Special Guest: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"Look kids, it's [[Mark Hamill]]!"''|''[[Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back]]''}}

 

 

See also: [[The Cameo]], [[Celebrity Star]], [[As Himself]], [[Character as Himself]].

{{examples}}

 

== Comic Books ==

** And Bob Barker was supposedly Barney Stinson's father for a while.

* ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'' featured guest appearances from various supermodels (most notably Rebecca Romijn, not as herself but as Finch's wife). Also, performers such as Robert Goulet and George Lucas have also appeared as one of Jack's old friends. Woody Allen appeared in an episode that featured a man who passed himself off as Woody Allen (the real Allen was only heard over the phone at the end), and Ray Liotta played himself as the cousin of [[Recurring Character]] Kevin.

* ''[[The Nanny]]'' did this roughly every other episode. Once resulted in Fran Drescher meeting herself, this only shattered the fabric of reality a little bit.

* ''[[News Radio]]'': Subverted this by finding obscure people as writer in-jokes: Scott Adams (creator of [[Dilbert]]), ''[[Defender]]'' creator [[Eugene Jarvis]] and George "[[The Andy Griffith Show|Goober]]" Lindsay (because they liked his autobiography). Then again, they did have their share of genuine guest stars (Jerry Seinfeld, James Caan, Bob Costas etc.), most of whose appearances went pretty awkwardly. (Interestingly, Seinfeld's own sitcom usually avoided such things, although even that had a few - Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei

* ''[[Night Court]]'' had crooner Mel Torme show up and spend most of the episode just barely being missed by Judge Harry, who of course is a fanatical fan. This avoids being a [[Celebrity Star]] by virtue of the fact that this fandom had been long-established from the first episode of the series.

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'': In episode "Descent", Data is playing poker with holographic depictions of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. Hawking portrayed his own hologram for this episode. Apparently, he was just touring the set when the writers decided to put him in an episode and a few days later they filmed him. Giving Hawking the honor of being the only person to appear as himself in any ''[[Star Trek]]'' show.

* The 1970s Toho-produced series ''Meteor Man Zone'' (Known in the US as ''[[Zone Fighter]]'') had Gigan, King Ghidorah, and even [[Godzilla]] as guest stars.

* ''[[Extras]]'': Ricky Gervais plays a professional film extra and meets at least one massive star each episode, always playing themselves. [[Lampshaded]] by the fact that every episode of the series was actually named after the main guest star of that episode ("Samuel L. Jackson", "David Bowie", "Daniel Radcliffe") and the fact that one episode revolved around the protagonist's disdain for Chris Martin having a far-fetched guest appearance on his [[Show Within a Show]].

* ''[[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles]]'' was built around the concept of special guest stars who were actually historical figures. There are also several real stars who show up, several before the height of their fame. One episode features ''both'' Catherine Zeta-Jones and Daniel Craig before they peaked in popularity and movie star status.

* Every episode of ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' had at least one "Special Guest Villain." While some, like Cesar Romero's Joker, Burgess Meredith's Penguin, and Frank Gorshin's Riddler, appeared often enough to almost be regular cast members, a great many were one-shot stunt castings of big-name stars (e.g., Milton Berle as Louie the Lilac, Art Carney as The Archer, Rudy Vallee as Lord Ffogg.)

* ''[[American Dreams]]'' seemed to exist solely for this trope. Many episodes had a famous current musician appear as a famous 60's musician (often having nothing to do with the plot)<ref>and some of them better known for things other than singing, like [[Hilary Duff]] (as one of The Shangri-La's), [[Jennifer Love Hewitt]] (as Nancy Sinatra - the future [[Ghost Whisperer]] was one of the few to appear more than once) and [[America's Next Top Model|TYRA FREAKING BANKS]] (as one of the Marvelettes)</ref> and NBC would often make this the focal point of the advertising. One probably wouldn't even know the show had a plot unless they watched it.

* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'': About one in every six episodes of features a special guest or two - Hannah's grandmother is [[Dolly Parton]],<ref>[[Miley Cyrus]]'s godmother in real life</ref> Lilly's mother turns out to be Heather Locklear, and as for Lilly's dad... as [[Gilmore Girls|Lorelai Gilmore]] once put it, "And yes, that is the guy from ''[[Two and A Half Men]]''."

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has done this a few times, with the likes of Sharon Osbourne and Richard Dawkins appearing in cameos as themselves, and even including stock footage of [[Barack Obama]] in one episode, then bringing in a body double to make him part of the story ("The End of Time"). Several attempts at having members of the Royal Family appear as themselves have been unsuccessful. Back in 1965 the episode "The Chase" featured a guest appearance by [[The Beatles]] (via stock footage), as well.

* Parodied in ''[[Community]]'' with [[Jack Black]] [[Reality Subtext|wanting to join the study group]] after coming back from a mid-season break.

* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'': The ill-fated talk show called "It's" with singer Lulu ("To Sir With Love") and [[The Beatles|Ringo Starr]] as guests with the tattered and bedraggled "It's" man as host.

* ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' had a guest star in every episode. Justified, as the show is set in a theatre and revolves around a weekly presentation.

* Typically at least one per episode on the ''[[Colgate Comedy Hour]]''.

* Martha Stewart in the first-season finale of ''[[Two Broke Girls|2 Broke Girls]]''.

 

== Music ==

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Characters and Casting]]