Five Very Extraordinary Sitcom Guest Stars
We recently got the news that the new season of The Simpsons will feature some pretty impressive guest stars, including Michael Keaton, Viola Davis and Idris Elba. That said, A-list celebrities are now so par-for-the-course on The Simpsons that very few names would cause that much of a shock.
But The Simpsons isn’t the only show to wow audiences with wild celebrity appearances. In honor of TV’s rich tradition of mind-blowing guest stars, here are five of the most shocking in sitcom history…
Richard Pryor on ‘Norm’
By the late 1990s, Pryor’s multiple sclerosis had gotten so bad that he was permanently wheelchair-bound and barely able to speak. For his final appearance on television, he guest-starred on Norm Macdonald’s sitcom Norm as a man who faked his disability to receive state benefits. Pryor’s struggles with both speaking and emoting at the time are downright depressing, but it’s the thought that counts. The appearance was Mcdonald’s way of paying his respects to an all-time great.
First Lady Nancy Reagan on ‘Diff’rent Strokes’
The stars aligned on March 18, 1983 when Reagan guest starred on Diff’rent Strokes to warn the Drummond children of the evils of drugs. Bringing in all the well-meaning but laughably misguided scare tactics of her “Just Say No!” campaign, Reagan told an obviously bogus story about a 14-year-old boy so “burned out on marijuana” that he “brutally beat” his little sister for refusing to steal money for him to buy more drugs. It’s a story you’d have to be high to believe.
Vice President Joe Biden on ‘Parks and Recreation’ (Twice!)
At the age of just 69 (nice), Biden was practically a baby when he guest-starred on Parks and Recreation. After he’d long been referenced as Leslie Knope’s celebrity crush, Biden’s appearance was a hilarious payoff — if only for how Amy Poehler stumbled and fawned all over him. In fact, it was so memorable that they went back for seconds in the series finale; Leslie briefly attended a party at Biden’s house before, we have to assume, Hunter came in and ruined things.
Paul McCartney on ‘The Simpsons’
The first member of The Beatles to appear on The Simpsons was Ringo Starr in 1991, followed by George Harrison in 1993. But by far the biggest guest-star coup in the show’s history was when the final living Beatle, McCartney, appeared. What’s especially impressive is that it left a lasting impact on the series, as Lisa Simpson is still a vegetarian as a result of that episode.
Jimmy Carter on ‘Home Improvement’
After he was arrested with a pound of cocaine but before he turned into a right-wing heel, Tim Allen was beloved by TV fans on both sides of the political aisle. If you’re having trouble picturing such a thing, I invite you to watch Season Three, Episode 18 of Home Improvement when Carter appeared as a guest star. Appearing via tape, Carter thanked Allen’s character Tim Taylor for helping out with building homes for Habitat for Humanity. He even joked about Tim Taylor being accident prone. While the bit wasn’t that funny, it’s pretty hard to imagine a world in which an appearance like this would be apolitical or even possible these days.
