# Favorite cameos from famous people as "themselves" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 17, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905 "2019-01-17T00:51:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/121 "2019-01-28T16:26:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Might be too long to consider a “cameo,” but in book seven of The Dark Tower, Stephen King puts himself in the story. Liked it at first, later it was WTF, Steve? It seemed to be some sort of therapy for the serious injury King suffered (he was walking along the side of the road and struck be a car, iirc) but it was definitely weird. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/122 "2019-01-28T16:49:12Z")
> [@bmoak](#): > > Roy Thomas also wrote his wife Danette into the Marvel Universe in a “What If?” story where Conan goes through a time portal to mean streets of late 70s NYC as the damsel-in-distress/romantic interest. > > Comic book creator cameos are pretty common, but I don’t know how far back in history they go. Can anyone one think of any creator appearances prior to, say, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby crashing Reed and Sue’s wedding in the pages of Fantastic Four? Not that far back but DC editor Julius Schwartz had several comics cameos, from The Flash in 1968 to Ambush Bug in the 1980s (plus some posthumous one-shots in his honor). ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/123 "2019-01-30T00:42:20Z")
No one’s mentioned Bob Newhart on Big Bang Theory, though he played Professor Proton. How about Leonard Nimoy who did a voice over cameo? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/124 "2021-08-12T18:53:45Z")
Philbin appears as a crazed version of himself in How I Met Your Mother (which also has cameos from Paul Shaffer and Alan Thicke). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/125 "2021-08-12T18:56:07Z")
You all might enjoy the half dozen cameos appearing in the climatic scene of “Alias Jesse James” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0i0B703sVxY/hqdefault.jpg "Star-Studded Finale "ALIAS JESSE JAMES" Bob Hope & Rhonda Fleming ROY ROGERS") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i0B703sVxY) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/126 "2021-08-12T23:35:15Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Done a million times on The Larry Sanders Show. The guest celebrities play themselves as guests on Larry’s late night talk show and with some exceptions usually come off looking entitled and self-absorbed like, you know, celebrities. I resemble that remark! Another celebrity who came off as a bit of a jerk playing himself was Babe Ruth in Pride of the Yankees. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/127 "2021-08-14T04:20:52Z")
Mark-Linn Baker plays a depressed version of himself on “The Leftovers”, in which he contacts Carrie Coons’ character with some information but she’s never heard of him. In “The Player”, a pair of scriptwriters insist that if their serious, socially-conscious art project gets mangled and Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis end up getting cast, they will veto the whole deal. At the end, we see a clip of the finished film, and of course it’s Julia and Bruce doing a cheeseball “uplifting” finale, while in the audience the two sellout writers toast their good fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/128 "2021-08-14T17:45:44Z")
The annoying Glenn Danzig as himself on _ATHF_. A somewhat prolonged cameo, perhaps. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cu2Pw8Kvq2k/maxresdefault.jpg "Danzig mother fucker") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu2Pw8Kvq2k) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/129 "2021-08-15T08:14:19Z")
Dolly Parton in _Miss Congeniality 2._ ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/130 "2021-08-15T15:08:49Z")
As the name of the Brady Bunch Episode suggests, Davy Jones in [“Getting Davy Jones”](https://youtu.be/-dZPRbR4SI8). ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2021, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/131 "2021-08-15T18:27:29Z")
Another sort of prolonged _ATHF_ cameo, this time with Larry Miller: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/szLl8WJu6Tg/hqdefault.jpg "The Larry Miller Hair System for Men | Aqua Teen Hunger | Adult Swim") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szLl8WJu6Tg) (for some reasaon at 0:30 the screen gets considerably darker, but still viewable) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/132 "2021-08-18T23:24:09Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > As the name of the Brady Bunch Episode suggests, Davy Jones in [“Getting Davy Jones”](https://youtu.be/-dZPRbR4SI8). And Desi Arnaz, Jr. in the first season. Marcia got to meet _two_ of her crushes; no wonder Jan hated her! Davy Jones was very relaxed playing himself, charming as heck. I can see why he was a heartthrob. Desi Jr., OTOH, was so stiff and formal, even as a kid I felt bad for him. Anyway, in **The Holiday** , Kate Winslet and Jack Black are in a video store (when those places still existed) in L.A. When the scene was being filmed, Dustin Hoffman was coincidentally nearby. Winslet and Black are discussing movies, DH and one of his movies is mentioned, and DH himself, in the next aisle, mumbles, “I can’t go anywhere…” ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/133 "2021-08-18T23:28:59Z")
George Takei on Malcolm in the Middle: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/c1xUCNYeyWk/hqdefault.jpg "George Takei cameo on Malcolm in the Middle") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1xUCNYeyWk) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/134 "2021-08-18T23:33:10Z")
My personal favorite _Simpsons_ cameo is Linda Ronstadt in the “Mr. Plow” episode. I just love how she randomly shows up in Barney’s Plow King commercial, and Barney’s nonchalant reply when Moe asks how he knows Linda Ronstadt. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/135 "2021-08-18T23:45:38Z")
> [@whitetho](#): > > George Takei on Malcolm in the Middle: “It was a six hour bus ride with a lot of stops.” George Takei actually served on the Los Angeles Transit Board, and is very pro public transit. And that note… > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > It may be easier to say who _hasn’t_ voiced themselves on _The Simpsons_ . > > The one person I can think of who was asked but turned the show down: Bruce Springsteen - and, in fact, “his” part was rewritten for Sting. IIRC George Takei turned down a cameo in “Marge vs. the Monorail” because he didn’t want to be in an episode that made public transit look bad. So they got Leonard Nimoy to do it instead. Takei did voice Akira, the Japanese waiter in some other episodes, though. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/136 "2021-08-19T00:59:06Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > George Takei actually served on the Los Angeles Transit Board, and is very pro public transit. Thanks for the backstory! It makes more sense now! ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/137 "2021-08-19T12:21:40Z")
Another George Takei playing himself role, he was in an excellent episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, which takes place at a sci-fi convention. ISTR the “family” charging massages to Takei’s room. George is not amused. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/138 "2021-08-19T20:01:47Z")
Xavier McDaniel in **Singles**. To describe it would be to ruin one of the most explosively hilarious punchlines in the movie. Eddie Vedder is quite good in the movie as well…three members of Pearl Jam (who I’m pretty sure hadn’t released Ten yet when the movie was filmed) play Matt Dillon’s Citizen Dick bandmates, under their own names. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/139 "2021-08-19T20:29:59Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Ron Jeremy shows up very briefly in Butch Walker and the Black Widow’s [Synthesizers](https://youtu.be/94b3gMZGorc)video. When LMFAO came out with the video for “I’m Sexy And I Know It”, my teen-aged son comes to my wife and I with “You got to see this video, it’s hillarious! By the way, who’s that disgusting old fat guy?” Um, that’s Ron Jeremy, Porn Star. I’m not sure if he was more taken aback by the fact that the “disgusting old fat guy” was a porn star, or that his parents knew it! ---
**Author:** ![BigDfromLA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@BigDfromLA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDfromLA)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905/140 "2021-08-20T03:23:40Z")
Wasn’t Chris Cornell in the movie Singles as well? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-cameos-from-famous-people-as-themselves/827905.md?page=8)