Six Of The Best: Playing It Straight

The Program, the incredible and incredulous story of Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace in spectacularly public fashion at the hands of a tenacious Sunday Times journalist is released digitally from February 8^th and on Blu-ray and DVD from February 15^th. At its heart, as well as a mesmerising performance from Ben Foster as the deluded cyclist, lies Chris O’Dowd’s stoic turn as reporter David Walsh. A polished performance in its own right, the film marked the Irish comic actor’s largest ‘straight’ role to date, but he’s by no means the first funny man to come over all serious:

Chris O’Dowd

Of course, The Program isn’t exactly O’Dowd’s only foray into serious drama – he crops up in abortion drama Vera Drake, plays it largely straight in The Sapphires and impressed in Calvary – but we defy anyone not to think first of his career-making performance as Roy in The IT Crowd, his Emmy Award-winning creation Moone Boy or his breakthrough in the brilliant Bridesmaids, all of which showcase his impressive comedic chops. A sharp juxtaposition, then, to see him as whistleblower David Walsh in The Program, a man who singlehandedly brought down one of the 21^st century’s most undeserving heroes with blistering style.

Jerry Lewis

The man best known and beloved for decades of comedy roles, both solo outings such as the perennial Nutty Professor and a long screen partnership with Dean Martin, made an attempt at a serious role with The Day The Clown Died, an experiment that went so badly wrong the film has still never seen a release. But Lewis redeemed himself nearly a decade later with his performance as the object of Robert De Niro’s obsession in the brilliant The King Of Comedy. Playing a Jonny Carson-esque chat show king, Lewis brought a tired bitterness to the role that saw him stand toe-to-toe with a top of his game de Niro.

Steve Carell

With a long career of put-upon comedy characters such as The 40-Year Old Virgin, Anchorman and Date Night, Steve Carell carved out a lucrative comedy niche on the fringes of Judd Apatow and Will Ferrell’s respective ‘gangs’. The Office kept Carell front and centre in people’s minds as a comic performer while more wistful film roles in the likes of Seeking A Friend At The End Of The World opposite Keira Knightley acted as a forbear to a later assault on drama with the powerful Foxcatcher and, more recently, The Big Short.

Jim Carrey

Known the world over for his rubber face, energetic performances and for single-handedly introducing the world to Cameron Diaz, Carrey is the consummate comedic performer who also manages to find his way back to broad laugh-riots but he too has rung the changes with a number of devastatingly effective dramatic roles. He might have started carefully with a role that blurred the line between drama and comedy in The Truman Show, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind really proved his credentials. He’s not above the odd bit of dramatic horror, either, as the little-seen 23 shows…

Robin Williams

Arguably the high priest of mixing comedy and drama, the genius of Robin Williams at his best was at home in either camp. Sure, he made a name as one of the best stand-up comedians ever and will be forever adored for some of his family comedies (not to mention barnstorming ad-libbing in Good Morning Vietnam), but Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, Awakenings and less-seen fare such as One Hour Photo and Insomnia prove that Williams at his best is hard to beat whatever the genre.

Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor’s personal life might have been as dramatic as hell thanks to a hefty set of addictions, but his cinematic output was largely limited to broad (and often very, very funny) comedies. Brewster’s Millions and a repeated partnership with Gene Wilder are some of the highlights and whilst Superman 3 is arguably a fairly terrible film, Pryor’s hapless ‘villain’ is a high point. But, lest we forget, he did have dramatic props that were evidenced as early as his affecting bit part in Taxi Driver (even if he did pull a gun on Paul Schrader). His cameo in David Lynch’s Lost Highway is pretty hard to forget, too…

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John McArthur

Editor-in-Chief at Moviescramble. A Fan of all things cinematic with a love of Film Noir, Sci-Fi and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill. He hopes to grow up some day.