# Humorous Allusions to Actors' Previous Roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191 "2020-12-16T16:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/302 "2024-04-16T14:32:14Z")
And in **Margin Call** , a stuffed lion toy shows up onscreen not long after Irons makes his first appearance. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/303 "2024-04-17T00:17:37Z")
A less subtle one from Disney: in **Zootopia** , Alan Tudyk voices a weasel named Duke Weaselton, who angrily corrects anyone who pronounces his last name “Weselton.” In **Frozen** , he’d voiced the Duke of Weselton, who has the same reaction to being called “Weaselton.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/304 "2024-04-17T04:07:10Z")
I’m watching _Dexter_ for the first time. I’m at the episode where Dexter’s sister calls Dexter’s new girlfriend “a gross English titty vampire”. Dexter replies that she has just described the perfect woman. His old girlfriend is [an English vampire](https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Darla_(Buffyverse)). (Whether she is gross or titty is up for debate.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/305 "2024-04-19T03:13:08Z")
I don’t know if this is humorous, but I’m watching Kong:Skull Island, and Samuel Jackson, head of a helicopter team, is sending them off and he says _“Like before, hold onto your butts.”_ He said _“hold onto your butts”_ in Jurassic Park, when they were going to reboot the computer systerms. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/306 "2024-04-19T14:43:18Z")
From **Weird: The Al Yankovic Story** : > WEIRD AL: Are you saying you want to be my mentor? > DR. DEMENTO: No, I’m saying I want to be your…DE-mentor! Which manages to be both a pun on “Demento” and a reference to the Dementors from the Harry Potter franchise, from which viewers might recognize [the actor playing Weird Al](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Radcliffe). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2024, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/307 "2024-04-22T08:37:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I keep meaning to check out _Animal Control_, but haven’t seen it yet. It’s a good show. It’s a lot like **Brooklyn 99,** but with lower stakes and cute animals. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2024, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/308 "2024-05-10T22:20:04Z")
Rewatching _Chuck_. Girl comments to Chuck about someone being “ridiculously handsome”. Chuck dismissively says “Yeah, if you are into the strong Superman type of guy”. The girl was [Lana Lang](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Kreuk). ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/309 "2024-05-10T22:23:06Z")
And the “Superman type” was Brandon Routh. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/310 "2024-12-06T03:52:56Z")
Rewatching old episodes of _Felicity_. A little complicated, but the title character Felicity has a crush on and is sort of friends with a guy who is lightly dating one of Felicity’s female friends. So, at a Halloween party Felicity sees the guy (who she is supposed to be there with, in matching costumes, except he doesn’t wear his) talking to a random woman dressed in a Pink Power Ranger outfit. Felicity and the guy get into an argument on a mostly unrelated subject, and she tells him that the next time he needs a friend to talk to at 2 AM, call the Pink Power Ranger. The aforementioned female friend of Felicity that the guy is lightly dating is played by Amy Joe Johnson, the actress who played the Pink Power Ranger in _Mighty Morphing Power Rangers_. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2024, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/311 "2024-12-06T10:28:30Z")
Not a “previous role” as such, but in a recently-seen episode of _Law & Order: SVU_ a character refers to Olivia Benson as having "“An ass like the devil and a face like Jayne Mansfield”. Benson is played by Mariska Hargitay, whose mother was…Jayne Mansfield. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/312 "2024-12-06T12:13:56Z")
In _Meet the Parents_, Ben Stiller’s character is asked to say grace at his fiancée’s parents’ house and jokingly responds “I’m not a rabbi!” Stiller played a rabbi in _Keeping the Faith_, which was released less than a year earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/313 "2024-12-06T15:47:18Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Benson is played by Mariska Hargitay, whose mother was…Jayne Mansfield. Her dad, Mickey Hargitay, had a small role in an early episode, too. ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/314 "2024-12-06T20:53:21Z")
In _Vacation (2015)_, Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) remembers the vacation he took as a kid. _National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)_ - [James Griswold](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1711114/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I’ve never even heard of the original vacation. - [Rusty Griswold](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1159180/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Doesn’t matter. The new vacation will stand on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/315 "2024-12-06T21:07:33Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > In _Vacation (2015)_, Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) remembers the vacation he took as a kid. > _National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)_ > > - [James Griswold](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1711114/?ref_=ttqu_qu): I’ve never even heard of the original vacation. > - [Rusty Griswold](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1159180/?ref_=ttqu_qu): Doesn’t matter. The new vacation will stand on its own. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/316 "2024-12-06T22:22:31Z")
Late to the game, but there was an episode in _The Middle_ where a character played by Ray Romano (who earlier starred in _Everybody Loves Raymond_) runs into the Heck family on a camping trip. Patricia Heaton, of course, played Ray Barone’s wife Debra in _Everybody Loves Raymond_ as well as Frankie Heck in _The Middle_. IIRC at one point Ray Romano’s character tells Patricia Heaton’s character that she looks familiar and asks if they had ever met before. 😉 > **["The Middle" Forced Family Fun: Part 1 (TV Episode 2011) ⭐ 7.4 | Comedy, Family](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1983997/)** > > 20m | TV-PG ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/317 "2024-12-07T14:09:48Z")
> [@robby](#): > > IIRC at one point Ray Romano’s character tells Patricia Heaton’s character that she looks familiar and asks if they had ever met before. 😉 Woulda been better if they’d strongly implied the two slipped away from camp for a quickie. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/318 "2024-12-12T19:09:27Z")
IIRC, she was asleep in the back seat of the car that awful night. It was reported (erroneously) that Jayne had been “decapitated” while she was “just” terribly mutilated. I’ve seen the post-crash photos, and they are horrendous. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/319 "2024-12-12T23:59:21Z")
Frand Drescher’s character in _The Nanny_ actually ran into Fran Drescher’s character from _This is Spinal Tap._ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/v0IEAGi2K1M/maxresdefault.jpg "Fran Meets Fran Drescher! | The Nanny") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0IEAGi2K1M&t=21) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/320 "2024-12-13T01:15:35Z")
And Spinal Tap appeared in an early episode of _The Simpsons_, on which Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) is part of the main cast. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191/321 "2024-12-30T04:19:34Z")
It’s more of a current role, and it’s pretty explicit, but J K Simmons’ Farmers Insurance character comments on Santa in **Red One**. > **[Sleigh Insurance :30 | Farmers Insurance®](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOTBakO4khc%2F)** > > Santa’s got a high-stakes sleigh ride. So, you know he’s not going to compromise on his insurance. If it’s important, it’s not worth compromising.Subscribe t... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humorous-allusions-to-actors-previous-roles/928191.md?page=17)