8 Instances Where the Supporting Guy Brought Down the House

Less can be more and in the cases of these eight performances – they make all the difference to the comedies where they appeared. Small roles – even cameos -- can pack an enormous wallop and sometimes come to define a movie, especially a comedy (where one line can have an audience blowing Coke out of their nostrils).

Take Ben Stiller as the Hispanic anchorman Arturo Mendes in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” (2004). Stiller, in an uncredited performance, utters one line: “Hola, bitches!” and it nearly brings down the house. Do you know anyone who talks about the movie and doesn’t use that quote?

And Ben Stiller didn’t even make the list!

So with further ado, DaRK PaRTY gives you 8 kick-ass performances from a supporting actor in a comedy.

Neil Patrick Harris
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Self-parody has never been more hilarious. Neil Patrick Harris (i.e. TV’s Doogie Howser) plays himself as an arrogant, foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed Hollywood asshole – and it works like a charm. “Harold & Kumar” is a gem of a subversive, drug comedy, but it is Harris’ performance that pushes the movie into instant underground classic. The scene where Harold and Kumar pick Harris up hitchhiking is truly masterful. When Harold asks how to get back to the highway, Harris spouts off: “Dude, I don’t even know where the fuck I am right now. I was at this party earlier tonight and some guy hooked me up with this incredible X – next thing I know I’m being thrown out of a moving car. I’ve been tripping balls ever since.” Does it get any funnier than that? In fact, it does.

Will Ferrell
Starsky & Hutch (2004)

“Starsky & Hutch” was a disappointment. We’ve come to expect more from Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller (especially since the chemistry was so right between them in “Zoolander”). The shining, bright spot in this otherwise forgettable dud – is Will Ferrell’s uncredited performance as Big Earl – a homosexual convict. His telephone exchange with Vince Vaughn (as Reese Feldman) is laugh-out loud funny.

Big Earl: What are you wearing? Real quick, be honest.

Reese: What am I wearing? A silk flowered shirt and a vest. Why?

Big Earl: Oh, that’s gorgeous.

Reese: You sick son of a bitch!

Big Earl: Don’t hang up! Don’t hang up!

Ferrell doesn’t get enough screen time to save the film, but for those few moments you can forget about how bad the rest of the film is.

Bill Murray
Caddyshack (1980)

In an ensemble comedy filled with sparkling performances – Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Ted Knight are just a few – it was Bill Murray’s take on groundskeeper Carl Spackler that stole the movie. From his faux-masturbation scene while watching a group of blue-haired old women tee off to his biting into a chocolate bar everyone in the swimming pool thought was a floating turd, Murray chews up every scene he’s in. But his best line in the movie is when he tells Chase about being the caddy for the Dalai Lama in Tibet (“big hitter, the Lama”) that seals the deal.

Carl: “And I say, ‘Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know?’ And he says, "There won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So I got that going for me, which is nice.”

Bruce Campbell
Spiderman III (2007)

There are few actors who can chew up a scene like a rabid wolf hound better than B-Movie King Bruce Campbell. But he ratchets it up a notch in the latest Spiderman thriller as the Maitre d’ at a ritzy French restaurant. Campbell completely gobbles up all the other actors when he’s on the screen – irritatingly directing and then stopping a band of musicians from moving in on Peter Parker’s table so he can propose to his girlfriend. The over-the-top performance can be appreciated from this brief snippet of dialog done in a terrible French accent:

Maitre d’: Ah, here we are. Table for two, Pecker.

Parker: Parker!

Maitre d’: That is what I said, Pecker!

Wallace Shawn
The Princess Bride (1987)

“The Princess Bride” has gone into the pantheon of classic movies, but would the movie have made that grade without Wallace Shawn’s outstanding, scene-ravaging performance as the arrogant Sicilian genius Vizzini? It’s inconceivable! With lines like “I’ve hired you to help me start a war. It’s a prestigious line of work with a long and glorious tradition” delivered with an irritated lisp, Shawn’s characterization dominates a movie filled with lovable characters. The best scene in the movie is when “The Man in Black” has a showdown of wits with Vizzini about picking a goblet of wine – one of which has been poisoned. It ends with this memorial line: “You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!” And then, Vizzini drops dead.

John Turturro
The Big Lebowski (1998)

There are lots of problems with the Cohen brother’s comedy, but John Turturro as Jesus Quintana – the anally charged Hispanic bowler (and convicted sex offender) – isn’t one of them. Turturro brings a savage intensity nearly every role, but he takes vicious delight to this role – wearing a tight, baby-blue jumpsuit (with a bulge the size of kielbasa) as he commands the bowling lanes. With a sneer and a thick Mexican accent (and a constant tugging at his nuts), Turturro delivers nuggets like this: “You ready to be fucked, man? I see you rolled your way into the semis. Dios mio, man. Liam and me, we're going fuck you up.” It’s too bad there isn’t more of him in the movie.

Will Ferrell
The Wedding Crashers (2005)

This movie belongs to Vince Vaughn, but Will Ferrell throws a coupe and takes over the last part of the movie with a vengeance. In an uncredited performance as Chaz Reinhold, the legendary wedding crasher (who happens to live with his mom), Ferrell has viewers squirming in their seats with his ugly, but hilarious portrayal as a desperate, pathetic loser who cruises funerals to pick-up women in the throes of mourning. You don’t know whether to laugh or cry and that’s the beauty and power of this performance. At one point, Ferrell screams to his mother: “Hey, mom! Can we get some meatloaf! Mom! The meat loaf! Fuck!” with spittle flying from his lips. And then he’ll fall into a dead calm and mutter things like: “Grief is nature's most powerful aphrodisiac.” Wow.

Bob Barker
Happy Gilmore (1996)

“The Price is Right” host delivers one of the funniest scenes ever in an Adam Sandler movie. Sandler plays a hockey player turned golfer with a hair-trigger temper. Paired with Barker for a charity golf tournament, the two get on each other’s nerves until a melee breaks out and the elderly Barker beats the living crap out of Sandler. The scene is so over the top that it catches the audience in mid-gasp as Barker breaks through his own stereotype. It ends with Barker straddling Sandler’s chest as he punches him in the face and growls: “Now, you've had enough... bitch!” It’s a show stopper and nothing in the rest of the movie even comes close to topping it.

Labels: Comedy, Movies

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While DaRK PaRTY was doing the painstaking research to select the cream of the crop – a trend emerged. SNL is a man’s game. There have been few women comedians who have successfully used SNL as a springboard for greater success. It would be difficult to get a woman on a top 15 list, never mind the top seven. The closest candidates would be Gilda Radner, Molly Shannon and Tina Fey.

For the purposes of this list, DaRK PaRTY had two criteria:

1. The actor had to have made his first mark with SNL (which eliminated Billy Crystal, Chris Elliot and Michael McKean)
2. The actor had to have left SNL for greater success (which eliminated the underrated and very funny Darrell Hammond)

So without further delay DaRK PaRTY presents the 7 Funniest Comedians from “Saturday Night Live.”

Bill Murray

Age: 56

Years on SNL: 1977-80

Style: A classic wiseass personae – known for his dry, sarcastic wit

Best Known Characters: The nerd Todd DiLamuca, who wore his pants up around his chest and gave nuggies, and Nick the Lounge Singer

Break-out Movie: “Meatballs” (1979)

Funniest Movie: “Caddyshack” (1980)

Worst Movie: “Garfield” (2004)

Useless Trivia: Murray replaced the much-hated Chevy Chase and in 1978, during a show Chase was hosting, the two men got into a fistfight shortly before the show went live.

Quote: “We've been going about this all wrong, this Mr. Stay Puft's okay, he's a sailor, he's in New York, we get this guy laid we won't have any trouble.” – From “Ghostbusters” (1984)

Quote #2: “Lee Harvey, you are a madman. When you stole that cow, and your friend tried to make it with the cow. I want to party with you, cowboy. If the two of us together, forget it. I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I'm gonna volunteer my leadership to this platoon. An army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe. And Sergeant Hulka is always gonna be here to be that big toe for us. I think that we owe a big round of applause to our newest, bestest buddy, and big toe... Sergeant Hulka.” – From “Stripes” (1981)

Eddie Murphy

Age: 45

Years on SNL: 1980-84

Style: A racy ham known for his scathing insults and wink-wink relationship with his audience

Best Known Characters: Mr. Robinson, Buckwheat, Gumboy and Stevie Wonder

Break-out Movie: “48 Hours” (1982)

Best Movie: “Trading Places” (1983)

Worst Movie: “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” (2002)

Useless Trivia: When Murphy’s career sputtered in the late 1990s, SNL’s David Spade during his Hollywood Minute segment, flashed a photo of Murphy on the screen and shrilled: “Look children, a falling star. Make a wish!”

Quote: “Now, a brother's dick is too big, so it'll fuck up his balance... Every time you see a brother in a wheelchair, he ain't always crippled.” – From “Delirious” (1983)

Quote #2: “Before I go, I just want to say one thing. The supercop story... was working. And you guys just messed it up. I'm still trying to figure you guys out, but I haven't yet. But it's cool, though. You just fuck up a perfectly good lie.” – From “Beverley Hills Cops” (1984)

Will Ferrell

Age: 39

Style: Master impressionist

Years on SNL: 1995-02

Best Known Characters: Alex Trebek, Neil Diamond, Harry Caray, Music Teacher Mary Culp, Spartan cheerleader Craig Buchanan and night clubber Steve Butabi

Break-out Movie: “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997)

Best Movie: “Old School” (2003)

Worst Movie: “A Night at the Roxbury” (1998)

Useless Trivia: Ferrell’s nickname since high school is “Wilf.”

Quote: “Dear little baby Jesus, who's sittin' in his crib watchin the Baby Einstein videos, learnin' 'bout shapes and colors. I would like to thank you for bringin' me and my moma together, and also that my kids no longer sound like retarded gang-bangers.” – From “Talladega Nights” (2006)

Quote #2: “I'm gonna punch you in the ovary, that's what I'm gonna do. A straight shot. Right to the babymaker.” – From “Anchorman” (2004)

Mike Myers

Age: 43

Style: Smarmy, know-it-all with a heart of gold

Years on SNL: 1989-95

Best Known Characters: Dieter, Linda Richman and Wayne Campbell,

Break-out Movie: “Wayne’s World” (1992)

Best Movie: “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999)

Worst Movie: “The Cat in the Hat” (2003)

Useless Trivia: When Myers was nine years old he starred in a TV commercial with Gilda Radner

Quote: “Are those fricken' sharks with fricken' laser beams attached to their fricken' heads?” – From “Goldmember (2002)

Quote #2: “I say hurl. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be.” – From “Wayne’s World” (1992)

Dana Carvey

Age: 51

Style: Classic impressionist

Years on SNL: 1986-93

Best Known Characters: Church Lady, George H.W. Bush, Hans, Garth Algar and Jimmy Stewart

Break-out Movie: “Tough Guys” (1986)

Best Movie: “Wayne’s World” (1992)

Worst Movie: “Halloween II” (1981)

Useless Trivia: Comedy Central lists Carvey at the 90^th best in their list of 100 Best Stand-ups of All Time.

Quote: “As Prometheus said to the Athenians, "I need another beer". – From “Opportunity Knocks” (1990)

Quote #2: “Uh, Wayne, you know, I don't think you should mention that Jim Morrison thing anymore. It's just that people have started to talk, you know. They're saying things like, "Hey, there goes Garth and his friend Wayne... the psychopath." – From “Wayne’s World 2” (1993)

Adam Sandler

Age: 41

Style: Loudmouth buffoon (who sings!)

Years on SNL: 1990-95

Best Known Characters: Cajun Man, Opera Man, Bono and Charles Manson

Break-out Movie: “Billy Madison” (1995)

Best Movie: “50 First Dates” (2004)

Worst Movie: “Little Nicky” (2000)

Useless Trivia: One of Sandler’s best friends is fellow SNL alumni Norm MacDonald

Quote: “I'm not a homophobe, I'm a pulling-out-my-penis-in-front-of-you-ophobe.” – From “Anger Management” (2003)

Quote #2: “I am good. You know what, you're a lousy kindergarten teacher. I've seen those finger-paintings you bring home and they SUCK.” – From “Happy Gilmore” (1996)

John Belushi

Age: Died at age 33 in 1982

Style: Overbearing buffoon and party animal

Years on SNL: 1975-79

Best Known Characters: Samurai Futaba, Jake Blues, Elvis Presley, Joe Cocker and Larry Farver

Break-out Movie: “Animal House” (1978)

Best Movie: “Animal House” (1978)

Worst Movie: “1941” (1979)

Useless Trivia: Belushi was the hero of SNL’s Chris Farley and once said he wanted to live his life like Belushi. Both comedians died of an overdose of heroin and cocaine at the age of 33

Quote: “Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!” – From “Animal House” (1978)

Quote #2: “It's so quiet up here, you could hear a mouse get a hard on.” – From “Continental Divide” (1981)

Runners-up: Martin Short, Chris Farley, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Phil Hartman, Chris Rock and David Spade

Labels: Comedy, Movies

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