# Comedic roles that deserve real awards **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200 "2010-03-29T11:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/21 "2010-03-30T14:29:54Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Everyone knows that comedic roles don’t get Oscars. Kevin Kline, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding, Jack Palance, John Gielgud, Geena Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Dianne Weist, just from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/22 "2010-03-30T18:15:45Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Diane Keaton in **Annie Hall**. Best Actress Academy Award, 1977. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/23 "2010-03-30T18:18:59Z")
Brett Kelly for _ **Bad Santa** _. You know, the fat kid. Comedic genius. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/24 "2010-03-31T00:06:00Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Kevin Kline, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding, Jack Palance, John Gielgud, Geena Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Dianne Weist, just from memory. Decent point, but a number of those characters were in comedies, but not really funny themselves. It’s not a comedic performance. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/25 "2010-03-31T00:43:51Z")
Peter Sellers for \*Dr. Strangelove \* (lost to Rex Harrison in _My Fair Lady_) Dustin Hoffman for \*The Graduate \*(lost to Rod Steiger for _In the Heat of the Night_) Zero Mostel for _The Producers_ ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/26 "2010-03-31T01:01:36Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Sylvester Stallone as Angelo “Snaps” Provolone in _Oscar_. Yes! This little-known movie is proof positive that Stallone could actually deliver the goods as a comedic actor. As straight man to a wildly out of control day his timing and deadpan delivery against the likes of Tim Curry, Chaz Palminteri and others was perfect. A truly hilarious movie. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/27 "2010-03-31T05:47:21Z")
> [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > Best Actress Academy Award, 1977. D’oh! I thought she might’ve. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/28 "2010-03-31T05:48:52Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Yes! > > This little-known movie is proof positive that Stallone could actually deliver the goods as a comedic actor. As straight man to a wildly out of control day his timing and deadpan delivery against the likes of Tim Curry, Chaz Palminteri and others was perfect. A truly hilarious movie. Further proof of his mastery of the comedic arts: a little gem called **Rhinestone**. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/29 "2010-03-31T06:30:01Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Decent point, but a number of those characters were in comedies, but not really funny themselves. It’s not a comedic performance. 😕 What are you talking about? Which of these listed was not a comedic performance? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/30 "2010-03-31T12:43:31Z")
I second Steve Martin, but for _Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid_. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/31 "2010-03-31T14:05:19Z")
Peter Boyle deserved an Oscar for the “Puttin on the Ritz” scene in _Young Frankenstein_. Every time I watch, I truly believe he is a reanimated corpse that has recently learned to tap dance. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/32 "2010-03-31T18:33:53Z")
Both Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise in **Tropic Thunder** ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/33 "2010-04-01T00:28:45Z")
Kevin Kline, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Alan Arkin, Cuba Gooding, Jack Palance, John Gielgud, Geena Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Dianne Weist I’d say that a comedic performance is one likely to make thousands of people say, “He/she was hysterical in that!” I don’t think people would say that about Gooding, Palance, and Gielgud. My impressions of Arkin, Davis, and Dukakis’ wins are that they weren’t personally the reason for teh funnay. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/34 "2010-04-02T03:57:44Z")
Comedy is a personal thing. I like laugh out loud funny movies. “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” is new and very funny. My all time fav is “Dumb And Dumber”. The first time I rented it my son and I laughed so hard we were crying. The Big Lewbowski, same amount of funny but well you have to see it. National Lampoons Vacation with granny riding dead on the roof and pulling the dog behind the car, OMG classic. Blazing Saddles, classic. Uncle Buck, Coming To America, Don’t Be A Menace, Idiocracy, My Cousin Vinny, Happy Gilmore… I know I’m forgetting lots of others. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/35 "2010-04-02T04:22:48Z")
I’d nominate Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in **Tootsie**. Such a terrific performance – both subtle and broad (pun not intended!). ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/36 "2010-04-02T08:23:26Z")
Bill Murray in _Stripes_. Or any of the other actors in that film. I get as many laughs from this one now as I did when it came out almost thirty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![davey77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@davey77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davey77)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200/37 "2010-04-03T02:40:50Z")
I third Steve Martin, for “The Jerk.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedic-roles-that-deserve-real-awards/534200.md?page=1)