“Dying is easy, comedy is hard.” So goes the old adage, and for good reason. Ask anyone in acting circles and they’re likely to tell you that comedy is infinitely harder than drama. There’s something intangible about eliciting a laugh; a tip-of-the-tongue unknowable element beyond timing and physicality that demands complete command from the performer. It’s also infinitely trickier to manipulate. There are countless cinematic scores that can bring you to tears or twist your innards in curdling anxiety, but you’d be hard pressed to find compositions that make you bust a gut.
Then there’s the inherent bond between comedy and tragedy, the grinning and grimacing masks eternally side-by-side, opposite sides of the same coin; the tone of the human experience determined by the lens of the author and the scope of the story. Take the enduring image of a man slipping on a banana peel. It’s hilarious, but if that fall is too shattering or followed by bankrupting medical bills, suddenly, not so much. And that iconic comedic bit also speaks to the underlying darkness of most comedy, which more often than not comes at the expense of someone. Falling on your ass is funny, but it also hurts. All of which is to demonstrate why it makes perfect sense that so many performers who establish themselves as adept comedic talents so often deliver tremendous dramatic work when they’re given the chance.
In what is fittingly perhaps a fool’s errand I’ve attempted to narrow down the wealth of comedian-gone-dark roles to a semi-concise list of the best. I’ll be honest, this was a much more difficult list to put together than I expected. To survey the history of film comedians' turning against type is to suffer from choice. There have been so many excellent, surprising dramatic turns from the comedy community that the list could easily grow so long it ceases to have meaning. And while some performers have one standout film that demonstrated their dramatic chops, others have such a wealth of dramatic work it becomes a daunting task to choose only one.
There are plenty of films and performances it pained me to leave off the list.Adam ScottandJason Bateman’s nasty, image-eschewing work inThe Vicious KindandThe Gift, respectively.Mary Tyler MooreinOrdinary People.Patton OswaldinYoung AdultandBig Fan.Jonah Hill’s career-shifting turnMoneyball. BothMelissa McCarthyandRyan Reynoldsin a pet favorite film of mine,The Nines.Maya Rudolph’s warm, commanding and all-too-rare leading turn inAway We Gowas on the list until the final round of cuts, as wereCloris Leachman’s Academy Award Winning turn inThe Last Picture ShowandJack Black’s deliriously dark performance as Bernie. There are impressive turns in dramedies that veer a little too far into the comedy side, likeSeth Rogenin50/50andAmy Schumer’s star-making turn inTrainwreck. And just to get this out of the way, you won’t find anyJamie Foxxand that’s an intentional decision because, despite his roots in comedy, he has firmly entrenched himself as a primarily dramatic actor over the last decade with so many standout roles it could fill a list of its own. (Jonah Hillis almost past that threshold, but not quite.)
So yeah, culling the tremendously talented herd was quite the challenge, but one attempted in earnest. Let’s see how I did in the list below.
Jason Segel, ‘The End of the Tour’
Writer-directorJames Ponsoldthas a gift for merging the ordinary and the extraordinary by taking the most exquisite and despairing moments of the human experience and boiling them down to a bracingly honest universal simplicity. Which is probably what made him the perfect director to offerJason Segelthe opportunity to explore his previously hinted-at depths asDavid Foster WallaceinThe End of the Tour.Based on a series of conversations between the celebratedInfinite Jestauthor and Rolling Stone reporterDavid Lipsky,The End of the Touris a poignant portrait of a genius mind and an incisive commentary on celebrity culture that hinges on the volleying between two men toeing the line between affection and antagonism.
Unlike the majority of films you’ll find on this list, which tend to showcase their stars in a turn against type,The End of the Tourleans into the affable everyman persona Segel has perfected over his career, but to a much more earnest, stripped down effect. The result is Segel’s inherent sweetness and melancholy applied gingerly to the tragic genius of the ill-fated author, which is casually devastating in its candid assessment of the human condition. The key to the success of Segel’s performance is subtlety. Gone are any affectations of bumbling physical comedy or the usual veneer of simplicity tacked over Segel’s obvious intelligence, and what remains is a pure performance of a good, brilliant man without the adequate emotional armor to shield himself from the failings in the world – failings he sees all too clearly and feels all too sharply.
Sarah Silverman, ‘I Smile Back’
Sarah Silvermanhas built a career as a cheeky, fearless comedian who’s never played nice or shied away from getting as foul-mouthed and nasty as the boys. To think of Silverman’s comedy persona is to imagine a grinning, sharp-eyed provocateur who’s already perfecting the next joke. Which is what makes her complete transformation in the relentlessly darkI Smile Backsuch an astonishing achievement. Silverman is Laney Brooks, a loving wife and mother of two who also happens to be an unhinged addict with a history of severe mental illness.I Smile Backfinds Laney at the nadir of a downward spiral, doing blow in the bathroom during family dinners and sleeping around indiscriminately, and follows her attempts to get her life back on track before she loses her family for good.
Silverman is unflinching in her portrayal of Laney’s cycle of destruction, letting the honesty of her struggles carry the weight of her horrible actions rather than softening any edges that might tear at the character’s likability. But it’s not just Silverman’s willingness to get pitch-black with the material that makes it such a standout role, but the way she so completely transfigures herself into a new, entirely foreign woman. Silverman talks different, she moves different, she is somehow harder and softer than her stage persona, her entire presence not just reconfigured but wholly converted. In short, acting. Really, really good acting. It’s a completely unexpected turn, and that’s what makes it such a pleasure to watch.
Steve Martin, ‘Shopgirl’
You wouldn’t expect a movie written bySteve Martin, starring Steve Martin to make a list of dramatic performances, but we live in a world of wonders. That’s not to sayShopgirlisn’t funny, it does come from the mind of one of comedy’s great inimitable minds, after all, but Martin certainly isn’t playing for comedic relief. That would beJason Schwartzmanas the earnest, awkward layabout competing with Martin’s sophisticated, composed businessman Ray Porter for the affections ofClaire Danes' titular Shopgirl. That’s, of course, selling Martin’s tender little story a bit short. Based on his novella of the same name,Shopgirlis less of a love triangle and more of a kaleidoscopic view of falling in and out of love and the way affections intersect, overlap, and dance in and out of view, even within a single relationship.
Martin’s gone serious before, most notably withPennies from Heavenand his sharp, slippery performance inDavid Mamet’s overlookedThe Spanish Prisoner, but there’s a soulful maturity to his work inShopgirlthat’s a somewhat singular entry in his career. As Ray Porter, Martin embraces the gentle loveliness that has made him such a successful paternal figure in family comedies, but he also brings a worn-in loneliness and emotional reserve unlike any other performance on his resume.
Jerry Lewis, ‘The King of Comedy’
What do you do with a legendary slapstick comedian looking for career redemption after a disastrous attempt at drama halted his career for a near decade? If you’reMartinScorcese, you expertly set him up to play against type in a grounded, no-nonsense role unlike any other in his career. InThe King of Comedy, the formerDean Martincollaborator and man behindThe Nutty Professorsheds his goofy guy image down to the bone, honing a mean 10-yard glare as Jerry Langford, the king of late night TV who becomes the object of obsession for a hungry comedian desperate for his taste of the limelight (played exquisitely byRobert De Niro).
Lewis plays Langford with a steely misanthropic edge, introducing a world-famous man who takes no joy in his privileged lifestyle, having grown weary of the constant invasions of privacy from zealous fans and demanding upstart comedians (especially those who kidnap him and tie him up). While we’ve come to know Lewis as a staunch curmudgeon and notable sexist in his later years,The King of Comedywas a career revelation for the veteran comedian who was still recovering from the complete misfire of his still unreleased holocaust dramaThe Day the Clown Cried. As Langford, Lewis is brusk and hardened but it’s also easy to conjure sympathy for the world-weary celeb who wants to do his job and be left alone, and he’s at his best when he’s pitted againstSandra Bernhard(who’s also excellent in an against-type role as Langford’s stalker) and De Niro’s fits of maddening madness, which only spiral further out of control with every encounter. Lewis toes that line to perfection, keeping Langford in the sympathetic zone while doling out withering looks and exasperated invective with succinct straightforwardness.
Whoopi Goldberg, ‘The Color Purple’
WhileWhoopi Goldbergis best known for a career as a movie star comedian (or somewhat tragically as a host onThe Viewbecause we live in very dark times), she began her career as a Broadway sensation when the late, great Mike Nichols discovered her and cast her in the stage role that caught the eye of none other thanSteven Spielberg. Odd though it may seem, Goldberg’s breakout film role- wasn’t funny in the slightest, but a very straight if occasionally errantly sentimental adaptation ofAlice Walker’sThe Color Purple.
As Celie Johnson in Spielberg’s 1985 drama, Goldberg plays a beaten-down woman trapped in a life of servitude to her abusive husband, Albert (un uncharacteristically despicable turn fromDanny Glover), who slowly discovers the strength and self-respect to leave him. While Spielberg may not have been the ideal candidate to helm the dark feminist text, and his nice-making tidiness rankles at moments, the result is such a profound and inspiring celebration of survivor’s strength that the film’s less resonant qualities are easy enough to forgive. And Goldberg, who gives a performance that makes her a strong contender for one of the all-time best film debuts, its beyond reproach.
Jim Carrey, ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’
There’s something aboutJim Carreythat perfectly encapsulates the tragic nature of the sad clown archetype. Perhaps it’s the fact that he spent a near two decades as a rubber-faced goon before we finally got to see the sensitivity and intelligence behind the buffoonery. But once Carrey got on a dramatic roll, he turned out a series of tremendous performances. First earning heapings of well-deserved praise the genial purity of his turn as Truman Burbank inThe Truman Show, a role that gave him a chance to showcase his range while infusing a healthy dose of his comedic gift. Then came fantastic work in theAndy KaufmanbiopicMan on the MoonandFrank Darabont’s under-watched mistaken identity dramaThe Majestic. But his magnum opus cameMichel Gondry’s extraordinary, mind-bending treatise on love,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
InEternal Sunshine, Carrey gives (pardon the pun) an unforgettable performance as Joel Barish, running a perfect marathon through all the wonders of romantic love – the intoxicating whimsy of infatuation, the rigors of commitment, the savage festering hurt of heartbreak – with the delicate sensitivity and understated hand of a true artisan. When Joel learns that his ex-long-term girlfriend Clementine, played with utmost verve byKate Winslet, has had all memories of him erased in a breakthrough psychiatric procedure, he opts to do the same. What comes after is a staggering journey through Joel’s mind, rendered with an unusual bounty of creativity and inventiveness thanks to Gondry’s keen direction ofCharlie Kaufman’s brilliant script. As Joel realizes the error of his decision, he fights as best he can to hold onto the traces of the blaring, brilliant memories he shared with Clementine, and Carrey’s performance guides the audience through every step of that journey – through the desperate immediacy of the present day scenes and the wild playfulness of his memory loops – with refined nuance.
Lily Tomlin, ‘Grandma’
There are some roles you were just born to play, and such is unequivocally the case withLily Tomlinin the touching, 80-minute-tight treat that saw the legendary comedian deliver the role of her career. Tomlin stars as the titularGrandma, Elle – a caustic, uncompromising, once-lauded intellectual who goes full-on hell or high water when her teenage granddaughter, Sage (Julia Garner), shows up in search of money for an abortion. Elle, who’s having a life crisis of her own, doesn’t have the cash, but she leaves no stone unturned in her quest to help Sage, despite her regular reminders that it’s an unholy stupid situation Sage got herself into. Along the way, there are surprising and captivating appearances fromJudy Greeras Elle’s recently abandoned lover,Laverne Coxas Elle’s deadly charming tattoo artist,Sam Shepherdas a former flame with whom Elle shared a messy history in a time before she was secure in her identity, andMarcia Gay Hardenas Elle’s estranged daughter (Sage’s mother) who is an uptight A-type with little patience for her mother’s unconventional lifestyle.
Grandmaisn’t Tomlin’s first dramatic turn. She was a standout in a number ofRobert Altmanfilms, most notably as the emotional anchor to the satirical masterworkNashville. ButGrandmais tailor-made to Tomlin’s strengths, created specifically for her by filmmakerPaul Weitz, and she commands the film like it’s her birthright. Her ferocious wit and her gift for no-frills authenticity are on display in equal measure as she tears through the film like pure passion incarnate, making for a performance that will cut you off mid-laugh with a gut punch of profound emotional connection, only to leave you smiling wryly as Tomlin barrels her way into the next scene. It’s the kind of performance the overused phrase “tour de force” was invented for. A thoroughly entertaining rollick from beginning to end, Tomlin navigates through the fallout of a life lived to the fullest, including all the bitter mistakes that come with it, easily carrying the film to an end that stuns and surprises with emotional resonance.
Ben Stiller, ‘Permanent Midnight’
Ben Stillerhas tried his hand at dramatic work regularly throughout the decades of his career, peppering serious turns throughout the somewhat insane amount of crowd-pleasing comedies he’s made over the years. He was a perfect part of the perfect ensemble inWes Anderson’s most melancholy film,The Royal Tenenbaums, and he’s mined some exciting performances out of his recent collaborations withNoah BaumbachonGreenbergandWhile We’re Young. But Stiller’s most impressive and unexpected role came early in his career with the drug addiction dramaPermanent Midnight.
To this day, Stiller’s turn as real life heroin-hooked Hollywood screenwriterJerry Stahlremains the deepest and darkest Stiller has gone for a role, completely abandoning any goofiness, smugness, or wry banter for a bleak look at the insanity of addiction and the hellish thrall of heroin. He’s also got a sort of laid-back sexiness that never really manifested itself again in his on-screen work.Permanent Midnightitself is a fairly flawed film, hindered by an unwieldy narrative, and is probably best known for the sick-making metaphorical moment when Stiller repeatedly lunges at a skyscraper window after getting hopped up on crack. However, for all of the film’s flaws, Stiller is not one of them. He’s the backbone. He’s what makes it work when scripting issues get in the way. And he’s completely horrifying for the way that he portrays Jerry as a mostly decent, rational man except for the black-tar obsession that threatens to burn through his entire life. It’s not just a fantastic piece of acting, but a fascinating one for the way it hints at an alternate career path that might have emerged had the film matched the quality of his performance.
Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, ‘The Skeleton Twins’
Remember when I said this list was dreadfully difficult to trim down? Well, here’s where I pull a piece of fancy footwork and drop a two-for-one.And you know what? I don’t even feel a little bit bad about it because it’s not just their fine work as individual performers that makeTheSkeletonTwinsshine, it’s their endearing and fearless chemistry.Kristen WiigandBill Haderstar as Maggie and Milo Dean, a pair of deeply depressive estranged twins who are still broken by their father’s suicide and find themselves regularly flirting with the same destiny. After Milo’s most recent suicide attempt, which subverts Maggie’s own set of end-it-all plans, he moves in with his and her Golden Retriever of a boyfriend (Luke Wilson), freshly exposing years of hurt and animosity while also promising the potential for mutual salvation in the rekindling of their once inseparable bond.
The formerSNLcohorts are in top form as the destructive duo, bringing an electric intimacy and complete abandon to their roles. Wiig reveals untold depths as Maggie, never shying from the despicable moments of a woman who is not caught in a downward spiral, but a full-time resident of rock bottom. But as Milo, Hader is simply next level, revealing the cracks in his psyche by letting us see the beautiful, broken person underneath. Then there’s the fact that, to put it crassly, Hader plays gay better than 90% of actors out there, and not in a Stefon way. Hader ditches sketches of static affectations in favor of a much richer, more complex understanding that Milo’s sexuality is an integral part of not only his personality, serving as the tragic underpinning to much of his internalized self-loathing, but also his persona, an evolving intuitive response to social cues used alternately for seduction and emotional armor. ThoughThe Skeleton Twinscan be bleak, Hader and Wiig never let it become dreary; a feat they pull off not by falling back on their comedic skills, but by doubling down on the specific relationship of the film and infusing every moment with a sense of the unspoken and the unfulfilled.
Gene Wilder, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’
Bear with me here. I hear you.Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryis a children’s movie. AndGene Wilderis funny in it. But he’s also delivering some genuinely extraordinary dramatic acting in the process. It’s clear from the get-go that Wilder takes Wonka very seriously (he insisted on the limp/summersault introduction for the Wonka to ensure the audience wouldn’t know what to make of his character), but over the course of the film, the outcast candymaker’s seething resentment becomes a force of frenzy, articulated alternately in aloof, sneering side-eye (and an expert judgmental face that would launch a thousand memes) and wild, vitriolic outbursts that Wilder executes with complete commitment, never playing it for yucks. Wonka may decorate himself with eccentric panache and express himself with pithy one-liners, but underneath is a soulful man with an ocean of pent-up pathos.
And the duality of that performance is a key component in what makesWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryone of the finest family films of all time. Thanks to his dedication to fully realizing the character,Willy Wonkafunctions on two very different levels for children and adults. What you may have once seen as a fantastical journey through a wondrous candy factory becomes a much more intimate film about a lonely and essentially kind-hearted, if embittered, man seeking an heir. It’s that affectless honesty that was so sorely missing inJohnny Depp’s 2005 revival of the character (which Wilder decried as “an insult”), and it’s what has made Wonka’s most iconic role, and indeed, one of the most iconic film characters of all time.
