Shows with Great Guest Stars Updated: Part I

I've done this a couple times before, where I look at guest stars who've been on comedy shows. Here's a more thorough listing I'm working on. I am also hoping to mine some good article fodder out of this raw data.


Key:
^-Very minor part/Cameo
In Bold=Recurring role (There's not a set number of episodes for a role to be considered recurring. It's a judgement call)
*=Stars who played themselves


Arrested Development's Notable Guest Stars:
The Roster: Alan Tudyk (Dodgeball), Amy Poehler, Andy Richter, Bob Oderink, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Charlize Theron, Carl Weathers*, Dave Atell, Ed Begley Jr, Frankie Muniz*^, Henry Winkler, Heather Graham, Ian Roberts, Jane Lynch, Judge Reinhold*, Judy Greer, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Jeff Garlin, John Michael Higgins, Justine Bateman, Jack McBrayer^ (30 Rock), James Lipton , Liza Minnelli, Martin Mull, Marty Shore, Mo Collins (Mad TV), Russell Simmons*, Ron Howard*^, Scott Baio, Simon Helberg^ (Big Bang Theory), William Hung*, Zach Braff

Stars who played themselves:
1. Russell Simmons appears in a flashback commercial for the highly dangerous cornball cooker contraption
2. Frankie Muniz has a brief cameo on the studio lot
3. Carl Weathers serves as an acting coach to Tobias who'll do anything for free food
4. Ron Howard has a cameo as an executive in the last episode.
5. William Hung is involved in a courtroom episode for the sole reason of being able to use the gag "Hung Jury"
6. For the same reason, Judge Reinholdt is used as a judge in the same episode
Stars who possibly played themselves:
7. Andy Richter plays various fictional brothers of the real Andy Richter. It's possible that at one point in the episode he was the real Andy Richter.
8. Jeff Garlin plays a studio executive who mentors Maybe. Garlin does work in Hollywood so that could possibly be him.

Notes: The show was so good at inserting stars in the right places that they were able to create meta-jokes based on casting alone: James Lipton is a prison warden who aspires to be a pretentious screenwriter. Amy Poehler, the real-life wife of Will Arnett, gets involved in a haphazard marriage to Gob. Scott Baio succeeds Henry Winkler as attorney just as Baio succeeded Winkler as the star of "Happy Days." Lastly, Justine Bateman (Jason's sister) stars as a mysterious woman who might or might not be Michael's sister.

The show's writers also had a lot of fun with naming characters. Aside from using Judge Reinholdt and William Hung solely because their names could set up a running punchline, Scott Baio was called "Bob Laublau" and to add icing to the cake, it was later revealed that his primary hobby was blogging on the "Bob Laublau Law Blog." Giving Liza Minelli's character the name "Lucille" also led to a lot of Freudian ambiguity between Buster's girlfriend and his mom (later compounded by the fact that Buster named his turtle Lucille).

The best: Charlize Theron plays a love interest to Michael in a six-episode arc who may or may not be a spy for a British rival. Later is revealed she may or may not be mentally disabled. Theron played the ambiguity with finesse.
If there was some type of popular vote by AD fans, the winner might be Henry Winkler or Judy Greer as George's flirtatious secretary and mistress who is often introduced on talk shows as "Judy Greer from Arrested Development" despite a pretty lengthy career.

Frasier's Notable Guest Stars
The Roster:Aaron Eckhart, Anthony LaPaglia, Amy Brenneman, Bebe Neuwirth, Bill Campbell, Brian Cox, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bryan Callen (Mad TV), Christine Barinski, Felicity Huffman, Harriet Samson Harris, Jane Adams, Jane Kaczmarek, Julia Sweeny. Kristin Chenowith, Laura Linney, Laurie Metcalf, Mercedes Reuhl, Millicent Martin, Patrick Stewart, Patricia Clarkson, Rene Auberjonois, Rita Wilson, Saul Rubineck, Sela Ward, Tea Leoni, Teri Hatcher, Teri Polo, Victor Garber, Virginia Madsen, Wendy Malick, Zooey Deschannel

Also from the show Cheers: George Wendt, John Ratzenberger, Rhea Perlman, Shelley Long, Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson

Notes: Being a spin-off of "Cheers," it was fairly inevitable that former barmates would visit Frasier in Seattle. Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson got entire episodes. Former flame Dianne (Shelly Long) appeared in Frasier's imagination in addition to actually being in Seattle. Bebe Neuwirth's Lillith, being the ex-wife of Frasier and mother of his child, was somewhat of a recurring character on the show and the dynamic evolved between the two considerably.

Frasier has very good taste in women. Four of his girlfriends (Virginia Madsen-2004, Laura Linney-2004, Patricia Clarkson-2003, and Felicity Huffman-2005) would go on to be nominated for an acting Oscar. Another love interest, Mercedes Reuhl was also an Oscar winner in 1991 for "The Fisher King". Other very talented and beautiful girlfriends of Frasier include Teri Polo, Sela Ward, Amy Brenneman and Teri Hatcher. Julia Sweeny (The Androgynous Pat from SNL) played a fairly undesirable date of Frasier's.

Perhaps, the most memorable guest role was one left up to our imagination: Maris never made an onscreen appearance and it was doubtful she would ever live up to the hyperboles Niles and others used to describe her physical appearance and mannerisms.

The Best: The bombastic Patrick Stewart has a one-episode stint as a gay symphony conductor with whom Frasier gets into a sticky situation. As for recurring characters, Wendie Malick provides much of the heart of the final season as Martin's companion. The biggest audience favorite was probably Harriet Samson Harris who was used sparingly but effectively as Frasier's ruthless but strangely charming agent Bebe Glazer. When Frasier had enough of Bebe, Kristin Chenowith in all her pint-sized-perkiness came along as Bebe's intermediary in an somewhat underrated role.

3rd Rock From the Sun:
The Roster:Ana Gasteyer*, Bryan Cranston, Chris Hogan, Christine Lakin (Step by Step), Cindy Crawford, Courtney Peldon, Darrell Hammond*, Dennis Rodman*, David DeLuise, Dom DeLuise, Elaine Stritch, Evlsi Costello*, George Takei*, Jan Hooks, John Cleese, Kevin Nealon, Kurtwood Smith (That 70's Show), Laurie Metcalf, Miguel Ferrer, Mike Ditka, Mark McKinney (Kids in the Hall), Phil Hartman, Wayne Knight, Tracy Morgan*, William Shatner

People who played themselves:
1. Ana Gasteyer was herself when the Solomons went into an alternate universe where Tommy was a cast member of Saturday Night Live and Ana's boyfriend (Tracy Morgan and Darrell Hammond also appeared in much smaller roles)
2. George Takei appeared as himself checking out of a hotel in a Star Trek convention
3. Dennis Rodman is referenced to as being an alien ("Men in Black" also made this joke) and Rodman appears as himself in two episodes.

Notes: The show was created by former "Saturday Night Live" writers Bonnie and Terry Turner which allowed them fairly easy access to SNL alums such as Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman and Kevin Nealon. Everyone's favorite tomboy from "Step by Step," middle child Allie, pops up in a family reunion episode. The show also tapped into the sci-fi fanbase with highly publicized appearances by George Takei and William Shatner as "The Big Giant Head"

Chris Hogan, David DeLuise (Dom's son), Ian Lithgow (John's son), and Danielle Nicolet played a quartet of perpetual students of Dick's, that served as stand-ins for pretty much the entire unviersity's student body.

The Best: John Cleese played a rival alien who was even weirder than the Solomons but better able to fit in. Runner-up would either be Shatner or Cindy Crawford as a model from an alien planet who botches a plan to take over the world by falling in love with Harry. The sight of Crawford and French Stewart got enough laughs alone because it was such an extreme "beauty and the geek" scenario.

Coming up, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Monk, Pushing Daisies, Newsradio, Spin City, Friends, 30 Rock, My Name is Earl and much, much more

Ode to Working Actors

Today I browsed through a very interesting book on casting from Barnes and Noble. I read the entire first chapter and I learned that there were essentially 6 types of categories of actors according to these casting directors who wrote the book. You can drop down in categories if you haven’t done significant enough work in a while. The authors note that the following categories apply for movies. A successful TV star like Amanda Byrnes, Topher Grace and Wilmer Valderama, Frankie Muniz or George Clooney when he was just starting out in the movie business, is much lower on the ladder:

1. Unknowns-Pretty much nobodies, they could be fresh out of college

2. Working Actors-These are guys that highly astute film buffs, fans of a certain niche (like Star Trek fans might be more familiar with Armin Shimerman than the general public, for example, or fans of Mr. Show might know Bob Oderink and David Cross) might know of. They find steady work and pop up in a lot of films as character actors and you’ll often recognize their faces before recognizing their names.

3. Names-People know their names

4. Stars-People know their names and they must add clout to a film

5. A-Listers-If one of these people like Harrison Ford or George Clooney or Rene Zellweger signs onto a film, than it’s enough to get the film greenlit

6. A Plus Listers-Not only will their name attached to a film project equal a green light but they are almost guaranteed to make you money. To be an A-plus lister, it’s not just about acting but usually you or your agents have a keen eye for good material as most of your films are big hits (i.e. Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson although it will be interesting how his anti-Semitic tirade will affect things). Surprisingly enough, the three most bankable actors statistically are Will Smith, Tom Cruise and Mike Meyers. With Austin Powers and Shrek, Meyers has a very high average, although that might be a misleading statistic since it’s easier to be bankable if you’re doing a lot of sequels.

Examples of working actors:

-Anthony Heald (Boston Public, X-Men 3, 8 Milimeter)

-Virginia Madsen before her Oscar nomination, Mercedes Reuhl (she actually won an Oscar in the early 90’s but she fills out mostly guest star roles)

-James Cromwell-I’d call him borderline. He was in Babe, played the villain in LA Confidential and played the president in Sum of All Fears, but do more than 3 out of 10 people on the street know him by name?

-James Rebhorn-This guy always plays the bad guy from Dave to Scent of a Woman to the last episode of Sienfeld as the prosecutor

-Speaking of people who played the president, Bill Pulliam

-Johnothan Pryce (A Bond Villain, Evita, back in the 80s he was actually a star)

-Sean Bean (The Island, Goldeneye, Troy)

-Jonothan McBraye (Guest spots on Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Talladega Nights)

-Kathy Baker (All the King’s Men, a guest spot on Star Trek, Boston Public)

-Teri Polo (depending on how many people are intimately familiar with the cast list for Meet the Fockers, she was on an unsuccessful season of TV with I’m with Her and was the female love interest in Aspen Extreme)

-Alan Tyduck (I’m sorry if I spelt his name wrong, highlights include Serenity and Dodgeball)

-Noah Taylor (Life Aquatic, The New World, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

-Bud Cort (MASH, Life Aquatic)

-Rene Auberjoinis (MASH, McCabe and Mrs Miller, guest spots on Frasier as his mentor, Star Trek, Boston Legal)

-Saul Rubineck (guest spots on Frasier as Daphne’s fiancée Donnie, Unforgiven, For Love or Money, I Love Trouble, Dick)

-Kevin Pollack (who looks a lot like Saul Rubineck, The Aristocrats, The Whole Nine Yards)

-Alan Ruck (Cheaper by the Dozen, Spin City, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

-Paula Marshall (A show called Cupid, a guest spot on Sienfeld, Cheaper by the Dozen)

-Laura Knightlighter (Guest shots on Will and Grace and Friends, bit roles in Down with Love, Shallow Hall, Kicking and Screaming, Anchorman, a short stint on SNL)

-J.B. Smoove (Mr. Deeds, guest spots on Conan O’Brien and Saturday Night Live)

-Jerry Minor (SNL, Trigger Happy TV, Arrested Development)

-Nicky Tate (Out of Sight, Full Frontal, Boston Public)

-Ethan Suplee before the 2^nd season of My Name is Earl (Cold Mountain, My Name is Earl, Boy Meets World)

-Alex Bornstein (Family Guy, Kicking and Screaming, Mad TV)

-Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit, 40-Year Old Virgin, recurring role on Scrubs)

-Craig Anton (Short stints on Mad TV, 3^rd Rock from the Sun, and the game show I’ve Got a Secret)

-Luis Gusman (Traffic, Count of Monte Christo, Luis*)

*In 2000, Luis was part of an ill-fated attempt to turn a working actor into a TV star with a show called “Luis” which the producers told TV guide would hopefully be a success because “everyone knows who Luis is, even if they don’t know him by name. They’ve seen him in Traffic,” but al, as that didn’t work out as planned. This if anything exemplified the rules concerning working actors and names

-Mary McCormack (Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Full Frontal)

-Jack Black was a fairly invisible working actor in the 90’s before segwaying into full-blown star in Shallow Hal. Look for him in The Jackal, Enemy of the State, Waterworld, Dead Man’s Walking and even an episode of Touched by an Angel. When you look at those movies, you have to think that the directors of those films are kicking themselves in the back for not giving him more lines or utilizing his comic talents when they had the chance

-Judy Greer (Elizabethtown, 13 Going on 30, Adaptation, guest spots on Arrested Development and Just Shoot Me)

-I’m still inclined to include Patricia Clarkson in this category but only marginially. She probably had one of the lowest profile and lowest grossing films in the last decade to have produced a best acting nomination in Pieces of April. She’s also been in Far From Heaven, Frasier, All the King’s Men, Good Night and Good Luck and the Station Agent

-Ian Holm (although around 2004 he was in danger of leaving that category) with Lord of the Rings, Garden State and Aviator

Best places to find quality working actors:

-Christopher Guest films are a very unusual phenomena in that they entirely star working actors. They are led by that what’s-her-name-again woman from Home Alone (Catherine O’Hara), that guy who played the dad in American Pie (Eugene Levy), the guy who falls for Elaine in Seinfeld (Bob Balaban), the girl who plays Joey’s agent in his 2 season sitcom (Jennifer Coolidge), the phony record company executive from Josie and the Pussycats (Parker Posey), the guy who played Lenny in Laverne and Shirley (Michael McKean), the guy who voices Principal Skinner in the Simpsons (Harry Shearer), and the station boss from Anchorman (Fred Willard). Seriously, I know Christopher Guest fans (of which I am proudly one) are going to eat me out for this, but these guys would have so few roles without Christopher Guest and never have the opportunity at their current states of fame to have such large parts in movies. When guys like Fred Willard and Eugene Levy bestow praise on Christopher Guest as the best comic filmmaker in Hollywood and profess there’s nothing in Hollywood like him, let’s consider that for Willard and Levy, there’s nothing in Hollywood that would even give them more than a small character role in a big budget film. I’m not saying that Guest isn’t funny or innovative, but keep in mind when hearing some of the praise bestowed among Guest. The Christopher Guest brand, however, is truly an anomaly within present day Hollywood.

-Some shows like Will and Grace, Friends and Arrested Development (which did it better than the previous 2) shamelessly recruit guest stars to boost the ratings but Frasier seems to have featured all the best working actors in Hollywood: Virginia Madsen, Mercedes Ruehl, Laura Linney, Patricia Clarkson, Rita Wilson, and Amy Brenneman all played Frasier’s girlfriends. Saul Rubineck played Donnie’s husband and Daphne's brother was played by Anthony LaPaglia.

-Sienfeld also used up pretty much every attractive woman in Hollywood over the course of 10 seasons including a pre-“Lois and Clark” Teri Hatcher, a pre-“Sex and the City” Kristen Davis, Paula Marshall and A.J. Langer among many, many others.

-In my opinion, once you get on SNL you’re bumped up to the name category relatively quickly (unless you’re on for a very short time like Laura Knightlighter or Jerry Minor). Having your name announced week after week in the opening credits familiarizes you to the American public, plus upon graduation from the ranks of SNL, you’re usually awarded with your very own movie based on a theme character and even if it’s terrible like Night at the Roxbury or Superstar, you still get your name out there. However, Mad TV being much more low-profile doesn’t grant you that entrance into recognition. Therefore, many good comic actors and actresses have still remained under the radar despite working pretty exhaustively on securing guest roles and whatever else: Nicole Sullivan (King of Queens), Will Sasso (Less than Perfect), Mo Collins (Arrested Development), Michael McDonald (bit roles in Austin Powers and Spin City), Alex Bornstein (Kicking and Screaming, Family Guy), Phil Lamarr (Futurama), David Herman (Kicking and Screaming, Office Space and guest spots on Family Guy)

-The Oscars are also a very easy way to jump up immediately from working actor to name category: Virginia Madsen (Highlander, guest roles on Frasier, CSI: Miami, Star Trek: Voyager), Catherine Keener, Djimon Hotsou (previously in Amistad and Gladiator), Benicio del Toro (Liscence to Kill), Shoreh Aghdoshloo, Rachel Weicz (Enemy at the Gates, The Mummy, About a Boy), Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding), and Michael Clarke Duncan. All of the people listed above (although it’s too soon to tell with Catherine Keener) have enjoyed much better careers after their oscar nominations.

I think because you have a place in history with that oscar nomination and someone reads your name in an envelope in front of one of the largest TV audiences of the year along with possibly the best 15 seconds of your acting career, it’s safe to say you’re pretty much always a name from then on.

-At the same time, oscar winners and oscar nominees can easily find themselves back in the working actor category if they don’t follow up on that one great performance or it’s been a while. It’s a close call because she is married to Ted Danson but to audiences of today who know her from Joan of Arcadia and Sunshine State, Mary Steenburgen might be a working actor. Mercedes Ruehl is pretty much in the working category, and the same would go for Armhin Muehler-Stahl who got an oscar nomination for playing Geoffery Rush’s father in Shine. Still, these actors would never be nobodies, and I’m not even sure that casting directors would treat them like working actors. I think they’d always get a certain minimal treatment of reverence with casting opportunities for having an oscar nomination

-Lastly I’d like to point out my observation that some of the biggest cult followings of today happen to be those of working actors who have stayed in that category well into their careers: John C. Riley, Paul Giamatti, Peter Sargasaand, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman have incredibly large fan bases among film literate people and inspiring actors. My theory on this is that you feel a certain ownership for knowing about these actors’ talents before the rest of the country does