These days, Mindy Kaling is obviously a prominent actress and producer who is always behind multiple comedies on the 2026 TV schedule, but of course, it all started on the set of The Office. Did you know the wild way Kelly Kapoor actually became a character on the beloved comedy? I had no idea what the story behind Kaling's role was until now.

Kaling was hired on The Office as a writer by creator Greg Daniels back in 2004 when she was around 25. This happened after she turned heads in the comedy world when she and her college bestie co-wrote and starred in an off-Broadway play called Matt & Ben (a goofy reimagining of how Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote Good Will Hunting). Here’s what happened next, per Mindy Kaling:

The second episode ever of The Office is about Steve Carell’s Michael Scott deciding to lead a racial diversity seminar after he’s unhappy with how the consultant hired to conduct it initially does. Scott’s version crosses some major lines, but the writers quickly realized the episode wouldn't hit the same if the office had all white characters. So, Greg Daniels had the idea to invite Mindy Kaling on board as one of the office’s employees. As Kaling continued:

As Mindy Kaling shared on Good Hang with Amy Poehler, she had no expectations to be an actor when she moved to Los Angeles from New York to work on The Office. She was completely “content” with being a writer behind the scenes – which she still managed, by the way, with 24 episodes to her name on the show.

But what would The Office be without Kelly Kapoor? Truly, she remains a fan-favorite character who very much helped make the show what it is.

The writer of “Diversity Day”, B.J. Novak, is also the actor behind the character of Ryan Howard. He wrote a total of 15 episodes throughout the series. Novak and Kaling remain close friends over two decades afterThe Office’s premiere.

While Kaling has spoken before about thinking that The Office would be “so inappropriate now” in the eyes of modern viewers, it of course remains to be one of the most popular comedies of the 21st century. Plus, it allowed Kaling to launch a broader career in entertainment after spending eight years there.

Since then, she has also created TV shows like Never Have I Ever, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Running Point and her latest endeavor, Hulu’s Not Suitable For Work. It’s a pretty great story how Kelly Kapoor ended up on The Office, and I’m so happy it happened.

Spoilers for Season 2 of The Four Seasons are ahead!

One of the best new shows to watch with a Netflix subscription last year was Tina Fey’s dramedy The Four Seasons. Since it stars a bunch of funny people alongside Fey, like Will Forte and Steve Carell, a lot of viewers (including myself) really didn’t see it coming when Carell’s character Nick unexpectedly died in Episode 7 of Season 1. Since the show was renewed for Season 2 after the big pregnancy cliffhanger, we knew we were going to miss the actor in the show, but the showrunners found a way to bring him back.

Now that Season 2 has come out on the 2026 TV schedule, we know that Steve Carell’s Nick makes a comeback in Episode 7, “Little Thanksgiving.” It’s a flashback episode set in 2020 where the group of friends comes together to enjoy the holidays after dealing with isolation and social distancing all year. When CinemaBlend spoke to Tina Fey about bringing Carell back to the show, here’s what she had to say:

When Tina Fey was promoting the first season of The Four Seasons, she shared a funny anecdote about how when Carell learned he was going to die in the show, he reacted by saying, “Why does this keep happening to me?” Fey had no idea that a similar thing had recently happened to him on The Morning Show, too. So, perhaps bringing him back was partially driven by guilt. But then again, obviously, if you can have Steve Carell in your show, it feels like you should.

As I pointed out to The Four Seasons showrunner and star, she had joked about bringing the character back as a ghost or zombie, but ultimately, what made sense for the show was a flashback episode. As she added:

In the episode, we learn that prior to Nick and Anne’s divorce (which we saw start to take shape in Season 1), Nick had flirted with an extramarital affair with a woman that he ultimately ended once he was found out. It really shot Anne’s confidence, which she’s been living with for quite some time. One especially memorable moment in the episode is when Anne almost decides to leave Nick, but can’t bring herself to. Fey spoke to that scene with these words:

After the ending of Season 1, I know that I didn’t expect to see Steve Carell back in the show, but it was really welcome, and I loved learning more about the backstory of The Four Seasons friend group. Tina Fey and the other showrunners definitely found a great way to bring Nick back in a way that made complete sense.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Rooster Season 1 finale "Songs For Raisa." Stream the episode with an HBO Max subscription and read at your own risk!

Rooster found a way to keep Greg at Ludlow University for Season 2, though I'm not sure he'll be as happy as he originally anticipated. The HBO series made me so happy by having Katie dump Archie after he ditched Sunny for her, only to deliver a brutal gut punch witht he reveal that Connie Britton's Beth will become Ludlow's next president.

Walter told Greg that his ex-wife would become the new president of the university at the start of the next school year, minutes after the latter delivered a heartfelt speech about truly feeling like he belonged at Ludlow. I was devastated for him, and I fear he will be taking a couple of steps backwards when the new episodes arrive.

Will Beth Ruin Ludlow For Greg?

I should've known a show as critically acclaimed as Rooster was not going to end without conflict, but man, was this twist hard to swallow. All throughout the 2026 TV schedule, we've seen Greg talk about living in Beth's shadow during their marriage, and her ability to invade and take over things he enjoyed. Now, it seems Beth becoming president at Ludlow University is going to impact how much he enjoys teaching there, and potentially the positive impact he has on others.

I also have to wonder if Beth will try to get Greg back after she made a move on him that he pushed off. I don't think she took the job as President to try and get her ex-husband back, but I think the fact that he wasn't on board with getting with her will make Beth more determined to make him obsessed with her all over again.

I Hope Walter Still Has A Presence On Rooster After She Takes Over

Connie Britton's Beth stepping in to be president at Ludlow is upsetting because it means John C. McGinley's Walter will presumably be out of a job at the end of Season 2. It's a shame because I love McGinley in this role even more than I loved him on Scrubs, and I'm going to miss those Hot House pow-wows if he does end up leaving at the end of the season.

That said, we still have him around for Season 2, as his term will not be up until the end of the school year. That means there's still time for Beth to retract taking the position. I'm not sure that she will, but I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that the writers have a plan and will ultimately leave Walter in the job.

If not, at least he'll still live in town and be friends with Greg. I'm sure he's going to need plenty of counsel, having his ex as his boss, and for all of Walter's weird quirks, he does offer some great advice. Greg's going to need it, but thankfully, he doesn't have any shortage of friends in town willing to listen to him vent.

Rooster will return to HBO for Season 2, and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. I loved Season 1 and can't wait for new episodes, but thankfully, HBO has a lot of other great shows lined up for the rest of the year.

NBC’s The Office is highly regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time, and was the blueprint for decades of mockumentary-style workplace sitcoms, such as Parks and Recreation, Abbott Elementary, and St. Denis Medical. However, real Office fans know that another version of the show paved the way for its success. The UK Office premiered on the BBC in 2001 to delayed critical and audience accolades, prompting its adaptation by Greg Daniels for US audiences in 2005. Surprisingly, Steve Carell didn’t watch the British version of The Office before auditioning for his legacy character, Michael Scott, but I totally understand his reason behind this decision.

Before Michael Scott even handed out a single Dundie or even set foot into Dunder Mifflin, Ricky Gervais originated the role on the UK Office. The British comedian created the series for the BBC and starred as David Brent, the boss at Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants. It would seem logical for Carell, who at the time was on the cusp of launching his acting career (his breakthrough role The 40-Year-Old Virgin came out the same year as The Office), to prepare for his Office audition by watching the original. Yet he revealed to Ladbible the reason why he didn’t, and it totally makes sense:

It’s hard to imagine nowadays that anyone could be as perfect as Carell for the role of the obnoxious paper company boss, but that was the mentality when the US adaptation was announced. Paul Rudd even advised Carell against auditioning for Michael for fear of falling short of Gervais, and Jeremy Piven was originally offered the role, but turned it down for the same reason.

The irony of this makes me laugh. The Little Miss Sunshine actor couldn’t have known it when he auditioned, but his portrayal of Michael Scott is far more iconic than Gervais’ David Brent. Carell’s peers widely consider it a masterclass in TV comedy (which you can stream with a Peacock subscription). Where Gervais plays Brent as cocky, Carell’s Michael Scott has a more “fake it ‘til you make it” approach to him, sporting a false, often naive, confidence.

The two versions might share a passion for “That’s what she said jokes” among other traits, but Carell’s choice to interpret the character separately from the source material is what makes the Threat Level Midnight star so celebrated.

A huge reason why the flawed paper salesman is so beloved is his character growth over seven seasons, something the UK Office didn’t get to explore due to its short run of only 14 total episodes. I still struggle to watch Season 1’s cringe-worthy “Diversity Day” episode, and if you had told me I would cry over the same Michael Scott returning for Dwight and Angela’s wedding, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Instead of trying to imagine what David Brent might have become, the Bruce Almighty actor was able to develop Scott’s personality and character arc from scratch, giving a unique heart to Michael. Clearly, the Crazy, Stupid, Love actor made the right call. A little bit of a risk, but in the words of Michael Scott and Wayne Gretzky, “You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take,” and Carell’s certainly paid off.

Spoilers for Rooster Season 1, Episode 6 are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the series with an HBO Max subscription.

Even though Alan Ruck’s character Riggs had a health scare on Rooster that hospitalized him and left him unconscious for episodes, I figured he would return. I was not looking forward to it, either, because the dean is a jerk. So, I thought I would dread this day on the 2026 TV schedule. However, I had the chance to chat with the Succession star about his character’s comeback, and now I’m actually looking forward to how his return impacts the story.

Now, toward the end of Episode 6, Danielle Deadwyler’s Dylan finally starts to make the dean’s office look like it's hers. She’s gotten comfortable in her new role, and she’s quite good at it, too. However, right as she’s doing that, Ruck’s character Riggs comes into the space smoking a cigarette and saying, “Miss me?” He then proceeds to say there’s “no way” Emily Dickinson could have written all those poems as he sits down at the desk in the office, and Dylan looks absolutely shell-shocked.

It’s honestly sad to see him take the job back, because Dylan had just found her footing. So, with that in mind, I asked Ruck what kind of havoc Riggs could wreak on the rest of the season. His answer surprised me, as he shared his thoughts on his character’s return and what could happen next:

Well, this certainly makes me more excited about Riggs’ return. While it can be said that Phil Dunster’s Rooster character isn’t great (seeing as he's a cheater and very self-centered), I wouldn’t say he’s evil. I also think there are plenty of other characters in this show who have big flaws. However, again, they aren’t evil. I think Riggs is evil.

As Ruck explained, the dean is not living in the now, and he’s not respecting the standards he really should be following. He’s “regressive,” as the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off actor put it, and it’s hard to see someone like that in such an influential place of power. That was clear before Dylan took over, but it became glaringly obvious when he returned and took his job back without even considering his colleague's feelings or work.

However, I’m hopeful that as he steps back into the gig, he’ll be taught a forceful lesson or two. Dylan deserves that job, she’s good at it, and my hope is that she’ll be permanently in it by the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Riggs should be knocked off his high horse and humbled a bit. Based on Ruck’s comments, it seems like it’s possible that the dean could finally be put in his rightful place, and that makes me pumped to see what happens next.

So, to see if that happens, you can catch new episodes of the critically acclaimed comedy Rooster every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Rooster episode "Mr. Razzles." Stream the episode with an HBO Max subscription, and read at your own risk!

Elizabeth has been a subject in Rooster since its very beginning, and finally, the audience got to see Greg's ex-wife make her big debut. Connie Britton's character showed up to help commemorate the building named in her honor, and it was yet another knockout casting by the series. (And one rooted in pop culture history, as it marked Britton's reunion with Spin City creator Bill Lawrence 25 years later.)

I loved Britton as Elizabeth and would love to see her in another episode on the 2026 TV schedule. Of course, the actress was asked directly when she might return to the critically acclaimed series, especially after her character's sudden exit. Unfortunately, though, I'm not sure what to feel about the answer.

Connie Britton Hints She May Return As Elizabeth

Elizabeth was fine hanging out with her ex-husband, right up until she learned Greg still had a portrait of the two of them from decades ago. Realizing he still hadn't moved on from their divorce, she quickly exited, though Connie Britton hinted to TVLine she may return to Rooster. When asked about whether Elizabeth was truly interested in the position of President of Ludlow College, as Walt feared, the actress said this:

At first, I thought Connie Britton was going to outright dismiss the idea of her character taking Walt's job. Then, toward the end, the answer felt more open-ended, which I would assume means that she will be back in a future episode. Could this be the end of Walt's tenure at Ludlow College?

I Would Hate To See Walt Ousted As President Of The University

Walt losing his job as President would mean less John C. McGinley on Rooster, which I think would be a mistake. Walt is one of the best characters on the show, and I would sorely miss everything from his in-office meetings to sauna sessions with various faculty members.

At the same time, I can understand that McGinley's role in Rooster may get in the way of his return as Dr. Cox in the Scrubs revival, and vice versa. Fortunately, creator Bill Lawrence is at the head of both of those shows and might be able to ensure it isn't too much for the actor on both fronts, but who knows? Maybe the plan was for Walt to always be a one-season character and pave the way for Connie Britton's Elizabeth to be in a central role.

That said, Connie Britton also has a lot on her plate coming up. Variety reported last year that she will appear in the Hulu mystery series Phony. That could always impact her returning as Elizabeth in a more permanent capacity, but I'm just speculating at this point.

It may not have the references to The Office some are hoping for, but Rooster remains a hit for many thanks to Steve Carell and its wonderful cast. The show continues to deliver top drama and comedy on top of its superb acting, and I would love Connie Britton to be a bigger part of that. I'm just hoping the writers found a way to make it happen that doesn't remove John C. McGinley from the equation.

Rooster is on HBO on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET. We're halfway through Season 1 with so much happening already, I can't wait to see how the rest of the season plays out.

When it comes to the 2026 TV schedule thus far, HBO is absolutely crushing it. It's still early, but I'm thinking A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Rooster will be in my top shows of the year, if not occupying the top two positions. I'm obsessed, so naturally, I was thrilled to see that Dexter Sol Ansell and Steve Carell recently crossed paths.

Ansell is always good for a surprising Instagram post, whether it's dressing as Egg for school or a random photo from years ago of him on the Iron Throne. Now, he's gone and delivered another banger post, talking about meeting the star of Rooster, Steve Carell. Take a look:

I was sitting here thinking about what Steve Carell has been in that the average 11-year-old would be interested in when it hit me. No, it's (probably) not The Office, Anchorman, or The 40-Year-Old Virgin, but the Despicable Me franchise. If I were an 11-year-old about to speak to the voice of Gru, I'd 100% be a little shook too.

I also find it funny that Dexter Sol Ansell was shocked to find out Steve Carell enjoyed A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, because I have to think he's heard that a lot lately. Rave reviews aside, there was a war between Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones fans online over one of the episodes. He's as big an HBO star these days as Carell, even if their resumes aren't the same.

All I have to say is it's a great time to have an HBO Max subscription, because these two guys are part of two of the best freshman shows in 2026 so far. The only downside right now is that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms won't be back until 2027, but at least we have Season 1 and Rooster to enjoy in the meantime.

For those who haven't started watching Rooster yet, this is one of Steve Carell's best roles he's played in a while. He's done a lot since The Office, but I think his role as Greg in Rooster will be the gig that finally wins him an Emmy, which is long overdue.

Assuming, of course, he isn't going up against that kid he's in the photo with, because I'm sure Dexter Sol Ansell is on the way to winning one himself eventually. Ultimately, I'm just happy that the Game of Thrones franchise is churning out great television again.

Watch Rooster on HBO on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET. Readers can also check it out over on HBO Max, along with Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Warning! The following contains spoilers for the Rooster episode "Angry, Like An Angry Person." Stream the episode with an HBO Max subscription and read at your own risk!

Rooster continues to be an absolute delight on the 2026 TV schedule, with Steve Carell doing some of his best acting we've seen in television since his days on The Office. The comparisons were going to be inevitable with both being comedies, so it's no surprise people are on the lookout for any nods in his latest adventure.

While I'd argue Rooster feels more like Ted Lasso, especially with Phil Dunster playing another cocky Brit, I too was convinced The Office received a nod in the latest episode. It turns out that's not the case, and I almost wish I hadn't seen Carell and Bill Lawrence's reaction to it because it's so perfect.

Rooster Played A Song That Also Had A Moment On The Office

Greg was coaxed into a night out with his student Tommy, which ultimately resulted in him at a house party surrounded by students, and 40 oz bottles of malt liquor taped to his hands. He requested a song from the DJ, R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts," and proceeded to bring down the mood of the party talking about how it mirrors his emotions.

The moment felt tied to The Office episode "The Fire," where Dwight blasted the song in his car when he felt Michael replaced him with Ryan. It's not one of the best Office episodes of all time, but certainly a memorable Dwight moment that Rooster expertly nodded to, had that been the intention.

Steve Carell And Bill Lawrence Deny Any Connection

Decider asked star Steve Carell about the Rooster moment, and if he was intentionally channeling Dwight in that moment. The actor confessed he wasn't thinking about it, but offered a cheeky response:

Apparently, Carell isn't thinking about The Office all the time like many of us. In fairness, he's done plenty of shows since then. And while I'm sure he's appreciative of it being his most popular, Greg is nothing like Michael Scott. That said, Carell did note that he did see one parallel between his two characters, but it had nothing to do with music.

Creator Bill Lawrence was also pretty shocked to hear people made that connection, but suggested that he might've wanted to. He talked about his love of easter eggs in shows, which now has me on the lookout for ones that could come:

Both men's comments come as critics continue to shower Rooster with praise, as the story heats up. The latest episode ended with Katie and Archie sleeping together again, all while Sunny is away. It's a scandal that could travel through the school quickly if it were found out, especially with Sunny recently posting about her pregnancy. I can't wait to see how it plays out, and I feel like this show is only getting better.

Rooster airs on HBO on Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET. Between this show and a A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, the network is off to a rocking start with originals. Let's hope they can keep this energy going as the year goes on.

It's not an exaggeration to say that The Office was not the same after Steve Carell left. Whenever I rewatch the series, I'm always aware of that fact as I get to the later seasons. As sad as it is when Michael Scott departs Dunder Mifflin Scranton, I do admit that I love his final season. So many bits about the character are wrapped up perfectly, allowing for him to make his not-so-grand departure from the office in a satisfying way. Well, it turns out, Michaels' quiet exit the Scranton office was Steve Carell's idea!

While speaking with Amy Poehler on this week's episode of her podcast, Good Hang, Carell talked about wanting there to be a sense of growth for his character, who -- as he reminds us -- starts out very clearly wanting to be loved by the people around him. He's not really that guy at the end of his run on the series, as Carell reveals what he told EP/showrunner Greg Daniels in the year leading up to his final episode:

Interesting is an understatement, I'd say. Michael's whole final episode is pretty perfect, in fact, and what Carell said makes me appreciate it even more. On the surface, it does seem pretty un-Michael-like to convince his coworkers that his last day is tomorrow, so that he can avoid a big to-do and enjoy one last semi-normal day with the people he once considered family.

This is, after all, the same man who once made a big thing out of his own birthday, insisting that the staff celebrate him by eating bologna and tomato sandwiches and watching him show off at the ice rink. It's also the same man who decorated his own car before setting off for Jim and Pam's wedding, insisted on giving a speech at Phyllis and Bob's wedding, declared himself the godfather to Jim and Pam's firstborn child, and so many other awkward, attention-seeking moments. If there's anyone who wants to make a to-do about himself, even (or especially) when it's not appropriate, it would've been Michael.

Season 7's double-episode "Goodbye Michael" -- one of the Office's best episodes -- doesn't see Carell's character throwing himself a big bash, and it really is a mark of how far he's come and where his priorities are. The party-planning committee is handling the particulars for his farewell, while Michael aims to have a one-on-one moment with each of his staff members and then skip the fuss of his exit entirely. When he does leave at the end of the day, only Jim is aware that Michael's headed straight to the airport.

Michael Scott was a lot of things, including occasionally being good at his job, often being the comic relief, providing some of the funniest quotes in the series, and not always being the problem (though he often was). Steve Carell brought so much to the role, and left a giant void when he departed, but I still love the way he left, and I don't entirely hate that he left before the series ended. In a weird way, it allowed a lot of Season 7 to be focused on Michael so that his story could truly be wrapped up.

The show went on for two more seasons, and we got one more appearance by Michael in the finale, but it was no longer about him. And though I would've loved to have seen more scenes featuring Steve Carell in the series' last episode, I also appreciated that Michael was sort of kept in a bubble, which allowed the memory of his exit and the happily ever after he's sharing with Holly to be preserved.

I'll close this out with one of Michael's final lines in the "Goodbye Michael" episode, which I think really solidifies what Carell was talking about:

Of course, he also said it best with "I declare bankruptcy!" but it's less relevant here.

While The Daily Show may not have given us quite the volume of great comedians that Saturday Night Live has, it has still given us some absolute titans. Top among them have to be Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert. The two did a lot of great work on the show, and Carrell says he got a great piece of advice from Colbert that helped his early work on the show.

A key component of the Daily Show, especially in the early days, were field segments where comedians would play the role of a TV news reporter getting a special interest story. Carrell was great at these, but he tells Amy Phoeler on the Good Hang podcast that early on, he hated to do them. He explained:

There’s a fine line between comedy and making fun of people. These early Daily Show segments, as Carell points out, often had people with no idea they were on a comedy show because it wasn’t as well-known at that point. Part of the comedy was drawing attention to potentially wild things people were doing, but Carrell clearly wasn’t comfortable with it.

Help came in the form of The Daily Show’s other Stephen, Colbert, who suggested Carell play a character rather than himself. This allowed him to be the thing people were laughing at, rather than whoever he was interviewing. He continued:

Colbert certainly knew of what he spoke. His own character, a right-wing ideologue, worked so well that he ended up getting his own show, The Colbert Report. The show worked so well that many debated Colbert's own politics for a long time, unsure if he was making fun or trying to make a point. Colbert's politics aren't so much in debate these days.

Carrell’s character worked great. He was able to make himself the focus rather than people who maybe didn’t deserve ridicule. And he also helped set himself apart from the crowd of early Daily Show correspondents, becoming one of the first to make deals for movies outside of the show.

The Daily Show has gone through a lot of changes and there have been some great performers on the show in the years since Carrell and Colbert said goodbye, but there’s a lot to be said for those early years that may still be the best the show has ever had.

Since Project Hail Mary just had the biggest opening weekend among the 2026 movie releases so far, of course there’s an uptick in love for Ryan Gosling and interest in seeing the actor’s other great movies from over the years. One of his most hilarious films is currently available to stream with a Netflix subscription, but only for a short time.

A Hilarious Ryan Gosling Movie Is On Netflix, But Not For Long

The movie I’m talking about is 2011’s Crazy, Stupid, Love. It also stars Steve Carell, Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon. It’s one of the best rom-coms of all time that I’ve honestly watched so many times, but if you haven’t seen it and have Netflix, now is a good time to check it out.

Steve Carell’s Cal Weaver is the movie's main character, who is freshly going through a divorce and trying to get back out there. (It’s pretty accurate to that whole experience, too). While hanging out at a bar one night, he meets Ryan Gosling’s character, Jacob Palmer, who is pretty much a pro at picking up women and has a very healthy, unattached sex life. Jacob decides to take Cal under his wing to teach him hisways, and the whole ride is so, so funny!

If you go on Netflix right now, you’ll see that the last day to watch Crazy, Stupid, Love is March 31. So if you want to stream it on the platform, hurry up and do so! However, if you do have HBO Max, you may be in luck. It’s currently on that platform as well, and we don’t have any indication that it’s leaving at the moment.

Where To Watch The Project Hail Mary Star’s Other Best Comedies

If you’re looking for other funny Ryan Gosling movies to check out at home now that Project Hail Mary warmed your heart, check out where to watch five of his best comedies.

Of all of Ryan Gosling’s comedies, Crazy, Stupid, Love, is probably the most obvious of them. La La Land, for example is a musical, and has some dramatic elements, The Nice Guys is a funny crime film, and Barbie, well, is Barbie. The Fall Guy is a stylish action comedy, and Lars and the Real Girl is a dark comedy that actually gets really emotional.

Anyways, no matter what you decide to watch, all this is a great reminder of how talented Ryan Gosling is. He really brings a lot of goofiness to Project Hail Mary, especially for a movie about a man in a suicide mission in space to help reverse the apocalypse. Hey, that’s not easy to do! Well, see you at the movies (whether it’s at home or on the big screen).

Spoilers for Season 1, Episode 3 of Rooster are ahead! Read with caution and stream the new comedy with an HBO Max subscription.

One of the shows on the 2026 TV schedule that’s really been making me laugh is Rooster. The new HBO comedy led by Steve Carell also stars a lineup of Bill Lawrence regulars, like Scrubs’ John C. McGinley, Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster and Spin City’s Alan Ruck. So, you best believe these comedic geniuses have me cracking up constantly. However, I was wondering how often they make each other break. Well, I got to ask Ruck that question as we spoke about a funny scene he shared with Carell in the third episode.

To recap, during the scene in question, Ruck, who plays Dean Riggs, was unconscious in a hospital bed after having a health scare on campus. So, while his character was passed out, Ruck had to pretend to be unconscious as Carell’s character, Greg, awkwardly tried to pretend like he was closer to Riggs than he really was. He also had to get through The Office star being forced to hold his hand, in, again, an awkward manner. Then, in another scene, Greg stormed out of the hospital room as he realized he was late for class.

Overall, I figured it’d be hard to pretend like you couldn’t hear any of that, so I asked Ruck about it. In response, he told me how he got through it all without breaking, saying:

In Rooster, Carell’s physical comedy is on point (just watch his falls, and you’ll know what I mean). He also delivers his lines in this awkward yet charming way that is irresistible. So, if I were Ruck, and I heard him performing and then awkwardly grabbing my hand, I’d likely break.

However, the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star is a pro. So, he made sure not to ruin any takes by embracing his characters’ unconscious state and zoning out completely. According to Ruck, he just let Carell do his thing, and he stopped paying attention. As he told me, he’s not really sure what even happened beside him, because he was “out of it.”

Overall, this makes a whole lot of sense. Following Riggs’ collapse in his office, he’s 100% unconscious in the hospital as Greg speaks with his colleague’s wife. He also has tubes down his throat. So, if the Succession actor could just zone out and pretend like he really wasn’t aware of his surroundings, it’d make not breaking a whole lot easier.

Like a great SNL cast member who won’t break, Ruck did get through this scene with Carell without laughing. And in return, we got a funny moment where he just had to lie very, very still while his co-stars performed.

Now, to see if he gets to come back and share more funny scenes with Carell and co, you can watch new episodes of the critically acclaimed Rooster every Sunday at 10 p.m. on HBO or with an HBO Max subscription.

Minor spoilers for Rooster Season 1, Episode 3 are ahead! Read with caution, and stream the show with an HBO Max subscription. Then, catch new episodes every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.

When I watched Rooster, I was immediately struck by how brilliant Steve Carell is as a physical comedian. That specifically came to mind because he hilariously falls a lot in the new comedy on the 2026 TV schedule, and it reminded me of some of the funniest gags in The Office. So, I asked the comedic actor what he learned from his work on that great sitcom that applied to his new HBO series. In response, he compared one scene in Rooster to a fantastic moment from The Office.

This conversation all started because I had asked Carell about which moment of physical comedy in Rooster made him laugh the most. I had mentioned to the actor that his character Greg falls a lot, too, which led him to recall the following moment from Episode 3:

In the episode, when Greg takes heads to the first class he’s teaching, he slips with his new dress shoes on. That’s amusing; however, the real laugh-out-loud moment comes later when he’s trying to walk up a shortcut on campus.

Traversing the path that is a little bit steep, Greg totally loses his balance and slips uphill first. Then, he eats it and tumbles down to the bottom of the incline. After that, he simply gets up and says, “That was a dangerous shortcut,” before going to class. However, the second he walks into his classroom, his students immediately clock that he got injured.

It’s both a comedic moment and, as Carell said, it kind of foreshadows bigger things that happen with Greg, his work, and his relationships.

So, after we spoke about that moment, I asked the Crazy, Stupid, Love actor if there was anything he learned during his time as part of The Office cast that helped him on Rooster when it came to physical comedy. In response, he said that the experiences were “very similar” in terms of the tone of the set and the “freedom to try anything.” He also literally compared Greg's accident to a moment where Michael Scott fell, too, telling me:

Well, if you want to learn about the art of falling down in a very funny way, look no further than Season 6, Episode 8 of The Office (which you can stream with a Peacock subscription). Michael falling into (and getting out of) the koi pond is so over the top and hilarious, and it’s a prime example of Carell’s comedic genius. He knows how to commit to a bit, and he knows how to make it look like it was unintentional.

And guess what? He did just that on Rooster, too.

Overall, I can totally see why the koi pond came to mind when I asked Steve Carell about The Office and Rooster. While the two shows are very different, his comedic sensibilities transferred over beautifully, and now we get to see the actor falling down and committing to the bit in new and humorous ways. So, let’s all thank the koi pond and the actor who fell in it for giving us even more really, truly funny television moments like the two described in this story.

I’m not quite sure who out there needs to be reminded of this, but Steve Carell is an exceptionally funny performer. From his time as a correspondent on The Daily Show to leading The 40-Year-Old-Virgin to his most epic and beloved role as Michael Scott on The Office, he has been making audiences belly laugh for decades. Because of this impressive and still growing legacy, it’s hard to pick out just one particularly special moment – but for Craig Robinson, he can recall shooting a specific scene that left him stunned by the “genius” of his co-star.

While The Office was ultimately very scripted, there were opportunities for the cast to try out a bit of improv, and Robinson – who memorably played Darryl Philbin on the show – recalled a particularly special example during a recent sitdown with Entertainment Weekly. In “The Negotiation,” the nineteenth episode of the third season, Darryl schedules a meeting with Michael to discuss a pay raise, and everything goes to hell for the manager when his employee realizes that he is wearing a woman’s suit. Discussing Careel, Robinson remembered,

In said episode (for those who don’t specifically recall), the negotiation between Michael and Darryl gets so out of hand that Michael ends up requesting his own raise from Jan (Melora Hardin). Wanting his boss to get a pay bump so that he can get a pay bump, Darryl offers him some words of encouragement – which is what led to Steve Carrell’s memorable improv. Said Robinson,

It’s a perfect Michael moment, as it’s a wonderful illustration of the character’s obliviousness. There’s a bouncyness to Darryl’s verbal boost thanks to the rhyme, but the Dunder Mifflin Scranton boss steamrolls right over it while focusing on the military rank part.

There are a number of great Darryl/Michael episodes of The Office (“Safety Training” is another one of my personal favorites), and Craig Robinson recalls loving every opportunity that he got to work alongside the sitcom’s biggest star:

Those who ever want to re-experience the complicated Darryl/Michael dynamic and the great comedic talents of Craig Robinson and Steve Carell can do so at any time with a Peacock subscription. In addition to the seasons that originally broadcast on NBC, the streaming service also provides extended versions (a.k.a. Superfan cuts) of every single episode, and if you’ve never watched them before, I highly recommend it, as it’s like experiencing the show as brand new.

Spoilers for the series premiere of Rooster are ahead! You can stream it with an HBO Max subscription.

Rooster’s series premiere on the 2026 TV schedule starts with a bang, or should I say burn. Co-created by Bill Lawrence (who makes Ted Lasso, Shrinking, Scrubs and more) and Matt Tarses, this series follows Steve Carell’s Greg as he heads to a college to check in on his daughter Katie (Charly Clive). She’s not doing well; her husband cheated on her, and when she gets more news about his affair, she winds up accidentally burning his house down with a copy of War and Peace.

So, naturally, considering the destructive and random cause of this event, I had to ask Lawrence, Tarses and Clive about why it happened.

Why Katie Burned A House Down In Rooster, And What It Was Like To Film

In the episode of this new HBO comedy, Katie finds out that the woman Archie (played by Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster) cheated on her with is pregnant. In response, she kicks him out of his house and proceeds to burn his first edition copy of War and Peace. However, things get out of hand, and the house burns down. When I asked the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, about why this happened, he told me:

Burning down a house by accident certainly counts as a disaster. And now, she could face legal repercussions, considering she’s responsible for the destruction of a house that she no longer lives in.

That’s a problem for next week, though. So, going back to the literal burning down of the house, I asked Charly Clive, who plays Katie, about filming it. She humorously told me that it was a very exciting day on set, explaining:

She went on to say that some of the fire was real and some of it was not. Now, speaking about things that were real, the joke that sparked the use of Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy and War and Peace in this show was inspired by an actual conversation the creators had.

The Story Behind Katie Burning A House Down Over A Copy Of War And Peace

Alright, here's how this all started: earlier in the first episode, Greg goes to have a conversation with Archie, and Carell’s character asks if he loves Chekhov. He then asks if Archie has that “stupid first edition Chekov book,” in reference to War and Peace. Dunster’s character then reminds him that the book was actually written by Tolstoy, and the conversation spirals into them arguing about what Archie did to Katie.

It turns out the mix-up about who wrote War and Peace was based on a real-life interaction, as the co-creators told me:

• Bill Lawrence: The War and Peace thing is actually kind of funny, because you remember that part of that joke came from the fact that I messed up…
• Matt Tarses: There was a quote that I would [read] when I was in college, the ‘No one must be humiliated’ is this real Chekhov quote…
• Bill Lawrence: I thought it was a Tolstoy quote. Because I’m not booksmart, Matt’s smart, and I’m dumb. And so we decided that [Greg] would be that dumb and say that he had presented his whole argument based on Chekhov.
• Matt Tarses: And then [Archie] doesn’t like Chekhov.

That hilarious back-and-forth ended with Lawrence reiterating that this whole bit originated from this mix-up he had with Tarses. Explaining that further, he said:

That joke plays hilariously into what happens later with this series when the house burns down. When I asked Clive about the fire starting over Archie’s beloved book of War and Peace, she explained that it was “quite perfect” for the following reasons:

I agree, it was kind of perfect. It sets the tone for this show, it leaves you on the edge of your seat, and it really helps us understand why Katie hates Archie so much. It also illustrates how destructive they can be.

Now, the question is: Where do we go from here, and how does Kaite pick up the pieces after this catastrophic mistake? Well, we’ll get to find out soon as Rooster continues airing on HBO and HBO Max every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET.

Steve Carell seemingly likes to keep us on our toes, with his best performances spanning all sides of the comedy-drama spectrum. In Rooster, which premieres on the 2026 TV schedule on March 8, he digs into his bag of tricks for a father-daughter dramedy co-created by Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking). Critics have seen six of Season 1’s 10 episodes and, overall, their sentiments seem to align.

Rooster stars Steve Carell as Greg, a bestselling author who takes a teaching job at a small New England college to help his daughter Katie (Charly Clive), an art history professor, after her fellow professor husband Archie (Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster) leaves her for a grad student. Michael Peyton of IGN calls the series a 10-out-of-10 “Masterpiece,” writing that it’s a “magic trick of a TV show” in how it's simultaneously elevated in its approach but grounded in its appeal. Peyton explains:

Belen Edwards of Mashable says it’s fun to watch Steve Carell cut loose as Greg enjoys his first taste of college life. Yet Edwards also says Rooster is at its best when it focuses on Greg and Katie, resulting in a show that “feels like a warm hug,” even if it bears similarities to other Bill Lawrence series. Edwards writes:

Rooster boasts an impressive ensemble including Danielle Deadwyler, John C. McGinley, Connie Britton and Hacks standout Robby Hoffman, but Nicole Gallucci of Decider agrees it’s the chemistry between former Office cast member Steve Carell and Charly Clive that makes this a winner — no doubt aided by Carell and both co-creators being girl dads:

Daniel Fienberg of THR, however, doesn’t think Rooster has figured out which of Steve Carell’s stories it wants to tell through six episodes. Fienberg says the university setting is also misunderstood and misused. The critic continues:

Aramide Tinubu of Variety echoes the strangely outdated humor that Rooster brings, “as if misogyny and the #MeToo Movement are just ideas to laugh at,” and says the series is disappointingly full of predictable characters and circumstances that lead to a lackluster narrative. Tinubu continues:

It sounds like Rooster may need some time to find its footing, but the first half of the series’ inaugural season is promising enough for the majority of critics. It’s “Certified Fresh” with 85% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, so if you want to check out the latest Steve Carell dramedy, the first of 10 half-hour episodes will premiere at 10 p.m. ET Sunday, March 8, on HBO and streaming with an HBO Max subscription.

Weirdly enough, I had zero idea Crazy, Stupid, Love was about divorce when I fired it up with my Netflix subscription. Not that it would've impacted my decision, but just to say I was drawn in by the talented cast, the fact that I knew it was an acclaimed movie, and I had a desire to watch a good movie. I enjoyed it a lot, and I think I would've enjoyed it a few years ago as well, though I know I would've walked away with a different feeling, having not gone through a divorce myself.

I wouldn't call this Steve Carell-led film a breakup movie, but I would say it's very relatable to middle-aged men with kids who went through a divorce. I've been in the game long enough to know there's more than a few of us out there, so for those who never watched, here's what I thought the movie got right.

Cal Hanging Out In A Bar Looking Out Of Place Is So Real

The moment I saw Cal sitting in a bar post-divorce, I knew whoever wrote this movie understood what it's like to be in this real-life situation. It's not just that he's at a bar, sad, it's that he looks out of place, unsure of what he should be doing, and is mostly sticking to himself. For me, it was the feeling of knowing you need to be out there, but not actually wanting to be.

When I first got divorced, my partying and "going out" days were long behind me. I legitimately hadn't been to a bar by myself at that point, possibly ever, and I was in my 30s. I was definitely Cal, sitting awkwardly at the bar and eavesdropping on what's going on around me at the start of my divorce, but eventually, I grew out of it.

Everyone Goes Through That Awkward Phase Of Losing Friends For Various Reasons

It's funny that Crazy, Stupid, Love is considered one of the best Romantic comedies, when it really dives deeply into the unfortunate issues in divorce. I think one that gets joked about in pop culture a lot, but I didn't realize how true it was, is losing friends. Maybe not like how Bernie told Cal they couldn't hang out anymore because his wife told him to side with his ex Emily in the divorce, but not far off.

I've found that while I've had plenty of great friends stick around, there are some that simply aren't interested in hanging out now that you're no longer a couple. I get it, it's a lot easier when the husband and wife have corresponding partners to talk to, rather than just one. Still, it can suck to realize the situation has changed both ways, and maybe you aren't as close as you thought you once were.

People Can Change Once They Find The Right Relationship

Ryan Gosling's Jacob is a playboy and capable of being pretty mean without even trying. Of course, one of the best parts of Crazy, Stupid, Love is when he actually finds love, only to learn Cal is the father of the woman he may have found true love with.

While Cal is of the mind that people don't change, the audience and Jacob realize that he has. "When you know, you know" is how the phrase goes, and while it may not always mean a lasting love, there's no denying when things feel right. I couldn't help but cheer when Cal begrudgingly accepted Jacob dating his daughter, even if he wasn't 100% on board with it.

All in all, I loved the parts of Crazy, Stupid, Love that I could relate to, and recommend anyone who thinks they can do the same catch it on Netflix right now. It may not get every aspect right or speak to everyone's divorce in the same way, but it's still a great movie and one of Ryan Gosling's best, in my opinion.

Not only is The Office one of the best sitcoms of all time, the cast is full of the sweetest actors who are constantly supporting each other as they live life after Dunder Mifflin. Most recently, Steve Carell went out of his way to check out Jenna Fischer’s Chicago play, Ashland Avenue. And, the way the actress best known for playing Pam Beesly shared the adorable moment involved a The Office reference, of course.

Check out Jenna Fischer’s Instagram post about how she and Steve Carell reunited in Chicago. The Pam and Michael reference in the second slide is absolutely perfect!

As you may recall, in Season 3 of The Office, Pam invites her coworkers to her first art show. It makes for a sweet moment in the series when Michael shows up for her and even buys one of her paintings that depicts their workplace. Michael tells her he’s “really proud” of her artwork, and she ends up giving him an emotional hug. As Fischer wrote in the post:

Steve Carell attended the show with his wife, Nancy Walls, who also played Carol Stills on The Office. How adorable it is to see these co-stars back together as Fischer ends her run in the critically acclaimed play that has been playing in Goodman’s Albert Theatre.

Of course, fans were reminiscing about the art show scene in The Office in the comments, talking about how great the episode is and quoting “Do you have something in your pocket?” Some of her other The Office castmates also commented:

• “Tearing up over here!! Love this so much! ❤️” - Angela Kinsey
• “This makes me so happy!!!! 😊😊😊😊” - Ellie Kemper
• “Love the live. It’s kinda Like Michael coming to Pam’s art show. ❤️” - Kate Flannery

After Steve Carell was in The Four Seasons earlier this year, he is currently working on an untitled new HBO comedy from Scrubs and Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence and The Goldbergs’ Matt Tarses. In between his busy schedule, it’s really nostalgic to see him and Fischer back together and all smiles.

Fischer has had one of the most popular podcasts hosted by Hollywood stars with The Office Ladies, which she does with her best friend and The Office co-star Angela Kinsey. As Fischer revealed this time last year, she had a battle with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer last year that luckily left her feeling great even after undergoing chemotherapy and radiation.

It’s pretty inspiring (and hopeful) that Jenna Fischer is back in full swing at work, doing a stage play nightly after having some serious medical treatments the year prior. There’s a lot to celebrate here, and we can’t wait to see The Office cast continue to support each other in their future endeavors.

The following contains minor spoilers for all the Despicable Me and Minions films.

While Disney is still king of theatrical animation, and Pixar now has the highest-grossing animated film of all time, with Inside Out 2, the most successful animated movie franchise of all time, is actually from neither studio. It's Illumination's Despicable Me films. The four films in the main series, combined with the two Minions films, have made more than $5 billion at the global box office.

The six movies in the series jump around chronologically, so trying to follow the complete story can get confusing. If you’re a Despicable Me fan who wants to rewatch the films in their chronological order, or somebody new to the franchise who just wants to follow a sequential storyline from origins to the current era, here’s a look at how to watch all the movies in the Despicable Me franchise in order, from the beginning of the story to the end,, at least until the next one comes out.

Minions (2015)

Minions is the true start of the franchise, and you can’t go much further back, considering it's the prequel that explains the evolutionary beginnings of the bumbling yellow characters, and how they have existed since the dawn of time, complete with the desire to serve the most evil humans. Three of the Minions —Kevin, Stuart, and Bob — go in search of a new master to serve, leading them to Villain-Con, where they are first hired by Scarlett Overkill (an absolutely hilarious Sandra Bullock) and her husband Herb (John Hamm).

Minions is an interesting one, as it's actually the most successful release of the franchise to date when accounting for the global box office, while conversely being viewed as one of the worst in the franchise by critics. It all comes down to just how much of the Minions and their gibberish speech one can take in a single sitting.

Stream Minions On NetflixBuy/Rent Minions on Prime Video

 Minions: The Rise Of Gru (2022)

Minions: The Rise of Gru takes place in the mid-1970s, and while the movie may be frontloaded by the Minion branding, it is more of a direct Despicable Me prequel story that sees Gru (Steve Carrell) as a young boy who dreams of becoming a supervillain, with the Minions as his hired…minions. After auditioning to become a member of the antagonist squad the Viscious 6, Gru gets kidnapped by one of their former members, causing the Minions to come together to rescue their master.

The Minions: The Rise of Gru cast is the biggest draw for this entry for older viewers. The various villains comprise a who's who of Hollywood stars, making it easier for even the biggest Minions skeptics to enjoy.

Stream/Buy Minions: The Rise Of Gru On Prime Video

Despicable Me (2010)

The first proper Despicable Me movie introduces Gru as an adult supervillain whose rival steals one of the pyramids in Egypt, causing Gru to up the ante by trying to steal the Moon. His plot to battle rival supervillain Vector causes Gru to team up and bond with three orphaned girls, leading to the discovery that even this big bad isn’t entirely evil.

The original Despicable Me is still widely seen by fans and critics as the best of the franchise, which makes sense, since this was the movie that had to be good enough to launch an entire franchise. It's certainly got the strongest heart.

Stream Despicable Me on PeacockBuy/Rent Despicable Me On Prime Video

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Having retired as a supervillain to be a full-time father, Gru is drafted back into the world of crime by the Anti-Villain League and a woman named Lucy (Kristen Wiig), who wants the former supervillain to help them stop a new supervillain. He agrees, and his new crimefighting partner may turn out to be even more important for Gru on a personal level.

Despicable Me 2 proved to be a strong follow-up to the original, both in the eyes of fans and critics. It was clear from here that we had Illumination's first true franchise on our hands.

Stream Despicable Me 2 on PeacockBuy/Rent Despicable Me 2 On Prime Video

Despicable Me 3 (2017)

In Despicable Me 3, Gru and Lucy are as happily married as former antagonists get, but after an Anti-Villain League mission goes south, both are fired. Gru and his family are then contacted by Gru’s previously unknown twin brother Dru, where we discover that villainy definitely runs in the family, as their father was once a supervillain himself.

Despicable Me 3 was the first film in the main franchise not directed by Chris Renaud, which may explain its somewhat lackluster response from critics. While it's the global box office champ of the flagship film series, it's generally not seen as the best of those releases.

Buy/Rent Despicable Me 3 On Prime Video

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

In July 2024 we got the newest entry in the franchise, and the first Despicable Me movie in seven years. Despicable Me 4 refocused the story on the adult Gru, continuing his adventure with his job working for the Anti-Villan league and her personal life, with an increasingly large family.

Despicable Me 4 saw a former school rival of Gru's declare vengeance on the former villain after he became the latest bad guy captured by the Anti-Villain League. This led to Gru and his family, which now includes baby Gru Jr. going into hiding and taking on new identities. Despicable Me 4 opened strong at the box office, so this franchise is not losing any steam yet.

How To Watch The Despicable Me Movies In Release Order

If you want to watch all of the Despicable Me movies in chronological order, the above is the way to follow the story from beginning to end. If however, you want to watch all the films as you would have seen them in theaters, then the proper order would be.

• Despicable Me (2010)
• Despicable Me 2 (2013)
• Minions (2015)
• Despicable Me 3 (2017)
• Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
• Despicable Me 4 (2024)

There are now six films in the massive franchise, but it's far from done. Minions 3 was recently announced for a 2027 release. Clearly, this franchise is still massively popular. With Universal Orlando Resort opening an entire Minions Land recently, and another planned for upcoming Universal Kids Resort in Texas, it seems unlikely the movies are planning to stop anytime soon, so long as supervillains aren't running the studio.

Anyone who’s followed along with Steve Carell’s career knows that 2004 and 2005 were huge years for him. After working as a correspondent on The Daily Show since 1999, he was cast as Brick Tamland in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, then in the following year, he started playing Michael Scott in The Office, as well as wrote, executive produced and starred in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Carell’s popularity quickly skyrocketed, and as it turned out, The 40-Year-Old Virgin originated from an A+ comedy sketch that he pitched director Judd Apatow during the making of Anchorman.

Apatow, who both helmed The 40-Year-Old Virgin and co-wrote the script with Carell, shared this information while reflecting on the comedy movie turning 20 years old. Carell already knew Apatow from the latter having produced Anchorman, and it was during that shoot that he was asked to come up with feature ideas. As Apatow recalled to THR:

Yes, long before Steve Carell was interacting frequently with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, he was part of the Second City comedy troupe, and a classic case of this being a small world, future fellow Daily Show alum Stephen Colbert was his understudy. Carell’s idea of a guy boasting about sexual escapades that never happened didn’t work out as a sketch back then, but over a decade later, it proved prime material for turning into a feature film. We even get that very poker game in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, where Carell’s Andy talks about how a woman’s breast feels like a “bag of sand.”

It’s a good thing Steve Carell mentioned this comedy sketch to Judd Apatow as cameras were rolling on Anchorman, otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten one of the best movies of the 2000s. Carell was joined onscreen by Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Romany Malco and Elizabeth Banks, among others. Although The 40-Year-Old Virgin remains the sole time Apatow directed Carell in a movie, the two crossed paths again when the latter produced Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

Stream The 40-Year-Old Virgin with a Prime Video subscription if you feel inclined. Steve Carell’s most recent movie, Mountainhead, can be viewed with an HBO Max subscription, and Apatow’s last comedic directorial effort, The Bubble, is accessible with a Netflix subscription.

How are there some movies out there that genuinely changed the game and the face of a particular movie genre for years to come? Yeah, one of those films happens to be Despicable Me.

I know, at first, you’re probably wondering, “That stupid little movie with the minions that my grandmother, for some reason, loves to post on Facebook all the time?” Yes, that movie. And trust me, I feel you, I hear you – I stand in solidarity as someone who has been barraged by Minion memes time and time again. The Despicable Me movies have reigned supreme.

But at the same time, the Minion-hype and everything else came from somewhere, right? It didn’t just pop up overnight and become a sensation. It came from the first Despicable Me film. So, since it’s been fifteen years since the first one was released, I decided to rewatch it – and I have to admit, I really think this series was ruined by its later films. Let’s get into it.

I Know That The Despicable Me Franchise Has Sort Of Become A Joke Now

So before I get into this, I know that the Despicable Me movies have become a joke now.

I don’t just mean in the “wow, they are so bad they’re good” kind of way. It’s more like the characters themselves have become memes over the years. And, I mean, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I seriously think that, due to the rise of meme culture, Shrek ended up earning a whole new slew of fans in the 2010s, which led to the upcoming Shrek 5. Meme culture can be good.

However, because the Despicable Me movies are not particularly well-received, the jokes are made worse, and the memes begin to spread more and more. Not only that, but with the rise of Minions online and how often you see them all over social media platforms, those little monsters have become a joke now, too – and not in a funny way. More like a “I want to drop-kick them over my fence” kind of way.

Either way, the movies aren’t known to be the best, but there’s something about the first film that I didn’t realize – and that it’s actually good.

The First Movie, However, Is Really Well-Done

Scratch that, it’s not just good – this film is great. Amazing. I seriously think Illumination had a good thing going with the first Despicable Me film, because this movie really does have a lot of heart that I wasn't expecting.

I’m not entirely sure how to approach this without diving too deeply into the story and spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it. But since it’s been fifteen years since its release, I’m going to feel relatively better about it. So spoiler alert.

In the film, Gru (the main antagonist/protagonist) seeks to adopt three girls in order to use them for his villainous schemes and against his nemesis. But as time goes on, he starts to care for the girls that he didn’t expect, as the battle between who will steal the moon first heats up between him and his nemesis, Vector.

That, in of itself, is a fun plot – and filled to the brim with ideas that I’m sure so many people will latch onto. But how they deliver it is what makes it fun. Steve Carell’s voice-acting of Gru is obviously excellent, and I think that even in the later films, he kills it too. But I believe him in this film just hit so much harder because he truly shows so much emotion in this relatively emotionless man. And that’s something that we all love.

However, other aspects also make this a great movie.

The Trope Of A Grumpy Man Taking On Three Girls And Growing A Heart Never Gets Old

I don’t need to be the first one to tell you that the idea of a grumpy man becoming a father figure/mentor to someone younger is a trope that everyone loves. We’ve seen it time and time again. HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us is a great example. The Mandalorian is one of the best Disney+ original shows. Heck, you could even point out Tony Stark and Peter Parker in the MCU. It’s a trope that many people, including myself, lean towards. And to have that in a kid’s movie is practically screenwriting gold.

What makes it work so well here is that it feels organic. We know for a fact that Gru adopted this girl with ill intentions from the start. Seeing that moral code shift within his mind as the film progresses, and those slow, little transformations that fully reveal how much they have affected him, makes it that much better.

When he finally saves the girls towards the end, you feel like you’ve earned it – because you’ve seen that change in his own heart. It’s like watching the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes, and when it’s so big it’s overflowing out of his chest, that’s when he saves the town, and you root for him.

That’s what it was like watching this trope fully take form – and what a way they did it.

The Minions Weren't Overdone And Were Actually Funny

This is the biggest thing that gets to me – the fact that the Minions were actually funny in the first film. It makes me remember why we all fell in love with them. Even me! I had a Minion plushie at some point.

But you want to know what makes them good? They weren’t overdone. They had their funny moments for sure, but there weren’t whole sequences dedicated to just following them and their strange noises as they messed up something from Gru. They were an integral part of the story and didn’t overstay their welcome – unlike many of the other films and their movies.

The memes really began from there. But it’s a shame that at one point, they were great, but now, I couldn’t even imagine them going back to how they once were. And hopefully we never see the Minions in live-action form.

I Wish That Each Film Was Made With This Much Care, But Guess Not Anymore

I don’t know if there will be any more Despicable Me movies. The franchise remains successful for Illumination. Despicable Me 4 killed the July 4th box office in 2024, and overall earned nearly a billion dollars at the box office. So it would honestly be surprising if somehow, it didn’t earn another film – or, at the very least, another Minions movie.

However, it’s a shame that the original film, which is so well-written and scripted, has been tarnished by its successors. I think everyone often overlooks how much the Minions have permeated pop culture, or the memes that we usually forget about, where it all began. And to me, that’s a shame, because I really do love the first film.

Honestly, I would recommend you go back and watch it, because I do think it’s one of Illumination’s best – even if the later films aren’t nearly as great. I think it might be time for another movie marathon – or perhaps just this one.

The Four Seasons was definitely one of the more popular 2025 Netflix releases, given that the streaming service greenlit Season 2 less than two weeks after the show came out. In a recent interview, Tina Fey revealed that she and the writers’ room are already hard at work on the new season, and she addressed the Steve Carell-sized hole in our hearts.

In a legitimately shocking moment in episode 7 of The Four Seasons, we learn that Steve Carell’s Nick has died in a car accident while on a skiing trip with his much younger girlfriend Ginny and her friends, whom he was avoiding by FaceTiming his own friend group and playing an iPad game. Since the renewal of The Four Seasons, I’ve been bummed about Carell not being able to come back, but wait… could he through flashbacks? Here’s what Tina Fey said:

While talking to Deadline, Fey remained cryptic regarding whether there could be more for Carell’s Nick after she chose to kill off his character. The show’s co-creator and star did say that the next season will once again follow the same characters and the same format of them being on vacation as a friend group during a specific season. While discussing The Office actor, she did make this grand declaration about Nick’s death:

While I’m absolutely mourning Steve Carell not being a regular in The Four Seasons, from my estimations (though I’m holding out hope for a flashback episode), the death clearly is weighing on the SNL alum. Carell is just so likable, she’s got to be getting flak left and right over the decision. What’s even better is how the Crazy, Stupid Love star reacted to the Season 2 renewal. In Fey’s words:

While I'm bummed by all this, I’ll also admit it was a great story decision, and actually a great change from the original movie, especially in terms of where the ending left things. In the final moments of The Four Seasons, Nick’s friends are reminiscing over him after his funeral service went awry. When they go to toast him, Ginny doesn’t grab a drink, and we learn she’s actually pregnant with his child. I think this allows for a lot of potential between the group of friends, especially between Ginny and Nick’s ex-wife, Anne.

I imagine the baby situation will mean that Ginny will join Nick’s friend group, and perhaps bring up some wounds in the other couples regarding their late friend and parenthood itself. I’ll go so far as to say, if Nick’s death was Fey’s “biggest” mistake, she’s doing rather well for herself. I can’t wait to see Season 2 with my Netflix subscription!

Only minor spoilers ahead!

I need to start out by saying, I have started watching but have not yet managed to finish Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons with my Netflix subscription yet. I was planning to binge the whole thing over the weekend and have something more formal finished by today, but I've found I can only manage an episode or two of this show at a time. However, it’s the type of show that’s been sticking with me in a way that I find notable and realistic, but also makes me stressed out about hitting middle age. It’s a case of love the show, hate the way it makes me feel. Let's talk it out.

I recently hit my late thirties, so I’m not exactly the same age as the likes of Tina Fey, Will Forte, Colman Domingo and co. However, I’m not exactly a spring chicken at this point either. I feel like I'm always hitting my health insurance deductible now, and some mornings I wake up and my neck is just not working correctly. Add to that the various stresses of owning a house and a yard I have to take care of, and I’m no longer adulting. I’m a straight up adult with all the complications that entails.

So, in a lot of ways The Four Seasons is targeted right at me, or at least right at the me I'll be in the near future. It’s about a group of friends who have been pals for a long time, but who are going through new struggles in a changing time of life. They have the partners, the careers and the cool homes and cars, but they’ve kind of lost their way in their personal lives. I get this doesn’t sound like a comedy, but it has Tina Fey's great observational wit in a lot of moments, and it's funny and charming in others.

I’d give the remake of the Alan Alda film a thumbs up. I just don't know if I like the way it makes me feel.

The Four Seasons Is Sticking With Me, But I’m Not Sure I Can Recommend It

I spent my 20s really trying to get ahead: ahead in my career, ahead of debt, etc. It felt like there were goals and purpose to my life, but so far in The Four Seasons it’s sort of pointing out the ennui that has settled in in more recent years in a way that causes me as much stress as it causes me amusement.

There’s a conversation early on in The Four Seasons when Danny (Steve Carell) talks about how he feels stuck in his relationship with his wife Anne (Kerri Kenney). He says he’s tried patience and tried to get her into returning to beloved activities, even building a kiln in their backyard so she can do pottery, but nothing has stuck. Instead, she just putszes around on her phone, and he can’t stand it. In fact, he can't stand her.

It's a great monologue from Carell, but the bigger point, I think, is how real the dialogue feels, and it honestly makes me confront all the depressing stuff I see in my real day-to-day life, like when I go out with friends who are constantly on their phones, Or feel stuck in the same repetitive behavioral loop over and over again. Or even when friends know there are problems but can't communicate them. It's great, well-executed stuff, and it's leaving me feeling like a disheveled mess at basically every turn. It's no wonder I can only watch one episode at a time.

I do love that The Four Seasons is formatted in such a way that we just catch up with the group of friends across a period of four seasons, exactly as the title implies. It's a neat way to tie a story together with a bow, and should continue to be a great format in the future. The acting performances are also top-notch (though I'd basically watch Will Forte in anything anyway), and I like that Alan Alda gets a cameo. So I'm happy I checked out the Netflix schedule and turned the new series on... at least, I think.

This year has been one for uncomfortable content for me. I also recently watched Friendship, which made me uncomfortable in a less realism-based way. This type of content may be becoming a new trend, and I'm not sure how much I can get behind it, but I'll need to get on board because the Netflix show has already been renewed for Season 2.

Anyway, The Four Seasons is great. Just don't go into it expecting a barrel of laughs, friends.

When Mountainhead was announced as part of the 2025 movie schedule, it was the five big names attached to it that got me excited. Those names are Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession and writer/director of this movie, and the film’s four main actors, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith. All are stars in their own right, however, Schwartzman – a well-known and beloved actor – told me why he was intimidated to work with The Office star and co. and how he quickly moved past that feeling.

In the lead up to Mountainhead’s release – it will be available to those with an HBO Max subscription on May 31 – I spoke with Jason Schwartzman about working on this biting satire about four rich men coming together for a weekend in the mountains. While chatting about the ensemble, the Rushmore star told me this cast worked together seamlessly. However, at first he was intimidated, as he said:

First of all, it’s kind of wild to hear an established actor like Jason Schwartzman say this about Carell. Plus, they were also both in Wes Anderson’s movie Asteroid City, which Schwartzman led. However, I get it. Steve Carell’s films and TV shows speak for themselves; he’s a legend, and to work so closely with him would probably be intimidating, in a great way, for any actor.

Plus, when you are also working with the man behind one of the best shows streaming on HBO Max, an incredibly successful stand-up comedian who is also a director, producer and writer, as well as an up-and-coming star, I’d imagine the pressure was on for all of them. Schwartzman told me he was nervous about making jokes and second-guessing what he was going to say, explaining:

However, he quickly moved past that. Carell, Youssef and Smith all proved to be incredibly supportive co-stars. And Schwartzman told me it didn’t take long for him to feel like he could try anything with them. As he said, he knew“these other three have my back.”

To that point, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes actor explained that there was a “super trust” between these guys. While he called it “cheesy,” I thought this comparison to throwing someone up into the air so they could do a flip was both fitting and sweet, as he explained:

That’s so sweet, and I love that these powerhouses were able to come together and make this film that 100% relies on them to deliver remarkable performances of Armstrong’s smart script.

Mountainhead is about four ultra-rich men who work in tech who meet up for a poker weekend. However, they also spend the trip reckoning with the catastrophic impacts of their work, their own wealth, and their relationships with power and greed. All four actors seamlessly work together to pull off this story, in my opinion, which made it easy for me to understand the trust Jason Schwartzman described.

To see all this on screen for yourself, this movie will hit streaming on May 31 on HBO Max at 8 p.m. ET.

It’s been over 10 years since The Office ended after nine seasons, but a new series is finally on the way, either on the 2025 TV schedule or in 2026. Streaming soon for those with a Peacock subscription, The Paper will see the Dunder Mifflin documentary crew setting their sights on a dying newspaper in the Midwest. Although it will include a new cast, The Office alum Oscar Nuñez will be returning as Oscar Martinez, so there are some connections to the original.

Now, his former co-stars Steve Carell and John Krasinski are putting the work in and can’t stop advocating for the spinoff. Here's what we know.

The Advice John Krasinski And Steve Carell Gave Domhnall Gleeson

Domhnall Gleeson, who is starring in The Paper, told People he has actually received advice from Krasinski leading into the upcoming gig. The A Quiet Place star originally portrayed Jim Halpert on all nine seasons of the NBC sitcom, and more recently passed the torch to Gleeson. In fact, he gave him some simple (but honestly great) advice that really seemed to go a long way:

Krasinski is not the only person related to the original series who offered advice. After starring as regional manager Michael Scott for the first seven seasons, Carell gave Gleeson a similar note when he was considering the role. Both The Office stars basically told Gleeson not to pass up the chance.

Gleeson admitted he was “happy” he did the series, noting he thinks they have “something really lovely.” Even though doing a reboot, revival, or spinoff of a series that is so beloved and hasn’t been on for a while can sometimes be a bit risky, it sounds like everyone was really supportive from the original show.

It's a sign that hopefully The Paper is going to be special. At least I'm inclined to believe it given how much Steve Carell has been going around lately advocating for the spinoff. Someone has to do the work!

What Else Steve Carell Has Said About The Office Spinoff

On top of the advice to Gleeson, Carell has been sharing his thoughts on The Paper. Most recently, he was asked by AP what his thoughts were on The Office universe continuing, and he couldn’t help but shout out creator, writer, and director Greg Daniels.

The actor feels that anything under him is going to go well, and he seems to be as excited as ever to see how it all turns out:

Despite The Office nearly getting canceled after only six episodes, the show remains a favorite among fans today. Of course, any series, especially if it’s a reboot or revival, can be a hit or a miss. And it will be very hard to match the energy and magic that was The Office.

That being said, since Daniels is behind The Paper as well, that should bring a little bit of excitement to fans. And while I can't guarantee it will be perfect, at the very least, it’s going to be a show fans will want to take a chance on. To prepare, there are already superfan episodes of The Office on Peacock that will get anyone in the mood.

Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for both The Four Seasons series and the original movie. Stream them with a Netflix subscription and read at your own risk!

From the moment I first watched The Four Seasons remake on Netflix, I knew that I wanted to check out Alan Alda's original movie. The series is one of the best shows on streaming, but I felt like I couldn't properly judge it until I saw just how much it took from the original and what it changed.

The Netflix show's cliffhanger ending that opened the door for Season 2 wasn't the only big change The Four Seasons show made from the original movie, and I have to say, I love the tweaks that were made. For those who haven't seen the movie, here are some key differences that really worked in the new version.

The New Series Combined The Old Jack And Danny Into One Person, Which Works Much Better

The original version of The Four Seasons featured widely different versions Jack and Danny, to the point it's hard to even compare them and the Netflix cersions. What's more apt to say is that the writers of the remake took the best of what's good in the original Jack, and the hypochondria of the original Danny, and folded it into the Jack we see played by Will Forte.

It's the perfect role for someone like Forte, who is criminally underrated in his ability to commit to a bit. I was initially surprised to see he was basically tasked with marrying the roles of two actors into one performance. However, I was not at all surprised to see he was able to make Jack still appear calm and unable to get a rise out of while still leaning into the fear that he's always dying of something when events are at their most stressful.

It adds to the dynamic of Jack and Kate's marriage, which is not really in question in the original movie. I much preferred seeing every couple struggle in their marriage in different ways, even if in reality, there might've been a couple who didn't have much going on in terms of drama compared to the others in their friend group. It makes for a more entertaining story and helped make Kate and Jack one of my favorite couples.

The New Danny And "Claude" Give Much-Needed Variety To The Couples

Combining the old Jack and Danny meant The Four Seasons remake needed to create a new Danny, and they picked the perfect, critically acclaimed actor for it. Colman Domingo was a great choice for the new Danny as a Black gay man. The original version of The Four Seasons came out in 1981, and while the opportunity was there, there was little to no diversity in the couples.

Of course, the other obvious change is that "Claude" replaced "Claudia" with Marco Calvani playing the Italian husband of Danny rather than than getting the Italian-American wife of Danny again, previously played by Rita Moreno. The difference between the two's personalities has some clear differences, with Claude bringing more of a foreign perspective to combat the American cast.

Had I watched the original version of The Four Seasons first, I don't think I would've noticed. After seeing the remake, however, it's apparent just how similar all the couples in the friend group of the original are, and that revamping Claude and Danny was necessary in order to keep the series from retreading the same ground in each storyline.

Anne Has More Support Of Her Friends In The New Version

Nick complains in The Four Seasons remake that Anne is a wet blanket who never wants to do anything, but he should've met the Anne in the original movie. While the former was addicted to farm games on her tablet, the other spent the prior two years photographing vegetables as a hobby. Additionally, it was all she talked about in her limited appearances in the movie, which made it a real bummer.

Anne has a much greater presence in The Four Seasons remake, in part due to her sneaking out to an adjacent resort and also due to her friends wanting to keep her included. The Anne of the original doesn't receive nearly as much support from her friends, who spend far more time with Nick and Ginny in comparison.

While Anne gets an arguably happier ending in the original movie with her own budding career compared to where Anne is at in the remake, Season 2 is going to give her a chance to continue her story. At least, I hope it will, but I don't think the show will let us down.

Killing Nick Was The Best Decision

I feel terrible admitting this, but after watching The Four Seasons movie, I have to say that the Netflix version made the right call in deciding to kill Nick off at the end. I feel a lot more sympathy for Nick in death than I do in life, as the movie doesn't really deliver the karmic justice he received in the form of a scathing play written by his daughter. The movie portrays him as a serial cheater, and he's rightfully called out for being selective in explaining to friends why his marriage to Anne didn't work out.

There's just more territory for the series to travel with Nick dead, and now that we know The Four Seasons will return for Season 2, I can't wait to see what's next for Ginny and Anne as they continue on with their lives. With him still in the picture, it just doesn't hit as hard, as evidenced by the movie of the same name.

I do think it's a shame that The Four Seasons Season 2 will have to push on without Nick, but I don't think it's impossible to work him into the story. I think the series could and should do a flashback episode that just shows us Nick and Ginny as a couple together since we didn't see a ton of that during the series. Specifically, I'd love to see their trip to Burning Man together, which is something the original movie would've never covered.

Both versions of The Four Seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix. While I prefer the series remake to the original movie, I think both are great to watch to see the difference between telling a story between two different eras of couples, and the similarities and differences between divorce at that time.

SPOILERS are ahead for The Four Seasons, now streaming with a Netflix subscription.

It’s only been a few weeks since Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons TV show landed on Netflix, but I’m one of the millions of viewers who gobbled it up when it landed on the 2025 TV schedule. Now, thanks to all that viewership, it’s already been greenlit for a second season. Personally, I’m excited and already have some ideas about how I want to see the dramedy continue. However, it is a big bummer that Steve Carell probably won’t get to be part of it, considering his character died before the end of the season. I was curious about how the actor thinks about it, and his reaction did not disappoint.

When Tina Fey spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the shocking plot point at the end of The Four Seasons, she revealed that Steve Carell wasn’t too happy about what happens to his character, Nick, either. Here’s how she recalled it:

Steve Carell is such a popular and lovable guy that, for some reason, I thought he’d brush off the reveal since it frees up his schedule to work on other projects. However, as it turns out, he was as disappointed as I was. And, what makes it worse, is that one of the other great shows he was on, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, also had his character, Mitch Kessler, die unexpectedly at the end of Season 2.

As Tina Fey shared, she had no idea that this wasn’t Steve Carell’s first rodeo when it comes to finding out a TV character of his would be dying, and it only made things worse when she let him know about what happens to Nick. While I’m still in shock over how nevermind one writer, but two, would kill off the actor in their show, she did share why they found it necessary for the project with these words:

I know when the moment happened late in the season, I was really surprised because Steve Carell’s character was so central to The Four Seasons, and had a lot going on plot-wise when he suddenly dies.

He was in the middle of a ski trip with his younger girlfriend Ginny, and having a rocky time there because he felt out of place with her friends. He had just called his group of longtime friends and had a sweet visit with them, before playing the iPad game that he once scoffed at his ex-wife for playing. While it seemed like the show could get into these threads more, it instead decided to remind us that death can come out of nowhere, no matter what’s going on in one’s life.

However, while he's gone, Nick will likely be a character of note in Season 2, given the first season ended with Ginny revealing she’s pregnant with his child. We do wonder if it will explore Ginny more prominently next season. It’s just sad we won’t get to see more of Steve Carell’s Nick.

SPOILERS are ahead for The Four Seasons, now streaming with a Netflix subscription.

I think a lot of us have found the latest of the best shows to binge watch on Netflix: Tina Fey’s The Four Seasons miniseries! I devoured the comedy in just a couple of sittings, and I already want more. Following the ending, I need to talk about why I’m betting on a second season, and what I think it could be about.

The Four Seasons Ending Felt Like A Cliffhanger To Me

I was flabbergasted that the show killed off Steve Carell’s Nick, but the plot point allowed for the series to really end on an emotional note that empowered the friend group to appreciate what they have and not be so hard on his girlfriend, Ginny. In fact, there’s a sweet scene where Nick’s ex-wife Anne gets to bond with her and make amends. But the real jaw-dropper was when it was revealed that Ginny is pregnant with Nick’s baby.

Since the last moment of the show ends with Anne announcing the news before a quick fade to black, I can’t help but think the creators intended it to leave me wanting more in the first place. And, I did a little digging on what they had to say about a possible Season 2. As co-creator Tracey Wigfield told TV Insider:

So, they are already thinking about it, right? Tina Fey also said this:

You could definitely tell Fey, Will Forte, Colman Domingo and so forth were having a blast together, so why not do Season 2? But, I know what you’re wondering, what could it be about?

I Think The Ending Leaves Room For Season 2 To Explore A New Theme For The Friend Group

The Four Seasons wasn’t as close to The White Lotus as I thought, while we wait for Season 4 (but I also didn’t know it was based on one of the movies from the 80s), and we knew it wouldn’t be an anthology, but i do think it could pull a little something from that series. This season of the show I felt was really focused on romantic relationships, and how they can really shift with time. As Nick and Anne’s relationship falls apart, the other two couples are really tested regarding their own partnerships, and there’s a running discussion around “working” at a marriage.

I think since Ginny being pregnant is the big reveal in the ending, the next batch of four seasons between the friend group could focus on their relationship with parenthood and kids. Ginny will be getting ready to be a mom for the first time, while Anne will be continuing to parent her daughter now as a single mother. Then there’s Jack and Kate, who have a daughter as well, who didn’t play a role in the first season, and Danny and Claude, who specifically discussed being happy they don’t have kids so far. I could see Ginny getting pregnant being a real fire starter for these parenting conversations to be discussed, and it would, of course, put them in more funny situations.

We'll be on the lookout for info on a potential second season. Until then check out what other 2025 Netflix releases are on the way.

This week, April comes to an end, and May gets started. While this likely means temperatures are going up and people are looking to spend a little less time in front of the television, your favorite streaming services are certainly going their best to keep us on the couch.

From brand new films to classic franchises, the movie content coming in May is solid. We will, of course, get three new episodes of Andor this week, but that’s not the end of the Star Wars goodness, as there’s also some excellent new Star Wars content for May the Fourth. Here’s a look at what’s hitting streaming this week.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - May 1 (Disney+)

Spider-Man is the one Marvel character the studio still doesn’t completely own the movie rights to, but thanks to a deal with Sony, most of the live-action Spidey movies can now be found on Disney+. Starting May 1, the Spider-Verse grows even larger with the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse makes the jump from Netflix to Disney+.

Another Simple Favor - May 1 (Prime Video)

A Simple Favor was one of those simple, character-driven dramas that occasionally surprises with its level of success. Despite a solid box office return, the sequel, which will see both Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick return, will only be available with a Prime Video subscription.

The Four Seasons - May 1 (Netflix)

In The Four Seasons, three couples who vacation together go through major life changes over the course of one year. Based on the hit 1981 film written, directed, and starring Alan Alda, this adaptation reimagined for Netflix the story as a limited series and boasts an incredible cast including Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, and Will Forte.

Ocean's Franchise - May 1 (Netflix)

With reports that George Clooney and Brad Pitt may be looking to get the team back together for another Oceans 11 sequel, now may be a great time to revisit the original series. All three previous Oceans movies hit Netflix this week.

Black Bag - May 2 (Peacock)

Based on Black Bag's meager box office take, you probably didn't see it. But based on Black Bag's reviews, this spy thriller starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett from the incomparable Steven Soderbergh is a movie you absolutely should see. If you've got a Peacock subscription, you can do exactly that this week.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge & Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance | Disneyland® Resort - May 4 (Disney+)

May the Fourth is celebrated as Star Wars Day, and Disney+ usually adds something from the franchise as a way to celebrate. This year, we’ll get the animated Star Wars: Tales From the Underworld, but far more interestingly, this week, a Disney+ subscription will get you a virtual walk-through video of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, as well as a full ride-through of the incredible Rise of the Resistance attraction. One can only hope this will be the first of a new breed of Disney Parks content on Disney+ that will let us experience rides when we're not in the parks.

Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor - May 4 (Netflix)

Conan O’Brien stole the show at the Oscars this year, and his performance as host was so popular he’s already set to return next year. It’s as good a time as any for Conan O’Brien to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center. You’ll be able to watch the whole show with your Netflix subscription.

Next week, two popular series return. Fans of Conan O'Brien will get even more of him when his travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go returns, and the long wait for Season 2 of Natasha Lyonne's Poker Face finally comes to an end.

The upcoming The Office reboot is a great reminder of how loved The Office still is today, over 11 years after the sitcom ended. The series was certainly part of the peak TV era, and the cast have become icons. The Office ensemble was, of course, led by Steve Carell, and an EP recently recalled how he had been eyeing him for the role of Michael Scott, specifically. However, there was a frustrating reason he nearly missed out on the part.

Carell starred on the NBC sitcom as the Dunder Mifflin regional branch manager in Scranton for the first seven seasons and returned to guest star in the final season. He was the lead of the show for a long time, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Michael. In honor of the one of the best sitcoms’ 20^th anniversary, co-creator Greg Daniels spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how Carell’s name came up for the role, and Bruce Almighty actually had something to do with it:

Carrell’s performance in Bruce Almighty, especially when it came to the scene where Jim Carrey’s titular character made his character, Evan, go completely nuts on live television, is hilarious. So, I totally understand why they wanted to cast him in The Office because of it.

However, Carell was originally booked for something else at the time, and the producer had to move on. It was understandably very frustrating, as Daniels explained:

After those long months of casting, Breaking Bad star Bob Odenkirk was being seriously considered for the role. That is, until word got out that The Office team could cast Carell as Michael, as long as it was in second position to Come to Papa.

After the pilot was shot, NBC picked up The Office in 2004 for midseason. Meanwhile, Come to Papa aired that summer and was soon canceled, freeing Carell up to do The Office full-time. While it’s not particularly nice to be happy about a one-season show’s cancellation, this is definitely an exception.

Not only was The Office close to not having Steve Carell, but Odenkirk nearly landed the role of Michael. And if he got the role, it’s possible he wouldn’t have been Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad or lead his own spinoff, Better Call Saul, since Breaking Bad came just a few years after the NBC comedy. Luckily, that didn’t happen; Carell got Michael, and the show went on to air for nine seasons.

That doesn’t mean that things still weren’t a bit wonky at the beginning, though. The Office was nearly canceled after just six episodes. However, it was saved thanks to Carell starring in The 40-year-Old Virgin, which he filmed around the same time as The Office. After that, the NBC sitcom had a movie star attached, and they were able to move forward with success.

Then, The Office turned into a wild phenomenon that is still trending today as more folks watch it with a Peacock subscription. So, it's wild to think about what almost was, because it's hard to imagine the show any other way.

Even though The Office has become a major part of the zeitgeist and one of the best sitcoms of all time, it wasn’t always that way. The series is one of the most notoriously lovable but cringe-worthy shows, and its first season is evidence of just that. After its initial run, NBC debated about whether they should can the oddball comedy. Thankfully, as we know, that didn't happen and the show ultimately ran for nine seasons. However, we can't just thank NBC for choosing to save the show. We need to say thank you to The 40-Year-Old Virgin and an unusual decision by Apple too.

As The Office hits its 20th anniversary of the 2005 premiere, the LA Times jumped into all things Dunder Mifflin. Before mockumentary-styled comedies took off– think Park and Rec, Modern Family and Abbott Elementary (which is currently on the 2025 TV schedule)--there was Greg Daniels’ adaptation of Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais’ OG UK comedy. Its impact on the genre is clear now, and overall, the show is considered legendary.

However, it almost didn't make it past Season 1...

The Office Was On The Verge Of Cancellation After It’s First Season

Even with an excited and talented writing team, trying to find their footing in the adaptation of a beloved British sitcom proved difficult. When the pilot was tested on a sample audience, it garnered mixed reviews. Noticeably, though, there was enough interest from young viewers that the show got an order for five more episodes.

However, after The Office had its public debut on network television, ratings declined after the premiere.

With a so-so, lackluster reception during their 2005 run, many talks around canning it came from NBC. Eventually, and thankfully, the green light came to let the small goofball comedy about a paper company have a sophomore season.

Now, we also know that we have The 40-Year-Old Virgin and iTunes to thank for that decision.

Thanks to Steve Carrell and iTunes, The NBC Series Was Saved

Notably, Steve Carell filmed The 40-Year-Old Virgin and The Office around the same time, and both are staples of his career. The NBC comedy premiered first, and then later that summer, the film was in theaters. That movie was a huge success, and it turned the actor into a star. Therefore, The Office now had a recognizable name leading it, which drew more people in.

Along with the summer movie smash success drawing viewers back to Season 2, Apple decided to provide the series on iTunes. And before some of you start wondering why this was a big move, let’s break it down.

Before there were VOD services and the regularity of streaming platforms, DVDs were still the way to binge. However, NBC decided to offer up episodes of its sitcom on iTunes. This move changed the game: within a couple of months, The Office was one of the most popular purchases of 2005 with 100,000 downloads.

Obviously, in the years since was been on NBC, The Office has remained a giant streaming hit (it's currently available for those with a Peacock subscription). This iTunes move foreshadowed that future success, as Jeff Zucker, who ran NBCUniversal at the time said:

So, with a big star and a new audience, there was good reason to keep The Office open.

With all of that said, I’m so glad there’s more than just the first season of this show. As the sitcom found its legs, we got so many iconic moments and memes and the cast of The Office became stars. So, I think we all need to say a big thanks to Judd Apatow, his 2005 hit and iTunes, because without them, The Office may have closed way too early.

Steve Carell's list of best movies and TV shows is extremely impressive, and it includes both The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Notably, both those projects that helped define his career premiered in 2005. Now, Kat Dennings, who stared alongside him in the Judd Apatow film, opened up about the nervous energy he had while working on the movie because he had just finished filming the iconic NBC pilot.

While Dennings chatted about Hollywood Dads with People -- seeing as Carell played her step-father in The 4o-Year-Old Virgin and Tim Allen plays her father in her new sitcom on the 2025 TV schedule called Shifting Gears -- she had the following to say about Steve Carell and his "anxious energy" on set:

The Office actor’s work has proved time and time again that he’s one of the funniest. In fact, his NBC comedy is one of the best sitcoms of all time and The 40-Year-Old Virgin is bookmarked as one of the best movies of the 2000s. So, it's surreal to hear the anecdote about his nervous energy over them from Dennings. However, it also makes sense, considering this was a major turning point, and booking and maintaining a network sitcom is a very, very big deal.

As I mentioned, both the aforementioned show and movie were huge hits overall and catapulted Carell to stardom. From there he expanded into indie classics like Little Miss Sunshine, explored various animated worlds a la Horton Hears a Who! and expanded into meatier more dramatic roles in films like Foxcatcher. All the while he continued to carve out a rightful place in the comedy genre that expands well past Michael Scott.

I think that many of us could tell he was here to stay after almost losing a nipple during the infamous 'Kelly Clarkson!' moment in 40-Year-Old -- and hopefully, Carell realized after filming this killer scene, too.

Dennings, too has seen plenty of success after working on that Judd Apatow-directed movie. The House Bunny alum has been no stranger to the big screen with hitsThor and more. Her television work--animated and not--is just as notable, with the height being her time on 2 Broke Girls. Now, she's landed back on the small screen in Shifting Gears alongside Tim Allen. The new gig seems even more exciting to Dennings with her sharing that she's feeling more confident in front of a live audience this time around.

Clearly, both of them have carved out impressive paths, and there's no anxiety needed. It's also good to know that Carell, and Dennings for that matter, aren't feeling the ‘anxious energy’ on such a grand scale anymore. And both of them know that The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin fill out some of the comedian’s brightest spots of work.

To see said work, you can stream The Office with a Peacock subscription and The 40-Year-Old Virgin is available to watch through VOD services. To see what Dennings is up to now, you can watch Shifting Gears on Wednesday nights on ABC or the next day with a Hulu subscription.

Some of the most famous memes on the internet come from some of the oddest places. Often you may recognize the star, or the movie or TV show, the memes come from, but the original context is completely lost on you. With this list we are going to help explain what the original context was for these famous memes.

John Travolta In Pulp Fiction

This is one of the more obvious ones. The meme is John Travolta looking around confused. It comes, of course, from Pulp Fiction, when he walks into the Wallace's house to pick up Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) for their date. When he first walks in, Mia is nowhere to be seen, but she can be heard over what seems like an intercom system or sound system. He is confused about where Mia is.

Charlie Day In It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

The "Pepe Silvia Conspriracy is what gives us the great meme of Charlie Day on It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia standing wide-eyed in front of a bulletin board with a red string drawn across "evidence" that he's co-worker Pepe Silvia isn't real. it comes from the Season 4 episode, "Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack."

Nicolas Cage In Vampire's Kiss

There is no better actor from which to get great memes than Nicolas Cage, especially in those scenes where Cage goes completely bananas. In Vampire's Kiss, we get such a scene when Cage is just starting to lose it after he hooks up with a vampire who bites his neck.

Gene Wilder In Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

The "tell me more" meme, known officially as "Condescending Wonka" features Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka comes from a scene when Wonka isn't being condescending at all. He's just excited to show the kids the Ever-Lasting Gobstopper.

Patrick Stewart In Star Trek: The Next Generation

There is no question that the Patrick Stewart/Jean-Luc Picard facepalm from Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the most widely used memes in the history of the entire internet. Curious, it comes from a very brief moment on the show. It's seriously like half a second when he does it. it comes from the Season 3 episode titled "Deja Q" and unsurprisingly, he's stunned by Q.

Leonardo DiCaprio In The Great Gatsby

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the actors people most love to use in a meme and one of his most famous is from the first party scene in The Great Gatsby as he's finally introducing himself as the great Gatsby. Of course, it's matched with great fanfare in the movie, which is sadly missing from the meme (obviously).

Steve Carell In The Office

Steve Carell has had some classic memes made from his expressions on The Office but none more used than the classic shot of him yelling "NO!" It will be no surprise to fans of that Carell's character Micheal is reacting to the return of his nemesis in the office, Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein).

Sean Bean In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

At the Council of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Sean Bean's character Boromir declares that "One does not simply walk into Mordor." So a meme was born as the look on Bean's face is perfect for describing anything that isn't easy.

Homer In The Simpsons

The scene of Homer Simpson disappearing into the bushes, used for all kinds of memes to show embarrassment, is, incredibly, over 30 years now. The scene comes from a Season 5 episode called "Homer Loves Flanders." The scene is specifically parodying the Terminator in Terminator 2 and his shape-shifting as Homer chases after Flanders.

Spider-Man In Spider-Man

The famous Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme comes from way back in the 1960s and the Spider-Man cartoon that aired for one season in 1967. In the episode, the villain disguises himself as Spider-Man and they confront each other outside the police station.

Robert Redford In Jeremiah Johnson

Jeremiah Johnson is not one of Robert Redford's most remembered movies. In fact, there is a decent chance it would be forgotten completely if not for the famous meme of Redford with his bushy beard looking back over his shoulder seemingly approving something, as the meme makes it out to be. In the movie, he's nodding approval after having trapped a beaver.

Joaquin Phoenix In The Joker

One of the most recent memes to really take off is the scene from The Joker of Joaquin Phoenix as the titular character dances on some stairs as he embraces the villain he has become. The stairs themselves have become a popular tourist spot and famous filming location in The Bronx.

Ice Cube In Friday

It's a statement that has come to mean so much more than the fleeting scene it was originally in Friday. Felicia is the annoying neighbor who is always looking to get over on someone but isn't very good at it. After begging the main characters for a whole bunch of stuff, finally, Craig (Ice Cube) says curtly, "Bye Felicia" and a meme was born,

Willem Dafoe In Spider-Man 3

Willem Dafoe In Spider-Man 3 is really great, especially as Norman Osborn, the alter-ego of The Green Goblin. Famously he tells Peter that he is "something of a scientist himself" and that moment is one that has lived on as one of the most popular memes on the web, used to tell people that "someone is quite the something."

Keanu Reeves In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Long before the internet was part of everyday life, people were celebrating Keanu Reeves for his famous "Whoa!" in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In the years since, that celebration has only grown and now it's one of the most widely circulated memes in the world, usually used to signify the same thing it is in the movie, pure surprise. In the scene, it's when they discover all both Bills and Teds are thinking of the same number.

Laurence Fishburne In The Matrix

What if I told you that the line "What if I told you" doesn't actually appear in The Matrix? Would that blow your mind? The reason most people think it does is because of the famous meme of Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus. Morpheus is explaining what the matrix is in the scene, but he never says those words.

James Van Der Beek On Dawson's Creek

The famous "Dawson" crying meme comes from a moment on Dawsom's Creek so brief if you blink at the wrong time, you'll miss it. It comes from a scene in the Season 3 finale when Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes) break up. the meme has had a far longer impact on popular culture than the show, it turns out.

Tim Robinson On I Think You Should Leave

Tim Robinson's saying "You sure about that" has quickly become one of the most used memes around, especially on YouTube. It comes from a Season 2 episode of one of the best Netflix original shows, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson where Robinson is playing a stereotypical pitchman on an infomercial.

Jeff Goldblum In Jurassic Park

Ah yes, we've finally come to the "Jeff Goldblum shirtless in Jurassic Park" meme. The scene is after Goldblum's character Dr. Ian Malcolm is injured in the T-Rex attack and he is resting and trying to recover while criticizing what's happening around him.

Woody And Buzz In Toy Story 2

The famous meme of Woody And Buzz from Toy Story 2 has been used for every kind of meme imaginable when trying to explain something to someone. In the movie, it doesn't really have anything to do with that. The scene is when Woody has lost his hat right before leaving with Andy for summer camp and they are desperately looking for it as Buzz seems unconcerned about it all.

Wayne Knight In Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park really is a meme-able movie and one of the most famous ones is Wayne Knight of Seinfeld fame laughing and pointing away from another character. In the scene, he is mocking Dobson (the man in the shades and the hat) for thinking anyone in the beach bar cares what they are doing there. In Meme form, it's used to mock anyone, really.

Bruno Ganz In Downfall

Bruno Ganz in the amazing movie Downfall is a different kind of meme as people rewrite the subtitles of the epic scene in the German movie to fit whatever they are angry about, from sports to casting decisions in the MCU. In the movie, of course, Ganz plays the evil man with a tiny mustache as he is freaking out towards the end of World War II and it's clear he and the Germans have lost.

Ray Liotta In GoodFellas

This famous meme comes from a very famous scene in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. In the scene, Ray Liotta's character Henry Hill is reacting to a funny story told by Tommy (Joe Pesci). It's used for just about everything as a meme, but in the movie, Tommy is very angry at Henry for not explaining how Tommy's funny. Funny how? Funny like a clown? The meme is, that's for sure.

Leonardo DiCaprio In Django Unchained

The very famous meme of Leonardo DiCaprio laughing in Django Unchained is from a shot so brief it's amazing anyone picked up on it to even make it a meme. It's obviously from the dinner party and DiCaprio's character is laughing at his own joke, which makes the meme even better.

Jordan Peele In Key And Peele

Jordan Peele has become better known for his direction of amazing horror movies these days than as half of the brilliant comedy duo Key And Peele, but his most famous comes from the latter. In the sketch, his wife is asking him about his browser history, and the crazier and crazier the searches get the more he starts to sweat until it's pouring like a faucet out of his head.

Wagner Moura In Narcos

"Sad Pablo" has become very popular since Wagner Moura's amazing performance as Pablo Escobar in Narcos. The various memes on him looking sad or contemplative are taken from many moments on the show, but very rarely from when he is actually sad, Mostly they are fleeting moments of the drug kingpin thinking about his next move.

Christine Taylor In A Very Brady Sequel

"Sure Jan" is a pure classic. Obviously, it's Marsha Brady and she is indeed talking down to her sister Jan in the scene in A Very Brady Sequel, which is a pretty underrated comedy based on the original show from the 1960s. In the scene, Jan is making up a story about her imaginary boyfriend, George Glass and while everyone else in the family believes her, Marsha certainly does not.

Arnold Schwarzenegger And Carl Weathers In Predator

In the meme, all we get is two very muscular arms gripping hands in a very masculine handshake. One arm belongs to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other to Carl Weathers. It comes from a scene in the first Predator movie. When the two characters, who are old friends, first see each other before the mission to seek and destroy the titular enemy.

It’s a Trap! In Return Of The Jedi

This is probably the most famous meme of them all, or at least the one that most people are going to know where it comes from. The origin story here of Admiral Akbar in Return Of The Jedi after the fleet has jumped in the battle above Endor. His famous line is, of course, "It's a trap!"

Bill Skarsgård In It

In what has to be the creepiest popular meme around, Pennywise, as played by Bill Skarsgård in It, is looking up out of a storm drain. It occurs after one of the kids chases his paper boat as it floats down the gutter and into the sewer.

Leonardo DiCaprio In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Proving that everyone loves a great Leonardo DiCaprio meme, one of the more popular ones lately is of the actor from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as he points at the TV because he's about to be on. Not seen in the photo is Brad Pitt, who is also in the scene watching with DiCaprio.

Nicolas Cage In Wicker Man

"NOT THE BEES!" is one of Nicolas Cage's most unhinged lines from a totally unhinged movie, The Wicker Man. It's a movie that seemingly only exists for the memes. There are a lot of options in the movie, that's for sure.

Great actors don't need a lot of makeup or total body transformations to improve their performance, but when you get the combination of a great and those things, the effect can be amazing. Sometimes the effect is so good the actors become completely unrecognizable, like the examples in this list where actors like Jared Leto and Gary Oldman were completely transformed for roles.

Jared Leto - House Of Gucci

It's fair to say that House Of Gucci was, at best, an uneven movie. It was a daunting challenge for everyone involved and none more so than Jared Leto. Leto played the legendary Paolo Gucci, and while his accent was a little shaky, his look and his mannerisms were completely on point. It's one heck of a transformation.

Charlize Theron - Monster

There is no more intense transformation for a role than Charlize Theron's performance as real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. Theron completely embodies the monster that Wuoronos was, while also subtly allowing the audience to understand how the killer became the way she was. Theron rightfully won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the brutal murderer.

Christian Bale - Vice

Christian Bale is one of the best actors of his generation and he's never been afraid to alter his look for a performance. The Machinist is one excellent example, but even that transformation pales in comparison to the way he completely became Dick Cheney in Vice. Not only does he look just like the former vice president, but he nails his speech pattern and mannerisms as well. It's remarkable.

Lily James - Pam & Tommy

When Lily James was cast as Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy it raised a few eyebrows. The actress seemed like a complete opposite in every way, especially her looks, as the blonde bombshell. Yet, when the movie came out, people were amazed at how well James pulled it off. No, it's not the best movie, but James was the spitting image of Anderson.

Gary Oldman - True Romance

One actor who is truly a master of disguise is Gary Oldman. He seemingly looks completely different in almost every role he plays. One of the most astounding transformations was early in his career when he played a pimp in True Romance. He literally looks and sounds nothing like himself in the film, to the point where if you didn't know it was him, you'd never guess.

Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye

You know when a film wins the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Best Actress, the role is going to be special. Such is the case for Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Chastain is completely unrecognizable in the role of the wife of the infamous Jim Bakker and is simply incredible in the movie.

Margot Robbie - I, Tonya

Turning Margot Robbie into a street tough figure skater like Tonya Harding is no easy feet. Through a combination of incredible makeup work and even better acting, Robbie completely disappears into the notorious skater made famous for her part in attacking her rival Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Olympics.

Glenn Close - Hook

Steven Spielberg's 1991 Hook isn't generally remembered as the legendary director's best work, but it is chock full of fun cameos and one of the hardest to spot is Glenn Close. The actress plays one of the pirates on Captain Hook's ship and if you don't look closely, you'll never notice the multiple Oscar nominee under the beard and makeup turning her into a male pirate.

Tilda Swinton - Trainwreck

The most remarkable thing about Tilda Swinton's transformation in the rom-com Trainwreck is just how conventional she looks. Swinton has one of the most unique looks in Hollywood and most of the time that look is enhanced by the roles she plays, it's part of what makes her so great. Her "normal" look in Trainwreck is made remarkable by that,

Mike Myers - Bohemian Rhapsody

Mike Myers took a long hiatus from acting in the 2010s and when he returned in Bohemian Rhapsody, audiences had to do a triple-check to make sure it was him in the role of a record executive arguing with Queen about the song that the movie is named after. With sunglasses and a full blonde beard, Myers looked nothing like his normal sense and his performance was excellent.

Colin Farrell - The Batman/The Penguin

When the trailer first dropped for The Batman, people were astounded at how Colin Farrell looked as Penguin. When the movie came out and we all watched his performance, it was even more shocking (in a great way). When he took the role to HBO for the TV show named after the character, we were all completely lost in it, because he was just so great. Though he says the suit and makeup aren't worth it, we have a feeling he'll be back as the Gotham-based villain.

50 Cent - All Things Fall Apart

50 Cent has proven to be quite the actor. The rapper has branched out into producing, even. Perhaps his best performance was as the fallen football star in All Things Fall Apart. His body transformation to play a pro athlete in peak physical condition who falls victim to cancer is incredible

Sarah Paulson - Impeachment: American Crime Story

Sarah Paulson knows how to completely disappear into a role. She was as incredible as Marsha Clark in The People Vs. OJ Simpson and she was even more remarkable as Linda Tripp in Impeachment: American Crime Story. Seriously, if you didn't know it was her, you'd never guess. She looks more like Tripp than Paulson in every way.

Billy Bob Thornton In U-Turn

Billy Bob Thorton is one of the most fun actors to watch in everything he is in. Take, for example, his role in Sling Blade, in which he looks completely different from himself. Another fine example is as the mechanic in U-Turn with Sean Penn. If it wasn't for his distinctive voice, you'd never know it was him.

Eddie Murphy - Coming To America

For a while there, Eddie Murphy made it his job to look completely different in his movies like The Nutty Professor, but at no point in any of those movies did he transform quite like he did to play the Jewish guy who hung out in the barbershop in Coming To America. Even his role as the barber in the movie was more recognizable. We also have to give props to Arsenio Hall for his various roles in the movie as well.

Mia Goth - X

Mia Goth playing the elderly Pearl in X is fantastic. Though you can tell it's her as Maxine, if you just walked in on the movie as those scenes of her as the older Pearl was playing, you'd never know who it is.

Tom Hardy - Bronson

Tom Hardy has never been shy about taking on challenging roles that require him to transform completely. He changes so much, that you almost feel like you don't know what he actually looks like in real life. Bronson is one of his finest transformations as he looks way more like the notorious British prisoner than like himself in the movie. It's so much more than just a mustache, that's for sure.

Donnie Wahlberg - The Sixth Sense

Mark Wahlberg may be the more famous brother, but Donnie Wahlberg also has some incredible acting chops and his performance comes in his minor-ish role in The Sixth Sense. It's clear that the former (and current) New Kid On The Block lost a ton of weight for his haunting performance in the movie.

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher

Murderer John du Pont of the famous du Pont family was a unique-looking guy. In Foxcatcher, Steve Carell completely embodies that uniqueness, It's almost unsettling how much Carell looks like du Pont and not like himself in the disturbing movie about the murder the scion of the wealthy family committed in 1997.

Cate Blanchett — I’m Not There

The legendary Bob Dylan has been played on screen a few times and remarkably the actor that pulled off his look and mannerism best is the amazing Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There. Of all the actors who play a version of the folk singer, Blancett is the most convincing and she looks nothing like herself in the movie.

Zac Efron - The Iron Claw

Early in his career Zac Efron was kind of typecast as the goofy good-looking guy. In 2023's The Iron Claw he completely upends that as he embodied the late Kerry Von Erich in the fantastic biopic about wrestling's first family, the Von Erichs

Renée Zellweger - The Thing About Pam

After a little bit of a career lull that included a four-year break from acting, Renée Zellweger returned in a big way in the late 2010s, culminating in an Oscar-winning performance as Judy Garland in 2019's Judy, which completely revived her career. Her best was yet to come because despite not getting the same accolades in the press, her performance as murderer Pam Hupp in The Thing About Pam was a complete transformation

Jared Leto - Chapter 27

Turning someone as good-looking as Jared Leto into someone as despised as the man who killed John Lennon is no easy feat. Leto's performance as Mark David Chapman is incredible and even though the movie has flown under the radar for years, it's worth seeking out just to see how different Leto can look from himself.

Missi Pyle - Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

How do you take a beautiful woman like Missi Pyle and make her look like a deranged Eastern European dodgeball player? Ask the makeup department for Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. The work they did, along with Pyle's acting, was amazing. There's no way to know it was her in any way unless you double-check the credits.

Sebastian Stan - A Different Man

A Different Man tells the hilarious and heartwarming tale of a struggling actor with a condition known as neurofibromatosis. Sebastian Stan plays the actor under a whole ton of wonderful makeup and despite the obvious limitation that makeup puts on the actor, Stan puts in a career-defining performance.

Chris Hemsworth - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

While it isn't the most extreme example on this list, Chris Hemsworth's look in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is amazing. The only reason you really know it's him is that he uses his natural Aussie accent in the movie, which he doesn't do all that much these days. He's even won awards for the performance!

Ryan Reynolds - Blade: Trinity

Okay, we'll admit this isn't the biggest transformation on this list, but you can't deny that Ryan Reynolds has a completely different, more sinister look in Blade: Trinity. It's way different from what you expect from a standard Reynolds performance.

Nicole Kidman - Birth

Nicole Kidman is an amazing actress, but she's not one of those actors you expect to completely change her look for a role. Her part in Birth shows that she certainly can do that, and do it in spectacular ways.

Robert De Niro - Raging Bull

Robert De Niro famously put on a ton of weight for his role as Al Capone in The Untouchables. He also got completely jacked for Cape Fear. He did both for his incredible performance in Raging Bull. As a young Jake LaMotta he was cut and fit and as an older version of the boxer, he was flabby and overweight. Either way, De Niro looks less like himself and more like the real-life boxer. He certainly deserved the Oscar he won for the role.

Margot Robbie - Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots had a unique look that was only enhanced by the odd style of 16th Century Scotland. Still, Margot Robbie nails the look of the queen in a way that leaves the audience squinted to see if it's really the Australian actress.

Gary Oldman - The Darkest Hour

No one transforms quite like Gary Oldman. He's completely different in every role he plays and in The Darkest Hour, he completely embodies his role as Winston Churchill. It's not just the makeup, though that is perfect, it's also the voice and mannerisms he brings to the role that makes you believe you're actually watching the legendary prime minister.

Charlize Theron - Bombshell

Bombshell is one of those movies where you might think you're watching the real-life characters that the cast of Bombshell are playing. Charlize Theron's portrayal of former Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly tops the performances. It's pitch-perfect in every way.

As one of the best sitcoms of all time, The Office changed much of what modern comedy TV looks like today. The American version was, of course, adapted from the U.K. version of the same name, but took on a life all its own. Steve Carell held the center point of the ensemble cast as Michael Scott, the wildly wacky but good-hearted boss who occasionally did his job well. Carrell departed after Season 7 and ultimately returned for the series finale. However, the actor was initially hesitant to do so and had some valid reasons for that.

With more than a decade now sitting between the present day and the hit NBC show’s finale in 2013, two of its alums -- Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin/Martin-Lipton/Schrute) -- started a rewatch podcast, in case you missed it. The Office Ladies recently covered the finale of the mockumentary sitcom, during which it was explained that Steve Carell wasn’t completely into the idea of reprising Michael. Fischer explained that her former co-star's thinking stemmed from storytelling:

The 40-Year-Old Virgin star’s reasoning is certainly logical and just makes me love him (and Michael Scott) even more. He was very adamant about making sure that his ex-castmates were able to say a proper goodbye to the show like he was able to, and that’s incredibly cool. Not all A-listers would offer the same reasoning, so kudos to the Foxcatcher star for being so considerate.

So the remaining question you probably have is: what changed Steve Carell's mind? Well, Jenna Fischer, who recently disclosed her breast cancer diagnosis, shared that series creator Greg Daniels, developed the finale in a way that would make it logical for Michael Scott to appear:

The podcasting duo also mentioned that the actor's name wasn’t listed in the opening credits so it was a big surprise to fans. It definitely does make sense that Michael would be there for Dwight's big day, and Angela Kinsey agreed with that assessment as well:

I have to say that in the end, it was wonderful to see Steve Carell's Michael Scott not only return for the finale but be added in a way that made sense. Carell and co. truly were top-notch on the beloved NBC comedy. I think that’s what made the show as watchable as it was, that and the Office cast -- who went on to other movies and shows -- just worked together so well.

If you’d like to stream all nine seasons of The Office, you can do so with a Peacock+ subscription.

Hollywood is a tough place to get your big break. Many actors struggle for years before they finally hit it big. These stars put in the effort and stuck with it until they finally became huge stars after they turned 40. Stars like Steve Carell, Kathy Bates, Alan Rickman, and many more actors like them are household names now, but it took them years to get there.

Steve Carell

Like so many other people Steve Carell started his career at Second City in Chicago. He then kicked around television for a while, with roles on the Dana Carvey Show and eventually at The Daily Show. It's when he left that show to head the cast in The Office that his career exploded and he became one of the most beloved stars on earth.

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood, but it took him a long time to get there. His first credit came in 1972 when he was 24, but it would take another two decades or so, after a series of smaller roles in the late '80s, that he would land the role of Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction and have his career completely explode.

Alan Rickman

The late, great Alan Rickman started acting in theater in the mid-70s, finding regular roles throughout the early '80s. Then, in 1988, at age 42, he made his feature film debut in a little movie called Die Hard. To this day, Hans Gruber is a legendary villain. He would go on to star in dozens of movies, most notably the Harry Potter films, before passing away in 2016 at age 69.

Betty White

Though Betty White had a little success in her 30s with her eponymous TV show for NBC in the '50s and minor hit Life with Elizabeth in the same decade, it really wasn't until after her 40th birthday in 1962 that she really rose to big stardom. After her 50th birthday, she was cast in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and after her 60th birthday, she teamed up with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty in the role she's probably best known for today in Golden Girls.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman was born in 1937, but it would take almost 50 years for the legend to truly break out in film. After working here and there as a dancer and as a stage actor in the 1960s and '70s, he scored his breakout role in 1987's Street Smart, starring alongside Christopher Reeve. His performance earned him the first of his Oscar nominations and by 1989's Glory, Freeman was a bonafide star.

Bea Arthur

Like her Golden Girls co-star Betty White, major success came later for the great Bea Arthur. Though she was a steadily-working actor starting in the 1940s, it wasn't until she played the character Maude Findlay, first in All In The Family, then her own spinoff called Maude, that Arthur reached the heights of fame. She was nearly 50 at that point, but her star never faded after that.

Brian Dennehy

Brian Dennehy didn't set out to be an actor. After serving in the Marines and graduating from Columbia University in 1965 with a degree in history, he caught the theater bug and started working in regional theater. In 1983, after a few smaller roles, he scored his first big role as the sheriff in First Blood at age 45.

Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn Joosten is best known for playing the beloved Mrs. Landingham in The West Wing and like her character, her real-life story is truly inspiring. She spent the first half of her life first as a nurse, then as a stay-at-home mom, raising two kids. At the age of 42, after divorcing her husband, Joosten began working in local theater in her hometown of Chicago. At age 53, she moved to Orlando and became a performer at Disney World. Soon after she moved to Hollywood and started landing parts in TV. Amazing.

Kathy Bates

Though she made her film debut in 1970, it would be more than two decades later, after working in theater and in bit TV parts, before Kathy Bates would become a star. It was, of course, he now-legendary performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery that would vault her to stardom. Truly one of the best female villains in Hollywood history.

Bryan Cranston

Most people certainly think first of Breaking Bad when they hear the name Bryan Cranston and with good reason. Cranston was 52 when he first starred as Walter White. Of course, that wasn't his breakout role, which came eight years earlier when he starred as the dad in Malcolm In The Middle ]. While he has been acting in movies and TV for years, it was that role, after his 40th birthday, that really put him on the map.

Viola Davis

EGOT winner Viola Davis found success on the stage first, winning two Tonys before turning 40. In 2008, at age 43, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Doubt, but it was 2011's The Help, for which she was nominated for another Oscar, that vaulted her to superstardom.

Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield has one of the best stories of perseverance in Hollywood history. Though technically his career started in the 1930s, his stand-up was so bland that he eventually gave up and became a salesman. In the 1960s, he re-invented himself and his act and it was a hit, with some of the best one-liners of all time. Suddenly the guy that got no respect was getting respect by talking about how he got no respect! It wasn't until 1980, at almost age 60, that Dangerfield landed his first starring role in a movie, in Caddyshack.

John Mahoney

John Mahoney started his career as the "old guy" at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. After years as an English teacher, the future Frasier star gave up his career and started acting in his late 30s. By the late 80s, well into his 40s, he was landing roles in movies like Say Anything... and Moonstruck.

Jane Lynch

It's easy to say that Glee was the project that really made Jane Lynch famous, but she got her big break before that when she found her way into the Christopher Quest universe, where she was responsible for some of the wittiest one-liners in Best In Show.

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais took a roundabout way to comedic fame. He started in music, moved to radio, and eventually found his way onto the popular British show The 11 O'Clock Show. It was in 2001, however, at age 40 when he co-created and starred in The Office. The rest is well-known history.

Michael Emerson

Michael Emerson took the very long trail to fame, and his story is inspirational. He struggled for years as an actor, first in New York, then later in Florida where he taught acting as well. He stsarted landing work in the theater in the late '90s, but got his big break in a guest spot on The Practice in 2001. Of course, he's best known for playing Ben on Lost.

Peter Dinklage

Though he found steady work in the early '00s, Peter Dinklage really shot to superstardom when he was cast as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones when he was 42. Today, that character is still, and will likely always be, one of the most beloved in TV history. Tyrion also happens to the character who appeared in the most episodes of Game of Thrones.

Larry David

Larry David's career had a lot of ups and downs in the early years. His first major gig was as a writer on SNL, though he didn't find much success there. At age 42, in 1989, he co-wrote a TV pilot for what became Seinfeld and his career took off. On screen, after playing a few minor roles onSeinfeld, he found even more fame with HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Melissa McCarthy

While she did have some big supporting roles in her 30s in Gilmore Girls and Samantha Who?, Melissa McCarthy's career exploded when she started as Molly in Mike & Molly, in 2011, at age 41, she co-starred in Bridesmaids, where she completely stole the show, earning an Oscar nomination in the process.

Margo Martindale

Margo Martindale has become one of the best character actors in Hollywood, but it took her a long time to get there. She worked in community theater for years before she regularly started landing TV roles in her late 30s. After her 40th birthday, her career took off with dozens of memorable supporting roles in both film and TV.

Leslie Jones

Saturday Night Live is generally thought of as a young person's game. Most cast members join very early in their careers and by the time they are 30, they are moving on to other things. Leslie Jones is an exception to that. She didn't join the cast until she was nearly 50, but she made an immediate impact. Since leaving the show, she's continued to star in things like 2016's Ghostbusters and Coming 2 America in 2021.

Ty Burrell

Modern Family took the world by storm when it debuted in 2007 and one of the leads of the show, Ty Burrell, became a huge star. This came after years in Hollywood in supporting roles and, eventually, a starring role in the short-lived show Out of Practice. It was Modern Family that made him a household name.

Octavia Spencer

Octavia Spencer started landing bit parts and supporting roles in the mid-90s, but it was 2011's The Help that put the Academy Award-winner on the map, after her 40th birthday. Not only did she win for her role in The Help, but she's been nominated for others as well, including for her work in Hidden Figures and The Shape of Water.

Patrick Stewart

While Patrick Stewart steadily found work in the theater and in smaller supporting roles in TV and film, it wasn't until he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 that he became a household name. He was 47 at the time and he's only gotten more famous as he's gotten older.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton basically made his own fortune in Hollywood after years of smaller supporting roles, he wrote, directed, and starred in Sling Blade. The movie was a low-budget masterpiece and he's been starring in big roles and winning awards ever since.

Hannah Waddingham

Many actors get their start in the theater, just like Hannah Waddingham. With a fantastic singing voice and wonderful acting chops, it makes sense that this is where Waddingham would first find success. It would take a couple of decades for her to equal that on screen with roles in shows like Game of Thrones, and, of course, her greatest claim to fame, Ted Lasso.

Richard Farnsworth

Without a doubt, the late Richard Farnsworth had one of the most incredible careers in Hollywood history. He had uncredited roles in some of the most famous Hollywood epics including Gone With The Wind, The Ten Commandments, and Spartacus. He didn't earn his first credited role until he was 46 in a movie called Texas Across the River in 1966. Then in the 1970s, he became a well-known character actor in projects like Roots, The Natural, and Misery.

F. Murray Abraham

After scoring a handful of supporting roles in movies in the 1970s, F. Murray Abraham became a household name after his Oscar-winning performance as Antonio Salieri in 1984's Amadeus. It was truly a career-making role and one that is still loved today by fans.

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson was 41 when he starred in one of the greatest movies ever made, even if it's a movie you can only watch once. As Oscar Schindler in Schindler's List, Neeson immediately became world famous. It's safe to say that role will always keep him famous, too.

Lucille Ball

It's really hard to believe that Lucille Ball was over 40 when she became famous on I Love Lucy, but it's true. The comedian worked in show business for decades before she and her husband Desi Arnaz created the now-legendary TV show and her fame never faded for the rest of her life.

Tommy Lee Jones

Like a lot of actors from Texas, Tommy Lee Jones does things his way. The Harvard grad worked for decades, even winning a Golden Globe and an Emmy before he truly found fame and became a leading man in the 90s with movies like The Fugitive and Under Siege.

Ken Jeong

it's not often that someone switches careers from medicine to drama, but that's exacting what Ken Jeong did. Though he always had a love of acting, he originally pursued a more traditional career as a doctor, while acting and doing standup on the side. By the mid-2000s he was earning enough to leave medicine behind, and in 2011, at age 40, he broke out in a huge way in the Hangover.

Your favorite movie and TV star had to start somewhere and, sometimes, that somewhere is appearing in commercials. There have also been some cases in which an actor has already made it to the top but decided to lend their star power to a TV ad. You can find both kinds in the following collection of TV commercials featuring some huge celebrities.

Ben Affleck (Burger King)

An early blip in Ben Affleck's acting career was a commercial for the popular fast food chain, Burger King. The future live-action Batman actor and Academy Award-winning filmmaker plays a teen who accidentally invents Door Dash when his car phone intercepts a car from a girl who wants to order a whopper.

Cameron Diaz (Coca-Cola)

When Cameron Diaz was still a model primarily, one of her first experiences with acting – before making her feature debut in The Mask – was in a TV ad. The future Shrek movie star shines in an early '90s Coca-Cola commercial that feels a lot more like a perfume ad from the era in its alluring direction.

Paul Rudd (Super Nintendo)

All of Paul Rudd's versatile talents – from making us laugh in movies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin to thrilling us as Ant-Man in the Marvel movies – can be traced back to a Super Nintendo commercial he did in the early '90s. He plays a very enthusiastic video gamer who attracts a crowd when he, somehow, hooks up his console to a drive-in theater projector for the ultimate experience of playing The Legend of Zelda and other favorites.

Jennifer Lawrence (My Super Sweet 16)

Jennifer Lawrence got to be the original My Super Sweet 16 girl without appearing on the actual reality TV series that documented wealthy young women's extravagant birthday celebrations. MTV ran dramatized promos for the then-new show starring the future Academy Award winner and Hunger Games movie star as the birthday girl who encounters a few mishaps during her festivities.

Brad Pitt (Pringles)

Years before he starred in Super Bowl Heineken ad helmed by his Fight Club director, David Fincher, the then-up-and-coming Brad Pitt got a taste of commercial acting by starring in a 1988 Pringles spot. He plays one of three surfer dudes who become stranded on the side of a California road when a trio of lovely women approach them for an impromptu Pringles party.

Amy Adams (Commercial Federal Bank)

Mainstream audiences first became aware of Amy Adams' impeccable singing talent in 2007's Enchanted but customers at Commercial Federal Bank were really the first to discover her. In 1997, the multi-Oscar nominee starred as an Olvia Newton-John lookalike in a parody of 1978's Grease for the bank.

Steve Carell (Brown's Chicken)

Steve Carell's channeled his inner Michael Scott long before leading NBC's The Office cast when he was just starting out acting in commercials. In the early 1990s, he played a Brown's Chicken employee whose clumsy mistake while setting up a marquee advertising "cholesterol-free cooking" accidentally convinces customers the food will cost them nothing.

Drew Barrymore (Pillsbury)

It must have been clear to anyone who spotted Drew Barrymore in her early Pillsbury commercial that she was destined to capture our hearts in E.T. the Extra-terrestrial just a few years later. The 1979 ad stars the then-four-year-old as a little girl whose mother cheers her up on a rainy day by making chocolate chip cookies.

Leonardo DiCaprio (Bubble Yum)

Before breaking out with his supporting role in Growing Pains and really hitting big leading the Titanic cast, the up-and-coming Leonardo DiCaprio did a few commercials. One sees the future Oscar winner demonstrate his natural charisma while demonstrating the powerful flavor of Bubble Yum bubble gum.

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Alinamin V)

You may never be able to look at Arnold Schwarzenegger the same way again after witnessing the series of gobsmackingly bizarre ads the Terminator star filmed in Japan long after his big break. As the spokesperson for an energy drink called Alinamin V, the future California governor puts on a maniacally large smile and is sometimes seen riding the beverage's bottle into space or popping out of it like a genie.

Mila Kunis (Telephone Tammy)

Had Mila Kunis' Jackie Burkhart been a child of the '90s, Telephone Tammy – a doll who responds to your call with an included play phone – sounds like the kind of toy she would have grown up with. Not to mention the fact that the future That '70s Show cast member appeared in a commercial for Mattel when she was just starting out.

Morgan Freeman (Polaroid)

Future Academy Award winner and voice-over extraordinaire Morgan Freeman starred in a number of TV commercials early on in his career. One such ad was a 1970s spot for Polaroid, not as the man holding the camera that instantly prints out photos but the man telling the amateur photographer to cool it with the reshoots.

Britney Spears (Maull's)

Die-hard fans of pop superstar Britney Spears know that she started out as a child actor who worked with Ryan Gosling on The Mickey Mouse Club, among other rising stars. One of her earlier roles was a young girl who was apparently very excited to eat a home-cooked hamburger in a commercial for Maull's Barbecue Sauce, a local St. Louis brand.

Mark Hamill (Kodak)

Before playing Luke in the Star Wars movies made him familiar with technology from a galaxy far, far away, Mark Hamill represented what must have felt like a futuristic innovation at the time. He starred in a 1975 commercial for a Kodak camera that takes high-resolution photos from far away, allowing him to snap a shot of his girlfriend (and her mother) on a balcony while he stays on the ground.

Anne Hathaway (Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate)

Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway first showed her talent for performing in romantic dramas like One Day and The Idea of You in a 1996 commercial for Better Homes and Gardens. She plays a young woman who believes she and her boyfriend will still have time to spend before his family moves away until they learn the real estate agency has already sold the house.

J.K. Simmons (Farmers Insurance)

From his memorable roles in HBO's Oz and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies, J.K. Simmons was pretty well known by the time he was cast as Professor Nathaniel Burke of the University of Farmers for a long-running Farmers Insurance ad campaign. When he won his Oscar for Whiplash, host Neil Patrick Harris sang an impromptu parody of the company's commercial jingle.

Harrison Ford (Kirin)

Playing Han Solo in Star Wars and the title hero of the Indiana Jones movies made Harrison Ford an international star and one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He would also increase his notoriety in Japan by starring in a series of commercials for a regional brand of lager called Kirin.

Keanu Reeves (Corn Flakes)

Before playing a master of kung fu in The Matrix, a master of gun-fu in the John Wick movies, and a master of excellency in the Bill & Ted movies, Keanu Reeves played a master of sneaking a bowl of cereal for himself. The role of a waiter who enjoys some of the breakfast food he has been hired to serve comes from an '80s-era ad for Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

Betty White (Snickers)

Snickers had a funny ad campaign starring well-known actors as metaphorical representations of the out-of-character behavior of hungry people. One of the earliest, and funniest, stars the legendary Betty White as a dude who needs a bite of the protein-loaded candy bar when his performance in a casual football game is off.

Bruce Willis (Seagram's Coolers)

When he was best known for Moonlighting and before starring in one of the all-time greatest action movies, Die Hard, Bruce Willis had another claim to fame: Seagram's Golden. He served as the adult beverage's spokesperson in a series of ads, some of which utilized his musical talents.

Jeff Goldblum (Apartments.com)

It's a little strange how a performer as widely recognized and beloved as Academy Award nominee Jeff Goldblum would be hired to star in an ongoing ad campaign as an original character and not just as himself. Nevertheless, the star of Jurassic Park and The Fly is dazzling and dazzling in the Apartments.com commercials as Brad Bellflower.

Sharon Stone (Finesse)

In the 1990s, films like Basic Instinct and her Academy Award-nominated role in director Martin Scorsese's Casino made Sharon Stone one of the most esteemed, and desirable, actors of her time. In the 1980s, her looks helped sell Finesse shampoo as one of the most desirable brands in the hair care market.

Jack Black (Pitfall)

It appears that Jack Black's charismatic, high-energy sense of humor was something he possessed from a young age. Exhibit A: his appearance in a 1982 commercial for Atari's Pitfall, as a wide-eyed child in a safari hat enthusiastically recalling his experience in the jungle-set video game, years before he played a jungle-set video game character in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Burger King)

No one would have believed, in 1983, that an adorable six-year-old girl who became a recurring spokesperson for Burger King would grow up to become one of the fiercest horror Scream Queens in the genre's history. Yet, that would become Sarah Michelle Gellar's destiny after leading the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast as the titular defender against evil.

Tobey Maguire (Tropicana Twister)

In 1991, when he was still a teen, Tobey Maguire did an ad for a blended juice drink from Tropicana called Tropicana Twister. The future Spider-Man actor only briefly appears as a kid who breaks the fourth wall, suggesting that broccoli be added to the next unique flavor combination.

Courteney Cox (Tampax)

Before starring in the Friends cast as Monica Gellar, Courteney Cox was best known in the 1980s for dancing with Bruce Springsteen in the "Dancing in the Dark" video. However, did you catch the future Scream movies star's appearance in a Tampax ad as a gym patron?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Pop-Tarts)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the most acclaimed former child stars who still act, with film and TV credits that back to the late '80s and early '90s like Angels in the Outfield and, of course, 3rd Rock from the Sun. If you go back even earlier than those classics, you can see the future Looper and Inception star in a 1991 ad for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts as a child who child urging his father to have breakfast before he leaves for work and offers him the toaster pastry.

Bryan Cranston (Preparation H)

Four-time Emmy winner and one-time Academy Award nominee Bryan Cranston has worn many faces throughout his career, from a hapless suburban dad in the Malcolm in the Middle cast to a ruthless drug lord as the lead of the Breaking Bad cast. Years before then, he wore the face of a spokesperson for Preparation H in a commercial from the early 1980s.

Willem Dafoe (Mercedes Benz)

With roles like one of the best Spider-Man movie villains, Green Goblin, and others, Willem Dafoe has proven time and time again that he plays an exceptional bad guy. Thus, he was the perfect choice to star in a Super Bowl ad for Mercedes Benz as the Devil, who almost convinces a young man to trade his soul for the car until he learns how affordable it is.

Geena Davis (WMET)

With an eclectic career that includes her Academy Award-winning role in The Accidental Tourist, the horror-comedy movie favorite Beetlejuice, and plenty more, it is clear Geena Davis can be anything. So, we imagine early '80s TV viewers who lived in the region where WMET broadcasted had no trouble accepting her as the voice of the local rock radio station when she starred in its enchanting commercial.

Jeremy Renner (Duracell)

Before he was defending the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Avengers, Jeremy Renner made a living as a commercial actor. One of his greatest hits was a 90s-era Duracell ad in which he plays a tourist in Mexico whose stereo battery harnesses the power of a herd bulls.

John Travolta (U.S. Army)

Years before he played Santa in a Capital One ad and sent up his role in Grease for T-Mobile, John Travolta starred in an Army recruitment promo in 1973. Just four years later, his Academy Award-nominated lead role in Saturday Night Fever made him one of the biggest stars on the planet.

At this point, The Office is basically guaranteed to go down in history as not only one of the best sitcoms of all time, but also as one of the comedies that people love to rewatch and as a series that made a number of actors famous because of their roles on the nine-season hit.

Speaking of which, many of the actors we know and love from the ever-popular mockumentary about the (frequently wacky) employees at the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin paper company have starred (or popped up memorably) in a number of other movies and shows both before, during and after their time on the NBC classic. So let’s take a look at what else you can watch the cast of The Office in!

Foxcatcher

Even though Steve Carell was known as a comedic actor before he led The Office cast as the sometimes good at his job Michael Scott, it was definitely his role on the comedy that propelled him to new heights and led to opportunities for him to branch out. One such case of that was his creepy starring turn in the drama Foxcatcher, an acclaimed biographical sports thriller that saw him nominated for a Best Actor Oscar in 2015.

Inside Out

It seems that 2015 was a good year for The Office cast, as this was when the Pixar mega-hit Inside Out was released, starring the voice of Phyllis Smith as Sadness. The animated film, of course, followed the personified emotions of a young girl going through a tough time, and was popular enough to get a sequel in 2024.

Away We Go

Of all The Office characters, it’s possible that John Krasinski’s Jim Halpert is the most beloved, and the actor rode that wave into 2009’s romantic road trip film Away We Go. The comedy-drama is about a couple in their early 30s trying to decide where to settle before the birth of their first child, and really should be sought out if you haven’t seen it yet.

Blades Of Glory

I know what you’re thinking, What about Pam? Well, Jenna Fischer’s Pam Beesly Halpert was, many think, the heart of the sitcom, and the actress became the heart of the ice-skating comedy Blades of Glory in 2007.

The Mindy Project

While Kelly Kapoor is one of the most memorably ridiculous staffers at Dunder Mifflin, the same can’t (totally) be said for Mindy Kaling’s OB/GYN, Mindy Lahiri, in The Mindy Project. The doctor may be analytical, friendly and good at her job, but she’s also blunt and shallow, making her fun to watch.

Bridesmaids

Because of the number of hilarious performances from the ensemble cast of the one-liner-filled comedy, Bridesmaids, you might have forgotten that Ellie Kemper (that’s receptionist Erin Hannon to you) starred in the somewhat raunchy 2011 hit as Becca, a newlywed member of the bridal party who loses some of her naivete because of the antics of the assembled group.

Parks And Recreation

Did you forget about Karen Filippelli? You know, Jim’s girlfriend who quickly realized that he was in love with Pam once they were all working together? Well, Rashida Jones was a much bigger part of Parks and Recreation, where her nurse, Anne Perkins, was a (mostly) reasonable member of the wacky ensemble.

Super

There probably aren’t a lot of us who watched the NBC workplace sitcom and envisioned any of the characters as superheroes, which is part of the point to Dwight Schrute actor Rainn Wilson taking on his reading role in Super. The dark comedy follows a short order cook who becomes a masked vigilante, and should be experienced at least once.

The Hangover

A hit comedy you’ve almost definitely seen at least once is 2009’s The Hangover, starring Ed Helms, a.k.a. Andy Bernard. Actually, no one would be surprised if you’ve seen this movie plus its two sequels multiple times.

This Is The End

Apocalyptic horror comedies don’t come around all that often, and when they do they’re rarely as insane as This Is The End. The 2013 film stars a number of notable famous folks playing versions of themselves who try to survive the Biblical event, including Darryl Philbin’s portrayer, Craig Robinson.

Leatherheads

John Krasinski also lent his talents to the George Clooney-directed, 1925-set football comedy, Leatherheads. It might not have been a big hit, but it definitely let fans see more of Krasinski’s big-screen potential early on.

Fresh Off The Boat

It hasn’t been uncommon for some of the cast to pop up on other popular shows, and that’s what we saw with Angela Kinsey (yup, she played Dwight’s eventual boo Angela) when it came to the ABC family comedy Fresh Off the Boat. Kinsey guest starred in a handful of episodes across Seasons 4 and 5 as Amy Chestnut, a nemesis for Jessica Huang.

The Lost City

It’s a bit of a wonder that Oscar managed to continue working at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, considering how professional and free of foolishness he was. But, his portrayer, Oscar Nuñez, did play an important oddball in 2022’s The Lost City, and to hilarious effect.

The Morning Show

Steve Carell continued to take on more dramatic roles after leaving The Office behind, and he kept his streak going by playing the disgraced former co-host for the first two seasons of the titular show that’s the focus of this Apple TV+ series.

The Giant Mechanical Man

While none of our beloved Office cast members have led what will come to be known as one of the best romantic comedies of all time just yet, Jenna Fischer did star in a lovely little rom-com called The Giant Mechanical Man, where she plays a struggling zoo worker who falls for a financially strapped street performer.

Family Switch

Sometimes you just need a good, fun family movie, and Ed Helms helped give us one with Family Switch. The movie, which you can watch with your Netflix subscription, gets its Freaky Friday on by having two parents (and the family dog) swap bodies with their two teens (and the baby of the family).

Galaxy Quest

Unfortunately, sci-fi and comedy simply don’t overlap that much, because when they do we end up with wondrous movies like Galaxy Quest. This now classic features Rainn Wilson as one of the decent, octopus-like Thermians, who juuuuust manage to pose as human.

Gone Baby Gone

Though she’d been a working actor for many years, most people really got to know about Amy Ryan because of her Oscar-nominated role in 2007’s Gone Baby Gone as the mother of a missing girl; a role that was quite different from her sweet Holly Flax.

The Bold Type

It’s a bad idea to get involved with your boss; that is, if your boss is like the domineering Jan Levinson, as played by Melora Hardin. However, if your boss is tough but fair and an all-around good human like The Bold Type’s Jacqueline Carlyle, then maybe things won’t go as badly for you as they did for Michael.

Silicon Valley

While Zach Woods brought even more weirdness to The Office as Gabe Woods for Seasons 6-9, he was more of a secure and stabilizing presence for the tech team on HBO’s comedy, Silicon Valley.

Ocean’s Eight

The Mindy Project hasn’t been the only way to watch Mindy Kaling outside of Scranton. In 2018 she branched out by starring as jeweler Amita in the crime comedy Ocean’s Eight, as one of the so-named group with a plan for a big jewelry heist.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Naive, nice and endlessly hopeful seems to be a specialty of Ellie Kemper. She added another such character to the one from Bridesmaids and The Office when she took on the role of former underground (literally) doomsday cult member Kimmy Schmidt as she attempted to make a life for herself in New York City after being rescued. You can watch her in all four seasons and one interactive movie on one of the best streaming services, Netflix.

The Blacklist

Anyone who enjoyed James Spader as the intimidating and mysterious Robert California, odd though he was, would probably have no problem seeing the actor as, well…mysterious, intimidating and charming criminal mastermind/FBI informant/probable sociopath, Raymond “Red” Reddington for 10 seasons of the NBC drama, The Blacklist, which wrapped its long run in 2023.

The Wire

The Wire is an amazing drama that is one of the TV shows that actually ended well, and it also made Idris Elba a household name because of his long-running role as smooth criminal Stringer Bell. Were it not for this series, we might not have gotten him as Michael’s strict (and eventually antagonistic) boss who had quite an effect on the ladies, Charles Miner. FYI, you can also see Amy Ryan in this show, beginning in Season 2.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness

Few fans of our favorite mockumentary could have guessed that there would be a time when superhero fans around the world would call for John Krasinski (he of the flippy Jim haircut and consistent bemused looks to the camera) to portray Marvel icon Mister Fantastic, a.k.a. Reed Richards. Well, Disney finally gave them their wish in a wildly short-lived fashion when he appeared as a version of the Fantastic Four leader in 2022’s multiverse-hopping Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.

Six Feet Under

Yet another 2000s HBO drama has delivered another way to see someone from The Office. One of the rare family shows that’s about death in a real way, Six Feet Under helped Rainn Wilson show the world a happier, though still incredibly peculiar, character in mortuary intern Arthur Martin during Season 3.

Hot Tub Time Machine

One of the stranger time travel movies in recent memory can easily be said to be Hot Tub Time Machine, where our time travelers do, indeed, trip through time via an energy drink-powered hot tub. In both this classic comedy and its sequel, you can watch Craig Robinson experience the many benefits and dangers of time travel.

The Daily Show

A number of correspondents have passed by the news desk on Comedy Central’s politically aware pop culture program, The Daily Show. From 2002-2006, Ed Helms lent his talents to segments like Digital Watch, We Love Showbiz and This Week in God. The added bonus for you? This series launched Steve Carell’s early career, as he was also a correspondent from 1999 through 2005, and has returned several times since then as a guest.

Inglourious Basterds

We’ve already come upon some surprising portrayals from our wild and wacky Office workers, and fans were treated to another one with the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award-nominated Inglourious Basterds in 2009. While B.J. Novak’s Smithson "Little Man" Utivich was simply a loyal soldier and accomplished smart-alek, the environment he thrived in was much more stressful than anything Ryan could have survived.

Upload

Remember that dutiful movie and TV viewers can easily spot one of the Scranton denizens as they pop up in any number of other well-known projects. However, when Creed Bratton (yes, that Creed) appeared in a Season 1 episode of Amazon Prime’s Upload, he probably delivered the briefest, most hilariously gruesome guest star spot of them all.

Doctor Who

If there’s any one show in the history of TV shows that continues to provide us with a near-endless stream of cameos and guest starring roles from up-and-comers, it would be Doctor Who and its 60-year, 40-season history. And, we can actually watch a whole season (the fourth modern one) plus six specials of Catherine Tate (Nellie Bertram, Seasons 7-9) as The Doctor’s companion, Donna Noble.

The White Lotus

Last but not least, we take you to The White Lotus. This Emmy-winning HBO (Should we all just stick with HBO if we want to see our Office mates?) satire has already given us innumerable memorable characters and performances, and Season 1 saw Jake Lacy (who played Pete “New Jim” Miller in Season 9) take on the role of the easily unlikable, arrogant rich guy Shane Patton.

As you can see, The Office cast has thrived outside of the comedy that made so many of them famous!

Whether you are a fan of The Office or not, there is no denying the show is a trendsetter and one of the best sitcoms. Following its success, many workplace mockumentaries were created, including Parks and Recreation, Superstore, and Abbott Elementary. However, the timeless nature and longevity of the U.S. version of The Office is much in part due to its hilarious cast of actors, and specifically Steve Carell’s performance as the very quotable Michael Scott, according to Rashida Jones.

Before she was a main cast member of Parks and Rec, Jones was an Office regular for Season 3 and appeared in a handful of episodes after that. She was recently on The Jess Cagle Show and was asked if she had a favorite memory from her time on The Office. The I Love You, Man actress immediately responded with a Steve Carell moment from her first day of filming, and it reveals just how comedically talented the 40-Year-Old Virgin actor is:

This comes as no surprise given the Despicable Me star was nominated 6 years in a row for his portrayal of Michael Scott at both the Emmys and Golden Globe awards. I always thought his character was pretty eccentric already, always pushing the limits of controversy and cringe. But now that I know the final cut was only 10% of Carell’s outrageous behavior as Scott, I’m gonna need to see all of the footage that didn’t make the cut.

The Office was not the only time Carell and Jones collaborated. The Celeste and Jesse Forever actress produced and starred in the 2016 beloved sitcom Angie Tribeca, which was created by Steve Carell and his wife Nancy. The show ran for 4 seasons before it was canceled by TBS. However, it is still one of Jones’ best performances, and it can be watched with a Max subscription. 

The Social Network actress is not the only former Office co-star to rave about Carell’s acting chops. The actors behind Michael Scott and Jim Halpert (AKA Carell and John Krasinski) were recently reunited for the new kids' movie IF, which received mixed to positive reviews and was released in May on the 2024 movie schedule. The Big Short actor still blew Krasinski away all these years later, even after working together on The Office for seven seasons. 

Fans of The Office can hold out hope for more potential cast reunions given Peacock has a spinoff in the works. Though we most likely won’t see Carell reprise his role as Michael Scott given what we know so far about the plot, it is not entirely out of the question for other characters to make a surprise cameo given members of the cast have expressed their potential interest in a spinoff. If that happens, I’ll let you guys know “ASAP as possible.” Until then, we will have to settle for binge-ing old episodes of The Office with a Peacock subscription.

The $2 billion lifetime box mark for all their movies is a major milestone for actors and only the most popular ones have reached that level. The full list, per The Numbers, includes a lot of names you'd expect, and a few you wouldn't. Many on the list play major characters in the MCU, though we've limited those somewhat here, to get a fuller picture. So here it is, our list of actors who've topped the $2 billion mark all-time at the box office.

Daniel Radcliffe

There are some huge franchises out there, and few are bigger than the Harry Potter series, so naturally, the actor who played its protagonist, Daniel Radcliffe, is going to find his way onto this list. With a box office total climbing north of $2.6 billion, Radcliffe has supplemented Harry Potter with big movies like Now You See Me 2 and The Lost City.

Tom Cruise

For four decades Tom Cruise has been one of, if not the, most bankable stars in Hollywood. The biggest chunk of the more than $4 billion he's earned has come from the Mission: Impossible movies, but almost every one of his movies, from Top Gun to War of the Worlds and beyond are usually big money makers. 

Harrison Ford

When you star in two of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history, you're going to make this list. As Han Solo in the Star Wars movies and as the titular character in the Indiana Jones series, Harrison Ford has been raking in box office receipts for decades.  He's also had big money earners outside those series as well, like the two Jack Ryan movies he starred in, and movies like The Fugitive and the two Blade Runner flicks.  

Tom Hanks

It's hardly a surprise to see Tom Hanks on this list. With a total box office of over $5 billion, Hanks has consistently crushed it in some of the most iconic roles in Hollywood history. The list of Hanks' best movies includes Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Big, and many more, but the movies that make the biggest contribution to that box office number come from the Toy Story franchise. 

Jack Black

Jack Black movies have brought in more than $2.7 billion. Before you wonder where that has come from, you have to remember just how huge the Kung Fu Panda series of movies have been. They all have collected huge box office numbers. Throw in School of Rock, and the Jumanji series, and all of a sudden, you're climbing in some pretty rarified air. Oh - and it might surprise you that the Super Mario Bros. Movie earned more than a billion on its own.  

Morgan Freeman

Is there a more beloved actor in Hollywood than Morgan Freeman? With movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy, and Unforgiven he's proven he's one the best actors, and with huge movies like The Dark Knight trilogy, he's brought in a ton of money, with over $2 billion total. 

George Clooney

There isn't anyone in Hollywood who quite personifies a classic movie star than George Clooney. He's brought in more than $2 billion lifetime, with only one superhero movie on his resume (and a forgettable one at that, with Batman & Robin). Of course, the Ocean's movies have been his biggest box office successes, but he mostly has just put out great movie after great movie. 

Liam Neeson

While Liam Neeson isn't alone in actors we'd like to see in the MCU one day, he's still earned bank at the box office. He's appeared in a number of other big franchises, like Star Wars, The Dark Knight, and The Chronicles of Narnia, and the franchise he's most known for, the Taken movies. 

Steve Carell

It may surprise you to see Steve Carrell on this list until you remember how huge the Despicable Me franchise is. Those movies print money and Carell has been a monster piece in that puzzle. Of course, he's also had huge hits like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and the Anchorman movies. 

Meryl Streep

It's hard to argue against Meryl Streep being the finest actress of a generation, and perhaps even ever. With more than 20 Oscar nominations, she's built a career that is unparalleled. She has also managed to kill it at the box office despite not being a part of any huge franchises. The Mamma Mia! movies are the closest she's come to something like that, which makes her $2 billion+ that much more impressive.  

Eddie Murphy

Year after year Eddie Murphy just cranks out hit after hit. Sure, he's a long way away from his peak as a comic in the '80s, but you can't argue against the results, with over $3.5 billion in total receipts. The biggest contributors, of course, are the Shrek movies. 

Johnny Depp

Of course, Johnny Depp has to be on this list. Depp led one of the biggest franchises of the early 21st Century with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He's had a lot of hits outside of his work for Disney, but the role of Jack Sparrow has translated to a big chunk of his more than $3.6 billion total box office. 

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence hasn't been in the MCU proper, but in full disclosure, she did appear in the X-Men franchise when it was outside of the MCU proper. So there is that. Still, she's also got another franchise under her belt with the Hunger Games movies. Outside of that, she's known for taking on serious roles in movies like Winter's Bone and Mother. It all adds up to more than $2.6 billion.

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro has been one of the most famous actors in Hollywood for more than 50 years and with that has come a lot of success at the ticket window. in total, his movies like Cape Fear, The Godfather II, Killers of the Flower Moon, and, the films that have contributed the most to his more than $2.6 billion lifetime box office sales, the Meet The Parents movies. 

Emma Watson

As one of the key cast members of eight Harry Potter movies, it's hardly a surprise to see Emma Watson on this list. That franchise alone has made billions. She also appeared as Belle in the Disney live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast in 2017, which made a cool billion as well. 

Leonardo DiCaprio

The great Leonardo DiCaprio is another actor on this list who has built remarkable box office numbers – well over $2 billion – without the benefit of a major franchise. It helps to have Titanic on your resume though. 

Julia Roberts

Since the late '80s, Julia Roberts has been box office gold. In all, her movies have made more than $2 billion, and without the benefit of a major franchise, aside from the first two Ocean's movies. Instead, she's built her legendary career on movies like Pretty Woman, Erin Brockovich, and Eat Pray Love.

Bruce Willis

There are few action stars as loved as Bruce Willis. Before he retired due to aphasia and dementia, he not only starred in the Die Hard series, but he consistently churned out hits like Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, and one of his biggest movies, Armageddon. He also popped in two of the Expendables movies, earning an overall $3 billion or so. 

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson may have started out in professional wrestling, but he's owned Hollywood since making the transition to acting. In addition to the Fast and Jumanji franchises, Johnson's box office totals include two Mummy movies and a slew of other hits. It all adds up to well over $3 billion. 

Owen Wilson

There is a small caveat here. Owen Wilson has technically appeared in the MCU, but it was on the Disney+ show Loki and he's never been in one of the movies, so nothing in the MCU is reflected in his box office numbers. What does count is movies like Meet The Parents, Night At The Museum, and The Cars franchise. It all adds up to more than $2.3 billion.

Adam Driver

While he may not have the MCU on his resume, Adam Driver does have three huge Star Wars movies on it. That's a great way to pad your box office numbers. Driver is hardly a one-hit wonder though. House of Gucci, BlacKkKlansman, and others all add up to more than $2.3 billion.

Sandra Bullock

Sandra Bullock has put together an impressive career that's spanned over three decades. Despite not starring in many major franchises aside from Ocean's 8 and Minions. Still, over her career, she's generated more than $2.6 billion in box office totals. Impressive, to say the least. 

Kevin Hart

Everyone loves Kevin Hart, but it's sort of surprising just how successful his movies have been over the years. He's in rarified air here with over $2.4 billion in tickets sold to movies he's appeared in. It certainly helps that's his popped up in the Fast franchise, as well as the Jumanji movies, of course. 

Jim Carrey

Other than Batman Forever Jim Carrey has avoided major franchises over the years. Still, at one point, he was Hollywood's highest-paid actor because his movies almost always make big bucks, bringing in more than $2.9 million overall. Movies like Bruce Almighty and the Sonic movies have contributed greatly to that haul. 

Will Ferrell

What can you say about Will Ferrell that hasn't already been said? Frankly, he's the premier comedic actor over the last couple of decades. With movies like the Anchorman series, Elf, Step Brothers, and maybe his biggest contributor to his more than $2.8 billion in receipts, the Lego franchise, Farrell movies continue to clean up in theaters. 

Will Smith

Before the infamous "slap" at the Oscars in 2023, Will Smith was one of America's most beloved movie stars. His reputation has taken a hit, but his box office numbers over the years don't lie. With franchises like Bad Boys and Men In Black, in addition to a huge number of other hits over the years, Smith's total take is among the highest ever at over $3.8 billion. 

Keanu Reeves

You don't need comic book movies when you've got monster franchises like John Wick and The Matrix. Those two series have contributed a huge part to Keanu Reeves' amazing box office numbers, which stretch over $2 billion now. Throw in one of the Toy Story movies and a handful of other big hits and you're on top of the world. 

Denzel Washington

Until The Equalizer series, Denzel Washington had never even starred in a sequel, much a franchise. He has still managed to rack up more than $2.5 billion in box office numbers though. Washington has been one of the world's most famous actors for decades and has won a slew of awards, including two Oscars, so it's hardly a surprise, but it's still darn impressive. 

Brad Pitt

If Brad Pitt's Ocean's franchise co-star George Clooney isn't the most famous movie star in the world, Brad Pitt might be. Like Clooney, he's mostly built his box office record without the help of any major franchise, aside from Ocean's. It is worth mentioning that he had that infamous cameo in Deadpool 2, but that's still technically outside of the MCU. 

Adam Sandler

He's not everyone's cup of tea, sure, but Adam Sandler has put together one of the most impressive careers in Hollywood history with his unique brand of humor. Movies like Big Baddy, Mr. Deeds, You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Grown Ups have all tucked away huge amounts of money, as have others, meaning Sandler's overall box office is up over $2.8 billion. 

Ben Affleck

Ben Affleck does benefit from his time as Batman in the ill-fated DCEU, which has since been replaced with the reboot DCU. Those movies, despite mostly middling reviews, did all make a lot of money. When you add in movies like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and Gone Girl, it's easy to see how his total haul adds up to more than $2.4 billion. 

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg might be the most surprising person on this list, believe it or not. Then you remember he was in some of the Transformer movies, and think about how much the Ted and Daddy's Home movies made, and you realize it's not actually all that shocking. In total, his movies have brought in well over two and a half billion dollars. 

There’s no denying the popularity of Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise, with worldwide box office earnings for its combined offerings in the multi-billions. It’s safe to assume that many kids and their parents will be rushing to the theaters over the long Fourth of July weekend to see the animated comedy Despicable Me 4, which hits the 2024 movie calendar on Wednesday, July 3, but will mom and dad enjoy the experience as much as their little ones? That’s up for debate, as some critics are railing on the newest installment, while others are perfectly fine with more Minion antics.

Two years after Minions: The Rise of Gru, Steve Carell’s villain is back for the animated comedy Despicable Me 4, and you know he’s brought along his little yellow henchmen. Let’s get to the critics, starting with CinemaBlend’s review of Despicable Me 4. Our own Dirk Libbey rates the movie just 1 star out of 5, writing that when the movie inevitably finds success at the box office, it won’t be because of its compelling story or hilarious jokes, because those don’t exist. He continues: 

Matt Donato of Paste agrees, rating the film a 2 out of 10 and warning that however bad you think Despicable Me 4 is going to be, it’s worse. The plot feels like a collection of shorts Scotch-taped together, Donato writes, and the low-hanging fruit of children’s animation fails to even achieve the simple formula of “Gru + Minions + Cute = Haha.” The critic says: 

Leigh Monson of AV Club grades it a D+, calling the movie a “bore,” though it will inevitably be “good enough” to become yet another mainstream blockbuster for Universal and Illumination. However, Monson says, “good enough” is the enemy of “good.” The critic continues: 

Other critics, however, think the sixth franchise feature far exceeds “good enough,” as Dominic Griffin of Looper says it’s an “unassailable success” as far as a way to kill time with the kids, even if that is a low bar. To Griffin, the Minions do the heavy lifting, and all forthcoming films should focus on them. In the critic’s words: 

Neil Pond of Neil’s Entertainment Picks agrees, saying it’s hard to not to love the little mayhem-making sidekicks, who in this movie threaten to steal the comedic spotlight from Steve Carell and Will Ferrell. Pond applauds the infectiously clever comedy, writing: 

The critics seem to be thoroughly split on Despicable Me 4 — it holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing — though their opinions might not have much bearing on parents’ decision to see the film, with many kiddos likely calling the shots when it comes to revisiting the world of Gru and his Minions. So throw some bananas in your bag, grab your weird Minion souvenir cup and catch Despicable Me 4 in theaters starting Wednesday, July 3. 

Tina Fey and Steve Carell shared the screen in Shawn Levy’s 2010 crime comedy, Date Night, and nearly a decade-and-a-half later, the Emmy Award-winning actors will reunite for a new streaming series, The Four Seasons. At some point in the near future, anyone with a Netflix subscription will get to see two of the funniest pop culture figures of the 21st century take to the small screen with an adaptation of a classic romantic comedy about a group of friends who like to spend their vacations together and face all kinds of obstacles along the way.

If this is the first you’re hearing about the new Netflix show, don’t worry, because we’re about to break down everything we know about it, including its ever-growing cast, when production is supposed to kick off, and who else is working on the project behind the scenes. Here’s what we know about The Four Seasons…

What Is The Four Seasons Premiere Date?

Netflix has yet to announce a premiere date for The Four Seasons. However, considering production has yet to kick off (more on that later) and the series wasn’t included in Netflix’s most recent sizzle reel (as of June 2024), we probably won’t see the Tina Fey and Steve Carell show on the 2024 TV schedule. 

That being said, there’s a good chance we will get to see the show for ourselves at some point in 2025. Netflix, not restrained to the fall and spring season premiere format used by traditional network and cable channels, could drop the show at any point for viewers, so keep watching for updates.

The Four Seasons Cast

When The Four Seasons does eventually make its way to Netflix, it will bring with it an outstanding group of actors, one that will be led by Tina Fey and Steve Carell. And while not everyone in the Four Seasons cast has announced at the time of this writing, the group of actors joining the two stars is shaping up nicely. Let’s take a look now.

Tina Fey

In June 2024, Neftlix Tudum confirmed that Tina Fey would be leading The Four Seasons, though the outlet didn’t reveal any details about her character. The Saturday Night Live alum, who is also a member of the Five-Timers Club, has a storied career on the small screen with iconic shows like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Only Murders in the Building, to name just a few. 

Steve Carell

Steve Carell, who is no stranger to the TV comedy, was confirmed to be a member of the Four Seasons cast by Netflix in June 2024. Carell, best known for his longtime portrayal of Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch regional manager Michael Scott on The Office, has also popped up on shows like Strangers with Candy, The Morning Show, and The Daily Show where he was a correspondent from 1999 to 2005.

Colman Domingo

At the same time it was confirmed that Fey and Carell would be leading The Four Seasons, Netflix also announced that Colman Domingo, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in Rustin, would be joining the cast. Domingo was a major force on Fear the Walking Dead throughout the show’s eight-season run, and is also set to appear in Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, in which he’ll play Joe Jackson in the upcoming music biopic.

Erika Henningsen

In June 2024, Variety announced that Erika Henningsen, who previously played Cady Heron during the Broadway production of Mean Girls, was also joining the cast. Prior to signing on for The Four Seasons, her credits included shows like Harlem, Hazbin Hotel, and Girls5eva. Like the rest of the actors announced so far, nothing has been revealed about Henningsen’s role at this time.

The Four Seasons Is Based On The 1981 Rom-Com Of The Same Name, Which Followed Three Couples Who Vacation Together

Netflix hasn’t revealed any story information about The Four Seasons at this point, but the streamer has announced that it will be based on the 1981 romantic comedy film of the same name. Written and directed by M*A*S*H star Alan Alda (who also appeared in the lead role), this star-studded rom-com saw acting legends Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, and Jack Weston play three couples who vacation together each season (hence the title). The group dynamic is thrown into disarray, however, when one of the friends gets divorced and brings his new girlfriend on their latest holiday.

The movie, which played on couple and friend dynamics, social issues, and other topics, was previously adapted into a short-lived CBS series of the same name.

Tina Fey Wrote The Four Seasons With Longtime Collaborators Lang Fisher And Tracey Wigfield

Much like Alan Alda, who wrote and directed the original movie, Tina Fey’s responsibilities with The Four Seasons go further than appearing on screen. Netflix has announced that Fey, whose writing credits include Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and 30 Rock, also wrote the new series. But she didn’t do it alone, as she adapted the project with the help of Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield, who have previously worked on shows like 30 Rock, Never Have I Ever, and Peacock’s Saved by the Bell reboot series.

The Four Seasons Will Consist Of Eight Episodes

Like some of the best shows on Netflix, The Four Seasons won’t have a terribly long first season, as the streamer has announced that it has ordered eight episodes. The duration of those eight chapters has not yet been revealed at this time, but we can expect each installment to be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes in length and most likely closer to the short end.

It also hasn’t been revealed how those episodes will be released. It could be an all-at-once model or Netflix could do what it has done with the likes of Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, and the upcoming Cobra Kai Season 6 and release the show in parts.

Production Will Kick Off Later In 2024

An exact start date has not been announced, but production is slated to kick off on The Four Seasons at some point later in 2024. This news came from Netflix itself, which made the reveal when announcing Colman Domingo’s casting. 

The original movie was set in locations like a cabin in the woods, a sailboat, a university inn, and a ski lodge, and if the show follows the source material closely, then we can expect to hear about production taking place all over the United States by the time it’s said and done.

Expect to hear much more about The Four Seasons in the coming weeks and months. And while you wait, now would be a good time to look back on some of the best romantic comedy TV shows to ever hit the small screen.

Yes, a spinoff of The Office is coming with a new take on the beloved workplace sitcom, but if it's classic Dunder Mifflin you want, you can't do much better than an absurd quip or confused quote from the one, the only Michael Scott. 

Played by Steve Carell for seven seasons before the actor departed from the series, the paper-company regional manager inspired many hysterical memes over the years thanks to his lack of professionalism, unproductive nature, and penchant for the ridiculous (though he was often sweeter than his U.K. counterpart). 

And though the character had many famous quotes throughout the show's tenure, including his signature "That's what she said!" punchline, there are many Michael Scott sayings that deserve just as much spotlight. (And you can relive all of the Scranton fun by streaming The Office with a Peacock subscription.)

Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.

Despite sometimes being surprisingly good at his job, Michael Scott was often a total buffoon as a boss. Case in point: his take on being a leader, a hilarious Machiavelli misquoting that the Dunder Mifflin manager proclaimed during the sixth episode of season two, "The Fight."

I feel like all my kids grew up and then they married each other. It’s every parent’s dream.

It wasn't initially clear whether or not Steve Carell's Michael Scott would be returning to The Office cast for the series finale after the actor departed the show in 2011. But the character did movingly pop up in the show's final episode to celebrate Dwight and Angela's wedding and serve as the best man to the former Assistant to the Regional Manager.

I am Beyoncé, always.

In the 2010 episode "The Chump," Michael learns that his girlfriend Donna (Amy Pietz) is married, which reminds Andy (Ed Helms) of when Angela was cheating on him with Dwight. During a conversation with Michael about Donna's affair, Andy references the 2009 film Obsessed, saying that he is Beyoncé and Michael is Ali Larter, a comparison that clearly didn't sit well with his boss. 

You cheated on me? When I specifically asked you not to?

Speaking of "infidelity," Michael utters this sadly funny quote in the season four episode "Goodbye Toby" when he finds out that his girlfriend Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) is pregnant after she artificially inseminated herself from a sperm bank. 

Well, just tell him to call me as ASAP as possible.

Season five saw the arrival of Charles Miner (Idris Elba), who shakes up the Scranton branch as the new Dunder Mifflin regional supervisor, i.e. Michael's boss. And it clearly rankles Michael, who immediately wants to get on the phone with his old boss, David Wallace (Andy Buckley). 

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. - Wayne Gretzky - Michael Scott

This one isn't a spoken quote but more of a sight gag written on a wipe-off board behind Michael, attributing the famous advice from the world-famous hockey legend to, who else, Michael himself. 

I’m an early bird and I’m a night owl so I’m wise and I have worms.

Michael Scott frequently gets idioms and adages just a little mixed up throughout the course of the show, as he does in the season two episode "Office Olympics." He might want to get those worms checked out!

I declare bankruptcy!

We learned many things from The Office over the years, one being that to declare bankruptcy, you cannot simply yell out "I declare bankruptcy" very loudly in front of all of your coworkers as Michael did in the season four episode "Money." 

And I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do.

One of the most infamous episodes of The Office, season five's "Stress Relief" very much escalates when Dwight's too-realistic fire alarm gives Stanley a heart attack. It also gifted viewers with this all-too-relatable reveal from Michael.

 I love inside jokes. I hope to be a part of one someday.

Many of Michael Scott's funniest quotes are also sadly sweet, such as this choice one from the season 3 episode "The Convention," in which Michael and Dwight head from Scranton to Philadelphia for the annual office supply convention. 

Society teaches us that having feelings and crying is bad and wrong. Well, that's baloney, because grief isn't wrong. There's such a thing as good grief. Just ask Charlie Brown.

A surprisingly moving and emotional quote from the season 3 episode "Grief Counseling"—in which Michael is mourning the death of his former Dunder Mifflin boss Ed Truck—is punctuated by the character's signature goofiness. 

You know what they say. Fool me once, strike one, but fool me twice...strike three.

Again, proverbs are not Michael Scott's strong suit, as evidenced by this seriously mixed-up metaphor about Dwight's betrayals in the episode "Traveling Salesmen" from the show's third season. 

I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.

Another classic episode of The Office, season 4's "Fun Run" sees the much-anticipated reveal of Jim and Pam's romantic relationship, the death of Angela's beloved cat (R.I.P. Sprinkles) and Michael accidentally hitting Meredith with his car, sending her to the hospital for a fractured pelvis. It also features this gem of a quote from the ever-"stitious" Mr. Scott. 

Sometimes I'll start a sentence and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way.

Any public speaker can likely relate to this confession from Michael, uttered during the season five episode "The Duel" after the Dunder Mifflin manager leaves a confusing meeting with his boss David Wallace. He funnily adds that the sit-down was "like an improv conversation. An improv-ersation.” 

Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone, for any reason, no matter what, no matter where, or who you are with, or where you are going, or where you've been, ever, for any reason, whatsoever.

So what exactly did Michael say during the meeting with David Wallace in "The Duel"? This absurdly meandering diatribe, where the regional manager managed to say so much without actually saying a darned thing.  

I have cause. It is beCAUSE I hate him.

Michael's animosity towards Dunder Mifflin's soft-spoken human resources representative Toby Flenderson (played by The Office's showrunner slash executive producer Paul Lieberstein) is one of the most hilarious long-running jokes in the sitcom's nine seasons. In the season 5 episode "Frame Toby," Michael tries to plant drugs on Flenderson when he discovers he's back at work after returning from Costa Rica. 

It was a crime of passion, Jan, not a disgruntled employee. Everyone here is extremely disgruntled.

In the third season episode "The Negotiation," Dunder Mifflin warehouse worker Roy Anderson (David Denman) tries to attack Jim for kissing Pam on Casino Night, only to be pepper-sprayed by Dwight. It's quite a dramatic incident for the workplace, but Michael jokingly assures Jan that it's not out of any out-of-the-norm disgruntlement. 

It's like the end of 'Spartacus.' I have seen that movie half a dozen times and I still don't know who the real Spartacus is. And that is what makes that movie a classic whodunnit.

Sure, Michael Scott might have seen the 1960 Stanley Kubrick-directed epic Spartacus. That doesn't mean he necessarily understood the 1960 Stanley Kubrick-directed epic Spartacus, as evidenced by this quote from the 2009 episode "Gossip."

White collar, blue collar. But I don't see it that way. And you know why not? Because I'm collar-blind.

In the season 2 episode "Boys and Girls," Michael becomes frustrated when Jan won't allow him to listen in on a "women in the workplace" seminar. So, in ridiculous retaliation, he conducts his own "men in the workplace" seminar with the more "blue collar" warehouse workers, where talk of a union emerges. 

To be fair, Jim, James, Jimothy. Jimothy. To be fair, Jimothy...that sounds weird. Are you okay with being called Jim?

The season 6 episode "The Promotion" sees the Dunder Mifflin team trying to adjust to having both Michael and Jim as bosses, with their respective management styles totally at odds with the other's. While trying to convince Jim that conference-room meetings are essential, Michael goes through pretty much every iteration of Jim's name (real and imagined) there could be. 

You wanna hear a lie?...I...think you're great. You're my best friend.

Again, Michael notoriously dislikes Toby for, well, no specific reason, really. And he proves as much throughout the season 5 episode "Frame Toby" (that's the one that gave TV viewers that instantly iconic "No! No, no, no!" scream from Michael), but especially in this talking head alongside the HR rep. 

Webster's Dictionary defines wedding as: The fusing of two metals with a hot torch.

In the third season, the office attends the nuptials of co-worker Phyllis Lapin (Phyllis Smith) wedding to Bob Vance (Bobby Ray Shafer). Along with trying to walk Phyllis down the aisle, Michael makes a characteristically ridiculous speech, in which he dimwittedly confuses wedding with the art of welding.

It is St. Patrick's Day. And here in Scranton, that is a huge deal. It is the closest that the Irish will ever get to Christmas.

Funnily enough, Michael did not partake in any boozy St. Paddy's Day imbibing before rattling off this misguided factoid about the Irish. In fact, in this season 6 episode, Michael and the Dunder Mifflin-ers can barely get any March 17th celebrations in as Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) is forcing them to work late at the Scranton office. 

I am running away from my responsibilities. And it feels good.

Remember how adorably ridiculous you looked "running away" as a frustrated child? Well, Michael did a pretty good impersonation of exactly that in season 4, episode 4, "Money," in which the regional manager "hops a train" to run away from the financial problems he's incurred since his girlfriend Jan moved in with him. 

Saw 'Inception.' Or at least I dreamt I did.

If you've seen the Christopher Nolan-directed sci-fi thriller Inception, you would understand how a guy like Michael Scott could be slightly confused by the movie's dream-within-a-dream premise. However, he manages to make a semi-decent pun about the heist movie in the seventh season premiere. 

Well, well, well, how the turntables...

In the season 5 episode "Broke," Michael, Pam and Ryan are struggling to make ends meet with the Michael Scott Paper Company, even resorting to making paper deliveries themselves in a used van. Imagine their surprise when Dunder Mifflin CFO David Wallace wants to buy out their operation for a pretty penny. Oh, how the tables turn, or whatever Michael thinks the saying is. 

It's a pimple, Phyllis. Avril Lavigne gets them all the time and she rocks harder than anyone alive.

Like many tween-aged girls, Michael Scott isn't immune to getting acne and is also apparently a huge fan of Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne, as he hilariously revealed in a Season 7 episode.

Do you think that doing alcohol is cool?

After Dwight finds pieces of a joint in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot in the season 2 episode "Drug Testing," he sets up a urine test to find the culprit, making Michael worried that the "clove cigarette" he smoked at an Alicia Keys concert will show up. That leads him to conduct his own anti-drug investigation in an attempt to cast suspicion off of himself, leading to a very hilarious line of questioning. 

This is a dream I've had since lunch, and I'm not giving up on it now

Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) regularly has to deal a lot not only as the reception of Dunder Mifflin but also as the pseudo-personal assistant of Michael Scott. However, ridiculous quotes like the above didn't stop her from leaving her job to join Michael in his newly-formed Michael Scott Paper Company in the season 5 episode "Two Weeks."

Holly and I are like Romeo and Juliet. And this office is like the dragon that kept them apart.

Clearly someone dozed off during that Shakespeare 101 course, as Michael hilariously displays during the season 7 episode "PDA." Luckily for him and Holly (Amy Ryan), they're not like Romeo and Juliet at all and they end up living happily ever after, sans any threat of, uh, dragons. 

I'm an adult. I don't have to think or do anything.

Sure, he may declare himself an adult, but Michael's behavior in the "Launch Party" episode of season 4 is anything but mature, as he holds a teenage delivery driver hostage at the Dunder Mifflin office after the kid refused his pizzeria coupon. 

 I am not to be truffled with.

Again, Michael, you're so close to getting it right. 

Having starred together in five feature films, most notably 2004’s Anchorman, it’s fair to call Will Ferrell and Steve Carell an iconic comedic duo. Now they’re back together in Despicable Me 4, but if you’ve been paying attention, it’s technically not their first collaboration to be released this year.

Peacock’s The Office: Superfan Episodes, an extended cut of NBC’s groundbreaking sitcom, includes the four-episode arc that sees Will Ferrell’s Deangelo Vickers take over for Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. When I spoke with the two friends at the Despicable Me 4 press junket, I brought this up, and Ferrell volunteered some “superfan trivia” of his own, revealing that this major run on national television was originally supposed to be a simple cameo:

That’s a very sweet sentiment from Will Ferrell, and if you watch the video clip at the top of this article, you’ll see that the two comedians are very close friends with a massive amount of mutual respect. Personally, I think that The Office fell victim to a curse of some shows in American television: it lasts too damn long. Most people will agree that the show loses its footing toward the end, but Ferrell’s Deangelo Vickers with his relationship with Michael Scott is nothing short of comedy gold.

Ferrell screaming at a sheet cake, performing a juggling routine without balls, and being at the receiving end of a delightfully awkward hug from behind are just a few bits that are towards the top of the funniest Office moments of all time. You can check out a compilation here:

Given my love for this arc, anytime the two of them work together is cause for celebration. Or, at the very least, a visit to the movie theater. We here at CinemaBlend have never held back hyping up the Despicable Me franchise, calling the original one of the best family films.

We’ve even got a ranking of every movie in the franchise and a guide on how to watch them in order, in case you wanted to catch up before Despicable Me 4’s release. The movie is truly funny, and even though both Will Ferrell and Steve Carell would totally do the long-fabled Anchorman 3, we fortunately don’t have to hold our breath for the two friends to reunite for the silver screen. 

As for The Office, you’ve likely heard that there’s a spinoff in the works promising a new take on the show. So far, plot details imply that we won’t be seeing Steve Carell or Will Ferrell, but fret not, as Despicable Me 4 hits theaters on July 3! Keep it here at CinemaBlend for the latest in what’s coming down the 2024 movie release pipeline.

It would be an understatement to say that IF boasts an impressive cast. The film features big names like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Emily Blunt, the late legend Louis Gossett Jr, and, most notably, director John Krasinski's former The Office co-star, Steve Carrell. Krasinski’s newly released family film centers on a young girl helping a group of imaginary friends find homes. Recently, the Monsters vs. Aliens voice actor opened up about a touching experience he had with the former Michael Scott actor while working on the movie.

Steve Carrell is best known for his impeccable comedic timing, but he can also tug at the heartstrings with ease. During an interview with People, John Krasinski shared how the Dan in Real Life performer made him cry during their reunion for IF. The former Jack Ryan star told the outlet:

The duo, who first worked together on the Emmy-winning comedy series from 2005 to 2011, haven’t collaborated much since the Daily Show alum left the show. The comedian and legendary improv performer played the bumbling yet endearing paper company manager Michael Scott, while the Leatherheads actor charmed audiences as the sweet sales rep Jim Halpert. The show continued until 2013, with Krasinski remaining until its conclusion.

Although they had kept in touch over the years, Steve Carrell and the Licensed to Wed star hadn't seen each other for quite some time until the veteran comedian arrived to do voiceover work for Blue, the main imaginary friend in IF. Krasinski, who found success as a writer and director in the realm of horror movies with the A Quiet Place franchise, specifically wrote the part for the 40-Year-Old Virgin star. He was unsure if his former co-star would be able to participate due to scheduling conflicts. However, Carrell signed on, much to the filmmaker's delight. He continued: 

Steve Carrell's words of encouragement obviously moved his former sitcom co-star deeply and evoked their emotional last interaction on The Office. 

IF tells the story of 12-year-old Bea (Cailey Fleming), whose widowed father (Krasinski) is hospitalized, leading her to move in with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) in a Brooklyn brownstone. There, she meets a neighbor, Cal (Ryan Reynolds), who, like Bea, can see imaginary friends. 

The family flick is getting mixed responses from critics, currently sitting at a right-down-the-middle 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, in Cinemablend’s review of IF, Riley Utley says the director's creativity shines in the heartwarming movie. You can judge for yourself and see if, like John Krasinski, you’re moved to tears by Steve Carrell’s performance. The family film is now playing in theaters, so check your local listings. And remember to check out our 2024 movie schedule to see what other films are coming to a theater near you.

As adults, it’s hard to let our imaginations run as wild as they once did when we were kids. Pretending to have superpowers and creating fantastical worlds with friends are all things that get left behind at some point or another. However, John Krasinski’s film IF – which he both wrote and directed – is proof that you don’t have to be a kiddo to have fun using your imagination, and his joy and optimism shine so bright in this film that it's infectious.

IF follows Bea (Cailey Fleming) as she’s whisked into a world of IFs (imaginary friends) after a chance run-in with a mysterious man named Cal (Ryan Reynolds). He introduces her to all the one-of-a-kind IFs he’s helping find new homes because the kids who created them grew up. From there, the film follows our young protagonist as she helps creatures like a giant purple monster named Blue (Steve Carell), a ballet butterfly named Blossom (Pheobe Waller-Bridge) and many more find homes again. 

This film is a reminder that it’s important to keep our inner child alive, and it’s a call to action to get back in touch with imagination. All-in-all, it’s a wildly creative and optimistic tale that is equal parts moving and silly, and while it has one minor downfall, the heart and moral at the center of it makes it irresistible. 

John Krasinski’s creativity and optimism is infectious.

The primary reason IF shines lies within writer-director John Krasinski’s vision. He let his own imagination explode onto the screen, and through this colorful world he’s created, you can’t help but feel as optimistic and hopeful as the characters in this movie.

Beginning with gem-toned warm sets in Bea's home and moving into the mystical world of IFs under Coney Island, the mix of Kris Moran’s set decoration and Janusz Kaminski’s golden cinematography help welcome audiences into Krasinski's warm creation. The set decoration and photography is what makes the perfect playground for Bea and the IFs. 

Developed by John Krasinski himself, the imaginary friends are a hodgepodge of wild characters – Bradley Cooper plays a glass of ice water who is angry about living in Arizona, for example – that are irresistible to watch, and all you want to do is help them. So, when Bea and Cal set out to assist Blue and his friends, which include Christopher Meloni’s aggressive noir investigator Cosmo, Emily Blunt’s unicorn and Matt Damon’s sunflower therapist (among many others), it’s impossible not to root for this team to succeed in helping humans believe in their imaginary friends again. 

Being in this magical world Krasinski created is honestly overwhelming in the best way, as proven by a scene early in the movie when we meet all the IFs and get to know how they live. Seeing all their unique rooms – like a vivid art classroom and a blue bakeshop – ignited my imagination and left me yearning for my childhood and reminiscing about my own childhood creativity. The love John Krasinski has is apparent and painted all over this movie.

While I love the creative world of the imaginary friends, the third act and the rules surrounding IFs falls short.

It's easy to get on board with the IFs and excited about the mission to help them find new homes. Learning about how they were imagined in the first place and seeing Bea travel through New York City with Cal looking for the the right people is a blast. 

However, things got a bit muddled when it comes to IF logic. The solution to the IFs problems, generally speaking, is they are trying to reconnect with humans so they can be seen. However, most of the cases are treated differently, and it is hard to tell if the humans actually reconnect with their imaginary friend. For that reason, the third act falls a bit short and the ending isn't as satisfying as it could have been. 

Questions regarding when humans can see IFs are a bit distracting during the third act specifically. On many occasions watching the movie, I found myself not fully understanding why Bea could see all the IFs when others could only see one or none. I also couldn’t fully figure out if other humans were able to see their own imaginary friends.

While this world is supposed to be fantastical and nonsensical in a way, the first two-thirds follow a fairly strict logic: the IFs kids stopped believing in their imaginary friends, therefore the friends can't be seen. So, when it gets to the point when they figured out how IFs could interact with others, it doesn't make sense, and the film starts to fall off. 

While distracting at points, overall, this qualm is really nothing more than a minor concern. Without thinking too hard about it, the IFs mission is simple and the heart and morals make up for this critique. 

The heart and moral of the story in IF more than makes up for its lackings.

From the first minutes of IF, themes of love, imagination, hope and memory are prominent and emphasized. 

Playing Bea's dad, John Krasinski’s character tells his daughter to go out and find one “heck of a story” to tell him, and his focus on imagination and fun propels her to Cal and the IFs. Later, Lewis, a loving old bear played by Louis Gossett Jr., relays the other major message of the story, noting that anyone can be anything they want, “all you need is a little imagination.” These two great life lessons culminate with the idea that “nothing you love can ever be forgotten; you can always go back.”

The mystery of this movie revolves around memories Bea has seemingly forgotten. However, by embracing her imagination and opening her heart to others to create a big and beautiful story, she’s able to harness her old memories and find joy in them. 

That’s something everyone can learn from, and this universal lesson in IF is equally valuable for kids and adults. For the younger crowd, appreciating and harnessing that imagination while their young is vital. For adults, learning how to tap back into their inner child is what this movie encourages. 

All around, IF is a heartwarming great time steeped in care and creativity, and it’s a film that feels like it will do a lot of good as people of all ages dive into John Krasinski’s colorful world of imaginary friends. 

Steve Carell and John Krasinski go way back. The pair developed a close-knit relationship while they were part of The Office's cast, which was a huge launching pad for both of their careers. Even though Carell left the show in 2011, he still stayed close with his co-stars, including Krasinski. It's been over 10 years since the beloved sitcom aired its last episode on NBC and, now, the duo are reuniting for Krasinski’s fourth directorial film, IF. While the Jack Ryan actor expected the laughs to flow with this reunion, apparently the collaboration was quite emotional. 

The actor/director recently chatted with SlashFilm about his upcoming film, which is about Imaginary Friends, who deal with being disowned by the kids they helped.  IF has an all-star cast  that's led by Ryan Reynolds, and features voice work from actors like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Matt Damon, and of course, Steve Carell. This marks the first time Carell and John Krasinski have collaborated on a project together since The Office and, according to the A Quiet Place star, the reunion was very tearful, He spoke of the experience, which included a sweet moment initiated by Carrell:

This probably meant a lot to the A-lister to have one of his good friends and longtime collaborators sign on for the film. I wouldn't be surprised if the former Jim Halpert actor even looks up to his buddy. After all, Steve Carell had a thriving comedy career prior to The Office, where as for John Krasinski, the sitcom gave him his breakthrough role. After the NBC hit ended, Carell expanded into serious roles outside of comedy in movies with the likes of Foxcatcher, The Big Short and Beautiful Boy. Krasinski has followed suit, taking on roles like 13 Hours and A Quiet Place. He's since become a director and deserves plenty of praise from Carrell and more, as A Quiet Place is one of the best horror movies in the last decade. 

Hearing how complementary the Despicable Me star was towards his director and former co-star is sure to bring a smile to fans' faces. Krasinski’s reluctant salesman, Jim, often grew annoyed with Carell’s overly enthusiastic Michael Scott. However, over the course of the show, the two developed a unique bond, and their tearful goodbye at the end of Season 7 was one of the most emotional moments in the entirety of the show. Hearing how strong the actors' relationship is in real life is truly heartwarming. 

Another collaboration between these two mega talents is long overdue so, hopefully, IF is a launching pad for more Krasinski/Carell projects. They're both busy people, with Krasinski starring in Guy Richie’s next film, Fountain of Youth, and Carell making his Broadway debut in Uncle Vanya this spring. However, these two appear to love collaborating, and that could spark their desire to link up for another project or two down the line.

You can check out Steve Carell giving another iconic voice acting performance in John Krasinski’s IF, which releases in theaters on May 17th as part of the 2024 movie schedule. You can also check out the actors' work on The Office, which currently is available in its entirety for Peacock subscribers. 

Ryan Gosling and Steve Carell have been Hollywood staples for years now, but one fun fact about the two men you may not have known? They actually worked together on the first of Gosling’s big movie roles in Hollywood. That role was the flick The Unbelievables, a TV movie about blue collar superheroes, which Gosling booked after a stint of TV roles including Young Hercules and Goosebumps. 

As it was his first time on a movie set, Gosling said he was really looking to soak up as many experiences as possible. One of these opportunities just so happened to be getting to watch Steve Carell do a bunch of ad-libbing, though he also had a small role in the film. Years later, Gosling recalled the vivid memory and how he distinctly remembers the boom mic operator not being able to do his job because The Office cast member was so funny. 

It’s amazing to hear Ryan Gosling tell Variety this behind-the-scenes story and what it meant for him and his career overall, particularly when it came to realizing he had adjustments to make. Years later, he may not be joke-joke-joke funny in the same way Steve Carell is, but we’ve seen him really invest in comedic roles, from the wry (and underrated) The Nice Guys to his recent 2024 Academy Award-nominated turn as Ken in Barbie. 

This wasn’t the last time Carell and Gosling would get to do movie work together. He noted the two reunited for Crazy, Stupid, Love and the younger actor had one expectation for himself when he knew they would be onscreen together. 

No word on whether or not a boom mic operator dropped a mic filming the romantic dramedy, but Carell does play a much more low-key character in the film, so one would hope not. It does make me wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Carell was filming roles like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Anchorman. Though Paul Rudd has said the cameramen on Anchorman were less pleased about the excess jokes.  

Gosling and Carell would appear in the same film once more in 2015’s well-reviewed The Big Short. Ultimately, this whole story makes me realize I’d love to see them do more of a comedy-comedy together, however. Both actors are still very much in the business of Hollywood, and while a gig like this may not be set for the 2024 movies release schedule in the near future, I can very much hope someone finds another great vehicle for the two down the line. 

There is no genre more near and dear to my heart than comedy. The skills necessary to make others laugh -- whether live and in-person or through a screen -- are a unique and beautiful combination that should be protected at all costs. Some artists are able to do so without leaning in to touchy subjects or cursing, while others go all the way to really earn that R rating. The tactics may differ, but the end goal is the same, to bring others joy through jokes. 

Many comedians see movies as the apex of a potential career, but most don't start out their careers in Hollywood. Many grow first through either stand-up comedy or sketch comedy. This list honors them. Here's a look back at famous actors who started in either the stand-up or sketch comedy world and went on to bigger screens.

Rainn Wilson

Known as arguably one of the best characters on the hit show The Office, Rainn Wilson got his start in the arts in New York City where he studied acting at NYU. He went on to do theater both off and on Broadway as well as sketch comedy. He even did a post-modern clown show before getting his big break on the show Six Feet Under in 2001. 

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg got her start by studying drama in New York, where she landed a few stage performances before trying her hand at stand-up comedy. Like many others on this list, her comedy routine -- "The Spook Show" -- caught the attention of Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols, who helped get the young comedian to Broadway. She eventually landed her first film in Steven Spielberg's film The Color Purple, for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 1986. 

Steve Buscemi

The veteran character actor made his acting debut in 1985, but also tried his hand at stand-up comedy. Eventually, Busemi decided he "wasn't funny enough," and switched to acting instead. Buscemi has since starred in popular movies including Fargo, Resevoir Dogs, and the hit HBO Max show Boardwalk Empire.

Emma Thompson

If you're looking for a stand-up with some serious credentials, look no further than Emma Thompson. Winner of two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, a British Academy Television Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, the talented actor got her start in stand-up while in Cambridge. 

John Candy

Arguably one of the greatest comedy legends to ever live, John Candy led a fascinating life, getting his big break after joining the ensemble of SCTV — which is, essentially, the Canadian equivalent to SNL. In 1989, the star even added radio personality to his resume. The LA Times did a whole write-up of his syndicated, two-hour program, Radio Kandy, which sounds wild and apparently included rock music and comedy sketches featuring some of his former SCTV co-stars.

Mo'Nique

Mo'Nique started her comedy career with stand-up, heading to It's Showtime at the Apollo and Def Comedy Jam before eventually landing a leading role on TV's The Parkers. The comedian took her acting to the next level in 2009's Precious, for which she won an Academy Award.

Steve Carell

A versatile actor with numerous groundbreaking performances in both television and film, Steve Carrell was once a legend at Second City in Chicago who went on to land his dream job working on the ill-fated Dana Carvey Show, which you can learn about in Too Funny To Fail, one of the best comedy documentaries to date. Known best for his role as Michael Scott in the U.S. adaptation of The Office, Carell eventually went on to become a leading man in both comedies and dramas. 

Michael Keaton

To put himself through college where he studied acting, Michael Keaton worked as a cab and ice cream truck driver, and it wasn't until 1975 that he officially debuted on television. He did some stand-up comedy in his early 20s, which he recounted in an interview with Ellen, but he eventually found the right calling with movies.

Tina Fey

Known for her work on the smash hit show 30 Rock, Tina Fey got her start in acting at Second City which quickly led to a job at Saturday Night Live as notably one of the only female writers at the time. She got her break co-hosting Weekend Update and later went on to be a huge star in Hollywood. 

Jamie Foxx

It all started with a dare from a girlfriend to try his hand at an open mic. Flash forward some years and that performance led Jamie Foxx to multiple awards, including two Academy Awards, double digit Grammys, and three Golden Globe Awards, all while showing a versatile ability to crush performances across multiple genres and artistic art forms.

John Cleese

Coming from the United Kingdom, John Cleese is a British comic actor best known for his television work on Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers. Cleese began writing and performing in comedy revues at Clifton College in Bristol, England, and was a member of the renowned Footlights Club while a law student at the University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work with Monty Pythion, namely Monty Python And The Holy Grail. 

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais went to school at Ashmead Comprehensive School before going on to study at University College, London, where he gained a degree in Philosophy. After university, Gervais attempted to pursue a pop career with Seona Dancing, a synth-pop duo he formed with a fellow student. After forming a writing partnership with Stephen Merchant, he would go on to land his breakout role on The Office, premiering in 2001. In between all his acting gigs, he's performed plenty of stand-up and has multiple Netflix specials. 

Eddie Murphy

Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, SNL star Eddie Murphy began performing his own comedy routines at 15. In 1980, the work of the soon-to-be comedy legend caught the attention of Saturday Night Live producers. In 1982, Murphy landed his first leading role in the film, 48 Hrs, which led to multiple leads in classics such as Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. He went on to earn an Oscar nomination for Dreamgirls and truly set the bar by playing six characters in the 1996 smash hit, The Nutty Professor. His '80s comedy specials are still discussed today. 

Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer is certainly better known these days for her work in numerous films including the fantastic Trainwreck, but most of those career opportunity doors opened through her stand-up comedy. She built a name for herself through her work on the live mic before mostly switching to movies.

Chris Rock

An SNL vet, Chris Rock's comedy career began in 1984 at 19 when he took the stage in the New York City club Catch a Rising Star. His performance ended up catching the eye of future comedy legend Eddie Murphy, who had been watching his act. Murphy would become a huge presence in Rock's life and served as a mentor, giving him his first break with a role in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Ron Perlman

Known for very courageous roles such as Clay Morrow on the FX show Sons Of Anarchy, Ron Perlman said his ventures as a stand-up comedian ended after a heckling exchange in the Bronx escalated and he retreated out of the venue through the back door, which seems like a strange move for such an intimidating man. 

Robin Williams

Arguably one of the best comedians of all-time, Robin Williams studied acting at the Juilliard School, which he later dropped out of to devote himself entirely to stand-up comedy before making the leap to television and movies. Known for his high energy and skillful impressions, he himself has inspired other actors to reenact some of his most dramatic real-life moments in honor of the late comedian. 

Patton Oswalt

The Prince of Queens, Patton Oswalt went from struggling in the comedy world to writing for the sketch comedy show MADtv and earning his own comedy special on HBO. He continued to impress critics and fans alike, with roles such as the voice of the lead character Remy the Rat in the Pixar film, Ratatouille. 

Richard Pryor

Unfortunately, tragedy and comedy often go hand-in-hand. Such is the case with arguably one of the genre's biggest icons, the late, great, Richard Pryor. The legend had a tough life growing up and eventually joined the military before playing nightclubs as both a musician and comedian at age 23. His comedy career was populated with milestones and achievements, as well as struggles and substance abuse before passing away in 2005 due to complications from M.S..  

Bette Midler

Bette Midler landed her first Broadway role in Fiddler on the Roof by 1966, four years before trying her hand at stand-up comedy. In 1972, she released the album The Divine Miss M, which earned her a Grammy Award, and she started making frequent appearances on late-night television shows and eventually a huge acting career. Along the way, she performed live comedy and even released an album.

Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald's first job was writing for The Dennis Miller Show and then Roseanne. While writing on the show, he was noticed by Lorne Michaels, who liked Norm's stand up so much that he offered the young comedian a job on Saturday Night Live in 1993.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey, who is easily considered one of the greats, was himself taken under the wing of another comedy legend, Rodney Dangerfield, who spotted the young comic in a Toronto nightclub. Carrey eventually made it to The Tonight Show which led to his role on In Living Color and parts in many comedy classics that we know and love today, such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura. 

Tim Allen

Tim Allen started his career as a comedian in 1975 in a pretty peculiar way. On a dare from one of his friends, he participated in a comedy night at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, outside of Detroit. Following his release from prison in 1981 for a drug-related crime, he returned to comedy and went on to lead the hit show Home Improvement on ABC. 

Steve Martin

From community theater, to Disneyland, to the big screen, Steve Martin began his showbiz career as a teenager. After writing his own comedy routines, plays, and music, he went on to study philosophy and poetry before winning his first Emmy Award for comedy writing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the young age of 23.

Lily Tomlin

Initially studying biology at Wayne State University, Lily Tomlin decided to audition for a play which led to her changing her major to theatre and diving into stand-up comedy. Her stand-up was so impressive that it attracted the attention of the producers of Laugh-In, the notorious 1960s sketch comedy show. Tomlin went on to snag an Oscar nomination for her acting work.

Dana Carvey

One of SNL's most talented and beloved alumni, Dana Carvey absolutely dominated during his six seasons on Saturday Night Live, creating some of the show's most memorable characters. He never drifted far from stand-up though and has continued to take the stage and release specials.

Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks took the weirdest route to stand-up of anyone on this list. He was already in Hollywood and establishing a nice career when he decided to audition for a movie about stand-up comedy called Punchline. As part of that process, he developed his own stand-up routine and performed in clubs. There's even footage of it that trends every now and again.

Bob Odenkirk

Starting out as a D.J. in Illinois, Bob Odenkirk got his start in local improv workshops in Chicago, where he also did open-mic stand-up comedy for several years. In Chicago, he became friends with Robert Smigel, who would later help him become a writer for Saturday Night Live.

Larry David

Starting out in stand-up comedy, Larry David befriended Jerry Seinfeld and later went on to co-create Seinfeld. He also wrote for Friday's and Saturday Night Live and famously went on to create the all-time ridiculous show Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

Ed Helms

Ed Helms was studying improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade when he got his big break as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He later moved on to the hit NBC show The Office where he played Andy Bernard. From there, Helms went on to star in The Hangover trilogy. More importantly, he also acted in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

Mel Brooks

There aren't many names in the world of comedy that stand larger than Mel Brooks. The legend started his career in stand-up before working as a writer for Sid Caesar's variety show Your Show of Shows from 1950 to 1954. After that, he, of course, took over Hollywood, winning an EGOT and directing classics like Blazing Saddles, The Producers and Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

Simon Pegg

A comedic force to be reckoned with in the U.K. before dropping smash hits like Sean of the Dead in the U.S., Pegg once told The Hollywood Reporter “I went into stand-up because comedy was something I enjoyed but also because it offered me a certain autonomy that I wouldn’t have if I was sitting and waiting for the phone to ring as an actor.”

Dan Aykroyd

Dan Aykroyd started performing comedy at 17 and later joined the main casts of Second City in Toronto and Chicago. Later, it was his work in the sketch comedy powerhouse Saturday Night Live that turned him into a huge name and opened the door for him to start in classics like The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters.

And those are some of the actors who also took the stage to perform stand-up or sketch comedy at some point during their careers!

We see it quite often – comedians and comedic actors cut their teeth performing stand-up or appearing on beloved sketch comedy shows before knocking everyone’s socks off with a remarkable and remarkably emotional dramatic role. Sometimes, these earn the actors and actresses Academy Awards or at least their first Oscar nomination for unforgettable performances that make us cry as much as they once made us laugh.

That being said, here are 32 examples of people known for their comedy being great in dramatic roles…

Robin Williams

Even before Robin Williams earned a much-deserved Oscar for his performance in Good Will Hunting, the comedian proved time and time again that he was more than capable when it came to dramatic roles. In fact some of Williams’ best movies like Dead Poets Society and Awakenings showed early on what he could achieve in a less comedic capacity. And let’s not forget his frightening turns in One Hour Photo and Insomnia.

Jim Carrey

After being an almost guaranteed box office draw in the mid 1990s, Jim Carrey showed he was more than just an over-the-top slapstick comedian with roles in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon. However, Carrey’s most notable dramatic turn, and probably his best overall performance can be found in 2004’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Eddie Murphy

For years, Eddie Murphy was well-known for beloved comedic roles in classics like Coming to America, 48 Hrs., and Beverly Hills Cop, but he’s also displayed a more dramatic side over the years. At the top of this list is Dreamgirls, the 2006 musical drama that saw him take on the role of James “Thunder” Early, a performance that should have earned him an Oscar.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is an all-time great comedian who has made audiences laugh with her stand-up specials and various film and TV projects for the better part of the past 40 years. During that time, Goldberg has also given us some of the richest and most nuanced dramatic performances like her take on Celie Harris Johnson in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, which earned her a Golden Globe and numerous other accolades.

Adam Sandler

When he wants, Adam Sandler can stand toe-to-toe with just about any living actor. Though he’s mostly known for his various comedies like Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, and the Grown Ups movies, let’s not forget his outstanding dramatic performances in Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, and Uncut Gems. Watching Sandler in the Safdie Brothers’ 2019 crime thriller is like watching a completely different actor.

Steve Carell

Around the same time Steve Carell was making us fall over with laughter with his portrayal as Michael Scott on The Office, he was also giving audiences some of the best dramatic performances in movies like Little Miss Sunshine and Foxcatcher. Even since then, Carell has continued to steal the show with heart-wrenching turns in Beautiful Boy and Last Flag Flying.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx made a name for himself as one of the funniest comedians on the planet in the early ‘90s thanks to shows like In Living Color and The Jamie Foxx Show, which he followed up with some truly great movies in the final decade of the 20th century. But in 2004, Foxx showed off his dramatic chops in Michael Mann’s thrilling Collateral and the must-watch music biopic, Ray, a performance that earned him an Oscar.

Aubrey Plaza 

To some, Aubrey Plaza will always be remembered for her hilarious portrayal of April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation, but the comedian has given some commanding dramatic performances over the years as well. Movies like Emily the Criminal and Black Bear, as well as the second season of The White Lotus, have shown she’s a force to be reckoned with.

Melissa McCarthy

Okay, Melissa McCarthy may be one of the funniest comedic actors on the planet right now, but let’s not overlook her gripping portrayal of literary fraudster Lee Israel in 2018’s Can You Ever Forgive Me, a movie that saw her hold her own with Richard E. Grant. That’s not nothing.

Will Ferrell

Though Will Ferrell’s dramatic roles still have the comedian's unique style of humor, his performances in Everything Must Go and Stranger Than Fiction are still worth bringing up. He’s less manic and a tad bit quieter in these two movies, but that charm is still there, which really messes with your head.

Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller has shown over the years that he can do more than play the lovable loser in movies like Meet the Parents, detestable villains in Dodgeball, or caricatures of models in Zoolander. In fact, he’s given quite a few outstanding dramatic performances in everything from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to the gutting Permanent Midnight.

Mo'Nique

In addition to being a prolific comedian with multiple stand-up specials including The Queens of Comedy, as well as having a lead role on the long-running sitcom, The Parkers, Mo’Nique is also an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA winner thanks to her lights out performance in the 2009 drama film, Precious. 

Bette Midler

Bette Midler has made us laugh ourselves out of our seats countless times over the years, but her performance as Cecilia Bloom in Beaches has been making everyone cry for decades now. It’s impossible to listen to “Wind Beneath My Wings” without thinking of that masterful dramatic turn.

Richard Pryor

Legendary stand-up comedian Richard Pryor had a series of comedies with frequent collaborator Gene Wilder at the height of his career, but the comic also gave a dynamic dramatic performance in Paul Schrader’s 1978 crime film, Blue Collar. The movie, which showed the actor’s range, also featured Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto. Talk about a cast.

Lily Tomlin

Lily Tomlin, an actress who continues to thrive decades into her career, is best known for performances in comedies like 9 to 5, shows like Grace and Frankie, and various stand-up specials and Broadway productions. But Tomlin can also pull off dramatic roles like her Academy Award-nominated performance in Nashville, her feature film debut.

Albert Brooks

Albert Brooks is wonderfully hilarious in movies like Finding Nemo, Broadcast News, and so many others, but his trademark happy-go-lucky and funny sensibility and charm went out the window with his bone-chilling portrayal of Bernie Rose in Drive. Ice cold.

Marlon Wayans

Here’s something wild to think about: Marlon Wayans played the stereotypical stoner Shorty in the parody horror flick Scary Movie and Tyrone in Darren Aronofsky’s devastating drama Requiem for a Dream in the same year. During the latter film’s development, the star of The Wayan Bros., the comedian had to go through five auditions.

Kristen Wiig

Some of Kristen Wiig’s best movies are those that lean more towards the dramatic side of the spectrum, with Mother, The Skeleton Twins, and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty all coming to mind. This isn’t to say her comedic work isn’t great, as Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is legitimately one of the funniest movies of the 2020s.

Jason Segel

Jason Segel, through shows like Freaks & Geeks and How I Met Your Mother, has shown time after time that he’s undeniably hilarious. However, through work in movies like The End of the Tour and the 1999 dramedy SLC Punk, the actor has proven he can handle more dramatic performances as good as the rest.

Steve Martin

On top of being the all-time best SNL host, Steve Martin is also one of the most prolific actors of our time. But in addition to all of that, the actor, writer, musician, and what we can assume is a generally good hang, Martin can also pull off more dramatic roles. This can best be seen in the 2005 romantic drama, Shopgirl, which was based on one of his novellas.

Maya Rudolph

Two years after her Saturday Night Live tenure came to an end, Maya Rudolph gave a passionate and beautiful performance in Sam Mendes’ 2009 dramedy, Away We Go. The role, which saw her play the pregnant wife trying to find a place to settle down, allowed the comedic actress to play a more grounded, and sincere character.

Goldie Hawn

In 1991, Goldie Hawn took on the role of Adrienne Saunders in Damian Harris’ psychological thriller, Deceived, which saw her play the wife of the manipulative Frank Sullivan (John Heard in a devilish role). Though the movie wasn’t all that well-received, Hawn was still masterful in it, showing a great deal of range in the process.

Seth Rogen

Seth Rogen has given one wonderfully funny performance after another for nearly the past quarter-century, but the actor and writer behind movies like Superbad and Pineapple Express can handle his own when it comes to drama. Danny Boyle’s 2015 biopic, Steve Jobs, saw the comedian portray Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, which required him to go head-to-head with Michael Fassbender’s tech CEO in some extremely intense scenes.

Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart made the jump to serious drama in The Upside in 2019, an English remake of the french film, The Intouchables. However, this wouldn’t be a one and done type situation for the comedian. He would give another emotional performance in the 2021 Netflix drama, Fatherhood, in which he played a widower trying to raise his daughter in the wake of his wife’s sudden passing.

Jack Black

After dipping his toes in the drama waters with his charming performance in The Holiday, Jack Black played his darkest role yet in the 2011 crime biopic, Bernie. In Richard Linklater’s movie, Black took on the role of mortician Bernhardt “Bernie” Tiede, who was later convicted of murdering his friend and millionaire Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLane). 

Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick is best known for her starring roles in musical comedies like the Pitch Perfect franchise and the Trolls animated movies, but the comedic actress has also given commanding dramatic performances. This includes the likes of Up in the Air, 50/50, Alice Darling, and A Simple Favor, all of which show her dynamic range.

Awkwafina

If you look at Awkwafina’s best movies, you’ll see a lot of great comedies like Crazy Rich Asians, Ocean’s Eight, and Quiz Lady. However, you’ll also find Lulu Wang’s 2019 drama, The Farewell, which saw the comedian pull off a whole range of emotions throughout its story. In fact, she even won a Golden Globe for her performance.

John Lithgow

John Lithgow has had a remarkable career full of great comedies, including 3rd Rock from the Sun and Shrek, but he’s also given some impressive dramatic performances throughout his career. Be it shows like Dexter and The Crown or a list of movies that includes Killers of the Flower Moon, Terms of Endearment, and Interstellar, the decorated actor has always been able to pull off some impressive feats.

Jerry Lewis

One-half of Martin and Lewis with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis was one of the funniest names in show business throughout his career, be it with his Vegas shows or various movies like The Nutty Professor and The Ladies Man. But Lewis also gave a terrific dramatic performance in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, which saw the legendary comedian play a late night TV host kidnapped by an obsessed fan (played by Robert De Niro).

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston will always be remembered for her take on Rachel Green in the landmark sitcom, Friends, but the actress has since taken on some rather dramatic roles that worked quite well. One of the most notable is the 2014 drama, Cake, which saw Aniston take on the role of a woman coming to terms with the death of her son.

Jonah Hill

Jonah Hill spent the better part of the 2000s appearing in comedies like Superbad, Grandma’s Boy, and Accepted, but he started to take more dramatic roles in the 2010s. One of the most promising was his part in 2011’s Moneyball, which saw him play Billy Beane’s (Brad Pitt) incredibly intelligent (and sometimes awkward) assistant to great effect.

Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan is lights out in comedies like the Night at the Museum movies and Tropic Thunder, but he was equally as good in the 2013 drama film, Philomena, which saw him take on the role of a journalist helping a woman (played by Judi Dench) track down the son she was force to give up for adoption decades earlier.

Each of these comedians found a way to turn audience expectations on their head and give us some all-time great dramatic performances. It’s safe to say we’ll never forget some of these beloved, and wonderfully emotional roles and the people who brought them to life.