Strangest bit part by a UK comedian

[curiousoranges]

I haven't seen the film, but Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss both turn up briefly in Woody Allen's Match Point. I believe Gatiss doesn't even have any lines.

Dennis Pennis is in it too.

[Glebe]

Mel Smith was also in National Lampoon's European Vacation as a grumpy hotel worker.

Eric Idle, Robbie Coltrane and Maureen Lipman too of course.

[Stinky Lomax]

And Ballard Berkeley iirc. Not that it's particularly odd for British comedy actors to show up in a comedy movie about touring Europe, I suppose.

I always thought Ken Dodd as Yorick was a really smart bit of casting - not only is he a perfect choice as a jester, but also his distinctive teeth make his skull instantly recognisable to an adult Hamlet.

[Terry Torpid]

The Garfunkel bloke from Detectorists and Horrible Histories appeared very briefly as an X-Wing pilot in one of the Star Wars films.

[BJBMK2]

The Garfunkel bloke from Detectorists and Horrible Histories appeared very briefly as an X-Wing pilot in one of the Star Wars films.

See also, Ade Edmonson cropping up for about five seconds at the start of The Last Jedi

[Glebe]

Alexei Sayle in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:



Of course the late Ronald Lacey (Harris in Porridge, the Bishop of Bath and Wells in Blackadder II, Audrey's husband Ernie in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?) played Toht in Raiders, don't think he was specifically a comedy actor though.

Another 'not specifically a comedy actor' but anyway... Denis Lill (Cassandra's dad Alan Parry in OFaH, Sir Talbot Buxomly in Blackadder the Third and the Beadle in Blackadder's Christmas Carol... oh and he also appeared in Red Dwarf apparently) as Bob the Cartoonist in Batman '89:

[curiousoranges]

Hugh Laurie's pre (American) fame scene in Friends was good.

[mjwilson]

I found it pretty strange when Leonard Rossiter showed up in Barry Lyndon.

[Norton Canes]

Rossiter in 2001, too

[Glebe]

Doesn't really count but watched Under the Skin again the other night, with alien Scarlett Johansson watching Tommy Cooper on telly. "Spoon jar jar spoon!"

[Josef K]

It's probably too large to be called a bit part (oo-err) but Lee Evans being in The Fifth Element feels like a glitch. A sweaty comedian from Billericay should never be in big budget sci-fi.

[dead-ced-dead]

It's probably too large to be called a bit part (oo-err) but Lee Evans being in The Fifth Element feels like a glitch. A sweaty comedian from Billericay should never be in big budget sci-fi.

Every sweaty lad from Billericay is reading this, crying and sweating into their pillows with crushed dreams. Hope you're happy, you monster.

[Gulftastic]

Martin Cottle out off of Game On popping up in one short scene as Stan Laurel in the Robert Downey Jr starring Chaplin biopic.

[BlodwynPig]

Syd Little in The Godfather 3 always felt a bit incongruous

[Minami Minegishi]

Also had a small part in 1984.

Also, Gregor Fisher of Rab C Nesbitt fame.

[George White]

Syd Little in The Godfather 3 always felt a bit incongruous

John 'Rimmer's dad/the Ferrero Rocher butler' Abineri genuinely does appear.

[Des Wigwam]

This should be the other way round now but Benedict Wong in anything that's not 15 Storeys.

[Armin Meiwes]

Albert Steptoe in Hard Days Night

[Twilkes]

Albert Steptoe in Hard Days Night

Wilfred Brambell was THIS close to playing bass and acting in Frank Zappa's 200 Motels movie, in 1970.

I still have visions of what that would look like, and it still wouldn't be the oddest thing in the movie.

[dissolute ocelot]

Someone already mentioned Hamlet, but Ben Elton appears alongside Michael Keaton, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Beckinsale, and Keanu Reeves, as Verges in Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing. Although Elton may not be the strangest casting there.

[A Hat Like That]

Albert Steptoe in Hard Days Night

He appears in The Boys skulking around a toilet, which I can't help but think is some very on the nose casting.

Not a comedian as such but pre-OFAH Roger Lloyd-Pack was in an episode of The Professionals as an Eastern European terrorist. Not that strange as such as a jobbing actor but more the juxtaposition between being an Eastern European terrorist and Trigger.

Not just any (Eastern) (European) terrorist, but he's basically meant to be a numbers-filed-off Carlos The Jackal.

And, iirc, he's overdubbed for the whole thing anyway.

[George White]

Lloyd Pack also played Hispanic in Richard Lester's Cuba.
Similarly, in another Professionals, David Bradley played a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang (renamed 'Meyer-Helmut'), called 'Tony Christo'. I'm pretty sure he's not dubbed, just him trying to sound German.

[Ignatius_S]

Syd Little in The Godfather 3 always felt a bit incongruous

Sadly, that's not the worst post in fbis thread.

[Small Man Big Horse]

John Sessions in Gangs of New York playing someone playing Lincoln. It was quite strange to see Kevin Eldon pop up in Hugo. Guess Marty has a secret thing for British comedians.

I only watched Hugo recently but really enjoyed it, and wish it had been a success so that Scorsese continued to make more unusual upbeat films. But also as well as Eldon both Frances de la Tour and Richard Griffiths had supporting roles, which was pleasing to see.

And because I don't think I've told it recently, I worked and became friends with an actor, Stuart Sessions, who was cast as Adolf Hitler in the movie, and though he didn't have any lines he was set to appear in the background of one part having his arse bitten by dogs. Unfortunately Scorsese decided to cut the scene, and it's never appeared as a dvd extra, and sadly Stuart is no longer with us so I can't add any further details.

[Ignatius_S]

Albert Steptoe in Hard Days Night

Yeah, what are the odds of an well-regarded character actor with 30 or so years of experience, who specialised in playing old men and recently shot to fame playing an old man on a hit TV series, being cast as an old man?

[Ignatius_S]

I found it pretty strange when Leonard Rossiter showed up in Barry Lyndon.

Rossiter got that gig because Kubrick took a shining to him after his performance in 2001 and regarded him very highly. There was a perfectionist streak in Rossiter that Kubrick shared and the director allowed him a good deal more latitude in altering his performance over different takes, which others noted and who weren't permitted such luxuries.

Prior to 2001, Rossiter had made a number of minor, but notable film roles and had an excellent reputation as a stage actor; when he was replaced by dear old Larry Olivier, when Semi-Detached transferred unsuccessfully to the West End (Ian McKellen was also replaced by James Bolam), its writer David Turner said that the problem was 'Larry just isn't as good as Len'. However, the real breakthrough was playing the titular character in a massively successful productions of the Rise Of Arturo Ui.  IIRC, this was the first British production (but if not, it was the first major one) at a time where Brecht was considered the kiss of death commercial but it was a hit with the critics and audiences alike, running for two years and Rossiter absolutely lauded as a phenomenal actor. On one Rossiter documentary, there's an excerpt of a recording where he's performing Ui's final speech and it's electrifying.

[Ignatius_S]

It's a Kenneth Branagh film so maybe not that strange but there's Doddy as Yorick in Branagh's Hamlet alongside a big starry cast that includes the likes of Robin Williams, Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal and Charlton Heston.

Branagh regular and sitcom king Richard Briers is in there too... also appears alongside De Niro in Branagh's Frankenstein, I recall Ignatius making the fair point that Briers was a serious thesp who just happened to have a bit of a comedy career though.

There's a tradition of casting comics in Shakespeare - Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream has a reputation for good, particularly television versions and Frankie Howerd played it at the Old Vic. Ronnie Barker was in a BBC production (also in the cast was Eillen Atkins, Lynn Redgrave, Michael Gambon, Robert Stephens, Edward Fox (Lysander), Eleanor Bron and John Laurie; although best remembered for Dad's Army, Laurie was a noted Shakespearean actor, who appeared in all four of dear old Larry Olivier's film versions of Shakespeare) but he rebuffed multiple attempts by Peter Hall, an old rep friend and colleague, to cast him in various Shakespeare productions. But I digress....

Going back to Dodd, he was a noted lover of Shakespeare and had performed as Malvolio in Twelfth Night; both him and the production were hugely praised. So he certainly could do Shakespeare and the role of Yorick seems a natural one.

Re: Briers - absolutely; he was a noted Shakespeare actor and an actor generally. I think one of the issues is that we tend to view actors through a very narrow lens focussed on specific roles that don't capture their full career, not helped by how transitory stage work is. Of course, there's a tendency to ignore stage work in favour of television.... I recall one poster commenting that McKenzie Crook had obviously had the worst post-Office career as he had dispersed from sight. At that time, he was co-starring in Jerusalem with Mark Rylance (IIRC, the Broadway transfer).

[Andy147]

John Finnemore has a very minor role in an episode of Family Guy, and from what he said in an interview (RHLSTP maybe?), even he isn't sure why they wanted him for the part.

[Brundle-Fly]

Most of these nominations are not really 'bit parts'. And Reece Shearsmith is ostensibly an actor so what is strange about him playing a character in Saltburn? 

[Armin Meiwes]

Rossiter got that gig because Kubrick took a shining to him

Well done mate