15 Times Great Villains Were Played By Comedians

By the time Insomnia hit the big screen in 2002, Robin Williams had already proven he was an excellent dramatic actor. He won an Academy Award in 1997 for his performance in Good Will Hunting. However, Williams was still mostly known for his family-friendly comedies like Mrs. Doubtfire and Jumanji.

Then 2002 happened. Williams turned heel in three films: Insomnia, One Hour Photo, and Death to Smoochy. Of the three movies, his most successful play against type happened in Christopher Nolan's underrated psychological thriller Insomnia.

Williams's Walter Finch, a successful novelist, is a scheming, blackmailing killer who plays a game of cat-and-mouse with Detective Dormer (Al Pacino). The film takes place in a small town in Alaska during the summer months when there are 24 hours of sunlight. The role in many ways is anti-Williams. He doesn't play Finch in that over-the-top, larger-than-life, rubber-faced Robin Williams style. In fact, Finch is dangerous because of his quietness.

Nolan was impressed with the actor's ability to play a villain:

What I thought of Robin, was, well he is an extraordinary guy to work with and he really gave what I consider to be a flawless performance. I wound up watching the film hundreds of times as we cut it, and I never hit that point with the performance where you start to see the acting. Most performances, at a point, bits start to peel off and away, but with Robin's he was very much in that character. Not that he's a very dark person to work with - he's very lively and friendly and amusing to work with. He really found something within himself. I think it's a very underrated bit of work on his part.

Danny DeVito starred on the sitcom Taxi, but Louie De Palma was certainly not the sweetest guy in town. Tim Burton cast the actor as Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin 1992's Batman Returns. Perhaps DeVito's small, roundish stature helped him land the role of the Penguin? 

In between sarcastic put-downs and general grumpiness, Louie could sometimes be a sweetheart. The Penguin, on the other hand, does not have that nice streak in him. The psychopathic supervillain is ruthless. He kills at will, and hate drives his every rageful action. His tragic backstory affects his entire life, even his deformed body.

DeVito made an extremely memorable Batman nemesis, playing the role with the perfect amount of comic flair and grandiosity, while still remaining a worthy adversary to Batman (Michael Keaton).

Leave it to Oliver Stone to helm a satire about serial killers and the media. There was an abundance of controversy surrounding Natural Born Killers when it hit theaters in 1994. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis play a psychopathic modern-day version of Bonnie and Clyde. They go on a shocking, bloody rampage that is practically celebrated by the media.

Despite the body count, perhaps the biggest shock of Natural Born Killers was seeing a beloved comedian like Rodney Dangerfield play Lewis's disgusting, abusive father. The King of One-Liners, who shot to fame late in life based on his "I get no respect" routine, stunned in his first dramatic film role as the "father from hell."

Dangerfield wrote most of his part in the movie, which depicts Mallory's (Lewis) old home life. Dangerfield's scene is presented as a TV sitcom called I Love Mallory. A laugh track in the background juxtaposes Dangerfield's verbal and sexual abuse toward his daughter. 

The Back to School actor talked about how the film uses comedy:

It's funny to have this vicious guy and put him in a sitcom. I don't know whether to laugh at me or take me seriously. People are taking me seriously, aren't they? The acting we're doing is to try and make it seem believable. But the movie brings out a good point how parents can ruin children. Of course, not every parent is as bad as me in the movie but in general, parents can hurt their kids without even knowing it.

Paul Reubens was wildly successful in the ‘80s playing Pee-wee Herman in a stage show, multiple feature films, and the mega-popular daytime show Pee-wee's Playhouse. In the '90s, he transitioned into a variety of other character roles, and was often tough to spot for audiences who only knew him as Pee-wee.

In one of his more unexpected appearances, Reubens pops up in the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie playing Amilyn, a vampire who takes sadistic glee in tormenting Buffy and her high school classmates to serve an ancient vampire king. While the casting seems unexpected at first, Reubens brings such an odd, quirky humor to the role, it helps set the tone for the film (and the subsequent TV series) in a unique realm of horror-comedy that stands out from some of the more brutal, ultra-earnest horror films of the era. Plus his final moment on screen is some vintage Pee-wee worthy physical comedy.

Steve Carell was largely still known as Michael Scott from The Office and his comedy movies Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin when he took on the role of John du Pont in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher. Armed with prosthetics and unleashing a quiet, simmering rage, Carell plays the creepy millionaire with shocking dexterity considering his sitcom background.

The 2014 biographical drama tells the story of du Pont's obsession with Olympic wrestling champion Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum). It also addresses the crippling mommy issues du Pont carried inside himself well into middle age. 

Carell's homicidal delusion is chilling. The actor earned a well-deserved Academy Award nomination for his performance.

Mo'Nique is one of the "Queens of Comedy." Her successful stand-up career led to roles on the sitcom The Parkers and such big-screen comedies as Phat Girlz and Soul Plane. She took a major left turn in 2009 when Lee Daniels cast the funny lady as abusive mother Mary in Precious. 

Mary spends her days chain-smoking in her dark living room and watching television from her dirty old recliner, perpetually angry. Mary often turns her rage on her teenage daughter Precious (Gabourey Sidibe). She is verbally and physically abusive toward Precious. Mary is so deranged that she blames her daughter for stealing her man because Precious's father sexually abused her. 

How good was Mo'Nique as a vile abuser? So good that she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. 

Despite the despicable nature of Mary, Mo'Nique has sympathy for her. "You see them as monsters," said Mo'Nique. "You want to judge them and walk away saying, 'I hated that person.' But I don't hate Mary Jones. I'm sad for Mary Jones. Mary Jones is mentally ill, has spent her life being sick, but nobody ever paid attention - including Mary Jones."