The Epidemic of Bad Cameos 

The most jarring cameo I've ever seen was Ed Sheeran on Game of Thrones. I did laugh my ass out though...

I know that this is about movies, but nobody can forget about beloved character actress Margo Martindale

Hey fun fact about Kareem in Airplane! The role was originally supposed to go to Pete Rose, but the movie was shot during the summer and so Rose was in baseball season. The reason why they wanted an athlete cameo was it was a reference to the original movie they were parodying.

Did he really just say Matt Damon in Ragnarok was a bad cameo? Heresy

HBO’s Extras pulling the “celebrity playing against type” card every episode was comedy gold. Patrick Stewart was my favorite.

Speaking of cameos, I'm quite impressed that you were able to get Bob Odenkirk to narrate this entire video.

Was Tom Cruise _really_ a cameo in Tropic Thunder? He was playing a pretty important role throughout the whole film, disguised in makeup. I don’t think that qualifies.

This video just reminded me how fucking funny The Alice Cooper cameo is

Great video, but your definition of "celebrity cameo" seems a bit nebulous here. LeBron plays himself in Trainwreck, but it's not really a cameo (he's probably got like the 4th-most screentime of anyone in the movie), and it doesn't really play up, "Hey everybody, it's special guest star LeBron James!" He's basically just a supporting character who happens to be an actual famous person. I DEFINITELY wouldn't count Tom Cruise's Les Grossman. For one thing, it doesn't depend one bit on recognizing him (I remember it blowing a lot of people's minds to find out later that it was Cruise under the makeup), and his character is crucial to the plot. If our definition includes "any recognizable actor in a memorable small role," then films by Tarantino or the Coen Brothers are nothing but wall-to-wall celebrity cameos.

Me: David Bowie in Zoolander is the best. (And then I was killed... because of subjectivity...it was worth it).

Hugh Jackman in X-Men First Class, NPH in Harold and Kumar series, Bruce Campbell In Spider-Man 2, Bill Murray in Zombieland and Tom in Tropic Thunder are some of the best comedic Cameos.

The new shortform is awesome. I was kind of hoping for a pointless cameo of a fellow youtuber within the video essay itself, haha.

Matt Damon was perfect in Eurotrip, we didn't expect him to show up as a nail painted punk rocker but he did it perfectly.

I have to disagree about Matt Damon in Thor 3. It has a purpose. It is highlighting Loki's ego and narcissism to have Matt Damon, Sam Neill and Liam Hemsworth play characters in a play...about Loki. Why wouldn't Loki, the guy who erected a massive statue in his own honor and designed a play...again...in his own honor, have Matt Damon and Sam Neill in it? It's good acting especially because we know they are good actors and they're hamming it up Shakespeare style. I think it hits 2 of the 3 "Good" cameo reasons you gave. It's relevant (plays a role in making sure you know that Odin isn't Odin) and it's good acting.

My favourite recent cameo joke was using Brad Pitt as the Invisible Man in Deadpool 2. Edit : *_WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!_* My favourite less recent cameo.

I don't think it makes it any cleverer but the Kanye west cameo with Mike Myers is a reference to that charity tv event they did together where Kanye said "George bush doesn't care about black people"

Bill Murray in Zombieland is definitely my favorite all time cameo.

Alice Cooper is a very smart, very talented and very humble human being ! Hat's off !!!

HAROLD AND KUMAR IS A NATIONAL TREASURE SIR

I think sometimes random cameos are meant as a 'WTF' joke. Having Kanye West in the Love Guru is so random that its funny.

"Hey, you can't talk to Billy Idol that way!"

Ok, good points there. But don't mess with Popstar, that movie was great. Seal attacked by wolves was funny.

I don't know if its good or not but Chuck Norris in Dodgeball always makes me smile

"Bob Barker would never clock you one" uh, I wouldn't be so sure about that...

Favorites off the top of my head: Bill Murray in Zombieland, Chris Walken in Pulp Fiction, Bruce Springsteen in High Fidelity.

Pro Tip: You can eat chips without getting chip dust on your fingers by using chopsticks.

I think most of the Muppets 2 cameos are pretty great

I'm honestly stunned the video never mentions any of the Muppet movies, where celebrity cameos are an expected tradition of the franchise. They even acknowledge it outright in "Great Muppet Caper" ("What are you doing here?" "Making a very brief cameo" "So am I.")

i messed up on the dan marino one -- it's not a random cameo, my b. desire to make a dan marino joke > logical argument. I'm just as bad as those i criticize. You guys are awesome for pointing out some of the errors. Here's one other correction: 1. The Kareem Abdul Jabbar cameo is not as random as it appears (it's making fun of another cameo). I always loved it, I just thought it was random af, but it looks like I got played. Also, I'm not calling Bill Murray 'not an actor' -- if you pay close attention, it's anyone who does good acting, but it's 'especially' cool when a non-actor acts well, that's all. I will admit it's poorly worded.

Ben Affleck was the bomb in phantom!

Absolutely love the new style. Thanks for being awesome and making more of these.

Kareem's Cameo in *Airplane* was perfect and it fit the need of the storyline. The absurdity of the fact that it actually *was* Kareem, even though he kept denying it and that shot when he was being carried out wearing Basketball Shorts was sheer genius. *"Airplane"* is an untouchable Classic. Everything else in your video was pretty cool.

"Bad Movies can have great cameos." -Shows picture of Harold and Kumar, one of the best comedy movies of the era.- Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

What makes something a cameo as opposed to just a famous person playing a character?

Good shit, Schoder. Always good stuff coming from you. Look forward to all your future stuff

Great vid. Glad you bring this issue up

Dodgeball's Chuck Norris and Zoolander's David Bowie

Ay great video but HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE IS A MASTERPIECE.... kinda :)

This was a slightly new format for you, and it worked out! You have a great streak of actual content in your video essays, rather than just listing things, and it really adds a lot of value. Keep it up

Wow, amazing stuff, plus super fun revisiting all these cameos haha I can tell this must have been a super fun video to make

You're one of my favorite video essayists on RU-vid. I always learn something from your videos. "The Problem with Irony" is my favorite of yours so far.

Huh, just subscribed to you a few hours ago from the Bojack and learning videos. :D

Aye Will , love your content man

Kareem Abdul Jabbar's cameo in Airplane was the one of the funniest things in that movie which is saying something

i like when you appear in your videos :) forgot i didn't have your notifications on so im ringing your bells

Nice video - and I think you break things down really well. However, I would have to disagree with Kareem in Airplane for a few reasons (of course I am old enough to have seen that in theaters): - For a big chunk of the movie it is just Kareem acting in the movie, which was in itself a bit of a spoof of how in the 70s suddenly we had more and more sports stars appearing as actors. - The 'reveal' itself is singularly through the little boy Joey questioning him, while no one else 'gets it'. - Then as things go south on the flight we see Kareem end up in his Lakers outfit. Overall it is a take-off ON the celebrity cameo - and an over-the-top one that plays it both ways. Again, nice video and thanks for sharing!

Delightful essay, man. Really great work! :)

Well done Will. This was an enjoyable view on when cameos work and when they don't. Keep up the good work man.

I gotta disagree with your notion that if people's first thought is 'i can't believe they got so and so" that's a sign of bad film analysis. That's just an initial thought used in conversation, not how they actually feel about the movie. You're really making some crazy assumptions there.

Really interesting topic. I know I shouldn't, but I'll admit to really enjoying a lot of bad cameos especially if they're well written (like the Neil DeGrasse Tyson one.) The Player example is a great example of it done right. Also-loved the edit at 1:00!

New to these, 12 mins felt like 2 (in the best way)! Keep up the good work mate!

I love literally every single cameo you used as an example here. I think I just love the idea of cameos as a whole, in whatever form

Loved Bowie in Zoolander.

But... Bill Murray is an actor? Why is he listed with the successful non-actor cameos?

Bro I love your videos and I'm glad you release them on whatever you feel like it's to everyone's benefit

One of my favourite celebrity cameos is Anchorman 2's fight scene because of how ridiculously over the top it is

Hard to watch; seems like you missed the point on many of these. Better points than I could make already posted (Lebron, Cruise as Grossman, etc). Extras, Entrourage, etc: the LITERAL POINT of the shows is that they exist in the "real world" where they interact with celebrities. And the Ragnarok cameos were gold, and exactly how cameos should be done.

whatup people!! be a good person today!

The original Muppet Movie had Orson Wells as the head of Universal Studios. That was a great cameo, as it was his film, Citizen Cane, that is considered the high mark in cinema, making him the defacto ruler of "serious" Hollywood for decades, the exact opposite of what the Muppets were bringing to the table.

wow, so well thought out 🤗 and for a topic im suprised anybody ever would have thought up 😂

bro, you're charismatic, you should do more face to camera stuff

All I got from this video is that you don’t like zoolander 2 and the vanilla ice cameo in that’s my boy

cameos reduce the believability and immersion of the fictional world of the films we're watching

I like Charlton Heston’s cameo in Wayne’s World.

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One of my favourite cameos of all time - Mayor Adam West in Family Guy - is completely random. And in my opinion it is all the better for that. Why is Adam West the Mayor of Quahog? Just why? It's perfect, and it's completely random.

awesome vid. great quality

Great video Subbed

Best cameo ever was in Deadpool 2 and it doesn't really fit any of your rules. Pure surprise.

I've no idea why you used the music from my local British TV station in the late 80s for your 'Solutions' title card, but I'm damn glad you did.

Great vid! New sub

That fountain clip gets me every time xD

I've said it before and I'll say it again, but you are my favorite video essayist! Enjoyed this topic a lot. Alice Cooper is pure gold. I just want to say that your Mr. Rogers video is my favorite thing on the internet, no joke. I've showed it to many friends and it has spurred some really meaningful conversations. Your presentation is so convincing and heartfelt (plus Mr. Rogers being a true OG) that many friends have expressed how much it changed their approach to engaging with opposing ideologies....even months after watching the video. This is so important in this moment of history. Hats off to you. Always excited for anything you put out there.

FWIW, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Airplane! isn't really a random celebrity cameo, but a parody of one. In Zero Hour, the movie that Airplane! was based on, the pilot of the plane was played by then LA Rams quarterback Elroy Hirsch, so they brought in an equally inexplicable athlete to play the co-pilot in the parody.

i know it’s not a movie, but the tv show Extras is a masterclass in cameos

Great video. God bless!

love ya schode

so what comes to mind, is Robert De Niro in American Hustle. He plays a role in the story but i also did not know he was in the film so, when i saw him i was surprised to see the actor.

To be fair for Wayne's World he did ask for a better actor mid scene

Cheap cameos are even worse for us in foreign countries. I live in Spain and we don't watch that much of american TV here (yeah, big surprise), so we don't know much of these supposedly famous people all that well. Sometimes we don't get that we are watching a cameo and that we are supposed to react just to that person mere existence, so something in the scene feels weird. Sometimes is even worse, because we actually get that it is obviously a cameo (usually because someone screams a "look, It's him" variation), but we don´t know anything of that person or what he/she does, and that is even more jarring. It takes us even more out of the movie, because is not only "random celebrity appears", is also "Who the hell is this guy?", "I guest he must be famous in America or something" and "IDK, pause the movie and I'll Look it into IMDB".

Can't wait for that essential book list!

Can’t believe you didn’t talk about how vanilla ice stooped so low as to make a joke about sleeping with a grandma

I'm glad you talked about the Bill Murray Zombieland cameo, 'cause that one was so effective to me that I kinda forgot it was a movie believed Bill Murray was legit dead for like two years

Brad pitt in deadpool2 was one of the best cameos in recent years so was matt deamon in ragnarok

I feel like cameos in the movie make it seem more relatable and in our world, and hooks people in. Our world is full of celebrities, and you can’t go anywhere without seeing one. Putting them in makes it more believable

I really love the Levar Burton cameo in whatever episode of Community it was. Troy's whole plot for the episode hinged around it and he was just damn funny too.

I’m pretty surprised this video didn’t bring up Muppet movies at all. All the non-literature based ones have heavy Cameo presence, some for plot and some not.

Subscribed!!!

lol i loved the Vonnegut cameo in Back to School - it made sense contextually

I like how they got George Clooney to play the doctor that operates on Kenny in the South Park movie. In a series based on doing bad impressions of celebrities, they actually got one A-list actor

You just got yourself a new subscriber

6:18 "Shouldn't we strive to make things timeless?" *Nostalgic 80's jingle plays*

Best cameos: Hot Fuzz. Cate Blanchett as Nick Angel’s girlfriend (the one in full Forensic scrubs with a face cover), and Peter Jackson as the maniac in the Santa outfit who stabs Nick.

To be fair. David Bowie does have training in acting.

I feel like one movie that absolutely nails it’s celebrity cameos is between two ferns. It’s about a talk show, so it’s celebrity cameos make sense. As well, it uses the celebrities as a jumping off point for its jokes and plot, not just as a crutch or “oh hey they got that guy!”

Good video, wish it was longer

Two strange cameos i love are Kristen Bell and Paul Rudd in iZombie. Both are voiceovers: one for an audiobook, the other for a documentary. They’re both directly referenced, but without breaking the fourth wall and within the confines of the universe they have set up and kinda underline a key point of the plot. Plus, both are references to Veronica Mars and aren’t too distracting. That series in itself had an interesting cameo in its third episode by Paris Hilton, which subverts out expectations when she ends up being the culprit.

Well done, Will.

Oh, THAT'S why I call it "Milly Wah Kay"

eminem in the interview. it fits with the story (he’s on a celebrity talk show), it’s funny due to him always being called homophobic, and his delivery is so dead pan. best cameo in a comedy movie.