# Best acting performance by a comedian **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488 "2005-06-23T04:06:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/1 "2005-06-23T04:06:14Z")
This is a two-parter: 1. What performances by a (standup) comedian in a movie have impressed you the most? The more dramatic the better, though they will no doubt have injected some (or much) humor into the role. 2. Which comedian is the best dramatic actor? My favorites: **Bill Murray** in _Groundhog Day_. I thought he showed a much better range in this than in _The Razor’s Edge_ and _Lost in Translation_. **Robin Williams** in _The World According to Garp_ was IMO better than in _Awakenings_. **Jim Carrey** in _The Truman Show_. I could never get the motivation to watch _The Majestic_; was he any good in it, I wonder? **Steve Martin** in _Roxanne_. I never saw _Grand Canyon_ either. **Adam Sandler** in _Punch Drunk Love_. I would probably give the nod to Bill Murray for the best dramatic actor of all comedians. In addition to the roles I mentioned above, he was good in _The Royal Tenenbaums_ and _Rushmore_, and I look forward to seeing _The Life Aquatic_. I’m sure this thread has been done before, but new movies (and comedians) come out all the time, so there might be new additions to the list. Also, I couldn’t think of any women to put on the list. There has to be at least one. And the role doesn’t have to be lead. As an example, Bill Murray in _Tootsie_. (There he is again!) ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/2 "2005-06-23T04:13:50Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > **Jim Carrey** in _The Truman Show_. I could never get the motivation to watch _The Majestic_; was he any good in it, I wonder? Jim Carrey was awfully good in _The Truman Show_ and in _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_, IMHO. I didn’t think much of _The Majestic_, but I’ve only seen it on an airplane so my opinion could be biased. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/3 "2005-06-23T04:25:40Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > **Robin Williams** in _The World According to Garp_ was IMO better than in _Awakenings_. What about his Oscar-winning role in _Good Will Hunting_? Chris Rock in _New Jack City_. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/4 "2005-06-23T04:32:16Z")
Kevin Pollack in The Usual Suspects is the least funny of the good comedian performances I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/5 "2005-06-23T04:43:35Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > What about his Oscar-winning role in _Good Will Hunting_? > > Chris Rock in _New Jack City_. Good one for Chris rock; I was trying to think of one for him and couldn’t come up with anything. And you are certainly correct about Robin Williams’ turn in GWH. When I was composing the introduction, I had in mind _One Hour Photo_ for him, but when I got to him in the list, I forgot, so copped out with Garp. So pretend I listed OHP in the OP, and I still concede that he was better in GWH. Come to think of it, was he the weird guy in _Insomnia_ as well? That’s a fair amount of good performances for Robin Williams. Maybe I was too quick to name Bill Murray the best. Since nobody is offering opinions on who the best overall is, does that mean you all agree with my choice of Bill Murray? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/6 "2005-06-23T04:44:50Z")
**Don Rickles** and **Allan King** both gave good, though brief, supporting turns in **Casino** (Rickles as a hotel manager and King as a Hoffa-esque labor leader). **George Carlin** was good as the gay neighbor in **Prince of Tides**. While he’s not a stand up comedian exactly, **John Cleese** has given good performances in **Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein** and **Privates on Parade** (which tried to cash in on Monty Python’s audience by billing itself as a madcap comedy about a gay song & dance man and a stiff WW2 sergeant [Cleese] but is actually far more dramatic than comedic). **Lily Tomlin** has done great turns in **And the Band Played On** , **Tea With Mussolini** and on **West Wing**. While again not stand up exactly, **Carol Burnett** is a fine dramatic actress as evidenced in, among other roles, **Friendly Fire**. For best, I’d go with Robin Williams, though (he is Juilliard trained after all, and John Houseman sang his praises). He can be incredibly annoying, but at his best he’s up there with the greats. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/7 "2005-06-23T04:45:41Z")
Another one who just came to mind: **Dan Akroyd** in _My Girl_ was pretty good. I seem to feel like he’s done a bunch of less comedic roles, but I can’t think of any others offhand. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/8 "2005-06-23T04:54:41Z")
Dan Ackroyd? How about _Driving Miss Daisy_?\* One could make an arguement for Tom Hanks. After all, he went from _Bosom Buddies_ to winning Oscars for _Forrest Gump_ and _Philadelphia_. [sup]\*I haven’t seen _Driving Miss Daisy_, so I don’t know for sure. But I presume it’s fairly humorless in Ackroyd’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/9 "2005-06-23T05:00:35Z")
I was stunned by **Jerry Lewis** ’ performance in [The King of Comedy](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0085794/) - not that it was brilliant in absolute terms but the degree by which my expectations were exceeded was huge. Similarly for **Sandra Bernhard** in the same move, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/10 "2005-06-23T05:02:26Z")
Well, he wasn’t a standup comedian, but Peter Sellers was known almost exclusively as a comic actor when he played Chance in _Being There,_ one of his greatest performances. Jonathan Winters’ straight performance as the ghostly pool sharp on an episode of _The Twilight Zone_ was at least as good as the performances of most other actors on that series, and better than William Shatner’s two or three appearances. I haven’t seen it in a while, but I seem to recall that Jackie Gleason’s performance in _Nothing in Common_ was pretty good. For your part two, I agree it’s Robin Williams. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/11 "2005-06-23T05:15:10Z")
Maybe not the best yet, but Jamie Foxx is moving up the list fast. I haven’t seen _Ray_ yet, but I’ve heard he’s fantastic in it. Also in _Collateral_. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/12 "2005-06-23T05:18:33Z")
_The Majestic_ is, to date, the only movie I’ve ever walked out on. And I stuck it out through _Freddie Got Fingered_. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/13 "2005-06-23T05:22:51Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Come to think of it, was he the weird guy in _Insomnia_ as well? Yep. > [@](#): > > That’s a fair amount of good performances for Robin Williams. Maybe I was too quick to name Bill Murray the best. Since nobody is offering opinions on who the best overall is, does that mean you all agree with my choice of Bill Murray? I’d have to go with Robin Williams, who CAN knock it out of the park when needed. After all, before his win for _Good Will Hunting_, he’d been nominated for _Good Morning, Vietnam_, _Dead Poets Society_, and _The Fisher King_. And let’s not forget his subdued performance in _The Birdcage_. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/14 "2005-06-23T05:27:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > **Don Rickles** and **Allan King** both gave good, though brief, supporting turns in **Casino** Rickles was fantastic in Casino. To clarify the OP, pretty much any performance qualifies, despite the fact that I only listed movies. Television and stage are both fine to use as examples. But I’d like to confine the choices to people who have done actual standup; preferably people who started out as comedians. And **Sam** , Jamie Foxx was also pretty good in _Any Given Sunday_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/15 "2005-06-23T12:24:10Z")
Going back, W.C. Fields was quite good a McCawber in **David Copperfield**. Dennis Leary seems to have found a niche as a dramatic actor in **Rescue Me**. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/16 "2005-06-23T12:38:50Z")
Hank Azaria in “The Birdcage” and “Tuesdays with Morrie.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/17 "2005-06-23T13:13:28Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Jonathan Winters’ straight performance as the ghostly pool sharp on an episode of _The Twilight Zone_ was at least as good as the performances of most other actors on that series, and better than William Shatner’s two or three appearances. I can’t remember a straight role in a movie for Winters, but I did happen across an NPR program of Winters reading and interpreting [A Christmas Carol](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4225458) that was simply amazing in its quality. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/18 "2005-06-23T13:27:19Z")
Paul Reiser as Carter Burke in _Aliens_. ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/19 "2005-06-23T13:49:37Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > Television and stage are both fine to use as examples. The 'Belz, for his performances as Det. Munch. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488/20 "2005-06-23T14:11:16Z")
Takeshi Kitano is superb as the shark-eyed, way beyond driven yakuza/cop in a bunch of films (Sonatine, Hana-bi, violent cop etc.). Apparently in Japan he was a famous family-orientated comedian beforehand. Amazing if true, as he is one mean bastid whenever I’ve seen him on screen, hard to imagine him entertaining the kids. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-acting-performance-by-a-comedian/309488.md?page=2)