Top 10 Hilarious Times Actors Spoofed Their Most Iconic Roles
#10: Danny Glover
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“Lethal Weapon” is the first in a series of buddy cop movies starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. The film was a big hit with moviegoers across the country, holding the number one spot at the box office for three weeks on initial release. One of the film’s most memorable lines was the repeated catchphrase of Danny Glover’s character, Roger Murtaugh: [“I’m [getting] too old for this shit.”] The line would later be repeated by Glover in the 1994 film “Maverick” - referencing his iconic character in a way that served as a fun wink and nudge to fans in the know.
#9: Kevin Bacon
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“Robot Chicken” is a show known for its animated spoofs of popular media. From “Spongebob Squarepants” to “The Simpsons,” no show or movie is safe from the show’s stop motion parodies. These animated segments will often cast new actors to play the roles of iconic characters, but every once in a while they get an actor on board willing to reprise their own role in stop motion. One such actor was Kevin Bacon, who reprised his role as Ren McCormack from “Footloose” in a “Peanuts”-themed skit. In the short bit, Ren is appalled to find that the “Peanuts” gang’s dancing just consists of them repeating the same move over and over again and decides that a town with no dancing might be better after all.
#8: Winona Ryder
It’s not often that an actor gets to reprise one of their roles thirty years after the original film, but Winona Ryder did just that when she played her character Kim from “Edward Scissorhands” in 2021. If you’re hearing this and confused about how you missed the release of an “Edward Scissorhands” sequel - don’t worry. This role reprisal wasn’t for a film, but for a Superbowl commercial advertising the all-electric Cadillac Lyriq. Johnny Depp was notably absent, but in his place the ad introduced Edward and Kim’s son, Edgar Scissorhands, played by “Dune” star Timothée Chalamet.
#7: Kyle MacLachlan
“Twin Peaks” is a really one of a kind show that managed to captivate audiences in the ‘90s with its intriguing mystery and surrealistic horror. Its strange humor and eccentric characters helped to gain it a cult following that has remained as strong as ever three decades after the series’ end. During the series’ initial run, star Kyle MacLachlan had become well-known enough that he got the chance to host “Saturday Night Live” - on which he did a skit parodying what was then his most famous role. In the sketch, a man turns himself in as the killer of Laura Palmer, solving the show’s central mystery, but is turned away by Agent Dale Cooper who refuses to believe in an easy answer.
#6: Robert Patrick
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“Have you seen this boy?” may seem like a pretty generic line on its own, but when said by “Terminator 2” star Robert Patrick, it immediately calls to mind the iconic action thriller. This was especially true in 1992, only a year after the sequel had released, when Patrick asked the question of Wayne in the “SNL”-based comedy “Wayne’s World.” The scene doesn’t have much of an impact on the film’s plot, being a last minute on set addition, but amused audiences regardless, with the successful sci-fi blockbuster still fresh on their minds. Robert Patrick would later go on to reprise his role as the T-1000 again in “Last Action Hero” alongside “Terminator 2” co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
#5: The Casts of Pixar Films
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There are few studios as consistently self-referential as Pixar. The Pizza Planet truck featured in their first feature film, “Toy Story,” is present in some form in almost every film they have made since. In-world companies, like Buy-n-Large (from “WALL-E”), have also existed in multiple Pixar films. Meanwhile, the end credits of “Cars” brought back some of the casts of previous Pixar flicks to voice car-themed spoofs of iconic scenes. To fit with the theme, many of the movies parodied were given more fitting in-world titles, like Toy Car Story or Monster Trucks, Inc. The only film to keep its title in the “Cars” world is, of course, “A Bug’s Life,” which features Flik as a VW Bug.
#4: The Cast of “Degrassi: The Next Generation”
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For anyone who grew up in the 2000s, it should come as no surprise that Drake started out his career as an actor on the teen drama “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” The show featured the rapper as a student who uses a wheelchair after getting shot by a fellow classmate. It was a hit with its demographic, and the beginning of a very successful career for Drake. In 2018, he paid homage to his roots in “I’m Upset,” a music video featuring a number of actors from the show hanging out at a school reunion. He got revenge on Ephraim Ellis, who played the shooter, and also invited comedic duo Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, who had guest starred on the show.
#3: John Hurt
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If you’ve seen “Alien,” you probably remember the chestburster scene. It’s a tense and terrifying moment in the sci-fi horror film where the crew members of the Nostromo are finally forced to confront the gravity of their situation. In addition to being one of “Alien”’s most iconic scenes, it’s also one of the most iconic scenes of John Hurt’s career, and one that he would later go on to parody in the Mel Brooks comedy “Spaceballs.” Unlike the creature in “Alien,” the chestburster in “Spaceballs” is more interested in entertaining than it is attacking, immediately donning a Panama straw boater and singing the Tin Pan Alley song “Hello! Ma Baby.”
#2: Arnold Schwarzenegger
It would be impossible to talk about Robert Patrick’s cameos as the T-1000 without also giving a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film full of self-parody, “Last Action Hero.” The meta comedy was reportedly inspired by “The Simpson”’s ability to “destroy genres even as it [embraced] them,” and served as an action film that satirized the very same genre. The film was executive produced by Schwarzenegger, who also played the starring role, and featured references to “Total Recall,” “Commando,” and “The Running Man,” among others. The film even featured an advertisement for an alternate version of “Terminator 2” starring Sylvester Stallone instead of Arnie.
#1: The Cast of “The Office”
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Who knew Creed from “The Office” bought drugs from Jesse Pinkman? Award shows for film and television have a long history of poking fun at their nominees. The jokes help to add some levity to what could otherwise be a pretty formal, stuffy night of celebrities giving each other golden statues. In a lot of cases, these comedy bits naturally age over time, including spoofs of movies and shows that failed to maintain their popularity in the years that followed. The “Office” themed skit from the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards is one of the few that still holds up a decade after its initial airing, and includes iconic characters from “The Office,” “Parks & Recreation,” “Breaking Bad,” and “Game of Thrones.”
