“Cue The Band!” The best cameos by musicians in TV comedies

9 October 2024, 18:34 | Updated: 9 October 2024, 19:17

Comedians would love to be musicians. Musicians like to try their hand at comedy. Let's look at some of the times the two worlds have collided.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. Motorhead appear in The Young Ones’ living room

   The anarchic 80s comedy starring Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan and Adrian Edmondson used to feature a band every week, and for the famous “Bambi” episode it was Vyvyan’s favourite Motorhead. Lemmy yells Ace Of Spades into the microphone, while Scumbag College catch a train to Manchester to appear on University Challenge.

   

   Motorhead on the Young Ones

2. David Bowie composes “The Little Fat Man (With The Pug-Nosed Face)” for Ricky Gervais

   Who says dreams can’t come true? Gervais is a huge Bowie fan, but he held it together when Ziggy came and played piano for a bit in his Extras series. The product: one cringeworthy song.

   

   David Bowie ~ Chubby Little Loser

3. Freddie Mercury meets Sid Snot

   The Queen frontman demonstrates his entry for the "Eurovision Violence Contest" by leaping on Kenny Everett. Impressive.

   

   Freddie Mercury - 1980 (re-broadcast)

4. Robert Smith of The Cure on Newman & Baddiel in Pieces

   The favourite comedians of your avergage NME reader were one half of the BBC's Mary Whitehouse Experience, with Rob Newman playing The Cure's Robert Smith in a series of sketches. When Newman and partner David Baddiel launched their own series in 1993, the man himself appeared in a sketch that culminates in him leading a conga party through a graveyard. "I always preferred him to the other one."

   

   Newman & Baddiel with Robert Smith of The Cure (1994)

5. Aerosmith enter the Wayne’s World basement

   Steven Tyler and his wild men of rock famously appeared in the movie Wayne’s World 2, but their connection with Wayne and Garth goes back to an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Is that Tom Hanks in there, too? No way! Way.

   

   Wayne's World: Aerosmith - SNL

6. The Ramones on The Simpsons

   “Ah, these minstrels will sooth my jangled nerves.” So many, many great cameos from this show, but this still remains our favourite. “Have The Rolling Stones killed.”

   

   The Ramones The Simpsons Birthday Song

7. Gary Numan appears from a cupboard The Mighty Boosh

   Vince (played by Noel Fielding) is in a bad mood. His mate Howard (played by Julian Barratt) tries to cheer him up in the only way he knows how - he wheels on his hero Gary Numan!

   

   Might Boosh Gary Numan Cameo

8. “You know Father Cavanagh, and this is Father Brian Eno”

   Blink and you’ll miss him, but the former Roxy Music member and producer of such rock behemoths as Bowie and U2 makes a very brief cameo in the final episode of Father Ted.

   

   Father Ted - Feat. Brian Eno

9. “Hi, I’m Prince. So, what seems to be the problem?”

   The Zooey Deschanel vehicle New Girl bizarrely featured the late Purple One in an episode where he gives the titular girl some advice. On love, obviously. The show aired right after the 2014 Superbowl to a huge audience.

   

   New Girl Nick Freaking Out at Prince

10. Ringo Starr and Lulu guest on Monty Python’s Flying Circus

    Many episodes of Python would open with Michael Palin as the “It’s Man”, a ragged, desperate character, who would struggle towards the camera, avoiding various obstacles before addressing the camera. He’d only ever get as far as uttering one word - “It’s…” - before the titles would kick in. What would a chat show presenter by this poor soul look like? And who would be his celebrity guests?

    

    Ringo Starr On Monty Python

11. Paul and Linda McCartney in Bread

    Linda was a friend of comedy scriptwriter Carla Lane, so it was only a matter of time before the star - and her rather famous husband - would appear in the Liverpool sitcom.

    June

    June 26, 1988 Paul and Linda travel to Liverpool where they film a brief appearance for the hit BBC1 comedy series "Bread". Linda had been approached to appear briefly in the series as a result of her friendship with the series writer Caria Lane. Paul's role in the programme is confined to playing Linda's driver. Sequences are shot outside the studios of BBC Radio Merseyside in Paradise Street, additional scenes are filmed on the usual Bread locations, which are situated in the Liverpool suburbs.

    Posted by Paul And Linda McCartney Tribute on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

12. John Lennon in Not Only But Also

    Lennon had appeared as himself in an early episode of the BBC-2 Peter Cook and Dudley Moore vehicle, but he made a return visit in at Christmas 1966 as the doorman of the "Ad Lav Club" in Swinging London, complete with newly-cropped hair and granny glasses. He had just finished recording Strawberry Fields Forever at the time.

    

    JOHN LENNON - Not Only But Also (excerpt) 1965

13. Dave Grohl challenges Animal to a drum battle

    On a 2011 episode of The Muppets, the Nirvana sticksmith and the Electric Mayhem tub-thumper went head to head. Who won? You decide. "Oh what's that, a bell? Time for SCHOOL."

    

    Dave Grohl and Animal Drum Battle - The Muppets

14. Chad Smith challenges Will Ferrell to a drum battle

    The ongoing joke that the Elf star and the Red Hot Chili Peppers musician looked alike peaked when Jimmy Fallon had the pair on his show... to settle things once and for all.

    

    Will Ferrell and Chad Smith Drum-Off

15. George Harrison is unrecognisable in The Rutles

    Eric Idle's pitch-perfect parody of The Fab Four featured Mick Jagger and Paul Simon playing themselves, but buried under a grey wig and moustache and glasses was a genuine Beatle. Idle's Monty Python colleague plays "Eric Manchester", a silly version of Fabs press man Derek Taylor.

    

    George Harrison & Michael Palin Scene from "The Rutles" (1978)

16. Paul Simon has pretzel problems

    The New Show was NBC's short-lived follow-up to Saturday Night Live and lasted but one season in 1984. The late, great John Candy plays the lead character in a sketch called "Roy's Food Repair", which sees him fix people's comestible malfunctions quickly and cheaply. Musical guest Paul Simon plays a man with issues regarding his salted pretzels, perfectly nailing a superb level of hopeless despondency. Paul's bit starts at 2.42, but the whole sketch is great.

    

    Roy's Food Repair.mp4

17. Donald and Davey Stott interview Sting

    Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's high-picthed brothers ask the former Police man to answer some questions using his mind... with chaotic results. From The Smell Of Reeves & Mortimer, 1995.

    

    The Stotts Interview Sting

18. Midge Ure in Filthy, Rich & Catflap

    This follow-up to The Young Ones lasted one series and was overshadowed by the more successful Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson show Bottom, but to help with the idea of parodying showbiz and celebrity, the Ultravox/Live Aid mastermind turned up to do his deadpan best.

    

    Filthy, Rich and Catflap - Midge Ure scene IN FULL