Mrs. solost and I have started watching season 5 of ‘Better Call Saul’ now that it finally dropped on Netflix, and I was reminded just how great Bob Odenkirk is in the role. I remember reading (or hearing in a podcast) an interview with Odenkirk in which he said he was very nervous before he started Breaking Bad because he wasn’t an actor, he was ‘just’ a comedian. That worry turned out to be unfounded!
So I started trying to think of other comedians who made a similarly successful transition to drama. Of course, Robin Williams is the other obvious choice; I liked him better in some of his dramatic roles than i did his comedy, such as his role in ‘Good Will Hunting’, or when he played the doctor based on Oliver Sacks in ‘Awakenings’. He brought a real sense of compassion and humanity to his dramatic roles.
But then I struggle to think of other similarly successful transitions without googling. Sarah Silverman has played a couple of at least semi-dramatic roles in indie movies, but nothing really world-shattering, I’d say. We’ve been watching Amy Schumer on “Life and Beth” have been enjoying it, and I think she’s good in it-- it’s more of a ‘dramedy’ which is partially autobiographical. Who am I missing?
Jackie Gleason is an excellent example. His dramatic work to me was superior to his comedic work. The Hustler (1961) & Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962) are two prime examples. The under-rated Nothing in Common 1986 as Tom Hank’s father is another good example.
He’s been doing misery acting on L&O and other cop shows for so long, people forget Richard Belzer started as a standup comedian. He also did radio work with National Lampoon.
Eric Bana started his career as a stand up in his native Australia which is interesting because most Americans are probably unaware of this. His breakout Hollywood role was playing a soldier in Black Hawk Down and his most famous role is probably playing Bruce Banner in HULK (2003)
Adam Sandler has produced at least a couple of legit good dramatic roles, as has Will Ferrell.
Punch Drunk Love and Uncut Gems are both good performances, if not a bit strange.
Everything Must Go, Stranger Than Fiction, and Downhill were all somewhat comedic but mostly straight dramatic roles and he was excellent in all of them, and I say this as someone who has never really cared for Will Ferrell very much.
That’s interesting, I love Stranger Than Fiction and he was excellent while largely a straight man in that, but it was a comedy movie. I didn’t think he was very good in the other two you mentioned.
It seems quite common. My pet theory is that being good comedian involves being able to play roles convincingly - even if only fleetingly - to make the comedy stick.
Note I am drawing a distinction here between comics who tell jokes, and comedians who tell stories and inhabit characters in a funny way.
Vince Gilligan regularly said that he feels that comedians tend to be very good in dramatic roles (but also mentions the opposite isn’t true nearly as often) and hired a number of comedians/comedic actors for Breaking Bad.
Bob Odenkirk, as you mentioned.
Bryan Cranston, did plenty of comedic roles before ending up on the show.
Michael McKean
Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust The B)
Bill Burr and Lavell Crawford as Patrick and Huell (both standup)
Matt Jones (Badger)
I’m sure there’s others, those are just the ones that came to mind.
Interesting, and yeah, now that you mention it there were a lot of comedian actors on BB. I remember a lot of people didn’t think Bryan Cranston, until then mainly known as the bumbling dad on ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ would have the acting chops or gravitas to do the role justice, and he sure proved the doubters wrong. Michael McKean was also fantastic in his role, as were the actors with lesser screen time that you mentioned.
In 1964 there were two movies about the accidental start of a nuclear war. One of them had Dom DeLuise and Larry Hagman; the other was a comedy.
Jonathan Winters is in my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone; he’s a legendary pool player challenged by upstart Jack Klugman. I don’t know if his casting was inspired by Jackie Gleason in The Hustler or not.
Those examples are all from early in their careers, before their comic personae were firmly established.
For that matter, Klugman is not a bad example for this thread. He’s probably best remembered for The Odd Couple, but had plenty of serious roles.
Me (and everyone I knew at the time):
"I’m so excited that Tim Burton is going to make a dark, gritty version of Batman. And he’s going to cast… Mister Mom?!?"