Greatest one-off character in sitcom history

[Cuellar]

Pat Mustard in Father Ted

"Don't worry Mrs Doyle, there's plenty more where THAT came from!"

God, hard to believe he's a one off, his presence and influence is so vast. In fact loads of Father Ted episodes had excellent one off characters.

Some brilliant one LINE characters ffs - 'It's me, in the nip, with the dog'

[solidified gruel merchant]

Nowhere near the greatest, obviously, but I did enjoy the transsexual football pundit on W1A.
"I'm staying with a mate in Rickmansworth. I say a mate, he's got a hotel."

[idunnosomename]

The pissing donkey from One Foot in the Algarve.

I raise you the horse's arse from The Beast in the Cage

[Blue Jam]

Valerie, the teenage goth from Peep Show.

[wosl]

Have we had Mainwaring's brother, Barry, in Dad's Army yet?  Because he ought to be in the mix - played of course by that great bunch Arthur Lowe, double-scooping for one episode and giving a more expansive display of his range and depth as a comedy character.

[Dusty Substance]

The Witchsmeller Pursuivant from The Black Adder.

Yes.


"Oh really? And how did you get to know so much about carrots, eh? WITCH!

A towering performance by Frank Finlay. He may have been a great character actor and trod the boards and all that but his finest 30 minutes was as The Witchsmeller Pursuivant.

[Noodle Lizard]

Simon Pegg's "big bookshop chain manager" in Black Books is very well observed and played perfectly.  There aren't many lines I could quote that are especially funny in and of themselves, it's entirely in the delivery - that kind of lilting voice singing various platitudes about being a team player, barely concealing a psychotic temper.

[Blue Jam]

Simon Pegg's "big bookshop chain manager" in Black Books

"You think: 'There's Evan, he's a young guy- he likes The Stereophonics, he rides a scooter'"

Seconded.

[hummingofevil]

Does the "have you ever cleaned up your own mother's piss" woman from The Thick Of It count? Just brilliant.

[hummingofevil]

Oh and the Year 7 girl in Derry Girls who they try to bully only for her to be Big Nancy's little sister. That she is not a recurring character is a travesty.

"Do you accept the apology."

"Do I have to?"

"No, I suppose you don't."

"Then no then."

Something like that it was. She is brilliant.

[Noodle Lizard]

"You think: 'There's Evan, he's a young guy- he likes The Stereophonics, he rides a scooter'"

Seconded.

Yes!  His delivery of the word "scooter" and subsequent facial expression is hilarious.  Sounds like a cliché, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn't had a boss like that.  I'm ambivalent about Simon Pegg in general, but that performance is absolutely perfect.

"Selling books is a game. It has rules. You need to learn those rules, yeah, and you need to get serious about them, because it's not a game."

[TheBrownBottle]

Apart from Clinton Baptiste:

Michael Redmond's Father Stone in Father Ted is deadpan at its best.  Father Hernández is also fantastic - Geoffrey Perkins's delivery is superb - 'Yes? Eh? Eh, my friend!?'  As mentioned earlier, there's scores of Father Ted one-off characters who could appear on this list.

Dan (and wife) in I'm Alan Partridge 2 are also a ruddy good time

Just the concept of 'Scotch Mist' in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is great - I'm sticking to it being a one-off character

[paddy72]

The hard-boiled cops in Seinfeld - 'Just the trees, Johnny'.

I always thought they should have had a spin-off show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByK6PevFxdo

[PeterCornelius]

God, hard to believe he's a one off, his presence and influence is so vast. In fact loads of Father Ted episodes had excellent one off characters.

Some brilliant one LINE characters ffs - 'It's me, in the nip, with the dog'

Sadly, the actor who played him -Pat Laffan - died earlier this year.

[petril]

Simon Pegg's "big bookshop chain manager" in Black Books is very well observed and played perfectly.  There aren't many lines I could quote that are especially funny in and of themselves, it's entirely in the delivery - that kind of lilting voice singing various platitudes about being a team player, barely concealing a psychotic temper.

the way he deliberately undermines his metaphors is played in such a perfectly abusive psycho parent/partner way as well.

Thirded

[Kryton]

Mrs Richards in Fawlty towers.

[wosl]

The question of whether KMKY has enough recurring characters, etc, to qualify as a sit-com aside, these lads are probably the pick of the one-off guests:

[fatguyranting]

Bubbles' long lost puppet Conky from Trailer park boys is pretty amazing.

[NoSleep]

Krampus in Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell is outstanding. That single episode stands head and shoulders above any other in four seasons of the show.

[madhair60]

[alan nagsworth]

^ yeah amazing shout. "ahh look what ye done to 'em"

Lobster harmonica is my favourite Simpsons one off character

[alan nagsworth]

Whoever mentioned 15 Storeys High is on the money as well, so many belters. Two of the very best, the manager at Billingsgate Fish Market and the extremely boring/annoying janitor at the swimming pool, are both played by Martin Treneman. Cracked up laughing just now remembering the stupid spectacle of the janitor eating the slice of Vince's dodgy ham.

Though I think my favourite has to be the psychotic lad trying to stop Vince teaching his wife to swim. He has so many memorable lines/physical bits.

"Teach another man's wife to swim would you? I warned you once, I warned you twice, I, I warned you trice! Yeah, that's the last time you swing that whistle, you big swinging whistley wanker."

"I'm a lethal, mate! I'm a lethal!" <mental headbutt/karate chop combo>

[Rizla]

Lock the thread.

[Sebastian Cobb]

[Excellent_Biscuits]

Legion in Redd Ddwarf just for the line that always makes me laugh even after many years.

Rimmer - "So I couldn't buy it then?"

Legion - "hmmm not really. I need it to turn the lights on and off."

[Sebastian Cobb]

Does Hippie Rimmer count?



Red Dwarf has a few characters that would've been great had they been actual one offs - Dwayne Dibley, Spare Head 3 etc.

Lee Cornes as Paranoia was great too.

[Utter Shit]

Red Dwarf has a few characters that would've been great had they been actual one offs - Dwayne Dibley, Spare Head 3 etc.

I didn't dare mention people who were slightly more than one-offs when I posted, but seeing as you've opened that can of worms: Eddie and Paul from Friends.

[Utter Shit]

Though I think my favourite has to be the psychotic lad trying to stop Vince teaching his wife to swim. He has so many memorable lines/physical bits.

"Teach another man's wife to swim would you? I warned you once, I warned you twice, I, I warned you trice! Yeah, that's the last time you swing that whistle, you big swinging whistley wanker."

"I'm a lethal, mate! I'm a lethal!" <mental headbutt/karate chop combo>

That line when he drinks the bleach, "Oh no, that's horrible, that's really strong, it tastes like licorice", incredible.

[Blue Jam]

That line when he drinks the bleach, "Oh no, that's horrible, that's really strong, it tastes like licorice", incredible.

"Careful, some of those chemicals are really expensive!"

[Blue Jam]

^ yeah amazing shout. "ahh look what ye done to 'em"

Lobster harmonica is my favourite Simpsons one off character

If we're doing Simpsons characters:

"I nicked it, when you let your guard down for that split second... and I'd do it again..."