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{{trope}}
[[File:William-Shatnering-naked-
{{quote|''"My name isn't "Adam We"... or is it? Who am I? What number did you call? Don't ever call here again. ''[hangs up]'' I guess I told him! Nobody messes with Adam We!"''
|'''[[Adam West|The man himself]]''', on ''[[Family Guy]]''}}
Some actors get... reputations that just won't go away. Maybe they're famous for being divas on the set. Maybe they're famous for only [[Typecasting|playing certain roles]]
▲{{quote|''"My name isn't "Adam We"... or is it? Who am I? What number did you call? Don't ever call here again. ''[hangs up]'' I guess I told him! Nobody messes with Adam We!"''|'''[[Adam West|The man himself]]''', on ''[[Family Guy (Animation)|Family Guy]]''}}
Or they can resign themselves to their fate, and make a career out of it by [[Adam Westing]].▼
▲Some actors get... reputations that just won't go away. Maybe they're famous for being divas on the set. Maybe they're famous for only [[Typecasting|playing certain roles]] -- or even worse, [[I Am Not Spock|only playing one role.]] Nobody will let them forget it. They can struggle mightily to earn a new reputation as decent people who can play a variety of roles.
Adam Westing is a form of [[Self
▲Or they can resign themselves to their fate, and make a career out of it by Adam Westing.
While this can be an [[Affectionate Parody]], it can also be a way for the actor to vent their spleen against a part that got old fast and/or ruined their career, until it amounts to a [[Take That]] against themselves. Particularly bitter actors will make [[The Parody]] a [[Deconstruction]] of their old part, explaining how it was a horrible role and nobody should watch it. Like all [[Deconstruction]], this can come full circle, with the actor doing a [[Reconstruction]] [[Self
▲Adam Westing is a form of [[Self Parody]] where actors play either themselves, or a [[Captain Ersatz]] of themselves, or a [[Captain Ersatz]] of their most famous role...and they play it as a total [[Jerkass]], a total idiot, or both. More rarely, they play the character as the exact opposite of what they're most famous for, but still a [[Jerkass]] and an idiot.
▲While this can be an [[Affectionate Parody]], it can also be a way for the actor to vent their spleen against a part that got old fast and/or ruined their career, until it amounts to a [[Take That]] against themselves. Particularly bitter actors will make [[The Parody]] a [[Deconstruction]] of their old part, explaining how it was a horrible role and nobody should watch it. Like all [[Deconstruction]], this can come full circle, with the actor doing a [[Reconstruction]] [[Self Parody]]. Sure, the role was stupid, but they enjoyed it.
Compare closely to the use of [[Meta Casting]], where this can be turned around and made impressionable by playing off this personality.
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See also [[The Danza]], where the character's name is clearly taken from the actor/actress portraying him/her. See also [[Parody Assistance]], when the actor works on a parody of whatever show/film/etc. made them famous.
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Adam West ==
[[Adam West]], the [[Trope Namer]], couldn't get serious work after ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''. He has embraced it; almost every role he's had since is either a parody of Batman the goofy [[Superhero]], [[Adam West]] the washed-up actor, or both at once.
* In ''[[Batman:
** Supposedly, when he was done with the episode and all of The Gray Ghost's memorabilia is returned, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm handed Adam (instead of scale wage) a $25,000 check and the original Batman
* He played a washed-up superhero who turned out to be a deluded actor on ''[[Kim Possible]]''. His character was even named "Timothy North".
** This character was also a parody of the older Bruce Wayne from ''[[
* He played ''another'' deluded actor in the pilot for ''Lookwell'', a show produced by [[Conan O
* He was an overhyped pizza delivery boy in ''[[Meet the Robinsons]].''
* During one of the Thanksgiving Turkey Day Marathons of ''[[
* He played a goofy rendition of himself on ''[[The Simpsons (
** This is probably where the "Crazy" Adam West of ''[[Family Guy]]''/''[[The Fairly
* In ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'', West acts like a mix between a [[Conspiracy Theorist]] and exaggerated versions of his portrayal of [[Batman (TV series)|Batman]] and John Walsh from ''[[
* In the ''[[Histeria
* He did a guest spot on ''[[The Critic]]'', as a last-minute guest on Jay Sherman's show. He's quickly bumped off because they managed to book someone else that it turns out is dead, prompting him to lament, "Man I wish I had his agent."
* His biggest role of the 2000s was as the [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Adam West, Mayor of Quahog in ''[[
{{quote|
** Interestingly enough, [[Word of God|McFarlane]] has stated that he's gone out of his way to ensure that West's history as Batman is ''never'' addressed. The inspiration for the character was West's cameo as the mayor on ''[[Johnny Bravo]]''. (An episode he co-wrote.) He's simply playing a psychotic version of himself who was inexplicably elected mayor of Quahog.
*** Seth has gone so far as to claim that the character was never (originally) intended to be ''the'' Adam
* West played superhero the Galloping Gazelle in the TV episode and video game of ''[[Goosebumps]]'' story ''Attack of the Mutant''. In the TV version, the Galloping Gazelle was washed-up and bailed on the kid protagonist because he thought he was too old for the job.
* West starred as an aging TV Space Commando personality Captain Blasto in an episode of ''[[Rugrats]]''.
* West played a lawyer defending R. Kelly who made a video of himself whizzing on a schoolgirl in ''[[The Boondocks]]''. In typical over-the-top West fashion, of course. It's like he doesn't even ''want'' to stop Adam Westing anymore.
* West appears in ''[[
* In ''[[Drop Dead Gorgeous (
* In one episode of ''[[Diagnosis
* In a 1995 episode of ''Hope and Gloria '' - a short-lived television series, he played himself doing a theatre performance of ''Love Letters '' with former ''Batman'' villainess Julie Newmar also playing herself. The main character was led to believe he was her father. The program referenced his autobiography and his real name of Bill Anderson.
* In ''[[The Fairly
{{quote|
'''West:''' Where?! }}
* On ''[[News Radio]]'', he appeared as himself and was revealed to be legendary hijacker D.B. Cooper.
* On ''[[King of Queens]]'' he plays himself in an episode where Spence asks him to come with him to a comic book convention. In doing so, he ditches his original choice, Doug's neighbor Lou Ferrigno (TV's Hulk). On the drive to the convention an irked West explains that Sci-fi actors "look out for each other" and leaves Spence on a busy freeway.
* He voiced a young Mermaid Man in the ''[[
** This one is also an interesting inversion, because while Mermaid Man as he usually appears in the show is an aging washed-up superhero, this is ''not'' the Mermaid Man that Adam West voices
* A commercial had West going on about his heroic exploits, only to be wheeled off by a nurse: "Time for your medication, Mr West..."
* ''Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt'', starring Adam West and Burt Ward as themselves but with their Batman and Robin personalities, where they try to figure out who stole the Batmobile, recalling various moments of their time filming the ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' television series along the way!
* A notable (though minor) exception was his role as the villain Breathtaker in the movie and TV series ''[[Black Scorpion]]''.
* Mad Magazine's parody of "Batman: The Animated Series" ends with Adam {{spoiler|rubbing out Batman and [[Calvin and Hobbes|Calvin]] as Robin, along with other characters, so he can finally get a decent job.}}
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== William Shatner ==
Almost every other role [[William Shatner]] has had since ''[[Star Trek:
* His turn as Denny Crane in ''[[Boston Legal]]''.
* Taken to sublime levels in ''Free Enterprise'', in which he plays William Shatner.
** What's funnier still is that the credits only list his character as [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0141105/fullcredits#cast "Bill."]
* This was even played with once in ''Star Trek'' itself. In ''[[Star Trek VI:
{{quote|
'''Martia''' [as Kirk]: Must have been your lifelong ambition. }}
* Shatner plays as a possum in ''[[Over the Hedge (
* Also, Jeff Burk wrote ''and published'' a very short literary work called ''[http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/30/shatnerquake-bizarro.html Shatnerquake]''- "It's the first ShatnerCon with William Shatner as the guest of honor! But after a failed terrorist attack by Campbellians, a crazy terrorist cult that worships Bruce Campbell, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world. Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner."
* During [[Comedy Central]]'s ''Roast of William Shatner'', when it was his turn at the podium, he donned his Shatner persona and jokingly berated everyone for making fun of him. He stated, "Do you know who I am? I'm William Tiberius Shatner!", and then begins to name some of his accomplishments, most of them actually being Captain Kirk's.
* Shatner plays this role to the hilt as the [[Punctuated!
* Certainly played with in his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEZVwQptvWw Tribute to George Lucas].
* There's a fair bit of Westing in the ''[[
* In ''[[Airplane!|Airplane II: The Sequel]]'' Shatner plays the moon base commander trying to help Ted Striker land the shuttle. When he looks into a periscope, the camera cuts to what he sees - the Enterprise. After reacting with surprise, he looks again and we're back to the normal space scene.
* Subverted in ''[[
* In a variation, [[Eddie Izzard]] once noted "Some of the characters on ''[[
* There is no other way to describe Shatner's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHg2z9ZgdEc stint] as Guest Host of ''[[WWE Raw]]''.
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== George Takei ==
William Shatner's co-star [[George Takei]], a.k.a. Sulu, generally Adam Wests in live action, but can get quite subtle and effective in voice acting. A recurring theme, if they don't get into his sexuality, tends to be drinking.
* He appears as a parody version of himself on ''[[Malcolm in
* He previously made a [[Cameo]] in ''[[3rd Rock
* And an episode of ''[[
* There's also this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s1iQODC5OI PSA] where he plays a [[Camp Gay]] version of himself [[Played for Laughs|for laughs]]. Wicked, squirm-inducing laughs. And an [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesome]] retort to some intolerant remarks.
* And in ''[[
* Takei had a more dignified cameo as Prowl's martial arts teacher Yoketron in an episode of ''[[Transformers Animated]]''.
* Also had a cameo as "Mr. Sulu" on ''[[The Simpsons (
* There is also a ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'' episode where Takei bores the pants off of Beaker and then some penguins on the
* Little-known Canadian sci-fi-com ''Alienated'' has him showing up and ordering a "Gin and... Gin."
* ''[[
* He was the [[Cool Old Guy]] [[The Mentor|Mentor]] to the ''Supah Ninjas'' on [[Nicktoons]].
* He was also the voice actor for Lord Hakkera in ''[[Freelancer]]'', and was most often met with in a bar.
* In an episode of ''[[Suite Life On Deck]]'', George plays London's future descendant. When the spaceship is attacked by hostile aliens, he says "Oh, my! How many times do I have to go through this?"
* Subverted in ''[[
== Other ''Star Trek'' examples ==
* The late [[James Doohan]] also turned to Adam Westing due to finding it hard to get work after playing ''[[
** In the attempted reboot of ''[[Knight Rider]]'', ''Knight Rider 2000'' he plays himself, who has become an old crazy man spewing lines from the TV show while trying to pull large sums of money from an ATM machine.
== [[Stephen Hawking]] ==
The quintessential [[Real Life]] [[Genius Cripple]] thoroughly
* He hit ''[[Star Trek:
{{quote|
** A few years later he ran into Brent Spiner, and immediately asked "Where's my money?"
* He showed up on ''[[Dilbert (
* He has something going on with Matt Groening - he'll show up out of nowhere, and likes to "play" himself as a bit of a charlatan:
** One episode of ''[[The Simpsons (
{{quote|
** He has twice appeared on ''[[
{{quote|
'''Hawking:''' [[Sure, Let's Go
{{quote|'''Hawking:''' Welcome. I am the pickled head of Stephen Hawking, on a way cool rocket.}}
{{quote|
'''Hawking:''' You should have. }}
* He also showed up as himself in ''[[The Fairly
== Advertising ==
* Every time Tay Zonday has appeared on national TV he was definitely Adam Westing for himself... but nowhere is this more obvious than in the ''Cherry Chocolate Rain'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x2W12A8Qow video], which he did as an advert for Dr. Pepper's Cherry Chocolate flavoured soda.
* [[David Hasselhoff]] in the ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]]'' commercial as an egotistical [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWiCo3XHl6Q informercial star. With a yacht].
* [[Michael Bay]] demands things [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRCf9LbLM0 be awesome] in Verizon commercials. And by "awesome", he means "exploding". Particularly effective since his real-life persona is so close to what one would expect, given his movies.
* [[Donald Trump]] seems to revel in parodies of himself, even appearing in a series of OREO commercials with Darrell Hammond (Hammond was ''[[
* Mickey Rourke appeared in a commercial for a Dutch beer where he ruthlessly spoofs his own image, portraying himself as a childish, spoilt ass who loves only booze, little dogs and women. He throws a tantrum (and a minibar...) when he finds out they only serve alcohol free beer in his room, per example.
* Famous romance-novel-cover model and sex symbol Fabio did a stint advertising ''I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!'' in the most over-the-top, sexy manner ever. He even recorded personalizable dialogue for a promo website, ramping up the ridiculousness.
** His appearance on ''[[
* Virgin Money ran an advertising campaign starring various celebrities from the 1980s (Geoffrey Hayes, presenter of ''Rainbow''; ska icon Buster Bloodvessel; and David Van Day from the pop duo Dollar) lampooning the fact that they had blown all their money and were now reduced to working menial jobs - respectively, as a taxi driver, guest house owner and running a mobile burger van.
* A tourism ad for California featured a bunch of different people [[Finishing Each
* Detroit-area electronics chain ABC Warehouse features company founder Gordon "Gordy" Hartunian playing a comically-goofy version of himself in its radio and TV spots.
* Snickers has begun an entire ad campaign consisting of a series of celebrities doing this to represent how unpleasant a random guy is while hungry. So far [[Betty White]], [[Aretha Franklin]], Liza Minnelli, and [[Joe Pesci]] have appeared.
** In the UK version, it's [[Joan Collins]].
* In 2009, Brazilian coach Joel Santana earned a reputation for his [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RWMxEALSA awful] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88mAOmdSQi4&feature=related English] when he managed South Africa. Three years later, [[Self
* [[Chuck Norris]] embraces his internet meme for a [[World of Warcraft]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arKpdxjHamI commercial]
== Anime and Manga ==
* The [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Super Milk
* Seiyuu [[
== Film ==
* In the movie ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', Brendan Fraser plays D.J. Drake, a security guard and former stuntman. When Daffy doesn't believe the latter, he claims he was in the ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|Mummy]]'' movies "more than that guy Brendan Fraser was." At the end of the movie, he meets the "real" Brendan Fraser (obviously also played by Fraser), who acts like a total [[Jerkass]] to D.J. prompting him to punch Brendan in the face.
* [[Robert De Niro]] in ''[[Analyze This]]''
* [[Michael Madsen]] in ''Being Michael Madsen'' - a [[Mockumentary]] that implies he's just Mr Blonde as an actor, which is terrifying enough as a mental image. Some of his voice acting for video games counts too, as does the fact that in more recent movies (such as ''[[Kill Bill]]'') the movie almost relies on you to know what a Michael Madsen character is "supposed" to be like, so it can confound your expectations.
* In ''Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story'', a quasi-mockumentary about filming an adaptation of the novel, Gillian Anderson (as herself) gets the part of the Widow Wadnam because the producer loves her as Scully on the X-Files. Gillian wants to get away from her most famous role, and is later annoyed when her scenes as the widow are cut from the movie. Many, many more layers of meta in this film.
* Elements of Adam Westing are incorporated into the film ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'': Robert Downey, Jr.'s character, an award-winning Australian actor, was revised after he was cast to include attributes of the real-life actor, including his propensity for staying in character for extended periods of time and a turbulent relationship with the press.
* The ''[[Shrek]]'' films do this a lot, overlapping with [[Ink Suit Actor]]. The most obvious was [[Antonio Banderas]]' Puss in Boots played as a [[
* David Hasselhoff as a super-swimming [[Baywatch|lifeguard]] in ''[[The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie]]''. "The Hoff" is on his way to reaching Shatnerian levels of Adam Westing. Witness his cameo in ''[[
** And later in ''Hop'' where he plays himself as a reality TV talent show judge.
* [[Pierce Brosnan]], post-[[James Bond]]. His [[MI 6]] agent in ''The Tailor of Panama'' seems to be an extremely [[Large Ham]] [[Take That]] to his [[James Bond]]...
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* Jack Slater in ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' is an over-the-top parody of [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]'s "action hero" roles. The actor also appears as himself in that movie, prompting a brief encounter between [[Refugee From TV Land]] Slater and Arnold.
* In ''[[Machete]]'', [[Lindsay Lohan]] plays a drug-addicted porn star with daddy issues.
** And a dad who is obsessed with her.
* [[Stan Lee]] often shows up in non-Marvel-licensed movies as an excessively comic-obsessed Stan Lee with delusions of being a super hero himself. It's hard to tell how much is acting since his real life personality is almost an Adam Westing of himself anyway.
** His cameo in ''[[Iron Man (
* In perhaps the most multi-layered display of Adam Westing in film, Roger Moore appeared in ''Cannonball Run'' as the bored Jewish heir to an underwear tycoon, who posed as actor Roger Moore to impress a succession of high-tone women, also adopting the mannerisms and gadgets of [[James Bond]], most notably his Aston Martin DB5. His performance therefore incorporated a straight self-parody of how he'd been typecast as Bond, a parody of his suave-sex-symbol image, ''and'' a [[Captain Ersatz]] [[Take That]] (as Bond's name is never mentioned) toward his most famous role.
* Elisabeth Shue played "herself" in ''[[Hamlet]] 2''. Her character in the movie quit acting to become a nurse in a sperm bank, and it's implied that she's a nymphomaniac.
* [[Julia Roberts]]'s character Tess Ocean [[Celebrity Paradox|pretending to be Julia Roberts]] in ''[[
* Ethel Merman's [[Cameo]] in ''[[Airplane!]]'' as a shell-shocked lieutenant who believes he's Ethel Merman.
* [[Ben Affleck]] and [[Matt Damon]] play themselves in ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'' and poke fun at both themselves and their movies.
{{quote|
'''Matt Damon''': "Jesus, Ben. Not again."
'''Ben Affleck''': "Noooo, bullshit! I wasn't WITH a hooker today! Aha-ha!" }}
** An even better example from the same movie, while [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] in the process (while doing a scene for the in-movie sequel to ''[[Good Will Hunting]]''):
{{quote|
'''Ben Affleck''': Hey look, I'm sorry I dragged you away from whatever gay-serial-killers-who-ride-horses-and-like-to-play-golf-touchy-feely-picture you're supposed to be doing this week.
'''Matt Damon''': I take it you haven't seen ''Forces of Nature''?
'''Ben Affleck''': You're like a child. What've I been telling you? You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friend says you owe him.
[They both take a beat and look at the camera]
'''Ben Affleck''': And sometimes, you have to go back to the well.
'''Matt Damon''': And sometimes, you do ''Reindeer Games''.
'''Ben Affleck''': See, that's just mean. }}
* [[Mark Hamill]] may have [[Captain Ersatz
** The costume, at least, was probably inspired by his role as the Trickster in the 90s TV series ''[[The Flash (TV 1990)|The Flash]]''.
* [[Neil Patrick Harris]]'s appearances in the ''[[Harold
* Alan Alda, in ''[[
* Paris Hilton in ''[[Repo!
* [[Jean
* [[Michael Cera]] is turning into this, particularly when he plays "himself" in ''Paper Heart'', a Mockumentary in which, technically, he is merely playing his typical role.
* ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' has [[Tom Cruise]] playing a [[Prima Donna Director|Prima Donna Producer]] that seems to be inspired by some of the star's [[Never Live It Down|more embarrassing public appearances]].
* {{spoiler|[[Bill Murray]]}} in ''[[
* [[Joaquin Phoenix]] attempted to do a double-ironic post-meta version of this for his film ''I'm Still Here'', a mockumentary/documentary of Phoenix's nervous breakdown/rap career, which turned out to have been staged as a publicity stunt for ''I'm Still Here''. Somehow, audiences were unimpressed.
* [[David Hasselhoff]] appears in the family comedy ''[[Hop]]'' as himself, host and judge of the talent competition "Hoff Knows Talent" - riffing on his recent exit from ''[[
* Goes as far back as the Doris Day classic, ''It's A Great Feeling'' which featured cameos from Edward G. Robinson failing to live up to his tough guy persona to Joan Crawford slapping the two main characters just because she does it in all her movies.
* Arguably, Diddy's (or P. Diddy or Sean Combs) appearance in ''[[Get Him to The Greek]]'' could be this. He plays the crazy record executive Sergio Roma with multiple kids and issues with his baby mamas. In real life, he is a producer and does have multiple kids by multiple women.
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== Live Action TV ==
* [[
* [[Rod Serling]] once appeared on ''[[The Jack Benny Show]]'' as an eccentric man known only as "Mr. Zone".
** Jack Benny himself was arguably an example of this, what with the whole "vain, egotistical miser" bit.
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** In TV specials and "behind the scenes" pieces, actress Stacie Farber (who played the shows' grim [[Goth]]) never lost an opportunity to point out that in real life, she's a preppy fashionista who loves all the things the goth found phony.
** One of many Adam Westing ''Degrassi'' (and ''[[Instant Star]]'') commercials from the sixth season: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTHfFfyYZXY "I'm a Degrassi, and I'm an Instant Star."] (A lot of the humor is lost if you don't know the show, unfortunately.) It ends with [[Too Dumb to Live]] Derek somehow becoming [[Flanderization|even dumber]] than he is on the show.
* The ''[[
* Wayne Brady appears in an episode of ''[[
* [[Tom Baker]]'s work on ''[[Little Britain]]'' as The Narrator is an exaggeration of his on-''and''-off-screen eccentric personality. "Have you ever done it gaywise? It's a hoot."
* Tim Stack as "TV's Tim Stack" on ''[[My Name Is Earl]]''. The character is a narcissistic drunk who holds beauty pageants and parades. Tim Stack is actually a writer for a few of the episodes.
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** When Christopher pitches his idea for ''Cleaver'' to Sir Ben Kingsley, the actor comes off as a total materialistic snob, completely disinterested in anything Christopher's saying. So instead, they have to settle for Daniel Baldwin.
*** The same episode stars Lauren Bacall, who seems nice at first but turns out to have quite a dirty mouth (granted, she was being mugged at the time, but it's quite hilariously shocking to hear the F-word coming from her).
* In a ''[[The Catherine Tate Show]]'' sketch for Comic Relief, Tate's character of Elaine Figgis was in a relationship with [[Daniel Craig]] but had no idea who he was and seemed put off by Craig's constant affections. This was definitely more along the lines of affectionate self-parody, as the character (and Craig's participation) shows him as a normal guy, in contrast to his characters in ''[[Layer Cake]]'', ''[[
* ''[[
** [[Kate Winslet]] as a calculating Oscar climber playing a nun in the Holocaust for [[Oscar Bait]]. This was [[Hilarious in Hindsight|made even more delicious]] with her Oscar win for starring in a film centered around the Holocaust (''[[
** [[Daniel Radcliffe]] as a [[Former Child Star]] ready to nail anything that moves.
** Chris Martin of Coldplay plugging the (then) new greatest hits album on everything from a sitcom to a public service announcement to his shirt in every scene he's in.
** Orlando Bloom as an egotistical heartthrob who starts pursuing Maggie because she tells him she doesn't find him attractive and so he is therefore absolutely determined to enlighten her as to his hotness.
{{quote|
'''Maggie''': Well okay, if it'll shut you up. }}
** Comedian Les Dennis as a pathetic, broken shell of a man. Les himself contributed several anecdotes from his own life to make his character even ''more'' pitiable.
** [[Patrick Stewart]] talking about how he wanted to do a movie as a character based on Professor Xavier of ''[[X-Men (
{{quote|
** Ronnie Corbett and Moira Stuart as cokeheads,
** Keith Chegwin as a hardcore racist and homophobe.
** Shaun Williamson having only one notable role: Barry from ''[[Eastenders]]''. He's referred to as Barry constantly by the other characters, and he's even called that in the credits.
* Luisana Lopilato in ''Casados Con Hijos'' (the version of ''[[Married...
* ''Cybill'' had Cybill Shephard, fallen actress... as Cybill Sheridan, fallen actress.
* Christopher Eccleston parodied ''[[
* Carl Weathers plays himself as a constantly broke, scheming and cheapskate opportunist on ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]].''
* ''[[
* Everyone who appeared as a guest on the spoof talk show ''[[The Larry Sanders Show]]'' was doing this. Worth mentioning is David Duchovny, who played himself in love with Larry, propositioning him backstage wherever he appeared.
* '''[[Brian Blessed]]''' as a very, very [[Large Ham]]. This was most obvious when he hosted ''[[Have I Got News for You]]''.
* [[Anthony Stewart Head]] appeared on ''[[Spooks]]'' as a smart, well-educated international terrorist who was notorious for duping naive young women into helping him carry out his attacks. He apparently had a particular thing for [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* On ''[[
** Half the regulars on ''30 Rock'' ([[Tina Fey]], Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer, and Judah Friedlander) basically play comically exaggerated versions of themselves.
** NBC newscaster Brian Williams shows up frequently on the show as himself, and his character is wackier each time.
* Tommy Chong appeared as a guest on ''[[The George Lopez Show]]'' and as a semi-regular on ''[[That
* [[Jeff Goldblum]] on ''[[
** Goldblum also makes several short appearances on ''[[The Colbert Report]]'', where his topic of conversation will always abruptly turn to promoting ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]''.
* Jennifer Grey as Jennifer Grey on ''It's Like, You Know...'', an out-of-work actress who had just received a rhinoplasty... much like the real Jennifer Grey.
* In ''[[The Colbert Report
* [[Saturday Night Live
* [[Wil Wheaton]]'s [[Celebrity Star]] appearances in ''[[
** [[Wil Wheaton]] also plays a snarky jackass on ''[[The Guild]]'', ''[[Eureka]]'', and ''[[
* On ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' Finch, a big ''[[Star Wars]]'' fan, meets Mark Hamill and pesters him. Hamill agrees to spend the day with Finch at his job in the Blush magazine offices. After a while Hamill annoys Finch to the point where Finch asks him to leave and Mark reveals was just acting so irritating to teach Finch a lesson.
** Hamill does a similar role on ''[[3rd Rock
* Matthew McConaughey did this in an episode of ''[[Sex and
* During Comedy Central's roast of Larry the Cable Guy, Gary Busey spends a good 5 minutes insulting himself.
{{quote|
* Duncan James, previously of the [[Boy Band]] Blue, played an obvious parody of himself and how he is perceived in the media in the UK [[
* Olivia Newton John on ''[[
* In ''[[
** Particularly in one episode where the family is trying to throw off a reporter who nearly discovers Miley is Hannah Montana. Miley pretends to be a delusional girl who only thinks she's Hannah Montana, while Jackson pretends to be Elvis. The final straw however, is when Billy Ray's character throws on a huge mullet wig and says he's Billy Ray Cyrus. The reporter declares that the whole family is crazy and leaves.
* [[Miranda Cosgrove]] in the ''[[
* Don Adams after ''[[
** And in ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'', where he offers a glimpse of what Robocop might have be if he'd been rebuilt out of Maxwell Smart instead of Alex Murphy.
* In ''[[Party Down]]'', Steve Guttenberg plays himself as a cartoonishly enthusiastic and accommodating host who takes a bunch of clueless waiters under his wing for a night. No matter how idiotically his guests behave, he continues to smile indulgently and congratulate them for sharing. After spending the whole night encouraging his guests to "go for it," he steals one of their dates.
* In ''Episodes'', actor Matt LeBlanc ("Joey" from ''[[
* [[Triple H]] had a role in an episode of ''Pacific Blue'' as a porn king's bodyguard. He's apparently playing himself since not only is his character referred to as "Triple H" by the others but he even wears a Degeneration-X shirt. Maybe in this universe he fell on some hard times?
* An episode of ''[[The Golden Girls]]'' featured Lyle Waggoner and Sonny Bono as caricatures of themselves fighting over Dorothy's affections. {{spoiler|In the end, it's revealed that the whole thing was [[All Just a Dream]]...and a recurring one, at that}}.
* In the 2011 FOX sitcom ''[[
* "Voiceover Man" Peter Dickson, known for his work on [[Channel
* Isaiah Mustafa (aka Old Spice Guy) appears in ''[[Chuck]]'' as a character almost as implausibly awesome as he is in the Old Spice adverts - super confident, imposingly strong, and a perfect shot with a sticker gun at 30 feet (shooting behind his back). He even gets a tooth-gleam effect when smiling.
* Chevy Chase, known for his prima donna antics and sour egotism around his co-stars (leading to his permanent ban on ''[[
** Jack Black's character in ''[[
* Charles Grodin, actually an extremely nice guy by all accounts, adopts the same curmudgeonly, cynical, easily annoyed persona in his public and television appearances that he became known for in film. It got really confusing when he hosted an ostensibly non-comedic cable chat show as the comically serious and bitter "Charles Grodin" instead of as himself.
== Music Video ==
* [[David Bowie]]'s ''Jazzin' for Blue Jean'' (1984), a [[Short Film]] / long-form video, is partially built around this via his [[Acting for Two|playing two roles]]. One is [[Adorkable]] hero Vic, who is trying to maintain a [[Celebrity Lie]]. The celebrity in question is Bowie's other character, Screamin' Lord Byron, a rock star with an elaborate, [[
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== Web Original ==
* Lindsay Lohan's [https://web.archive.org/web/20100301130126/http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0d646e2edb/lindsay-lohan-s-eharmony-profile eHarmony ad].
* "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjPzd1D9Cbc See You Again]", a [[YouTube]] video episode of ''[[Miley Cyrus|The Miley And Mandy Show]]'' on [[YouTube]]. Certainly [[Self
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130620192920/http://www.jamesvandermemes.com/ James Van Der Memes].
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8go0IBBeTSg This] [[Shane Dawson]] [[YouTube]] video, with a guest appearance by [[Lizzie
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist]]'', every main character was the voice actor doing a self-parody. The patients were all stand-up comics replaying the 'total neurotic loser bits' from their own stand-up acts, to animation. Dr. Katz is the only one with original lines.
* The ''[[Futurama]]'' movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder" featured [[Penn
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister," Lisa gets a restraining order against Bart and Bart is given an instructional video on restraining orders narrated by [[Ax Crazy|Gary Busey]], who enters on a motorcycle, introduces himself with an [[Evil Laugh]], and concludes his parable on restraining orders thusly;
{{quote|
** In another episode, [[Stan Lee]] plays a slightly crazy version of himself who will not leave Comic Book Guy's shop, breaks a toy Batmobile in an attempt to make a The Thing figurine fit inside it, thinks he "made it better" and believes he can turn into the Hulk.
{{quote|
'''Comic Book Guy:''' ''Please.'' You couldn't turn into [[Shout
** They also had [[Michael Moore]] respond to a request for a source on his claims, with "[[Your Mom]]!"
** In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", [[Penn
{{quote|
'''Homer''': Hey, I thought you never talked.
'''Teller''': Uh, I didn't mean to. It just slipped out. Oh, God, now Penn's going to beat me.
'''Penn''': ''[laughs]'' [[All Part of the Show|Folks, it's all part of the act!]]
'''Teller''': No it isn't! Don't leave me alone with him!
'''Penn''': ''[to Homer]'' You've ruined the act! I'm going to kill you!
'''Teller''': He'll do it! I'm not the first Teller! }}
** They made a return appearance during "The Great Simpsina", a stage-magic-based episode. This time, Teller's the domineering one (claiming that Penn [[Nice Character, Mean Actor|"only does the talking on stage."]]) Also, when a variety of dangerous objects are thrown at Penn as a distraction, he starts juggling them, seemingly on instinct alone.
{{quote|
'''Penn''': I can't! I never learned how! }}
** Before ''[[Family Guy]]'', James Woods played himself-as-a-lunatic in "Homer and Apu", replacing Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart and claiming to be researching a movie role. When Apu returns to his job, Woods leaves to "battle aliens on a faraway planet", and gives a [[Sure Why Not]] reaction when Marge thinks he's talking about another role.
* [[Patrick Stewart]]'s role in the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode where the cast of ''[[Star Trek:
** Also plays the Director of the CIA Bullock in sister show, ''[[
{{quote|
** ''[[Family Guy]]'' also has James Woods, who plays himself as a recurring psychotic villain. In one episode, [[Rush Limbaugh]] also showed up playing himself (well, Fred Savage in a suit, but that's another episode....)
* In ''[[Megas XLR]]'', the character Magnanimous was, as a whole, a parody of [[Bruce Campbell]]... voiced by Bruce Campbell. His second appearance even had a [[Evil Dead|chainsaw-and-]][[Evil Dead|-shotgun]]-toting mech!
** Which looks like [[Bubba
* Gary Owens was known for voicing [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s limited animation superheroes like Space Ghost and Blue Falcon. In Disney's ''[[Raw Toonage]]'', he voiced a parody of those guys: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BOBkbjfvM "Badly-Animated Man."]
* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' does this ''a lot'', as a surprising number of the celebrity parodies feature the actual celebrity. Special mention has to go to the fourth season premiere, which starts with co-creators Matthew Senreich and [[Seth Green]] (himself someone that can't stand the thought of only having a major role in a hit TV show paying hundreds of thousands) looking for jobs from a [[Joss Whedon]] as an overly dramatic [[Small Name, Big Ego|egotistical]] nut-job who thinks he has the right to kill them, a Ron Moore who writes ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Some other memorable examples have been [[Rachael Leigh Cook]] in a parody of her "This is your brain on drugs" [[PSA]] where she goes completely bonkers and starts running around destroying things with the frying pan until finally leaping off building to her death; Joey Fatone playing himself as [[
** Ryan Seacrest parodied his own public image during a guest spot on this show.
* [[Al Gore]], ever since he made ''[[An Inconvenient Truth]]'', has appeared a few times in cameos on ''[[
{{quote|
'''Gore:''' "If we don't go back there and make that event happen, the entire universe will be destroyed... [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|And as an environmentalist, I'm against that."]] }}
* In ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', [[Kevin Conroy]], the voice of [[Batman:
* A [[Manatee Gag]] on ''[[Family Guy]]'' had Alyssa Milano appear [[Medium Blending|in person]] to file a defamation suit against the show, spoofing a lawsuit she'd filed in real life.
** ''[[Family Guy]]'' also had a gruesome spoof of ''[[Scooby Doo]]'', using the actual voice actors.
* ''[[Archer]]'' did it with Burt Reynolds, who turns out to be just as much a crack stunt driver and world-class ladies' man in real life as in the movies that Archer is obsessed with.
* In the years between his initial burst of fame as the star of ''[[Doogie Howser, M.D.]]'' and his comeback role as Barney in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', [[Neil Patrick Harris]] guest-starred in an episode of ''[[Static Shock]]'' as a washed-up teen sitcom actor who turned to a life of crime after failing to find more acting work. As Harris himself was still struggling to get a steady gig, this casting could be seen as an allusion.
* In ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (
== Other ==
* Nearly every role [[R. Lee Ermey]] has played in the last couple decades is a pastiche of his role in ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]''.
** Could be [[Justified Trope]], since R. Lee Ermey was an [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|actual drill instructor]].
* [[Leslie Nielsen]]. Though he did the occasional comic-relief role here and there, [[Leslie Nielsen Syndrome|he was mostly known as a serious actor before the 1980s]]. Then came ''[[Airplane!]]'', in which he played a comedic role in the same deadpan
* [[Bob Saget]] [[Career Resurrection|revived his career]] by Adam Westing the family-friendly image he built up from his roles in ''[[Full House]]'' and ''[[
* [[Jerry Lewis]] occasionally
* With [[Willie Nelson]], it's hard to say where the personality ends and the Adam Westing begins. Some guest-starring self-parodies are obvious, like making fun of his pigtails on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' or his tax problems on ''[[King of the Hill]]''. His frequent marijuana jokes anytime he appears in person might be a self-parody (he's pretty old to be smoking anything at this point), or might just be himself talking about himself.
** "Do you smell that?" "No I don't, and you don't either."
* Ichiro Mizuki of [[JAM Project]], in works he appears, is known for being a [[Large Ham]] and reveling in it.
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* [[Michael Bolton]] gets a pretty hilarious one in [[The Lonely Island]] song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI6CfKcMhjY Jack Sparrow]"
* [[Former Child Star]] [[The Partridge Family|Danny Bonaduce]] worked his way into radio by Adam Westing his life after acting, particularly his notorious coke habit.
== Real Life ==
* While attending UC Berkeley, Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in ''[[
* Rebecca Black seems to be forever tagged to Fridays as she starred as herself in Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) music video.
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Parody Tropes]]
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