# Which comedians have played badasses/psychos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870 "2005-03-10T17:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/21 "2005-03-10T18:21:22Z")
Denis Leary was a great badass in Suicide Kings, as well as playing the villain in Judgment Night. Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey come to mind for several of their roles, but even their psychos and villains are usually played more for laughs. That said, I think they’re both good in more “straight” dramatic roles. **LifeOnWry** , was Blueberry/Renegade any good? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/22 "2005-03-10T18:22:47Z")
Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/23 "2005-03-10T18:28:06Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > **LifeOnWry** , was Blueberry/Renegade any good? It had some really striking moments, but taken as a whole I’d put it in the top 10 of worst movies ever. The few good moments were made that much more striking by the fact that they were surrounded by utter crap, and vice versa. The sheer craptitude of the whole made the good moments seem very out of place. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/24 "2005-03-10T18:33:19Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > It had some really striking moments, but taken as a whole I’d put it in the top 10 of worst movies ever. The few good moments were made that much more striking by the fact that they were surrounded by utter crap, and vice versa. The sheer craptitude of the whole made the good moments seem very out of place. Wow, thanks for the warning! I almost bought it, sight unseen, because I found it in the $5.50 DVD bin at Wal-Mart. But when the cashier rang it up for me, it came up as $20, so I walked away without it. Now I’m glad I did! ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/25 "2005-03-10T18:34:36Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > Wow, thanks for the warning! I almost bought it, sight unseen, because I found it in the $5.50 DVD bin at Wal-Mart. But when the cashier rang it up for me, it came up as $20, so I walked away without it. Now I’m glad I did! It’d be worth the $5.50. I wouldn’t pay $6 for it though. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/26 "2005-03-10T18:37:35Z")
Paul Reiser in **Aliens** Don Rickles in **Innocent Blood** ---
**Author:** ![waits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df788c/32.png) [@waits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waits)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/27 "2005-03-10T18:42:54Z")
**Bill Murray** in the DeNiro film _Mad Dog and Glory_. Somebody already mentioned **Alan King** in general, but I’ll add him in _The Anderson Tapes_. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/28 "2005-03-10T18:47:53Z")
Billy Connolly in Boondock Saints. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/29 "2005-03-10T18:49:20Z")
Not many people know this, but Kevin Spacey started his career as a stand up comedian. So he could be included for **Seven** and possibly **K-pax** , but that’s left unclear. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/30 "2005-03-10T18:49:40Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Billy Connolly in Boondock Saints. Oooh! He’s in that? I’ve been meaning to check this one out for a while, since it’s been highly recommended, but you may have just bumped it to the top of my list. I love Billy. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/31 "2005-03-10T18:52:46Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > Not many people know this, but Kevin Spacey started his career as a stand up comedian. So he could be included for **Seven** and possibly **K-pax** , but that’s left unclear. One more great Kevin Spacey badass/psycho role: The Usual Suspects. But Spacey is very funny, with a great ear for impressions (his impression of Christopher Walken auditioning to play Han Solo in Star Wars is classic), deadpan delivery, and natural comic timing. He’s also a good singer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/32 "2005-03-10T18:53:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Somebody already mentioned Alan King in general, but I’ll add him in The Anderson Tapes. I can’t find the cite above, so forgive me if it’s been said, but **Alan King** in **Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye**. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/33 "2005-03-10T18:56:27Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > One more great Kevin Spacey badass/psycho role: The Usual Suspects. > > But Spacey is very funny, with a great ear for impressions (his impression of Christopher Walken auditioning to play Han Solo in Star Wars is classic), deadpan delivery, and natural comic timing. He’s also a good singer. :smack: How could I forget that. That’s one of my favorite movies. Shows you what happens when you work overtime for a month. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/34 "2005-03-10T18:56:49Z")
John Leguizamo has played a number of psychos, including the Clown from **Spawn** and a criminal in the recent **Assault on Precinct 13**. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/35 "2005-03-10T19:10:03Z")
Leslie Neilson in \*\*Creepshow[/b. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/36 "2005-03-10T19:22:17Z")
**Michael McKean** , “Lenny” from “Laverne and Shirley” as the Evil Clown on the **Star Trek: Voyager** episode “The Thaw” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/37 "2005-03-10T19:27:12Z")
> [@Max Torque](#): > > John Leguizamo has played a number of psychos, including the Clown from **Spawn** and a criminal in the recent **Assault on Precinct 13**. Wasn’t it Leguizame who killed Pacino in _Carlito’s Way_? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/38 "2005-03-10T19:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Leslie Neilson in **Creepshow** We tend to forget this now, since Neilsen has had a second career as a comedian, but when he made **Creepshow** , he had appeared in **Airplane** , but I think that the TV show **Police Squad!** , the **Naked Gun** movies, and all the other things that followed from that ( **Re-Possessed** , energizer bunny commercials, **Space Oddity** , etc.) were in the future, and Neilson wasn’t really a comedian. As Zucker, Zucker, or Abrams said of Neison (I can’t recall which of them), “We took a perfectly good actor and _ruined_ him!” ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/39 "2005-03-10T19:30:28Z")
Joe Piscopo has done several excellent bad guys on the various L&O shows. And I was watching _Con Air_ on TV recently and was delighted to find a not-yet-famous Dave Chappelle as one of the psychos on the plane. But his character was a pretty minor-league psycho compared to Cyrus the Virus and friends. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/40 "2005-03-10T19:43:27Z")
Charlie Chaplin in _The Great Dictator._ Wallace Shawn as The Sicilian in _The Princess Bride._ Christopher Lloyd as Commander Kruge in _Star Trek III,_ and as Judge Doom in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870.md?page=3)