20 Awesome TV Cameos Where A Celeb Guest Star Went On The Show Of A Fan/Friend
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Celebrity TV show cameos never get old! For example, remember when Britney Spears played herself in an epic Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode?
This appearance was one of the best of the '90s!
Another great cameo was Chris Rock's guest role as a guidance counselor in the series he co-created and narrated, Everybody Hates Chris.
And Brad Pitt famously appeared on Friends alongside his then-wife, Jennifer Aniston.
So many cameos are entertaining, but these 20 are even more fun to watch knowing that the celebs appeared in TV shows made by their fans or friends.
1.Frank Sinatra in Who's the Boss?
Frank played himself in a 1989 episode of Who's the Boss? called "Party Double." In real life, one of the show's stars, Tony Danza, is a dedicated fan of the late legendary singer. In 2017, Tony posted a throwback photo on Twitter of himself, his family members, and his costars on set with Frank.
"One of the greatest days of all time," Tony wrote. "The day I introduced my mother to Frank Sinatra, and he did a guest spot on Who's the Boss?"
2.Taylor Swift in New Girl
Taylor's New Girl cameo as a character named Elaine was a dream come true for the show's creator, Liz Meriwether. In a 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Liz called herself "a huge fan" of the singer-songwriter. She then opened up about her nerves over being introduced to Taylor, whom she said "nailed it" when she arrived on set.
“I was fully geeking out about meeting [Taylor]," Liz said. "I didn’t go to meet her right away because I kind of had to compose myself — there’s a 14-year-old girl inside of me.”
3.Bob Hope in The Golden Girls
Bob appeared as himself in an episode of The Golden Girls in which Rose (Betty White) believes the comedian is her birth father. In real life, Betty was friends with Bob and personally asked him to be on the show after the creator of the series, Susan Harris, asked her to do so.
4.The Beach Boys in Full House
Beach Boys members Al Jardine, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston were featured in the 1988 Full House episode, "Beach Boy Bingo." Mike said in an Awesome 98 interview from 2016 that John Stamos is a longtime fan of the music group, and John and the band have been friends since the early '80s.
In 2022, Al told Fox News that John asked them to be on the show, and "thanks to that episode, a whole new audience discovered The Beach Boys."
5.Ed Sheeran in Game of Thrones
One reason why Ed played a Lannister soldier in Season 7 of Game of Thrones is because a star of the show, Maisie Williams, is an avid listener of his music. Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff said he and his crew members had this cameo role in mind for a while before they were able to bring the musician on the series.
“We knew that Maisie was a big fan of Ed Sheeran, and for years, we've been trying to get him on the show so we can surprise Maisie,” David said in 2017, per Entertainment Weekly. “This year we finally did it.”
6.Olivia Newton-John in Glee.
In 2010, it was announced by E! News that Olivia would be appearing in Glee's second season. During her time on the musical series, Olivia sang a duet of her '80s hit, "Physical," with Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester. Jane told E! she is a huge fan of Olivia's work and was thrilled to collaborate with the iconic performer.
"I'm so excited I can't see straight!," Jane said. "[Olivia] provided the soundtrack for my tortured adolescence. Her charitable work and commitment to making others' lives and the life of the planet better is so inspiring."
7.Christian Slater in The Office
When John Krasinski directed an episode of The Office in Season 6 called "Sabre," he reached out to Christian Slater's agent and asked if the Heathers star would want to make a cameo appearance. Christian agreed and played himself in a Sabre video that was presented to Dunder Mifflin employees. In May 2022, John opened up about how much it meant to him to work with Christian, whose work he's enjoyed since his childhood years.
"One of the greatest memories for me in directing this episode was directing that industrial video for Sabre. I mean, just being on set with Christian Slater was a pretty big highlight of my career," John said, via the Office Ladies podcast. "Not only was he one of my favorite actors growing up, but he was the nicest, nicest human being and was such a big fan of the show, and you could tell. He actually just exuded this excitement to be on set, totally understood the joke and knew what he was doing, and it was just so much fun."
8.Jesse McCartney in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
Suite Life characters London (Brenda Song) and Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) fangirled over Jesse when he was visiting the Tipton Hotel in a 2005 episode of the Disney Channel show. Brenda revealed in 2022 that in real life, she and Ashley were also major fans of the singer-songwriter.
"I'll go back to my 17-year-old self — the Jesse McCartney episode was super exciting because at the time, me and Ashley were just in complete shock," Brenda said when asked about her favorite Suite Life guest stars. "I remember we had to do a photo with him, and she's like, 'We're standing next to him. You're standing on one side, I'm standing on the other.' That was so memorable because he was really sweet, but it was also really a fangirl moment."
9.Michelle Obama in Black-ish
Michelle did a guest spot for the Season 8 premiere of Black-ish in 2022, playing herself as she encounters Dre (Anthony Anderson) and Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) at a fundraiser and visits their home for dinner. In a 2022 interview with WSJ Magazine, Tracee said she asked Michelle, whom she is close with in real life, to appear in the show alongside her.
"It was wonderful," Tracee said of collaborating with Michelle. "She and I are friends. It was a phone call I made. We got to do really important subject matter that's mixed in with fun, so it's receivable."
10.Jonathan Taylor Thomas in Last Man Standing
15 years after his last appearance alongside his longtime TV costar, Tim Allen, in Home Improvement, Jonathan acted in four episodes of Tim's sitcom, Last Man Standing. The former teen heartthrob had been shadowing the director of Last Man Standing when he was asked to perform in the series. After Jonathan said yes to the request, Tim "was shocked, because...he's just shy," Tim said to Yahoo! TV in 2013.
"It was too fricking much," Tim added. "I'm an emotional guy sometimes. I just adore Jonathan. I adore all those boys [from Home Improvement]. ... I resist any kind of description, because it sounds cheesy, but it was adorable watching [Jonathan] there. It was so much fun having him on the set, but he's there a lot, anyway. Of course, I tell him he's probably just there for the craft services. I tell him he probably stops by, yeah, for shadowing, but then he just gets a turkey sandwich and goes home."
11.Lin-Manuel Miranda in Curb Your Enthusiasm
Lin was in two 2017 Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, during which he gains artistic control over the fictional musical created by Larry David, Fatwa!, and some conflict ensues between the two characters. When an executive producer of the show, Jeff Schaffer, discussed Lin's cameo, he explained that there is a mutual admiration of each other's work between Lin and Larry.
"Larry is a huge fan of Lin’s, and Lin, luckily, is a huge fan of Larry’s," Jeff told the Hollywood Reporter in 2017. "So everybody wanted it to work out, and somehow, it did. I really, truly don’t know what we would have done if [Lin] had just said, 'Nah, I’m good fellas.' He gave us enough time to do everything we needed, very generously. We wanted to do a lot with him, so they were some packed days."
12.Dolly Parton in Hannah Montana
Dolly, who is Miley Cyrus' godmother and close with Miley in real life, also played the "We Can't Stop" singer's godmother in Hannah Montana. This role was created after a request was made by Miley, Dolly told Vanity Fair in 2020.
"[Miley] told them...'I want my Aunt Dolly on here,'" Dolly said. "So they wrote me in the show, and we just worked so great together, and I was on a few times."
"Thanks to her, I had a whole new following of people that were turned on to me, these young, little kids that were her fans and kids that were fans of just the whole show," Dolly added.
13.Leonardo DiCaprio in Saturday Night Live
During Jonah Hill's 2014 Saturday Night Live monologue, his friend and Wolf of Wall Street costar, Leonardo DiCaprio, emerged and made his first-ever Saturday Night Live appearance. The two recreated the famous Titanic pose, and Leo got to show off his humorous side on the sketch comedy series.
"I thought, Leo's never hosted SNL, he's never been on the SNL stage. And I was like, 'You know, you're so funny, and people don't get to see how funny you are,'" Jonah said of the cameo on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2014. "He's such a funny guy."
14.Keith Hernandez in Seinfeld
Former New York Mets player Keith Hernandez was in a 1992 Seinfeld episode which was later released as a two-parter for syndication. During the episode, Keith briefly dated Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), while Kramer (Michael Richards) and Newman (Wayne Knight) claimed the ex-athlete had spit on them when Newman heckled Keith after a past Mets loss. In 2017, Keith told media personality Colin Cowherd he was approached to appear in the '90s sitcom because Jerry Seinfeld is a big fan of his.
"I was [Jerry's] favorite player. Jerry's a Brooklyn guy, a Met fan," Keith said. "He created the episode, and Larry David had a lot to do with it, and there [were] three other writers."
15.Tupac in A Different World
In 1993, Tupac did a cameo part as Piccolo, an ex-boyfriend of Lena James (Jada Pinkett Smith), in A Different World. Tupac and Jada were very close friends in real life ever since they went to high school together. Jada spoke about the late rapper's guest role with Entertainment Weekly in 2018 and said she and Tupac "were always trying to look for opportunities to work together."
16.RuPaul in Broad City
RuPaul guest starred as Marcel, the boss at a restaurant where Ilana (Ilana Glazer) worked, in three 2017 Broad City episodes. Ilana, who was both a co-creator and star of the comedy series alongside Abbi Jacobson, told Entertainment Weekly in September 2017 that RuPaul was "so funny and flamboyant and so alive" in the part. In addition, Ilana had voiced her love for the RuPaul's Drag Race host in an interview a couple months prior.
“Somehow, RuPaul made a reality show that’s empowering and anarchist and punk, authentically punk," Ilana said of RuPaul's Drag Race in a July 2017 Vanity Fair article.
17.Kesha in Jane the Virgin
Kesha portrayed Annabelle, a neighbor of Jane's (Gina Rodriguez), in a 2015 Jane the Virgin cameo part. An executive producer of the series, Jennie Snyder Urman, revealed in a statement that the show's cast and crew were all supporters of Kesha and felt delighted to have the pop star on set.
"We are so thrilled Kesha will be appearing on Jane," Jennie said, per E! News. "We are all huge fans of hers, and we are so excited to welcome her to the Jane the Virgin family."
18.David Bowie in Extras
David was featured in Ricky Gervais' comedy series, Extras, back in 2006. In the cameo role, David wrote a less-than-flattering song about Ricky's character, Andy Millman, called "Little Fat Man." The year the episode aired, Ricky explained the significance of David's cameo, saying that the late singer-songwriter had had a strong impact on him for decades.
"He’s a hero, and I feel obliged to admit how important he has been to me," Ricky said of David to the Telegraph. “Apart from Muhammad Ali, there hasn’t been anyone else who has come close as an icon. I’ve been a fan for about 35 years and now a friend for a couple.”
19.Bob Dylan in Dharma & Greg
The illustrious singer-songwriter was in the final scene of a Season 3 episode of Dharma & Greg. For the guest spot, Bob jammed out with band members, as well as Dharma (Jenna Elfman), who was auditioning to join his group. Bob took on the guest role after a friend of his who was a writer of the series, Eddie Gorodetsky, asked him to be on the show.
20.B.J. Novak in The Mindy Project
B.J. was for a time an executive producer of The Mindy Project, which was created by and starred his Office costar and real-life close friend, Mindy Kaling. He also guest starred on the show as Jamie, a character who dated Mindy but had a close bond with a female friend that complicated the romance. This storyline sought inspiration from B.J. and Mindy's friendship off screen.
"I don’t know that it’s a direct analogy, but it’s definitely inspired by our relationship," B.J. said to Entertainment Weekly in 2013 of the plot surrounding his and Mindy's characters. "We are pretty inseparable best friends with a lot of chemistry ourselves, and we’re not dating. Whenever we date anyone else, I think there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship — 'Everyone seems to think you two might be a couple, and I don’t mean to get in the way. Are you sure you’re not dating? Are you sure you’re not going to end up dating?' It’s such a common thing to have that platonic best friend that becomes a little weird when you start dating someone."
