek in the Jeopardy episode of "Cheers." Name three people who have never been in my kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing to click for "Like This the Best," but I like this the best. The greatest-of-all-time use of a self-cameo.
ReplyDeleteOh great, now you ruined that episode for everyone who hasn't seen it. (Kidding.)
ReplyDeleteSaul Bellow and Susan Sontag in Zelig.
ReplyDeleteMerv Griffin in whichever Steve Martin movie that was.
ReplyDeleteI liked Neil Diamond in Saving Silverman.
ReplyDeleteAl Gore on Futurama the first time.
ReplyDeletePatrick Stewart on Extras. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_cwI1Xj4M
ReplyDeleteStill laugh over Louis Rukeyeser getting slapped out of his cab by Bette Midler in Big Business
ReplyDeleteYou get all the points in the world from me for mentioning Bandslam.
ReplyDeleteBert Parks in "The Freshman"
ReplyDeleteTom Jones in Mars Attacks!
ReplyDelete12-year-old me loved seeing Buzz Aldrin on that Punky Brewster episode about the Challenger. And mentioning Buzz Aldrin makes me think of his appearance on The Simpsons ("Second comes right after first!"). But voice cameos is probably a different category altogether...
ReplyDeleteVonnegut is one of my all time favorites!
ReplyDeleteThere's that whole scene in Ocean's 11 with (then-) Young Hollywood, including Topher Grace and (I believe) Shiri Appelby getting poker lessons from an exasperated Brad Pitt, and then when Clooney, Pitt, and Grace leave the club, there is a mass of screaming fans clawing at Grace and his cohorts while ignoring Pitt and Clooney. Pretty funny scene.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe it's not on Youtube, but I can't find it.
ReplyDeleteThe Man With Two Brains.
ReplyDeleteObviously not non-actors, though one could make an argument about Appelby and that Shane guy that was in the Mandy Moore movie.
ReplyDeleteBuzz Aldrin on 30 Rock, also!
ReplyDeleteAldrin also has a seriously weird cameo as himself in Transformers 3, to provide "legitimacy" to the plot.
ReplyDeleteShaun White in Friends With Benefits. (Can you tell I really want to talk more about that movie? Because I do. It was way better than it had any reason to be.)
ReplyDeleteit's Holly Marie Combs, Topher Grace, Barry Watson from 7th Heaven and Shane West. And I think there's also a line in there one of the fans asks Topher about transitioning from TV to movies that is a dig/thing on George Clooney.
ReplyDelete(I like dvd commentaries, sue me!)
Detlef Schrempf on Parks and Rec!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1LRPff8UQ8
Howard Cosell in Bananas. Providing commentary on both an asssasination and the consumation of Fielding Mellish and Nancy's relationship.
ReplyDeleteWow, I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that Holly Marie Combs exists. I guess I had to know it, because I remembered that there was a woman in that young hollywood set piece, but I could not name anything she's been in. Or picture her face. And Barry Watson right now looks like he's 35 years old .
ReplyDeleteI call shenanigans. He's a recurring character. He's had as many appearances as Li'l Sebastian, and someday will eclipse him.
ReplyDeleteAlmost certainly true, unless there's a Ghost of Li'l Sebastian arc on the drawing board.
ReplyDeleteI fear that movie's been forgotten.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteNeeds a revival then - was that the last watchable Marlon Brando movie?
ReplyDeleteYou had to bring it up. I was just starting to love again.
ReplyDeleteCarmine said one boy...here are two!
ReplyDeleteThe Score wasn't very good, but I remember it as watchable.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part is that Combs is a few months younger than me.
ReplyDeleteI love the Kevin McHale episodes of Cheers.
ReplyDeleteEclipse Li'l Sebastian?! Detlef is obviously amazing, but that miniature horse has an honorary degree from Notre Dame.
ReplyDeleteI love the sequence in Dave with all the real politicians (Christopher Dodd, etc.) being interviewed about the president's performance.
ReplyDelete