# 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:** 3
**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, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/41 "2005-03-10T19:51:05Z")
Christopher Guest in The Princess Bride. Dan Aykroyd in Nothing But Trouble (one of the worst movies I have ever seen – not worth anyone’s time or money). ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/42 "2005-03-10T19:52:18Z")
John Lithgow would fall on the Walken side of the ledger. He was born to be terrfying, but he has a remarkable gift for comedy. ---
**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, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/43 "2005-03-10T20:10:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Dan Aykroyd in Nothing But Trouble (one of the worst movies I have ever seen – not worth anyone’s time or money). Not to mention **John Candy** playing a woman villain(!!!) in **Nothing But Trouble**. I agree about it being a bad film, but at least it was _supposed_ to be a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/44 "2005-03-10T20:19:32Z")
Michael Keaton also played the bad guy (really well, as a matter of fact) in _Pacific Heights_. Not sure if he’s really a comedian (I don’t know how he started out), but I’m certain he was in several comedic movie roles before playing this villain. ---
**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, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/45 "2005-03-10T20:25:16Z")
**Bob Newhart** (!!!) in **Cold Turkey** ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/46 "2005-03-10T20:38:05Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Michael Keaton also played the bad guy (really well, as a matter of fact) in _Pacific Heights_. Not sure if he’s really a comedian (I don’t know how he started out), but I’m certain he was in several comedic movie roles before playing this villain. I believe he did start as a comedian. He was also in the forgettable **Desperate Measures** a while ago. He was a dangerous-as-Hannibal Lecter wannabe character (even going so far as to rope him into a chair so he wouldn’t attack anyone). ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/47 "2005-03-10T20:55:11Z")
**Aesiron.** I must have missed that thread, otherwise I wouldn’t have opened this one. I think **continuity eror** is right, also. Bill Murray as a mob boss-stand-up, with Robert DeNiro as a meek police photographer) in **Mad Dog And Glory.** Rodney Dangerfield as the Psycho Dad in **Natural Born Killers** ; arguably Woody Harrelson’s star role in that movie, too. John Goodman as Big Dan Teague, klansman in **O Brother, Where Art Thou?** Mmmmaybe Eddie Murphy as Quick in **Harlem Knights**. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/48 "2005-03-10T21:06:10Z")
Michael Palin in **Brazil**. Bloody scary he was, too. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/49 "2005-03-10T22:16:12Z")
John Lithgow (third rock from the sun) as some neonazi in some Denzel Washington movie… and was he in cliffhanger? ---
**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, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/50 "2005-03-10T22:32:03Z")
Jay Mohr in Jerry Maguire. ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/51 "2005-03-11T02:47:59Z")
Taylor Negron in **The Last Boyscout** Paul Reubens in **Buffy The Vampire Slayer** ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/52 "2005-03-11T02:57:10Z")
**wolf in second hand clothing.** You’re thinking of **Ricochet.** Tom Hanks in **Road to Perdition.** (Hey! He started out on **Bosom Buddies**.) ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/53 "2005-03-11T03:01:34Z")
What role did **Paul Reubens** play in **Buffy**? The **Good Life** – old BBC sitcom about self sufficiency in suburbia came up in the Bad ideas thread recently – **Richard Briers** , who played the eponymous Tom Good, has played some very nasty old men recently. One I remember as particularly creepy was an episode of \*\* Morse\*\* in which he sexually blackmails the young American wife of a fellow don. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/54 "2005-03-11T04:02:17Z")
This may not count, since it was before his famous comedy role, but the 1972 movie _To Kill a Clown_ has a psychotic Vietnam vet tormenting, torturing and trying to kill a young hippie couple. The psycho? Alan Alda. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/55 "2005-03-11T04:25:32Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > What role did **Paul Reubens** play in **Buffy**? In the movie version, he’s Rutger Hauer’s chief henchman. He also has a fine comedic death scene. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/56 "2005-03-14T10:54:00Z")
Adam Sandler in **Punch-Drunk Love**. Although the psychotically angry outburst is part of his general comedic schtick, in PDL he was genuinely disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/57 "2005-03-14T13:44:26Z")
Good call, **threeorange** ; I totally agree. I remember seeing _Punch Drunk Love_ and thinking, Wow, that’s what an Adam Sandler character might be like in real life, not in a movie played for laffs. ---
**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 14, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/58 "2005-03-14T14:31:55Z")
> [@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**. And he’s the guy holding up the store that shoots Harrison Ford in _Regarding Henry_. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/59 "2005-03-14T15:06:16Z")
Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats in _The Hustler_. Not a psycho, but definitely a bit of a badass. Dan Aykroyd again, as a hit man in _Grosse Pointe Blank_. Robbie Coltrane as a Russian Mafia don in a couple of the Bond films. Danny DeVito as verious nasties in, oh, a bunch of things, including _Heist_ and _Ruthless People_. While others have mentioned the _Batman_ films and Jim Carrey, no one has explicitly mentioned his turn as The Riddler. So I will. That’s all I can think of at the moment. ---
**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 14, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870/60 "2005-03-14T15:54:52Z")
Bobcat Goldthwaite in the Police Academy movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-comedians-have-played-badasses-psychos/293870.md?page=2)