Over 200 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of 18 Surprising A-List Cameos In Underrated Sitcoms
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Vote up the most surprising cameos from underrated sitcoms.
Celebrities often guest-star on popular network sitcoms, usually on well-known shows like Friends, which featured a long list of celeb appearances during its run. But the big TV shows aren’t the only ones to feature an A-lister or two. Underrated sitcoms feature some of the funniest and best cameos around.
While some guest-star roles on underrated shows are an act of self-promotion, many come about because the celebrity is a fan of the show and wants to be involved in any way possible. Seriously acclaimed actors are often doing pretty silly stuff in these sitcoms - with some appearances resulting in fan-favorite episodes.
The late Prince championed his own form of pop, funk, and R&B, and his name is synonymous with music and showmanship. So it came as a shock for Zooey Deschanel and the rest of the New Girl cast when he wanted to come on the comedy. In response, they created an entire episode at a celebrity-packed party that takes place at the “Purple Rain” singer's house, and Prince is magnetic playing himself
In the episode, he attempts to help Nick and Jess through relationship woes and acts as an impromptu couples therapist, imparting some of his infinite Prince wisdom. The musician was known for being highly secretive and mysterious, so it is heartwarming to see him purposely insert himself into the spotlight so he can appear on one of his favorite shows.
As the lead protagonist in one of the biggest film franchises ever, Mark Hamill has been able to pretty much pick and choose what work he's done for the rest of his career. Since his time as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, Hamill has mostly stuck to voice acting, but one show he was a vocal fan of reached out, and his appearance sparked one of the best episodes of the sitcom.
During the first season of What We Do in the Shadows, a mockumentary that follows vampires in modern America, Hamill tweeted his support for the show, and soon after was invited on as a guest star for Season 2. The former Jedi appears as a vampire attempting to collect a debt from Matthew Berry’s character, Laszlo, that leads Laszlo to create his fan-favorite alternate persona, Jackie Daytona. Posing as Jackie, a smooth-talking Arizonan who owns a bar and always has his trademark toothpick in his mouth, Laszlo temporarily tricks Hamill with his clever disguise, but eventually the two duel in front of a confused and frightened bar full of townsfolk.
An Oscar-nominated actor who has largely gained popularity as an action star in films such as Taken, Neeson at first might seem like an odd choice for a sitcom featuring girls attending a Catholic school in the '90s. But upon further examination and seeing that he hails from Northern Ireland, where the show takes place, it makes sense that he would want to appear in a successful program from and about his homeland. And it turns out he is also a fan of the show.
Appearing in one episode as a police officer who questions the girls on their suspicious whereabouts the night of a robbery, the leading man performs admirably as an annoyed cop just trying to do his job. The girls panic from the get-go, so he can barely get a coherent sentence out of them, aside from when they hilariously and repeatedly try to make statements into a tape recorder that he continuously reminds them isn’t there. Neeson's character is supposed to have experience with violence and unrest because the show takes place during the Troubles, so knowing that he's used to interrogating IRA soldiers but is now questioning the Derry Girls provides a proper laugh.
In a long career with a steady mix of dramatic, comedic, and action roles, Michael Keaton has successfully prevented himself from being typecast. He has won Emmys, was nominated for an Oscar, and portrayed Ken in Toy Story 3 - that shows some range.
While 30 Rock featured many big celebs playing slightly fictionalized versions of themselves - including Tom Hanks, Aaron Sorkin, and Jerry Seinfeld - Keaton went a different direction. He plays Tom the janitor, who thanks to some poor handiwork causes a major gas leak in the building, which leads to hallucinatory effects that create problems for the cast. Speaking like a hardened old-school cop spouting off stereotypical one-liners such as, “Of course, this happens one day before retirement,” Keaton is superbly funny in every scene.
Jack Black has been making audiences laugh since his first days in show business. Playing characters in films like School of Rock that are essentially giant man-babies, he is never afraid to go too big. This remains true during an episode of Community where he plays a strange, determined student who wishes to join the study group that links all the main characters.
The group members find him irritating and offensive, but he keeps trying to woo them with tactics like bringing lemon squares, playing a song on guitar, or showing off karate moves. Eventually, he is forcibly removed from the study room, but not before his pants fall around his ankles. Too devastated to care, he makes no attempt to pull them up. Hearing Jack Black describe himself as a “chubby yet agile” guy hits extra hard because it is entirely true, with Black known to pull out a random cartwheel when he needs to.
Charlize Theron has displayed throughout her career as an actress that she can do it all. She won an Oscar for Monster, and has been nominated for two more (for North Country and Bombshell); and has also starred in big action films like Mad Max: Fury Road and Atomic Blonde. She's done comedy, too, starring in the rom-com Long Shot with Seth Rogan and in a five-episode arc on the sitcom Arrested Development.
Theron’s Arrested Development character, Rita, is introduced as a new love interest for the only responsible member of the Bluth family, Michael, but she is holding on to a secret. Is she a British spy gathering intelligence on the US? Is it something even more sinister? Or is she just entirely misunderstood? The answer, like most things on the show, might shock you with its absurdity,
