Adam Westing: Difference between revisions

* 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 ''[[Family Guy]]''.

** 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 -- just a guy who shares his name. Then the actual Adam West came in to read for the part and the rest, as they say, is history.

* 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 Odd Parents]]'', he plays Adam West, who believes he's a super hero named Catman.

'''West:''' Where?! }}

* On ''[[News Radio]]'', he appeared as himself and was revealed to be legendary hijacker D.B. Cooper.

** 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: The Undiscovered Country]]'', Kirk's latest (and last) [[Green-Skinned Space Babe]] turns out to be a shapeshifter and takes on the form of Kirk, resulting in this exchange:

'''Martia''' [as Kirk]: Must have been your lifelong ambition. }}

* Shatner plays as a possum in ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]'', who gives an overly emphasized "death speech" while playing dead. Can be seen as a parody of his entire comedy routine style.

The quintessential [[Real Life]] [[Genius Cripple]] thoroughly enjoys cameos as himself. One comes to suspect that the reason he refuses to upgrade his vocalizer is because of the sheer awesomeness of snarking in a [[Machine Monotone]] (although he did get an upgrade to give it a better British accent).

* He hit ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' just to play poker with Data, [[Albert Einstein]], and [[Isaac Newton]] (thus becoming the only example of [[As Himself]] in the history of ''[[Star Trek]]'', though Joe Piscopo comes ''ever'' so close). Behind the scenes, he toured the set and remarked on the ship's warp core:

** A few years later he ran into Brent Spiner, and immediately asked "Where's my money?"

* He showed up on ''[[Dilbert (animation)|Dilbert]]'' once - zipping in and out of wormholes just to annoy people.

* 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 (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', where he claimed he had an IQ of [[Improbably High IQ|over 200]] and a bunch of [[Super Wheelchair|gadgets built into his wheelchair]], including an extensible boxing glove, an automatic toothbrush and a ''helicopter propeller''. (Homer mistook him for Larry Flynt, founder of ''Hustler'' magazine.)

** He has twice appeared on ''[[Futurama]]'', once as himself and then as his preserved head.

'''Hawking:''' [[Sure, Let's Go with That|Sure, why not]]. }}

 

 

'''Hawking:''' You should have. }}

* He also showed up as himself in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'', hired by Remi Buxaplenty to prove that 2+2=5 to Mr. Crocker, Hawking's old college roomie.

* 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.

'''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]]''):

'''Ben Affleck''': See, that's just mean. }}

* [[Mark Hamill]] may have [[Captain Ersatz|Captain Ersatzed]] himself in ''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]'', not as his most famous role ([[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]]) but his role as the voice of the Joker from ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]''. Here, he plays Cock-Knocker. While the "bongsaber" duel was certainly a play on his role as Skywalker ("Don't fuck with a Jedimaster, son"), the outlandish character of Cock-Knocker with his colourful costume, and in particular the bright yellow wig, will remind some of his voice work as the Joker.

** 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.

'''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 (film)|X-Men]]''... who used his vast mental powers primarily to make the clothes of nubile young women spontaneously fall off.

** Ronnie Corbett and Moira Stuart as cokeheads,

** Keith Chegwin as a hardcore racist and homophobe.

* Matthew McConaughey did this in an episode of ''[[Sex and the City]]'', playing the classic Hollywood jackass.

* During Comedy Central's roast of Larry the Cable Guy, Gary Busey spends a good 5 minutes insulting himself.

* 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 [[Sitcom]] ''Plus One'', to the extent that his character was only ever referred to (even in the credits) as 'Duncan from Blue'.

* Olivia Newton John on ''[[Glee]]'' plays an uber-[[Jerkass|Jerkassish]] version of herself in the episodes "Bad Reputation" and "Journey".

== 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, [[Arabian Nights]]-inspired onstage look and a way with the ladies...plus a diva-ish attitude and presumably decadent offstage life -- when we first see him in the flesh, his handlers are carrying him to his dressing room because he's passed out; he's even hooked up to a portable oxygen tank. Bowie had just had a [[Newbie Boom]] thanks to 1983's ''Let's Dance'', and it's possible newbies didn't realize "Mr. Screamin'" was a spoof of his 1970s personas (Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke, etc.) and excesses. As Vic chews him out at the end:

 

 

* The ''[[Futurama]]'' movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder" featured [[Penn & Teller|Penn Jillette]] as a head who barely fit in his jar and worked with a [[The Speechless|Teller]] who was dead and the act was pretty much the same.

* In ''[[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;

** 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.

'''Comic Book Guy:''' ''Please.'' You couldn't turn into [[Shout-Out|Bill Bixbi.]] }}

** They also had [[Michael Moore]] respond to a request for a source on his claims, with "[[Your Mom]]!"

** In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder", [[Penn & Teller]] also appear as themselves with Penn portrayed as [[Ax Crazy]] and Teller as an abused victim:

'''Penn''': ''[laughs]'' [[All Part of the Show|Folks, it's all part of the act!]]<br />

'''Teller''': No it isn't! Don't leave me alone with him!<br />

'''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.

'''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: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' are all present is a hilarious one, with him being egotistic, violent (Wesley asks for something from the take out and receives a brutal smash into the window [[Caddyshack|'You'll get nothing and like it!']]) and all round [[Crazy Awesome]].

** Also plays the Director of the CIA Bullock in sister show, ''[[American Dad]]'' (based on his character from [[Conspiracy Theory]])

** ''[[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!

** 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 ''[[Futurama]]'' as an over-the-top parody of either a environmentalist super-hero ([[30 Rock|"A whale is in trouble!"]]) or as a super-egotist who claims credit for everything (as he was mocked for after his [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|'invented the internet']] comment was misconstrued).

'''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: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]], does an absolutely hilarious parody of his performance as the caped crusader, in the form of Captain Sunshine, complete with ''massive'' [[Ho Yay]] directed towards his deceased sidekick, Wonderboy. While directing his performance, the creators were adamant that Conroy not "be afraid to be Batman."