Photo: Lionsgate
The secret of life is knowing your place, and — we’re sorry, but — acting isn’t exactly the place for a lot of stand-up comedians. While we have a lot of great comedians like Bill Burr taking over TV and Louis C.K. running his own show, there are lots of comedians who really just drive us up the walls when they show up in TV and movies (ahem, Problem Child, First Kid, Employee of the Month).
Ever since the day we saw Sister Act, we thought Whoopi Goldberg was the shit. Then we saw her next film, and the one after that. The same can be said for a lot of comedians, some of which still somehow get work while others vanish off the planet (we’re looking at you, Pauly Shore). While it’s nice to see comedians like Dane Cook bounce back into comedy, others seem to have abandoned it for a better pay day. To that we say, please sit down, stand-up actors.
Have a look at 10 comedians who probably could’ve done without the acting credits. We know it seems like an easy transition, but just because you’re funny doesn’t mean you should be in funny movies. Capiche?
10 Stand-Up Comedians Who Should Have Avoided Acting At All Costs
(Facebook photo: Lionsgate)
And now, this important news bulletin: Bill Burr’s ‘F Is for Family’ Is Giving Us Brutally Honest Family Animation in Our Little PC World
Comedian Actors
-
Gilbert Gottfried
It's his voice that makes him distinct, and it's his voice that makes it hard to listen. Anyone who saw him in Problem Child can agree he was perfectly cast for that, as well as Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas, but mostly it's just a bad idea to cast him anywhere money is at stake.
-
Whoopi Goldberg
We'll give her Sister Act, obviously, but Sister Act 2, no way. From there it's been a steady decline, now with her as Editor-in-Chief of the new "Ninja Turtle" atrocities, which focus solely on bad casting. Although, we won't take away the fact that she was funny as hell in Ghost.
-
Sinbad
His name contains two words that could aptly describe how we feel about him in movies, but then again he seems to have vanished off the Earth, so who cares?
-
Dane Cook
Photo: Lionsgate
We loved this little frat boy when he started out, possibly one of the greats when it comes to active comedy, but the acting roles as the dickhead brother in Dan in Real Life and a Home Depot screw off in Employee of the Month were too hard to bear, even if girls like Jessica Simpson and Jessica Alba looked ridiculous in them.
-
George Lopez
This needs no explanation. He was unbearable being himself on a talk show, let alone acting terribly as someone else.
-
Pauly Shore
Don't try to pretend like you didn't love Biodome when you were little. Of course, we really just loved the hotties in khaki jumpsuit. Pauly Shore was always a bit of a train wreck, but he was our train wreck. How did that guy ever get work?
-
Carrot Top
Photo: Warner Bros.
There's so much we could say about Scott Thompson, but we're terrified he'll have a big orange roid rage on us. Loved him in Dennis the Menace Strikes Again, though. Right?
-
Norm McDonald
Dirty Work, Billy Madison. These were important movies once upon a time. Looking back now we realize Norm played the same character in everything he did: the monotone flunky who couldn't get a laugh out of us. Norm killed it as the host of Weekend Update on SNL, but everything else has been a fart in a windstorm.
-
Chad Hardwick
Photo: The Weinstein Company
He's like the Michael Buble of comedy, where his enthusiasm as a TV host is almost scary, but not nearly as scary as him acting in Rob Zombie's Halloween 2.
-
Bill Cosby
He's on this list for very...different reasons. Loved The Cosby Show, though. But yeah, he's a piece of garbage as a person.
