The short shelf life of the comedic actor's popularity
 

Have you ever noticed this? Every so often a comedic actor will have huge success with a handful of movies and become extremely popular. Then for a variety of reasons, the popularity will just be gone. Either the actor was in a huge bomb or the audience just didn't like him anymore. Whatever the case, this happens all the time and it happens quickly, like within a couple years. Then the actor is forced to make a choice. He can keep making shitty movies, he can try a different type of role, or he can just fade away making brief cameos in other movies. I'm not really going anywhere with this, but it's interesting:


Eddie Murphy

Hit It Big:48 Hrs.
Trading Places
Coming to America
Beverly Hills Cop
Coming to America

Flamed Out:
The Golden Child
Harlem Nights
Another 48 Hrs.
Boomerang

Decision:
Kept making comedies. Scored hits with the Nutty Professor and Shrek, but most of his movies are bombs.

Adam Sandler

Hit It Big:
Billy Madison
Happy Gilmore
The Wedding Singer

Flamed Out:
Bulletproof
Little Nicky

Decision:
Made more mediocre comedies, but took on an occasional serious role including an outstanding performance in Punch-Drunk Love


Jim Carrey

Hit It Big:
Ace Venture: Pet Detective
The Mask
Dumb & Dumber

Flamed Out:
The Cable Guy

Decision:
Came back with more serious roles in The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, then bombed again with The Grinch and Me, Myself, and Irene, then rebounded with Bruce Almighty and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and now making average to terrible movies


And then there's a bunch more that I'm too lazy to do now:
Ben Stiller
Will Ferrell
Vince Vaughn
Mike Myers
Chris Farley was definitely on his way before he died


I dunno, it's interesting to me how quickly guys move and out of the spotlight, but it's especially quick in comedy. Dramatic actors can be relevant for decades.

I think it's pretty much a guarantee that the Green Lantern is going to be awful and kill Seth Rogen's career.

I think it has to do with the way comedy changes. A guy does his one bit well for a while, and then someone else comes along and then he's the new Hollywood Funnyman. The other guys are probably still funny if you had a conversation with them, but in terms of movies they aren't as funny because A) the material they're using is pretty much recycled B) we're ready for the next funny guy. You can only laugh at the same joke so long before you start hating it. Next on the list will probably be Seth Rogan and his group.

Jack Black

This is semi-related, but maybe even a new topic entirely. Why is it that a successful comedy TV show can go for longer than the span of a comedic actor's popularity? Or can it? I don't want to include animated shows like Simpons or South Park so much in this, but if you look at Fraiser, M*A*S*H, or the Office, you have shows that are have way more footage than the movie careers of the comedic actors in question.

You could argue that it's because the comedic actor movies are about being vehicles for the actor, and in a sense that's probably true. That trend rises and falls and once it falls it's usually because there is some other star that has replaced him.

TV writing is also a lot different than movie writing. You get an entire season for gags instead of two hours. If you bomb one episode you can make it up the next. If a comedic actor bombs at the box office, that may be it for him.

I shouldn't discount that TV is free, and much of the time as funny as movies. If movies aren't going to be funny, why go see them when you can rent something or watch TV on your home theater?

Comedy takes talents and smarts, if you have both chances are you want to be a real actor.

Look at Jamie Foxx, not a huge fan but an example.

Billy Crystal used to be in everything.

I think it has to do with the type of comedic actor they are.

If their only roles involve larger than life characters that are generally the same (Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, etc...) they're gonna fizzle out quickly.

But if they excel in comedic dialogue, I think they can last longer. I'm hoping this is the case for Seth Rogen, and even though he always plays the same guy, he relies on consistently funny and varied dialogue, rather than sight gags and physical comedy

Well then it's a damn good thing he won't actually be playing in a Green Lanturn movie. Whew.

green hornet whatever shut up nerd

Not all green super heroes are created equal!

Robin Williams

I saw A Series of Unfortunate Events for the first time a few weeks back and thought it was great. Jim Carrey still has it in my opinion. I think these type of people suffer from a lack of diverse roles or the actors themselves have little range. Sometimes you can watch one movie and then watch another and feel like you have watched the same movie. That was how I felt about Adam Sandler but then Click came out it seemed refreshing for an Adam Sandler movie.

Dane Cook was ok in supporting roles, such as Waiting, but when he got the lead the movies were awful. Don't know if it's necessarily because of him though.

Comedy is much harder to keep fresh mainly because the initial laugh or two are going to be the best at how random they come out in a film (with to without the setup to the joke scene). The more you give away in a preview, the fewer fresh jokes left in the film and those preview jokes start to become less funny.

It's also much harder to have a variety set of comedic characters from 1 person without it starting to all look the same (deadpan) or copying other stuff (like most sequels try in comedies).

Comedy actors generally get well known by playing the same type of character/roles over and over. People get sick of it, and thus their popularity goes down.

Lock Jaw hit the nail on the head pretty much.

CHEVY CHASE IS IMMORTAL

I'll preface this by saying I personally can't stand Dane Cook. Objectively, though, I think the reason explaining your comment is that his supporting roles weren't necessarily written FOR him. They were well-written supporting comedy characters. But once he started starring in movies, the writers were writing with "What would fans of Dane Cook think is funny in a movie?" and so they write a 90-minute film that dilutes what made people like him in the first place.

Michael Cera will be a victim of this soon enough.

And I do like him.

Will Ferrell

Hit It Big:
Zoolander
Elf
OldSchool
Ron Burgandy

Flamed Out:
Bewitched
Kicking and Screaming
Semi-Pro

Anthony Anderson is another one.