# Stupidest Excuse To Have A Celebrity On The TV Show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981 "2010-01-14T20:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/41 "2010-01-15T22:21:36Z")
“The Odd Couple” had all sorts of celebrities on. Frequently, the excuse was that the celeb was “an old Army buddy” of Felix or Oscar. Country singer Roy Clark was supposed to be an Army buddy of Oscar’s (though Roy was actually playing a thinly disguised version of himself named Wild Willie Boggs). Monty Hall was supposed to be an old college chum of Oscar’s. Richard Dawson was supposed to be an ex-pal of Felix. Howard Cosell appeared as himself twice. Who else… just off the top of my head, I recall Wolfman Jack, Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, Jaye P. Morgan, Hugh Hefner, Bubba Smith, Rodney Allen Rippy, Deacon Jones, Dick Clark, drama critic John Simon, Allen Ludden & Betty White (the “Password” episode) appearing as themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/42 "2010-01-15T22:32:28Z")
> [@](#): > > But the show had established the existence of Rebo and Zooty quite a few episodes earlier (Sheridan had mentioned he was a fan, to Molari’s disbelief). I don’t remember that; I thought all the references to them were in that episode itself. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/43 "2010-01-15T22:37:02Z")
I always found [Colonel Klink on Batman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHD_53UqBeA)pretty outrageous. Rival Network. Time Lapse of 25 yrs. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/44 "2010-01-15T22:43:05Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Star Trek: Voyager had Dwayne Johnson (or as he was then known, The Rock) playing… you’ll never guess… a wrestler! He did his trademark eyebrow-cocking and elbow drop (on Jeri Ryan no less!) and generally only seemed to be in the episode as an in-joke, some cross-promoting for wrestling back in the UPN days. > > . IIRC, he actually gave her his finisher, the “Rock Bottom”. I don’t know if she took the bump herself, or used a stunt double. I don’t remember him also doing the “People’s Elbow”, and don’t think it would have worked in that scenario. For that matter, it was a stupid, kayfabe breaking move that he never should have used anywhere. If the Rock had been around back in Mid South or UWF, Bill Watts woulda fired the Rock’s candy ass for using it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/45 "2010-01-15T22:45:16Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > I always found [Colonel Klink on Batman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHD_53UqBeA)pretty outrageous. Rival Network. Time Lapse of 25 yrs. 25 years later? 😕 Maybe you meant his appearance on the Simpsons 22 years later? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/46 "2010-01-15T22:48:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In a similar vein, Penn and Teller appeared on _Babylon 5_, as a pair of hugely popular 23rd-century comedians (complete with the gimmick that one of them never talked). > > And I believe that the fourth physicist Data was hanging out with in the holodeck was Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive. Memory Alpha only mentions Hawking, Einstein, and Newton. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/47 "2010-01-15T23:47:39Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > 25 years later? 😕 Maybe you meant his appearance on the Simpsons 22 years later? Colonel Klink character was in nazi Germany circa 1942-1945. Batman was circa 1966-1968. ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/48 "2010-01-16T01:44:06Z")
How about Boss Hogg’s celebrity speed trap on Dukes of Hazzard? He’s set up a speed trap, and somehow catch several celebrities speeding through Hazzard County–several per season. They would work off their debt to society by playing a gig at the Boar’s Nest. I can’t decide if that’s stupid or clever. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/49 "2010-01-16T05:15:58Z")
I didn’t see the episode but caught the Unsung(TV One’s answer to Behind the Music) of Debarge. They appeared on Punky Brewster post-El. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYVEw0BMkSw) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/50 "2010-01-16T06:04:51Z")
> [@breezman](#): > > How about Boss Hogg’s celebrity speed trap on Dukes of Hazzard? He’s set up a speed trap, and somehow catch several celebrities speeding through Hazzard County–several per season. They would work off their debt to society by playing a gig at the Boar’s Nest. > > I can’t decide if that’s stupid or clever. Yeah, I remember seeing Johnny Paycheck, and wondering “This guy’s been around forever, and he STILL only has one song!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981/51 "2010-01-16T12:29:46Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > Star Trek: Voyager had Dwayne Johnson (or as he was then known, The Rock) playing… you’ll never guess… a wrestler! He did his trademark eyebrow-cocking and elbow drop (on Jeri Ryan no less!) and generally only seemed to be in the episode as an in-joke, some cross-promoting for wrestling back in the UPN days. To his credit, at least he was actually playing a _character_, and not just “himself.” Of course, with this _particular_ appearance, that’s little more than a technicality (like if they’d had Hulk Hogan playing an alien named Hoak Hoogan who was also a wrestler, or Steven Colbert playing an alien…well, you get the idea). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupidest-excuse-to-have-a-celebrity-on-the-tv-show/524981.md?page=2)