It’s counterintuitive to some extent, but I am amazed at how often a successful comedian can play a badass – like Martin Short a few nights ago as a creepy “psychic” serial rapist on LAW & ORDER: SVU.
What other actors, who are known primarily as career comedians, have successfully played badasses/psychos/disturbed individuals? And why are they often so good at it?
It’s counterintuitive to some extent, but I am amazed at how often a successful comedian can play a badass – like Martin Short a few nights ago as a creepy “psychic” serial rapist on LAW & ORDER: SVU.
What other actors, who are known primarily as career comedians, have successfully played badasses/psychos/disturbed individuals? Bonus points for theories why they are often so good at it.
Robin Williams recently played a villain in the Insomnia.
Deja Vu.
Robin Williams in: One Hour Photo, The Secret Agent, Insomnia.
Eddie Izzard in: Mystery Men, The Avengers, Circus, Revengers Tragedy, Blueberry (a/k/a Renegade)
Those two come immediately to mind, but there are LOTS I can’t think of right now. Izzard has said that audiences are more likely to accept a comedian as a villian rather than a good guy, because there’s a bit of a “psycho” borderline personality in stand-up in general.
Christopher Walken comes to mind.
Robin Williams in One Hour Photo. I didn’t see Insomnia, but wasn’t he also a psycho in that?
Aside from believing Robin Williams to be clinically schizophrenic, I have no general theories as to why they might be so good at it.
Yeah. I’m requesting this thread be combined in the other one.
I’ve not really thought of Walken as a comedian. Has he done standup or are you just thinking that some of his film roles were comedy?
Michael Keaton as Batman.
Jerry Lewis’ best role was in The King of Comedy. Not a psycho but definitely a dark character.
Groucho Marx played a gangster boss nicknamed “God” in Skidoo.
Any number of older comics have played serious roles on cop-style tv shows, including Alan King, Jack Carter, Milton Berle, and Sid Ceasar.
Denis Leary’s roles are usually psycho-esque.
Robin Williams has been making a slew of dark movies lately, from One-Hour Photo to Death to Smoochy.
Jim Carrey in Cable Guy.
Peewee Herman in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Denis Leary in Judgement Night, and The Ref, sort of.
Ben Stiller in Happy Gilmore and that dodgeball movie. Was it just called Dodgeball?
I seem to recall an evil Janeane Garofalo in something…(yum)
Emo Phillips ought to play a villain.
The Mods locked the wrong thread already! I liked the OP in the other one better! Can they fix that or is it too late? At least swap the OP in the other thread for this one.
I wouldn’t think of either Walken or Keaton as comedians.
How 'bout Jim Carrey as the Grinch?
No, huh?
Not a villain, but Richard Belzer’s John Munch is certainly a hardass. Belzer was a very successful comedian before he took the part.
There’s also Hugh Laurie in House – a nasty character (though an entertaining one). But he was best known for playing silly-ass upper class Englishmen before that.
I started a thread on Jim Carrey as a dramatic actor a month or two ago and got a response from continuity eror that I found myself agreeing with:
Many actors say comedy (especially physical comedy) is a lot harder to do than drama. I can believe it. In a dramatic role, you can just pile on the pathos. The right makeup job can elicit the right reaction in drama. Comedy requires you to actually work on your timing and delivery, instead of letting the writing and “atmosphere” save you.
She made some good points there and after thinking about it more, she seems pretty spot-on. Carrey has been good in most of his dramatic roles; Ben Stiller makes a decent dramatist; Robin Williams really surprised me with One Hour Photo; and I even remember seeing a clip of Will Ferrell in some drama where he wasn’t smirking like an idiot and doing a good imitation of an actual human being, which was a total disconnect for me – I hate that bastard.
The converse isn’t usually true though. DeNiro’s attempts at comedy are vaguely squirmy, for instance.
Larry Miller has played alot of creeps and killers, including on L&O
Remember that for an overwhelming majority of comedians, badass/psycho is their real life-offscreen persona. So playing that role onscreen is less of a stretch than it is for many actors.
Robin Williams was the first one who came to my mind.
And, Merl, Christopher Walken came to my mind as the answer to the opposite question: name psychos/badasses who can do comedy. He makes a career of playing characters who are at least a little off, then goes on Saturday Night Live and becomes one of their funniest hosts ever.
Chris Rock played a badass criminal in Nurse Betty.
OK, I have merged the two duplicate threads…