# Seemingly random actors in music videos **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 27, 2016, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312 "2016-03-27T05:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/21 "2016-03-29T11:05:43Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Does it count if it’s from years (about a decade) before the actor got “known”? Because Josh Halloway of Lost fame was in this Aerosmith video > > [https://youtu.be/qfNmyxV2Ncw?t=3m22s](https://youtu.be/qfNmyxV2Ncw?t=3m22s) Yeah, I think we’re drifting away from what I was looking for, which is established actors showing up out of nowhere. The Milton Berle reference is a good one, too. I’m not looking for people before they hit it big. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/22 "2016-03-29T12:07:15Z")
Ben Stiller is in the music video for the Jack Johnson song _Taylor_. Also, there are numerous celebrities in the music video for Moby’s _We Are All Made of Stars_, including Corey Feldman, Sean Bean, and Ron Jeremy. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/23 "2016-03-29T15:00:53Z")
Leonard Nimoy chauffeuring the Bangles in [Going Down to Liverpool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj7OJeyhq2Q). ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/24 "2016-03-29T16:24:53Z")
Lou Diamond Phillips and a muppet in Imagine Dragons [Radioactive](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwipo-Wsp-bLAhUCGx4KHRb0B94Q3ywIHjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DktvTqknDobU&usg=AFQjCNGC67_h8-7H4zGJuQtp8CazYfyAtA&sig2=qTq3pVuAg2a57W52e_F0xw&bvm=bv.117868183,d.dmo). ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/25 "2016-03-29T16:49:25Z")
Benicio Del Toro is in Madonna’s _La Isla Bonita_ video. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIIW7nxBgc) ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/26 "2016-03-29T17:14:56Z")
From off the top of my head: [Iron Maiden’s Can I Play With Madness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvqr366Op3k) features Monty Python’s Graham Chapman in one of his last appearences before his death. This one is not to be watched at work … extremely violent: [Slayer’s Repentless](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjb0j9l1sz4) features a prison riot and features Danny Trejo ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/27 "2016-03-29T17:31:15Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Ben Stiller is in the music video for the Jack Johnson song _Taylor_. . Not sure if it’s what the OP is looking for, but I just like Andy Sandburg and The Lonely Island’s appearance in Jack Johnson’s [At or With Me.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM_10MzkX6k) Pre-fame randomness would have to be Courtney Cox’s appearance in that Bruce Springsteen video. Beastie Boy’s[Make Some Noise](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgLMslbDuY)is full of random celebrity cameos ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/28 "2016-03-29T17:38:29Z")
Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach had Danny Aiello IIRC Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun her father was Wrestling’s Captain Lou Lauper also had Andre the Giant in her Goonies video Arnold Schwartzenegger in Guns N Roses You Could Be Mine Rodney Dangerfield in Billy Joel’s Tell Her About It Arsenio Hall in Paula Abdul’s Straight Up Video Not Random since wives of singers: Christie Brinkley in Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl Tawny Kitaen in Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/29 "2016-03-29T17:47:15Z")
George Harrison’s [Crackerbox Palace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icHU5zB5fLM) (truly a weird video) features several Monty Python alums, including Neil Innes (he’s pushing the pram in the first scene) and Eric Idle (who also directed the video). According to the Wikipedia entry, John Cleese is also in the video, though I can’t spot him. Their appearance in the video isn’t entirely random, however; Harrison was friends with the Pythons, and he had formed HandMade Films to finance “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/30 "2016-03-29T17:58:45Z")
One I forgot to mention on my own: “Weird Al” Yankovic as the producer in the Ben Folds song [“Rickin the Suburbs.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34u_3Z9_LUw) And Patton Oswalt, Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant (the latter 2 from Reno 911!") appear in Weird Al’s video to [“Foil.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/31 "2016-03-29T18:48:10Z")
Paul McCartney shows up at the end of Tracey Ullman’s “They Don’t Know” video ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/32 "2016-03-29T18:52:34Z")
**[Benny Hill appeared as ‘head of security for the Genesis tour’ in Phil Collins and Co.'s “Anything She Does” video.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zz8q_genesis-anything-she-does_music)** ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/33 "2016-03-29T19:51:59Z")
It’s not exactly a music video, but one of ELO’s Wembley concerts in 1978 (the Out of the Blue Tour) was a charity benefit (attended by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester), and a [video recording](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_the_Blue:_Live_at_Wembley) was made of the concert. The band was [introduced by Tony Curtis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1lArrZW6Fo), of all people. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/34 "2016-03-30T00:22:05Z")
Sasha Baron Cohen is in Madonna’s “Music” video. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > John Cleese is also in the “Crackerbox Palace” video, though I can’t spot him. He’s the cop. Or definitely him at 1:29. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/35 "2016-03-30T10:07:52Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Lots of prefame people in videos. My favorite example is [Matt Dillon as a cop in the Pogues’ Fairytale of New York](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9jbdgZidu8) (just a few seconds in). > > [Also a half-naked Jason Statham](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWu3JqLMImY) (several places). Matt Dillon was already famous at the time. At least he’d already done all his 80s teen roles that established his initial fame. This was around 5 years after “The Outsiders,” for example. I don’t know the story behind the video but I think he was friends with the band. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/36 "2016-03-30T10:12:55Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Sasha Baron Cohen is in Madonna’s “Music” video. I was working at a restaurant when this video came on, and one of the waitresses (a seasonal worker from England) said “Look. It’s Ali G!” I had no idea who that was, and I don’t think anyone else did either. So, if I know him from anything at first, it’s from that music video. Borat? It’s that guy who played that character that was in the Madonna video. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/37 "2016-03-30T10:18:41Z")
How about: Eric Roberts in The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” Dennis Hopper and Danny Devito in Puff Daddy’s “Victory” ---
**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:** [March 30, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/38 "2016-03-30T11:35:28Z")
Julian Lennon’s “Stick Around” featured appearances by Jami Gertz, Michael J. Fox, Joe Piscopo and Martin Kove. IIRC Fox had turned up to watch the filming and, because he was already wearing a “Pizza” t-shirt, got a cameo as a delivery guy. I remember seeing Jaime Pressly (Joy from _My Name is Earl_) in a Marilyn Manson video, but I wouldn’t have noticed her if I hadn’t seen the video (which was filmed a few years earlier) after seeing her in that show. But the absolute \*\*goldmine \*\*of “Seemingly random actors in music videos” - and I really, really mean this - is Sesame Street’s **“[Put Down The Duckie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiQsaEdJ1aI)”** - not just for the number of them but the sheer range of idioms they come from - television and stage comedy and drama, pop music, jazz, folk, classical, world music, professional sports, etc. It’s a bit dated and I’ll admit I only have a vague idea who the athletes are, but it’s worth a watch. Just wait for it… ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/39 "2016-03-30T14:56:11Z")
Some of these people get around in the music video world > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Eric Roberts in The Killers’ “Mr Brightside” He also is the cop in Rihanna’s _“Bitch better have my money”_ > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Dennis Hopper and Danny Devito in Puff Daddy’s “Victory” Danny Devito is also in One Direction’s _“What makes you beautiful”_ But the bigger WTF is Puff Daddy appearing in Lonely Island’s _“Go Kindergarten”_ ---
**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:** [March 30, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312/40 "2016-03-30T15:21:03Z")
Forgot to mention James Corden turning up in the middle of Rizzle Kicks’ “Mama Do The Hump” for no particular reason. Just walks in and starts dancing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-random-actors-in-music-videos/750312.md?page=3)