Comedy actors that were great but not in much stuff.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Talk of Mike from The Young Ones prompted this. Ryan's quite good but he didn't do much outside of the Young Ones/Bottom.

Another one, carrying on the Rik/Ade tip is Lee Cornes; he was great as Dick Head and Paranoia in Red Dwarf. Aside from that I can only remember him being the science teacher in Grange Hill.

[Utter Shit]

Brendan Grace. Father Fintan Stack was ridiculously good.

[Brundle-Fly]

There was another thread similar to this back in August

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=68542.0

I felt a bit sorry for these people being described as 'bit part players' when they are really just jobbing actors who actually have had pretty full careers but just not mega famous. Again, the OP suggests Christopher Ryan didn't do much outside of The Young Ones/ Bottom but his IMDB page demonstrates otherwise.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752474/

Lee Cornes was ostensibly a highly regarded stand-up comedian/writer who got into acting later. He was in the WOW Show with The Oblivion Boys and was a regular warm up comic at studio recordings. He was like a punk Felix Bowness.

[Sebastian Cobb]

There was another thread similar to this back in August

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=68542.0

Dunno how I missed that, I did ask myself 'surely this has been done before' before starting a thread.

[magval]

Talk of Mike from The Young Ones prompted this. Ryan's quite good but he didn't do much outside of the Young Ones/Bottom.

Another one, carrying on the Rik/Ade tip is Lee Cornes; he was great as Dick Head and Paranoia in Red Dwarf. Aside from that I can only remember him being the science teacher in Grange Hill.

Cornes was in the same episode of Blackadder 3 that I started that other thread about! He was one of Johnson's lackeys, Byron or some other.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Come to think of it, I wonder what Danny John-Jules got up to when he wasn't in Red Dwarf and Maid Marian.

Just checked his imdb, didn't realise he was in The Tomorrow People and Lock Stock!

[The Culture Bunker]

Come to think of it, I wonder what Danny John-Jules got up to when he wasn't in Red Dwarf and Maid Marian.

Just checked his imdb, didn't realise he was in The Tomorrow People and Lock Stock!

His part in Lock Stock is fairly small - he explains who Rory Breaker is using a lot of (translated via subtitles) Cockney slang. Plus, as I remember it, he's half in shadow so you might not spot that it's him.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Now you've described it, I remember the scene but didn't realise it was him.

but looking at it, it's obviously him, dunno how I've managed to see it several times and not clock it was him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73d6h_go7QI

After a decade of watching cat (and another decade of ignoring modern red dwarf) it's always a bit odd hearing Danny speak in his normal accent, or at least an accentuated London accent.

[DrGreggles]

Christopher Ryan has done mainly theatre stuff, hasn't he.
Pretty sure he did a long run in Abigail's Party. He was in it when we went on a school trip, and we were all very excited that someone from TYO was in it.

[buttgammon]

Benedict Wong, although isn't he doing some superhero bollocks these days? I think I saw his face on a billboard not long ago.

[BeardFaceMan]

There was another thread similar to this back in August

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=68542.0

I felt a bit sorry for these people being described as 'bit part players' when they are really just jobbing actors who actually have had pretty full careers but just not mega famous. Again, the OP suggests Christopher Ryan didn't do much outside of The Young Ones/ Bottom but his IMDB page demonstrates otherwise.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0752474/

Lee Cornes was ostensibly a highly regarded stand-up comedian/writer who got into acting later. He was in the WOW Show with The Oblivion Boys and was a regular warm up comic at studio recordings. He was like a punk Felix Bowness.

Better to go with my thread title that thread contents then. As I explained, I'm not putting anyone down, just mentioning actors who are great who appear in a lot of stuff without ever being in a starring role. I'd never describe them as jobbing actors though, that's a bit harsh.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Benedict Wong, although isn't he doing some superhero bollocks these days? I think I saw his face on a billboard not long ago.

Yes he seemed to go from Errol to terrifying silent East-Asian mobster in big films.

[Brundle-Fly]

American sit-coms seem to have a far higher rate of 'now you see them, now you don't (as much)' actors but looking up any of the IMDBs, nine times out of ten they never stop working. It must be great to be in a long-running hit show, make an absolute bundle and then cherry pick work and hit the conventions for pin money.  It's the child actors that seem to disappear and the actresses who start families and struggle to get back into the profession.

[Brundle-Fly]

Better to go with my thread title that thread contents then. As I explained, I'm not putting anyone down, just mentioning actors who are great who appear in a lot of stuff without ever being in a starring role. I'd never describe them as jobbing actors though, that's a bit harsh.

No actor (unless they're an egotistical Hollywood megastar) would be worried about being called a jobbing actor as opposed to bit part actor. Even Robert Duvall considers himself a jobbing actor.

Anyway, that was an enjoyable thread Beardy, we discovered Robert Gillespie was SMBH's uncle.

[marquis_de_sad]

Danny John-Jules was in a Wham! video.

[Nice Relaxing Poo]

Danny John-Jules was in a Wham! video.

He was also a cast member of Starlight Express I seem to recall.

[kalowski]

Cornes was in the same episode of Blackadder 3 that I started that other thread about! He was one of Johnson's lackeys, Byron or some other.

And he's here on the right in Blackadder 2:

[George White]

Brendan Grace. Father Fintan Stack was ridiculously good.

Yes, the thing in Ireland, obviously, he is this BELOVED comedian. But he's never done as much acting as he should. He's done a few Irish films, but someone needs to give him  a great heavy part.

[Glebe]

Talk of Mike from The Young Ones prompted this. Ryan's quite good but he didn't do much outside of the Young Ones/Bottom.

Not to mention Tony Driscoll in OFAH and The Green Green Grass, of course... and he was in Absolutely Fabulous as well... plus one of them dome-headed yolks in Doctor Who, apparently?

[Spudgun]

Danny John-Jules was in a Wham! video.

And an episode of Marmalade Atkins (back left).

[The Culture Bunker]

Benedict Wong, although isn't he doing some superhero bollocks these days? I think I saw his face on a billboard not long ago.

Prior to that, he was lording it up as Kublai Khan in that "Marco Polo" Netflix show - probably a step in the "scary" stakes than East end gangster type. He's now doing some show for Syfy channel now about a school where they train assassins, or such like, co-starring Henry Rollins.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

And he's here on the right in Blackadder 2:

I seem to remember he's also one of the firing squad in Blackadder Goes Forth.

He pops up a couple of times in 15 Storeys High, too.

[RedRevolver]

Elias from Clerks II.

[Thursday]

Danny Peacock in the Comic Strip, was good, but didn't seem to do much else.

[kalowski]

Danny Peacock in the Comic Strip, was good, but didn't seem to do much else.

Little Armadillos

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Little Armadillos

Teenage Health Freak.

He used to be everywhere, like suit in a field, did our Danny. He used to be in seemingly EVERY other telly advert, notably the one for Do It All.

His brother plays Stephen Toasts flatmate in " Toast Of London", of course.

[Clownbaby]

I want to see Jimmi Simpson in more things. As Liam McPoyle and the Lyle The Intern bits on Letterman he's shown he's good at being a really convincing (strangely charming) weirdo. He's got good straight acting chops as well which undercurrents his comedy acting and makes him more convincing when he's leering at Dennis Reynolds or screaming in agony. He's one of them who doesn't really have to be doing anything, if he's in the background of a scene I will be looking at his face cause he's got a funny face.

Similar vein of weird little weirdo is Giovanni Ribisi. I love him. I loved him as Ralph in My Name Is Earl. He's not in nearly enough stuff.

I've been rewatching 3rd Rock From The Sun through again and it's a shame that Kristen Johnston has barely been in anything else since. I know there's a reason for it because she had addiction issues towards the end of 3rd Rock which obviously put her out of work for a while, but it's a shame. She's really charismatic and hilarious. She looks great and can go from gangly and awkward to beautiful and glamorous like that. Fierce.

I thought Morgana Robinson was a really precise and surreal mimic of celebs and I wish there'd been another series of The Morgana Show even though it seems to be directly split down the middle with people who loved it and people who didn't rate it at all.

And the obvious one is Chris Morris. Brass Eye, The Day today and  few little bit roles are not enough when you've got that level of screen presence.

[gmoney]

I want to see Jimmi Simpson in more things. As Liam McPoyle and the Lyle The Intern bits on Letterman he's shown he's good at being a really convincing (strangely charming) weirdo. He's got good straight acting chops as well which undercurrents his comedy acting and makes him more convincing when he's leering at Dennis Reynolds or screaming in agony. He's one of them who doesn't really have to be doing anything, if he's in the background of a scene I will be looking at his face cause he's got a funny face.

It's always a treat when he does pop up. I don't know if you saw him in House of Cards, but it was as a hacker in a pretty shit branch of the story, but I didn't mind because he was very good.

[Clownbaby]

It's always a treat when he does pop up. I don't know if you saw him in House of Cards, but it was as a hacker in a pretty shit branch of the story, but I didn't mind because he was very good.

Yeah, and he's got that guinea pig, Cashew. Cashew is such a cute name for a guinea pig. He can completely boost the quality of something he's in just by showing up. I pretty much only stuck with the chore that was Westworld because of him.

[Kane Jones]

Not to mention Tony Driscoll in OFAH and The Green Green Grass, of course... and he was in Absolutely Fabulous as well... plus one of them dome-headed yolks in Doctor Who, apparently?

He was also an elf in Santa Claus The Movie.