Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy plays someone a little bit like himself, but not really. Mostly only the ‘celebrity’ aspect is there. Apparently the part was originally intended for Johnny Carson, which would have been a lot closer to the mark.
Stephen Colbert plays “Stephen Colbert” on The Colbert Report.
He also played himself in the series Tucker, where he is our eponymous hero’s competition for Alison Lohman’s character’s affections.
Marshall McLuhan in Annie Hall, right after Woody Allen makes an aside to the audience.
Peter Falk plays himself in Wings of Desire. Small German children follow him about shouting, “Columbo!!” in a scene.
Bruce Willis plays himself in What Just Happened.
And then there’s Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story, with several actors doing this (Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, & Gillian Anderson).
On that show, my favorite was probably Patrick Stewart, with Orlando Bloom a close second.
But David Bowie did a turn on that show, too, which I thought of after the wife and I saw him briefly playing himself in the film Bandslam this weekend.
Whitney Housten played a thinly disguised version of herself in the totally appalling"The Bodyguard".
Michael was one of the first celebrities to play a fictionalized version of himself in the movie starred by him
To hear him tell it, Steven Segal’s character in Above the Law was based off of his own Vietnam experience.
Jamie Farr played a corporal in the army in the Korean Conflict in M.A.S.H.; Farr himself was in the army in the Korean war. Don’t know if he was a transvestite corpsman, though.
And, Michael Jackson got to play himself as a zombie, too.
Elisabeth Shue was hilarious playing herself in Hamlet 2.
In the Andy Kaufman biopic “Man in the Moon,” starring Jim Carrey, several of Kaufman’s fellow Taxi castmates, Judd Hirsch, Bobby Conaway, Marilu Henner, and Christopher Lloyd, all played themselves. David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, and Jerry Lawler also appeared in the film as themselves.
No mention of Matt LeBlanc in Episodes? C’mon guys, that show’s awesome.
ETA: Oh, nvm. Just saw the post-date gap between the beginning of the thread and** helderotto**'s post.
Bruce Willis in Mad About You as an injured and slightly crazy Bruce Willis that helps Paul get to the Maternity Ward in time for Paul and Jamie’s baby being born.
“Cybill,” with Cybill Shepherd?
Canadian comedy Corner Gas did a bit where one of the characters misdialed and ended up talking to Kiefer Sutherland. I doubt the real Keef lives with his mother and shouts at her like Jack Bauer would though.
Youtube link:
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Joe Santo, Mr. Austria, as he prepares to compete in the Mr. Universum competition, in Stay Hungry.
There was an episode of the Honeymooners where Jackie Gleason and Art Carney played themselves. The were guests in a hotel, and Ralph and Norton were staying there, I think for a Racoon Lodge convention. They wanted to meet the famous men, Norton got to meet Gleason, and Ralph got to meet Art Carney, but for some reason all four of them were never seen together.
Louis C.K. in Louie.
Nitpick: Jeff Conaway.