History Main / AdamWesting

Compare to SelfDeprecation and LeslieNielsenSyndrome. Contrast GushingAboutGuestStars, where the guest star appears as a subject of praise, not mockery.

** Creator/ConanOBrien plays himself as a {{Jerkass}} who doesn't respect his female writers or Andy Richter.

* In ''Film/LiarLiar'' Creator/JimCarrey mentions that "some people" make a living by making outrageous faces.

* Averted in ''Theatre/{{Allegiance}}'' which, as a musical set during one of the darkest events in recent US history (the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2), both of his characters are played completely straight.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder" featured [[Creator/PennAndTeller Penn Jillette]] as a head who barely fit in his jar and worked with a [[TheSpeechless Teller]] who was dead and the act was the same.

* In the '90s Zorro Adam West had a cameo in a season two episode as a scientist named Dr. Wayne.

Some actors get reputations that just won't go away. Maybe they're famous for [[ThePrimaDonna being divas on the set]]. Maybe they're famous for only [[TypeCasting playing certain roles]] -- or even worse, [[IAmNotSpock only playing one role.]] Nobody will let them forget it. They can struggle mightily to earn a new reputation as decent people who can play a variety of roles.

** [[Music/WuTangClan The RZA and the GZA]] are health nuts and Creator/BillMurray is a weirdo who like waiting tables.

Compare to SelfDeprecation and LeslieNielsenSyndrome.

** Mark Hamill appeared as himself in a sketch called "Meteorgeddon", where Creator/HarrisonFord is chosen to lead a mission to blow up a rogue asteroid (along with Music/{{Aerosmith}} as the crew) because of his role as Han Solo in ''Star Wars''. He tries to back out by saying he's not qualified, but a Star Wars fan cheers him on with "Go get 'em, Han Solo!" Then there's another press conference called by Hamill who thinks he should lead the mission:

'''Very same Star Wars fan:''' That was just a movie, dude.
** A missed case occurred when they did a sketch where the writers of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' attempted to make Wesley Crusher more likable by introducing an even ''worse'' character - a banjo-playing Great Gazoo-esque creature named Snergle - only for fans to want them to kill Crusher and keep Snergle. Wil Wheaton later said he'd have been happy to voice Wesley if they'd asked.

** ''Hollywood Darlings'' has Beverly Mitchell, Creator/JodieSweetin and Creator/ChristineLakin wrestling with their fame as 1990s TV show kids and often clashing with other former child stars playing themselves like Creator/SoleilMoonFrye.

** Shari Lewis essentially played herself as [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGalleryPart2 The Ventriloquist]]. She seemed to legitimately believe Lamb Chop had a will of its own and acted as if she had no control over Lamb Chop's actions; near the end of the episode, Lamb Chop even argues with and threatens Shari, claiming to hold a majority stake in their partnership.

* Creator/BenKingsley is a serious British actor who has also played a number of LargeHam villains with various accents, in ''Film/PrinceOfPersia'', ''Film/TheDictator'' and ''Film/{{Thunderbirds}}'' among others. In ''Film/IronMan3'' he plays [[spoiler:a British actor hired to play the part of a LargeHam villain with a strange accent]].

** He had a feud with Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike on Website/YouTube advertisements.

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjPzd1D9Cbc See You Again]]", a Website/YouTube video episode of ''[[Music/MileyCyrus The Miley And Mandy Show]]''. Certainly SelfDeprecation if not Adam Westing, at least in the beginning.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8go0IBBeTSg This]] WebVideo/ShaneDawson Website/YouTube video, with a guest appearance by [[Series/LizzieMcGuire Lalaine]].

* He played a goofy rendition of himself on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', in which he drives the Batmobile from the show (which is now a broken down wreck), complains about the Creator/MichaelKeaton Batman films (Taps his pecs- [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "Pure. West."]]), and dances the "Batusi" while the Simpsons slowly back away ("How come Batman doesn't ''dance'' any more?"). Another episode has the Simpsons view the TV series Batmobile in a Hollywood museum and comment on how lifelike the dummies sitting in it are -- who turn out to actually be Adam West and Burt Ward sitting perfectly still all day.

* He voiced a young Mermaid Man in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Back to the Past", with Burt Ward playing the young Barnacle Boy.
** This one is also an interesting inversion, because while Mermaid Man as he usually appears in the show is an aging washed-up superhero, Adam West instead plays the hero back in his glory days, with Creator/ErnestBorgnine playing the present-day elderly Mermaid Man.

* [[Magazine/{{Mad}} Mad Magazine]]'s parody of "Batman: The Animated Series" ends with Adam [[spoiler:rubbing out Batman and [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] as Robin, along with other characters, so he can finally get a decent job.]]

* Certainly played with in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDIBchVxSmE Tribute to George Lucas.]]

** The "Thanks a lot, Citibank!" commercials featured wives or mothers of celebrities (Richard Simmons, Creator/VincentPrice, etc.) complaining about how a Citibank charge card made it easy for their famous loved ones to earn "[=CitiDollars=]" to indulge in mundane things vaguely associated with their public personas. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hf0_GMRhp4 The one with Doohan]], from 1985, had him sitting in a car opening and closing his garage door with a remote while his wife talked to camera.

* An older example: Creator/PeterLorre plays his creepy self as "Peter Lorre the Destroyer" in a watch band commercial (seen at 5:43 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpQfqg22mg here]]) where he says "I get tremendous satisfaction from destroying things -- doesn't everybody?" Then he tries to destroy the watch band but it's too flexible, and he sadly concludes "but I can't destrooooy eeet!"

* Creator/SeanBean in [[https://youtu.be/8cipMoGKXGE this]] British advert for Yorkshire Tea, where he sends up not only Series/GameOfThrones role, but also his Yorkshire-ness.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie2TheSecondPart'': Creator/BruceWillis shows up, apparently indistinguishable from Creator/JohnMcClane. Willis repeatedly insists that he's not homeless and he actually doesn't live in air vents.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'': Creator/StanLee shows up to parody his constant cameos in various Marvel-based productions; his "subtle cameo" is heralded with neon lights and him doing flashy poses, only for him to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere book it]] when he's informed that he's in a DC movie. [[spoiler:He shows up again during the climax, declaring that he doesn't care if it's a DC movie -- he just loves doing cameos!]]

* Creator/SeanBean does it in every episode of UK comedy ''Wasted'', where he appears as the spirit guide of a fat loser stoner called Morpheus, dressed as his [[Series/GameOfThrones GoT]] character Ned Stark.

** Lazlow's collegue and friend, Couzin Ed, has a cameo in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' as the previous host of V-Rock who crank calls his replacement.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' has Burt Reynolds as the Mayor of Steelport. Unlike Adam West, however, Mayor Reynolds is an in-universe MemeticBadass.

* Lindsay Lohan's [[http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0d646e2edb/lindsay-lohan-s-eharmony-profile eHarmony ad]].

** [[http://www.jamesvandermemes.com/ James Van Der Memes]].

* This 2015 web video starring Macaulay Culkin shows an all-grown-up [[Film/HomeAlone Kevin McAllister]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh7-wAy_8ss getting even with one of the home invaders from 1990]].

* Music/{{KISS}} has a track record of often appearing as zany caricatures of themselves in animation. The two most notable examples are when they helped save the world from a giant alien black hole in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' special ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishology}}'' and when they were ''interdimensional space guardians'' complete with an {{animesque}} MagicalGirl transformation sequence in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndKissRockAndRollMystery''.

*** In the same episode, Creator/DickClark (who was infamous for [[OlderThanTheyLook never seeming to age]]) disintegrates as the Y2K glitch goes into effect; he turns out to be a robot.

** Creator/MorganFreeman reprised his narration of ''Film/MarchOfThePenguins'' in a spoof that followed the day to day life of ComicBook/ThePenguin.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Creator/KevinConroy, the voice of WesternAnimation/{{Batman|TheAnimatedSeries}} in the [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse DCAU]], does an absolutely hilarious parody of his performance as the caped crusader, in the form of Captain Sunshine, complete with ''massive'' HoYay directed towards his deceased sidekick, Wonderboy. While directing his performance, the creators were adamant that Conroy not "be afraid to be Batman."

* According to Creator/MarkEvanier, Creator/KevinMeaney's role as Aloysius on ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' was so good, it got him onto many other cartoons such as ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}''.
** It is well worth noting that he appeared as himself on ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast'', but that did not count as voice acting since that show [[RogerRabbitEffect combines live action with animation and has live action people interacting with cartoon characters.]]

* Nearly every role Creator/RLeeErmey played after Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' was a pastiche of that role. Sometimes he uses this for PlayingAgainstType, notably in ''Film/SavingSilverman'' - same persona, but [[spoiler:turning out to be ManlyGay at the end.]]

** "Bendin' In The Wind" features Music/{{Beck}} making fun of his tendency for WordSaladLyrics as well as his general stage persona. Apparently his one note on receiving the script was that they should add ''more'' jokes at his expense.

--->'''Busey:''' I'm gonna let you in on a little secret: [[AndThatLittleGirlWasMe Joe is]] ''[[AndThatLittleGirlWasMe me]]''. And Mary is a composite of twelve different women [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and a small, independent film company]]; all of whom couldn't deal with me because I'm ''too '''real'''''.

* Pain and Terror in ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' are essentially Creator/PennAndTeller voicing themselves (or not, [[TheSpeechless in Terro's case]]) as the hosts of a DesertPunk CircusOfFear.

* The ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'' films do this a lot, overlapping with InkSuitActor. The most obvious was Creator/AntonioBanderas' Puss in Boots played as a Franchise/{{Zorro}} type.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Batwheels}}'', all the other Batwheels are captured, so a previous model of the Batmobile is brought to life. It is the 1960's TV version, and voiced by Adam West in the style he used in the show. The car was even named "Adam".

* In ''[[Series/TheColbertReport A Colbert Christmas]]'', country singer Music/TobyKeith appears as himself, singing an even more hyperbolic take on his post-9/11 hit "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" meant to spoof conservative pundit [[Series/TheOReillyFactor Bill O'Reilly's]] declaration of a "war on Christmas." He also enters and exits the holiday special ''carrying an assault rifle.''

* In ''WesternAnimation/Batwheels'', all the other Batwheels are captured, so a previous model of the Batmobile is brought to life. It is the 1960's TV version, and voiced by Adam West in the style he used in the show. The car was even named "Adam".

* Virgin Money UK ran an advertising campaign starring various British celebrities from the 1980s (Geoffrey Hayes, presenter of ''Rainbow''; ska icon [[Film/MagicalMysteryTour Buster Bloodvessel]]; and David Van Day from the pop duo Dollar) lampooning the fact that they had blown all their money and were now reduced to working menial jobs - respectively, as a taxi driver, guest house owner and running a mobile burger van.
** Another Virgin campaign involving Creator/DavidTennant actually led to the BBC lodging a complaint due to the campaign apparently suggesting the BBC, who have strict policies regarding adverts, endorsed the service. The advert in question involved Tennant using Virgin's [=TiVO=] service to record episodes of Series/{{Doctor Who}}, saying how the service is useful for watching sci-fi, while Richard Branson disappears in a clear CaptainErsatz version of the TARDIS.
* A tourism ad for California featured a bunch of different people FinishingEachOthersSentences. It ends with someone saying "This may be your first visit to California, but it won't be your last...", followed by a cut to then-Governor Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger himself finishing that sentence with "...[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} you'll be back]]."
** Arnold Adam Wests again in the commercial for the smartphone game ''Mobile Strike'', where he plays a military commander who advises sending "a dozen [[Film/{{Predator}} choppas]] when one choppa will do".

* West played superhero the Galloping Gazelle in [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} the TV episode]] and [[VideoGame/AttackOfTheMutant video game]] of ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' story ''Attack of the Mutant''. In the TV version, the Galloping Gazelle was washed-up and bailed on the kid protagonist because he thought he was too old for the job.