Comedy movies tend to have more cameos than most other movies, as the simple presence of an actor can be a great joke in and of itself. Comedies give famous actors and other celebrities a chance to poke fun at their public personas, so they often subvert audience’s expectations of themselves for laughs.

Comedies are more likely to feature fun cameos from non-actors, since acting skills aren’t necessarily vital to getting a laugh in certain situations. While there have been many hilarious cameos from great comedic actors over the years, athletes, musicians and TV personalities can all get in on the fun.

10

Bob Barker – Happy Gilmore (1996)

Bob Barker Sheds His Nice Guy Persona

Bob Barker makes a hilariously uncharacteristic cameo appearance alongside Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore. Barker was known for his warm personality and his quick wit during the years that he spent hosting The Price is Right. Happy Gilmore flips this persona as he gets into a fist fight with Happy.

Bob Barker’s cameo highlights how Happy’s combative personality can get under anyone’s skin, even one of America’s most beloved TV hosts. It also shows that Happy doesn’t care one bit about his public image. Happy Gilmore 2 already lists Travis Kelce, Eminem and a long list of pro golfers in its cast, and there could be more surprise cameos in store.

9

Tom Cruise – Tropic Thunder (2008)

Cruise Gets A Rare Chance To Flex His Comedy Chops

Tom Cruise had plenty of memorable comedy roles early in his career, but he’s mostly been known as an action star more recently. Tropic Thunder gave him the chance to remind audiences how funny he could be, as he plays a foul-mouthed studio executive.

Cruise’s performance is so eye-catching that there have been calls for a Les Grossman spinoff movie ever since Tropic Thunder first came out. Cruise makes plenty of big swings in his performance, and they all connect wonderfully. Despite his limited screen time, he proves to be just as funny as Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Steve Coogan or any of the other comedy greats in a stacked cast.

8

Harrison Ford – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Ford Is An Underrated Comedic Actor

Anchorman 2 isn’t quite as funny as the original movie, but there are still some laugh-out-loud moments. Harrison Ford’s early cameo is one of them. He plays a seasoned news anchor tasked with selecting his successor, and his no-nonsense, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan style causes some hilarious friction with Ron Burgundy’s overblown silliness.

Both Anchorman movies are stuffed with great cameos. Most of these come in the street fight scenes between rival news teams, where Ben Stiller, Will Smith, Jim Carrey, Tina Fey and many more outstanding comedians have their brief moments. Harrison Ford’s cameo stands out for a couple of reasons, and not just because he’s separate from the fight scenes.

7

Cate Blanchett – H๏τ Fuzz (2007)

Blanchett’s Cameo Is Easy To Miss

Edgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogy is so densely packed with jokes that it can be easy to miss one or two. As well as a rapid-fire rate of hilarious quips, there are also plenty of great visual gags, either as a result of Wright’s snappy direction or physical comedy. Cate Blanchett’s cameo is a joke that’s intentionally hard to pick up on.

Blanchett appears briefly as a forensic investigator, wearing a mask that almost completely obscures her real idenтιтy. It’s an absurd joke to intentionally waste such a talented and famous actor on a role that point-blank refuses to get the best out of her, but it’s a wonderful Easter egg for anyone who can identify her.

6

Britney Spears – Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)

Austin Powers Has Plenty Of Funny Cameos

The Austin Powers movies have a few funny cameos, but Goldfinger takes things to the next level in its opening credits. After Austin watches Steven Spielberg directing an adaptation of his life starring Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito, he breaks out into a dance number that swings past Quincy Jones and Britney Spears.

Each Austin Powers movie begins with a splash of fun, so Goldmember‘s star-studded intro is par for the course. Still, Britney Spears’ cameo stands out from the rest, as she has a mojo-fuelled dance-off with Austin Powers before revealing that she’s a fembot, which is a fun callback to the first movie of the trilogy.

5

Bugs Bunny & Mickey Mouse – Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Two Cartoon Icons Share The Screen For A Brief Moment

Watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit often causes audiences to ask the same question over and over again: “how did they do that?” While this is mostly about the groundbreaking visual effects, it’s also strange to see Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse sharing the screen, since they’ve been icons of rival studios for so long.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is packed with iconic cartoons, and not just from Disney’s stable. Seeing Betty Boop and Daffy Duck pop up evokes the same feeling as seeing an unexpected celebrity cameo in any other movie. Bugs and Mickey’s double-act is the most surprising of all though, and it creates one of the movie’s best moments.

4

John Hurt – Spaceballs (1987)

Hurt Recreates One Of His Most Famous Roles

British actor John Hurt has an impressive list of credits to his name. Although he also enjoyed an illustrious career in theater and TV, one of his most famous film roles came in the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien. Spaceballs sees him recreating the iconic chestburster scene, with the perfect punchline: “not again.“

Spaceballs is filled to the brim with references to sci-fi movies, aside from the obvious Star Wars parody. The chestburster scene is already funny, but the fact that Mel Brooks got John Hurt involved makes it much funnier. The upcoming sequel Spaceballs 2 will probably poke fun at more recent sci-fi movies, and similar cameos would be a good way to maintain a sense of continuity.

3

Robert Patrick – Wayne’s World (1992)

Wayne’s World’s Pop Culture References Are Right Up To Date

Wayne’s World is known for its pop culture references, and its allusions to movies, commercials, music and TV make it a time capsule from the early ’90s. One reference that has aged brilliantly is Robert Patrick’s cameo, in which he seemingly reprises his menacing role as the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Terminator 2 came out in July 1991, just eight months before Wayne’s World. This topical humor is in line with the comedy movie’s roots as a Saturday Night Live sketch, although Robert Patrick’s cameo is just as funny over 30 years later. Wayne’s World rightly predicted that Patrick’s character in Terminator 2 would go down in history as a cinematic icon.

2

Matt Damon – EuroTrip (2004)

Damon Loves An Occasional Cameo

Matt Damon has a habit of popping up in movies when audiences don’t expect to see him. He’s a slimy politician in Drive-Away Dolls, an actor in Thor: Ragnarok and a heightened version of himself alongside Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. His appearance in EuroTrip is just one of many memorable cameos.

Matt Damon ensures that his short screen time is hard to forget in EuroTrip, and not just because of his obvious star power. The song “Scotty Doesn’t Know” is an in-your-face anthem that sums up Damon’s character as a tattooed punk rocker who clearly plays into the Sєx appeal of his music.

1

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Airplane! (1980)

The NBA Legend Provides One Of The Movie’s Best Moments

It’s always a fun surprise to see a famous athlete making a cameo in a movie, like Mike Tyson in The Hangover or Brett Favre in There’s Something About Mary. While these cameos are generally a mixed bag, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s brief appearance in Airplane! stands out as the gold standard.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in the prime of his career by the time he appeared in Airplane! The only character who recognizes his true idenтιтy is a child who’s invited up to the flight deck. To everyone else, he is humble First Officer Roger Murdok. Why exactly he’s trying to keep a low profile is never explained, but that’s just part of Airplane!‘s absurd humor.