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{{trope}}
{{Examples Need Sorting}}
An episode of a show which departs from its usual type of plot to make the best possible use of a celebrity or major star who happens to be available, regardless of plausibility, coherence, or continuity.
If the '''Celebrity Star''' is a musician or band, they often play themselves (or a thinly veiled facsimile thereof, as on ''[[The Facts of Life]]'') and usually have to play one of their hit songs.
Sometimes the Celebrity Star shows up to rescue a character from the consequences of a [[Celebrity Lie]].
See [[Special Guest]] for episodes that aren't focused on the celebrity. See [[As Himself]] for works when the entire series/film is about the celebrity playing themselves.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
* This trope was what the third season of ''[[30
* On ''[[The Replacements (animation)|The Replacements]]''. Voiced by Miley Cyrus, the teen pop queen is named... Celebrity Star.
* Spoofed on ''[[Jimmy Neutron]],'' when the [[Fake Band]] Grey Star showed up for Libby's birthday party. ''Even the time-traveling giant robot policeman was their biggest fan.''
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* Joe Namath on ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', among many others.
** Especially in "Getting Davy Jones," where the episode was ''entirely'' dedicated to helping Marcia get Davy Jones from [[The Monkees]] to sing at her school's 8th grade prom. He makes a very memorable appearance near the end, and even reprised his role in ''[[The Film of the Series|The Brady Bunch Movie]]'' and in the stage show, ''The Real Live Brady Bunch.''
* Nancy Reagan on a [[Very Special Episode]] of ''[[
* Randy Travis, ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'', "Mr. Hyunh Goes Country". Voiced facsimile Travis Randall, and the titular Mr. Hyunh (when singing).
* Parody: ''[[Scrubs]]''' fourth-season episode "My Life in Four Cameras" spends the middle section in a conventional-sitcom fantasy, complete with a talent show that will pay exactly as much money as the main characters need. A mild-mannered cafeteria worker enters the talent contest and turns out to be American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken. It is unclear whether the producers decided to use Clay Aiken before or after they decided to do a sitcom fantasy, but it certainly is the only way his musical act could be fit into the show.
* Both ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[Futurama]]'' have done this more than once.
** ''[[Futurama]]'' parodied this trope by having the Harlem Globetrotters show up as recurring characters. They're insanely competent [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist
*** Also, they're [[Planet of Hats|from another planet]].
* The Doobie Brothers appeared on the 70's sitcom ''[[What's Happening]]'' to teach Rerun [[An Aesop]] about the evils of bootlegging concerts.
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*** A lot of the quick throwaway gags actually feature people as themselves. [[How I Met Your Mother|Ted and Barney making out]], [[Two and A Half Men|Charlie saying Brian always slags them off]], etc.
* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' did an entire Celebrity Star arc about Kevin Smith coming to Degrassi to make his new film, "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?" The reason he appeared on the show was that Smith had a huge crush on the character Caitlin from ''[[Degrassi High]]'' (he got to be in scenes with the grown-up Caitlin, played by the same actress). Unusually, the arc actually had long-lasting effects after Smith's last episode.
* ''[[Duck Dodgers]]'' did this often. Two examples are the episodes with Tom Jones (who sings the theme song) and Megadeth. In one example, Duck Dodgers uses a magical device to reach through space and time to steal Tom Jones's voice for a music contest. The Megadeth episode involved him unfreezing their guitarist and using their music to blow up a 'Saxoblivion' [[Death Ray]]. Don't ask...
* Parodied in ''[[Sealab 2021]]'', "Meet Beck Bristow." Sealab shuts down all its normal work so Hollywood Actor Beck Bristow (voiced by Hollywood Actor Brian Bloom) can come around and let everybody know that he is Hollywood Actor Beck Bristow, and therefore better than the regular characters.
* ''[[Sister, Sister]]'' did this once, where the Celebrity Star turned out to be... Marques Houston, who played Roger on the show, and himself (under his "Batman" Immature/IMX name) in that particular ep.
** More conventionally, they also had WNBA star Lisa Leslie as herself twice...and they went up against the Olsen twins on a game show, among many others.
* ''[[
* Subverted in many early episodes of ''[[South Park]]'', when celebrity guests would get to voice such prestigious roles as "Gay Dog" (George Clooney) and "Turkey #4".
* ''[[King of the Hill]]'' does this from time time, but also starred musician Chuck Mangione as a semi-regular.
* An episode of the ''[[Flintstones]]'' included an appearance by "Ann-Margrock", and another was a semi-crossover with the animated intro to Bewitched.
** And let's not forget Stoney Curtis, Jimmy Darrock, Stoney Carmichael, Jimmy O'Neillstone (Jimmy O'Neill was the host of the music show ''Shindig''), etc.
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** In a town that houses a high-profile multibillionaire family with a tendency to pull strings and do extravagant unannounced favors for <s>their friends</s> people they're trying to impress, that's about a two-inch stretch.
*** There's also the matter of the alien teenager battling other aliens/monsters/government agents/etc. on a regular basis. An impromptu concert is probably the most normal thing to happen in that town.
* Mel Torme showed up in multiple episodes of ''[[Night Court]]'' (Judge Harry was an enormous Torme fan).
** Torme also appeared in ''[[Sliders]]'' like this, but then his son ''was'' the show runner.
* Similar to the above ''[[Sister, Sister]]'' example, singer Brandy Norwood appeared as herself on her own sitcom, ''Moesha''. (A bit of a suberversion, in that one of the show's running gags was that Mo (Norwood) couldn't hold a note with both hands and a bucket).
* The ''[[Kate Modern]]'' episode "I Am Hallam Foe!" consists entirely of Jamie Bell talking about how he just met Charlie, and that he thinks she's "fit". The episode is only 36 seconds long, and given the title, is probably meant as [[Product Placement]].
* ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'' did this in almost every episode, with guests ranging from Travis Tritt to Charlotte Church to Rosa Parks. Yes, Rosa Parks.
* In the episode of ''Designing Women'' where Charlene has her baby, [[Dolly Parton]] appeared in a dream sequence as her "Guardian Movie Star."
** Like way too many to name, Dolly Parton has also done this on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. On the other hand, there aren't many who've also played themselves on ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]''...
* Parodied, then [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] in ''[[
** It's also heavily lampshaded by Gervais' characters in both ''[[Extras]]'' and the [[Show Within a Show]] "When the Whistle Blows" who repeatedly points out the ridiculousness of Chris Martin suddenly appearing in a factory in Wigan.
* George Michael starred as himself, both in hallucinations and playing himself, in ''[[Eli Stone]]''.
** Although this doesn't really fit the trope, because he's part of the [[Myth Arc]] instead of just being a one-episode guest star.
* The "Comic Book Carnage" story in ''[[
* ''[[The Middleman]]'' featured [[Boy Band]] Varsity Fanclub in one episode. Not terribly unconventional, except, that they were actually alien dictators who were intent on conquering Earth, and the episode ended with them being ''killed off''.
* Every ''[[Backyard Sports]]'' game does this after the first two. This player is the cover athlete and usually the best in the game. Of course, since the athlete is a kid, there is a different voice actor.
* ''[[The Steve Harvey Show]]'' has episodes featuring Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy (as he was known then), Lil Bow Wow, and Teddy Riley all playing themselves, but only Lil Bow Wow gave a performance. Ron Isley was also a frequent guest star, as one of the members of The Hi-Tops.
* In ''[[Alice (TV series)|Alice]]'', diner-owner Mel Sharples and his waitresses seemed to know several famous people. Guest included George Burns, Telly Savalas, Jerry Reed, Dinah Shore, and Art Carney.
* Whitney Houston appeared on an episode of ''[[Boston Public]]'' where she performed one of her songs at the prom.
* ''[[Max Steel]]'' is complicated; it has episodes guest-starring Tony Hawk and Jeremy McGrath. As their episodes were [[Xtreme Sport Xcuse Plot
* One of the most famous examples is the ''[[All in The Family]]'' episode "Sammy's Visit", featuring Sammy Davis, Jr.
* Mark Hamill has guest starred in a few series, most notably ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[3rd Rock
** Which includes some [[Adam Westing]].
* The first ''[[Daria]]'' movie, ''Is It Fall Yet?'', featured cameos by [[Foo Fighters
* The premise of ''[[Nazi Zombies|Call of the Dead]]'' is as follows: ''[[Dawn of the Dead (
* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' loves to subvert this trope, by having
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[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:Plots]]
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