10 times politicians made awkward cameos
Doc Brown thought the prospect of an actor being a high-flying politician was so far-fetched as to be unbelievable way back in 1955, but he’d certainly change his tune if he were around today.
Ronald Reagan was hardly the first to trade the silver screen for the White House, but Predator co-stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura, Clint Eastwood, and Kal Penn are just some of the names who’ve gone on to hold positions at either local or national level.
Even those who can’t act to save themselves have a funny habit of making the most of their dwindling 15 minutes of fame by signing on for reality TV shows, while others regularly find themselves being drafted in for guest spots, comedy skits, and sketches while still in office.
Sometimes, it can just be awkward and nothing more, as these following cameos have made perfectly clear. Whether it’s a joke that doesn’t land, the absence of any screen presence, a cavernous void of charisma, or just an all-round pointless exercise, these politicians didn’t make the most of their time on set.
10 awkward politician cameos:
10. Al Gore (30 Rock, 2007)
Al Gore was already a small screen staple thanks to his recurring guest role as a disembodied head in Futurama prior to making his 30 Rock debut in season two episode ‘Greenzo’, but his second outing in the fourth season’s ‘Sun Tea’ was a lot less effective and a lot more awkward.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the idea of the former vice president masquerading as a janitor and talking in nonsensical “African proverbs” before ripping off his overalls and running off to save the whales, but as the man himself put it in a line of dialogue that neatly summed up his rehashed guest spot: “Recycle everything, including jokes”.
9. Joe Biden (Parks and Recreation, 2012)
Another politician who showed up more than once in a popular comedy, Joe Biden’s descent upon Parks and Recreation was almost inevitable given Leslie Knope’s endless infatuation with him. Sure enough, in season five, when the action briefly moved to Washington, the future president swung by.
Clearly not one of the politicians destined for a stellar acting career, Biden was as wooden as a board and as charismatic as a discarded sock, not that it dissuaded him from showing up again in the series finale. For what it’s worth, his wife, Jill, proved to be much more of a natural on-camera, which is strange considering the amount of time he’s spent directly addressing the public during his decades in office.
8. Patrick Leahy (The Dark Knight, 2008)
Some politicians prefer to keep their private interests away from the public eye, but Patrick Leahy was most definitely not one of them after he popped up in Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in addition to lending his voice to Batman: The Animated Series.
Representing Vermont in the Senate between 1975 and 2003, Leahy seemingly spent his downtime becoming as immersed in Gotham City as humanly possible. His most notable cameo came in The Dark Knight, though, where he would tell Heath Ledger’s Joker that “we’re not intimidated as thugs”, right when he was in the midst of being intimidated by thugs. Unfortunately, he reminded the Clown Prince of Crime of his father, and he hated his father.
7. John Kerry (Cheers, 1992)
Rooted deeply in the trials and tribulations of Massachusetts natives, John Kerry was hardly the only local politician to cameo in Cheers during the course of its massively successful run, but he did state a compelling case for being the most awkward on-camera.
Mistaken as being “the anchorman from Channel 8”, Kerry insists that he’s not a television personality but the state senator, even if he ends up signing an autograph anyway. Naturally, once George Wendt’s Norm Peterson and John Ratzenberger’s Cliff Clavin figured out who he really was, they weren’t so interested.
6. Rudy Giuliani (Anger Management, 2003)
The argument could be made that Rudy Giuliani’s contributions to Borat Subsequent Moviefilm count as an awkward cameo, perhaps one of the most awkward ever committed to film. However, to forego the debate about whether documentary-style comedy qualifies, he was also in an Adam Sandler movie.
As hard as it is to believe now, Giuliani was hugely popular during his time as New York’s governor before aligning himself with certain political elements, but that wasn’t enough to forgive his mercifully brief mugging in Anger Management. He even plays a key role in the story’s resolution after stepping in to allow Sandler’s Dave Buznik to profess his love for Marisa Tomei’s Linda at a Yankees game, setting them up for a happy ending.
5. John McCain (Wedding Crashers, 2005)
Having campaigned against Hollywood marketing adult-skewing movies to teenagers, John McCain showing up in a raunchy comedy where one of the main characters professes his love for coitus by describing himself as “a cocksman” understandably created plenty of furore.
Even though John McCain is only in Wedding Crashers for a matter of seconds and feels awkwardly shoehorned in for the sake of cultural relevance, he was blasted for being a hypocrite and lending his name to the very thing he was railing against. Claiming innocence, he offered that he had no idea of what the finished film would be and donated his modest $695 fee to charity.
4. Gerald Ford (Dynasty, 1983)
Being a former president doesn’t guarantee special treatment on the small screen, with Gerald Ford and wife Betty being paid the minimum acting wage for their cameo appearance on Dynasty, which also happened to be the same episode that saw Henry Kissinger flirting with Joan Collins, in what reads as a fever dream.
Producer Esther Shapiro was the one who convinced Ford to have a line of dialogue, even if it only extended to a brief “Blake, it’s wonderful to see you” when shaking hands with John Forsythe’s Blake Carrington. Apparently, he wasn’t too keen on the prospect at first until Shapiro coaxed him into it by teasing him that “you can’t be President of the United States and not an actor.”
3. Donald Trump (The Little Rascals, 1994)
For better or worse, Donald Trump has made a habit of cameo appearances in everything from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Zoolander via Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Two Weeks Notice, but he’s never looked any smugger on-screen (fictionally, at least) than he did as wealthy patriarch Waldo Johnston II in The Little Rascals.
With his son having been an obnoxious thorn in the side of the endearing band of young characters, it would make sense for the production team to seek out somebody who wouldn’t have any trouble getting into the mindset of an exceedingly rich and arrogant elitist.
2. Jeremy Corbyn (Sumotherhood, 2023)
A street-level crime comedy that finds two would-be masterminds plot to hold up a celebrity and rob a bank before falling into a tenuous business arrangement with a ruthless East London gang hardly sounds like it would be rife with cameos, but Jeremy Corbyn was just one of the many random additions to the ensemble of Sumotherhood.
Ed Sheeran, Peter Serafinowicz, Jennifer Saunders, Tamzin Outhwaite, Denise van Outen, Lethal Bizzle, and Drag Race veteran Ella Vaday are a selection of the eclectic faces to pop up at various points, with Corbyn getting the chance to drop some local slang by calling somebody a “wasteman” for reasons that remain unexplained.
1. Arnold Schwarzenegger (The Expendables, 2010)
Seeing Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same scene at the same time was something action junkies never thought they’d get to see, but beyond the nostalgia-baiting delight, the latter’s cameo in The Expendables was cringe-worthy.
Schwarzenegger was still serving as California governor at the time, but beyond his exchange of hideously outdated barbs with old rival Stallone, it was the accompaniment to his exit that scraped the barrel. Even though the franchise eventually plunged headlong into meta-self-awareness, that wasn’t quite the case the first time around.
By extension, Stallone’s Barney Ross responding to Willis’ Mr. Church asking what on earth Schwarzenegger’s problem was with a curt “he wants to be President” was one step short of staring directly into the camera and waiting for the laughter to arrive.
