| 1 | ->''"Since when did our school become some bizarre white version of ''Film/{{Fame}}''?"'' |
| 2 | -->-- '''Alli Bhandari''', ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Some screen actors have talents other than acting--singing, dancing, what have you[[note]]Many, many actors learn singing and dancing to some degree at drama school[[/note]]--and the show they're in will want to make use of it at some point. In most cases, this doesn't derail the story (much), often leading to viewers exclaiming, "I didn't know [performer] could [sing/dance/whatever]!" However, it's not unheard of for the plot to stop dead just to allow such an actor (usually the lead) to show off. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The line between this and CastTheExpert can be quite thin indeed. Contrast [[IronyAsSheIsCast Irony As They Are Cast]] (in which an actor who is good at something [singing, dancing, etc] in real life has to play a character who is not good at whatever the talent is). Show-offy moments that center around brazenly exploiting star's beauty or sex appeal are usually classified as {{Fanservice}}. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | !!Examples: |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 12 | |
| 13 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 14 | * Subverted in ''Manga/CaseClosed'', where Conan/Shinichi is shown to be a ''horrible'' singer who can't hold a tune in a bucket. His voice actor, however, Creator/MinamiTakayama, is a singer and a member of the pop group Two-Mix. |
| 15 | * The DoItYourselfThemeTune in ''Manga/CellsAtWork'', which in Japanese is sung by the voice actors of the characters who also happen to be singers (namely, Creator/KanaHanazawa as Red and Creator/DaisukeOno as Killer T Cell), gets a translation for the English dub, which means Creator/CheramiLeigh (Red) and Creator/RobbieDaymond (T) get to show off their singing skills. |
| 16 | * ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': |
| 17 | ** In ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'', Mimi is required to sing to wake up a sleeping [=ShogunGekomon=] in one episode. Her Japanese VA, Creator/AiMaeda, sang the ending songs for most of the series. |
| 18 | ** And then in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', Ken going to Mexico during the World Tour arc was so that Creator/RomiPark could speak some Spanish. |
| 19 | ** In the ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' movie ''[[Recap/DigimonTamersM2RunawayLocomon Runaway Locomon]]'', Rika gets a song, which gives Creator/FumikoOrikasa and Creator/MelissaFahn a chance to show your their singing talent. |
| 20 | * Princess Millhiore of ''Anime/DogDays'' is voiced by Creator/YuiHorie. So naturally, she's an IdolSinger who puts on multiple concerts throughout the series. |
| 21 | * During Episode 8 of ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'', Pravda Team's XO Nonna leads the team in singing the Russian song Katyusha and does a good job of it; her seiyuu, Creator/SumireUesaka, is a Russian language major. Taking it one step further, an official tweet tells how Nonna singing the Cossack Lullaby in episode 9 was an ad lib by Sumire; the original script only called for her to sing any lullaby. |
| 22 | * It's in the story, but ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' deserves a mention. We all knew by that point how well Creator/AyaHirano sings, but the dub did a translation so Creator/WendeeLee could do her part. |
| 23 | ** Parodied with Konata in a few of ''Anime/LuckyStar'''s endings. She has a beautiful mature singing voice when she tries, but then there's the SoBadItsGood rendition of [[Anime/DragonBallZ Cha-La Head-Cha-La]]... |
| 24 | ** Also happens in ''Manga/DeathNote'', where Misa suddenly gets a song number to showcase Aya Hirano's talents. In the English dub, they got Creator/ShannonChanKent, who also has a good deal of experience singing. |
| 25 | * In ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', [[ActingForTwo both]] China and Taiwan are voiced by Creator/YukiKaida, who is fluent in Chinese and shows it (especially when compared to the awkwardness of some of the other characters' gratuitous foreign language lyrics). In fact, she is also fluent in English as shown by some of her speaking roles such as Angela Burton of ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', and French. |
| 26 | * ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', [[AudioAdaptation Sound Stage 3]]. Fate Testarossa, as voiced by Creator/NanaMizuki, who by that time had established her singing career by debuting #2 on the Weekly Singles Oricon charts with "[[AnimeThemeSong Eternal Blaze]]". [[FestivalEpisode Flower-Viewing Festival]] with [[KaraokeBox karaoke]]. Naturally, Fate gets bullied by Signum and the rest of the cast to take center stage and sing for them. |
| 27 | ** For that matter, if the cast list of any anime contains Creator/NanaMizuki, it likely has either an [[Anime/ValvraveTheLiberator opening]], an [[Manga/StrawberryOneHundredPercent ending]], an [[Manga/ShugoChara insert song]] or [[Manga/RosarioPlusVampire any]] [[Anime/{{Symphogear}} combination]] [[VisualNovel/WhiteAlbum of]] [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia the]] [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha three]] sung in part by her. |
| 28 | ** And in an episode of ''Anime/{{Symphogear}}'', former enka contest winner Creator/NanaMizuki gets an opportunity to sing enka. |
| 29 | * Both the opening and ending song of ''Manga/MonsterMusume'' are sung by the characters' voice actresses: the OP by the main harem girls and the ED by the members of the MON group and Ms. Smith (the latter song is actually credited to "Smith with MON"). |
| 30 | * Creator/TiffanyGrant, the English voice of Asuka in ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', knows German; as a result, her dialogue in the original series got a lot of extra GratuitousGerman added to it. |
| 31 | ** Ditto with Asuka's Mexican voice actress in the Mexican Spanish dub, the late Norma Echevarría. She even added German ''profanity'' not included in the Japanese or even English versions. |
| 32 | * An uncommon use in an English dub: Creator/EricStuart did some singing in a couple of episodes, and he also provided some extra vocal tracks for the western fans of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries''; the man has his own band. |
| 33 | * ''Anime/SailorMoon'' has a song performed by Minako Aino called "Route Venus", which, in the Viz dub, got a localised version, performed by Minako's voice actress, Creator/CheramiLeigh. |
| 34 | * 'The ending themes for 'Seikon no Qwaser'' season 1, titled "Passionate squall" and "Wishes Hypocrites", serve as a way for several of the show's seiyuu - Creator/AyumiFujimura ([[Manga/MaidSama Misaki]]), Creator/AkiToyosaki ([[Manga/KOn Yui]]), Creator/MinoriChihara ([[Anime/GaReiZero Kagura]], [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Yuki]]), Creator/YokoHikasa ([[Manga/KOn Mio]]), and Creator/AyaHirano ([[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Haruhi]]) - to show off their combined singing skills. |
| 35 | * A {{Filler}} episode of the ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'' anime had Lina and Amelia sing a duet together; Music/MegumiHayashibara (Lina) is an accomplished singer (it helps that she sings all of the show's opening and closing songs), as is the lesser-known Masami Suzuki (Amelia), who would eventually sing the opening and ending to the ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' OVA. Zelgadis (Creator/HikaruMidorikawa) helps them with the "test run" of the song; his actor is also a well-known singer. |
| 36 | [[/folder]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 39 | * ''WesternAnimation/ArloTheAlligatorBoy'' features a half-alligator boy with an astounding singing talent; it's no doubt he was voiced by ''Series/AmericanIdol'' runner-up Michael J. Woodard. Also, the character Bertie is voiced by Mary Lambert, who is a professional singer as well. Arlo's dad Ansel is voiced by Vincent Rodriguez III, who is not only a professional singer, but a ''dancer'' as well, and he shows his skills during the "Better Life" number. |
| 40 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBadGuys2022'': Mr. Piranha is voiced by Creator/AnthonyRamos of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' and ''Film/InTheHeights'' fame, and gets a chance to show off his singing chops with "Good Tonight". |
| 41 | * In ''WesternAnimation/Epic2013'' Steven Tyler of Music/{{Aerosmith}} gets to sing as Nim. |
| 42 | * Believe it or not, but in ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse'', Creator/SimonPegg has a little piece of music as Buck, singing a version of Figaro's Aria from ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville''. And it sounds ''really'' good. |
| 43 | * Pretty much all of the cast of ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' had to be recast for the Maori translation of the movie. ''Except'' for native New Zealanders [[Music/FlightOfTheConchords Jemaine Clement]], Creator/TemueraMorrison and Creator/RachelHouse, who are all fluent in both Te Roa and English. Likewise, in the Hawaiian-language version of the movie, Creator/AuliiCravalho and Music/NicoleScherzinger reprise their roles as Moana and Sina, both being of Native Hawaiian extraction and fluent in the language. |
| 44 | * ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': |
| 45 | ** Three members of 4*Town are voiced by professional singer-actors Creator/JordanFisher (Robaire), Creator/FinneasOConnell (Jesse), and Josh Levi (Aaron Z.). |
| 46 | ** Miriam, who sings "Nobody Like U" at one point to cheer Mei up, is voiced by singer Ava Morse. |
| 47 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'': Bowser is voiced by Jack Black, who has experience as a musician and vocalist. In the film itself, Bowser sings about his love of Princess Peach. |
| 48 | [[/folder]] |
| 49 | |
| 50 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 51 | * This was actually the norm in UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood. With film in its infancy and television not being invented yet, most early film stars got their start on the stage. While many of them were pure actors, many others started their careers as singers, dancers or comedians, hence the prevalence of gratuitous musical numbers in early talkies or slapstick physical comedy in otherwise dramatic films. That's just what the stars knew best. |
| 52 | * Anne from ''Beyond the Farthest Star'' is a {{goth}} brought up by a Christian evangelical family, whose father criticises her for her "[[RockMeAsmodeus vampire]] [[RottenRockAndRoll music]]" rehearsals with her classmates in their garage. In one scene of the film that focuses on her band, we're given a glimpse of her actress Creator/CheramiLeigh's singing and guitar skills, albeit only for the chorus before her father interrupts her. They actually came up with an original song for the scene, titled "Disappearing Act", but it has never been released in any capacity (most likely due to Cherami's live action career [[StarDerailingRole grinding to a halt]] after the following year's ''Film/NotCool''). Her vocal ability is showcased once again near the end of the film [[spoiler:when Anne ''finally'' sings Hymn 567 (O Holy Night) to wake her father up from a coma in hospital.]] |
| 53 | * In every one of his movies, Norman Wisdom insisted that his bumbling character break into romantic or sentimental songs in spite of how inappropriate they were to his character. On the radio show ''Radio/DesertIslandDiscs'', he immodestly chose to take his own songs to the island in nearly every case. |
| 54 | * Creator/ValKilmer is quite skilled at finger walking: rolling something through and over his fingers. A coin in ''Billy The Kid'', two coins while standing and walking in ''Film/RealGenius'', a poker chip in ''Film/{{Tombstone}}'', drumsticks in ''Film/{{The Doors|1991}}'', and a crowbar in ''Film/TopSecret''. |
| 55 | * In ''Film/{{Twilight}}'', Creator/RobertPattinson plays the (very plot-related) song he wrote. It's not that bad. |
| 56 | * Creator/RobertPattinson also composed and played most of the music for ''Film/HowToBe'' (though it is intended to be a bit inept, as the character isn't supposed to be very talented). |
| 57 | * Used in ''Film/BadCompany2002'', where Creator/ChrisRock launches, unprovoked, into a monologue lifted word for word straight out of his stand up act. |
| 58 | * Creator/JenniferConnelly gets to play TheChanteuse in ''Film/DarkCity'', and she's quite good at it. She was dubbed in the theatrical version, for whatever reason, but her natural voice can be heard in the director's cut. |
| 59 | * Wrestling/JohnCena shows off his decent Mandarin in ''Film/{{Trainwreck}}''. By the time ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' came out, he was good enough to do interviews in it during the press tour. |
| 60 | * ''Film/DevonsGhostLegendOfTheBloodyBoy'' is a low-budget SlasherMovie with several gratuitous martial arts sequences thrown in, presumably to show off the skills of co-stars (and Franchise/PowerRangers alumni) Creator/JohnnyYongBosch and Karan Ashley. |
| 61 | * Creator/SteveMcQueenActor was big on this. |
| 62 | ** The entire motorcycle sequence in ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' was included due to the insistence of [=McQueen=], an avid motorcyclist. Note that the scene also involved [=McQueen=] playing one of the German pursuers, as the only person on the set capable of riding a motorcycle on the level of Steve [=McQueen=] was Steve [=McQueen=]. |
| 63 | ** The chase scene in ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'', where [=McQueen=], also a ''car'' enthusiast does quite a bit of his own stunt driving. He made a point of sitting far to the left in the driver's seat, without a seatbelt, so that his face would be clearly identifiable during the stunts. |
| 64 | ** [=McQueen=] was also behind the wheel for the racing film, ''Film/LeMans''. |
| 65 | * The Creator/MarxBrothers movies have musical interludes of Chico on the piano and Harpo on the harp [[OnceAnEpisode once in every feature]] (except for ''Film/DuckSoup'', which cuts their performance off quickly). In ''Film/HorseFeathers'', Groucho plays the guitar as a TakeThat to his brothers. |
| 66 | * In ''Film/StarskyAndHutch'', Creator/OwenWilson gets to show off his singing talent sometime near the middle of the movie. This iconic scene also pays homage to David Soul, who portrayed Hutch in the original TV series. |
| 67 | * The only possible reason for putting Kirk and Picard on horseback in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' is that Creator/WilliamShatner is not just a [[LargeHam variety of pig]]: he's also a damned good equestrian. |
| 68 | * The dune buggy sequence in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' was apparently included due to Creator/PatrickStewart's enthusiasm for off-road driving (he also commandeered a buggy in ''Film/Masterminds1997''). |
| 69 | * At the peak of Creator/RobinWilliams' career, all of his films went a bit out of their way to feature a scene of him doing a bunch of voices in rapid succession. They didn't have to work that hard to shoehorn them in; his scripts would often have a placeholder that just said "[[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny Robin can go off here.]]" By Williams' own admission he [[http://jonathanmccrea.com/2006/12/robin-williams-interview/ threw away the script]]. |
| 70 | * Zygmunt Malanowicz gets a few opportunities to display his skill at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_game five-finger fillet]] in ''Film/KnifeInTheWater''. The film also stands as a statement of director Roman Polanski's enthusiasm for sailing; at times it resembles an instructional video on the sport. |
| 71 | * In the book ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' most of the characters sing more or less all the time, but this was scrapped for [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the film versions]]. After hearing Billy Boyd sing "Delilah" at a karaoke bar, however, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens decided to let Pippin sing. Boyd picked a song from the books, wrote a tune for it, and the result was the scene where Pippin sings to Denethor. Funnily enough, the book specifies "''He was not asked to sing.''" The vocals are included on the three-disc expanded sets for each film, so if you want to hear Creator/LivTyler singing you know where to go. |
| 72 | * Creator/HarrisonFord worked as a carpenter before becoming an actor. He gets to display those skills in ''Film/{{Witness}}'', where he fixes a birdhouse, makes a toy for the kid and participates in a BarnRaising. |
| 73 | ** Ford also shows these respective skills in ''Film/TheMosquitoCoast'', in which he plays a radical, maverick inventor establishing his brand of civilization in a remote coastal town. |
| 74 | * Hilariously subverted in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'', where Creator/EddieMurphy [[StylisticSuck intentionally sings poorly]]. |
| 75 | * When Creator/BobNewhart appeared in the gritty UsefulNotes/WorldWarII drama ''Film/HellIsForHeroes'', a scene was written to show off [[NewhartPhoneCall his patented one-sided-telephone-conversation comedy routines]]. |
| 76 | * Creator/ChristopherLee: |
| 77 | ** According to his autobiography, he accepted the BigBad's role in ''Film/TheReturnOfCaptainInvincible'' because he felt he should at least once demonstrate his singing ability on screen. |
| 78 | ** Lee had his lightsaber made with a fencing grip in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' so he could show off his authentic fencing skills, though obviously most of his fights were performed by stuntmen. |
| 79 | ** In the 1986 comedy ''Film/{{Jocks}}'', Lee performs fencing moves as the foil, a college president who wants to cancel his school's tennis program because he prefers fencing. |
| 80 | ** ''Film/TheWickerMan1973'' has a scene of him displaying his singing ability. |
| 81 | ** In ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', he did his own stunt driving. |
| 82 | * Creator/EdHelms shows off his piano playing in ''Film/TheHangover''. |
| 83 | * Creator/MichellePfeiffer's baton-twirling in ''Film/{{Hairspray|2007}}''. In fact, the creators of the 2007 movie have said that a lot of the parts were cast to show off the cast members' musical skills, especially from people whose talent wasn't exceptionally well-known (Creator/JamesMarsden, Creator/AmandaBynes, Creator/ChristopherWalken), or who hadn't had much of a chance to show off in recent years (Pfeiffer, Creator/JohnTravolta, and even Music/QueenLatifah is nowadays seen by most as an actress more than a musician). |
| 84 | * The Russian dub of the ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' movies has Troy dubbed by Sergey Lazarev, already a popular Russian pop star at the time. This being ''High School Musical'', of course he gets to show off his singing. |
| 85 | * Creator/SeanConnery was a superb golfer, and his superlative swing largely won him the lead role in ''A Good Man in Africa''. It also shows up in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. |
| 86 | * ''Film/ValentinesDay'' shows off several of its actors' talents. Creator/TaylorLautner's martial art skills, Music/TaylorSwift's dancing, and Creator/GeorgeLopez's Spanglish. |
| 87 | * In the first ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'', Lupe the Cheerleader (played by rhythmic gymnast and Olympian Tamara Levinson) does all the impressive stunts while the other cheerleaders never do anything beyond basic choreography. In the same movie, Lana (Music/MandyMoore) sings a musical number. |
| 88 | * Creator/MandyMoore also gets a musical number as Hilary Faye in ''Film/{{Saved}}'', when her girl-band, The Christian Jewels, performs at a school assembly. |
| 89 | * ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'' does this particularly blatantly in a scene with Creator/PeterSellers and Creator/OrsonWelles. Peter Sellers puts on a range of accents, while Orson Welles fills his side with magic tricks (Welles was a keen amateur magician). None of it is remotely relevant to what little plot there is. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Creator/LiamNeeson's younger days as a boxer can be seen in Ducard's fighting style, especially the climactic battle towards the end. He goes into boxing stance when fighting Batman in the train. |
| 91 | ** Additionally, his sword training in ''Film/RobRoy'' made him pretty dangerous during filming of the lightsaber fights in ''Film/StarWarsThePhantomMenace'', since Jedi have only a handful of basic moves in the series, and Neeson's ''actual skill'' with the sword made him unpredictable. |
| 92 | * 2010's ''Film/TheATeam'' has Murdock fake a South African accent, which is Creator/SharltoCopley's actual accent. Copley and Creator/BradleyCooper also get to display their actual fluency in Swahili and French, respectively. Ex-boxer Creator/LiamNeeson also got to show off his moves in the film's climax. |
| 93 | * Bradley Cooper also breaks out the French in ''Film/{{Limitless}}'', along with Italian and Mandarin Chinese (he doesn't fare so well on that last one). |
| 94 | * The first ''Film/BringItOn'' movie allowed co-stars Creator/KirstenDunst and Creator/ElizaDushku to demonstrate their gymnastics skills. |
| 95 | * In ''Film/DemolitionMan'', Creator/DenisLeary enters into a rant in the style he uses in his comedy routines. |
| 96 | * Creator/ZooeyDeschanel puts her singing talents to good use in ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'' (where she even plays a music teacher!), ''Film/YesMan'', ''Film/{{Elf}}'', ''Film/YourHighness'' and ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord''. |
| 97 | * It's possible that Anna was made a musician rather than an athlete in ''Film/FreakyFriday2003'' so that Creator/LindsayLohan could sing and play guitar. Incidentally, when Creator/JamieLeeCurtis (who's swapped bodies with Lindsay in the plot) plays the guitar solo in the climax, she really ''is'' playing it. |
| 98 | * Ever since the media learned that Creator/MadelineKahn could sing, it isn't uncommon for her work onscreen to feature her singing even one note. Though the best example is probably ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', and a subversion occurs in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' when she is deliberately singing badly. |
| 99 | * In ''Film/LaraCroftTombRaiderTheCradleOfLife'', there's a scene where Lara twirls a balisong (butterfly knife) with one hand while fielding a phone call with the other. Creator/AngelinaJolie collects knives and is evidently good at handling them. |
| 100 | * Deleted scenes in ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' would have showcased renowned magician Ricky Jay's playing card throwing skills, for which he once held a Guinness World Record. |
| 101 | ** [[Creator/MichelleYeoh Wai Lin]] is a secret agent, so it makes sense for her to know some martial arts, but the fact that she uses kung fu so extensively (as opposed to a more practical martial art like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanshou#Military_variation junshi sanda]] or just shooting enemies) is because Michelle Yeoh has decades of experience doing kung fu movies. |
| 102 | * Lewis Ozawa Changchien, who played Hanzo in ''Film/{{Predators}}'' has practiced kendo since he was five years old, and insisted on using that style in Hanzo's fight with the Predator. |
| 103 | * In ''Film/HighFidelity'' Creator/JackBlack shows off his singing skills, nailing Music/MarvinGaye's "Let's Get It On." Black's had been singing in ''Music/TenaciousD'' for a few years by that point, but was far from a household name, so the quality of his performance played as a nice surprise for most audience members. |
| 104 | * Creator/ScarlettJohansson loves to sing at every chance; she even bursts into song during ''Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl''. |
| 105 | * Creator/DarylHannah was a skilled gymnast since she was a girl, and puts her skills to use in ''Film/BladeRunner''. |
| 106 | * The makers of ''Film/TheExorcismOfEmilyRose'' saved a lot of money on special effects when star Creator/JenniferCarpenter pointed out she could do all those weird poses herself. |
| 107 | * In ''Film/PsychoBeachParty'' Lauren Ambrose did her own singing. |
| 108 | * Creator/JackNicholson was a volunteer firefighter before he got into acting. Thus, when he must hack his way through a door with a fire ax to get to Shelley Duvall in ''Film/TheShining'', that's a real door he's chopping through because he ''annihilated'' the prop door they had used in a previous take. |
| 109 | * Creator/GeneWilder was a champion fencer in his college days. He shows this off in a few of his movies, notably ''Film/TheAdventureOfSherlockHolmesSmarterBrother''. |
| 110 | * Creator/EdwardNorton lived with Creator/SalmaHayek for years and speaks fluent Spanish. If there is any excuse to get a few lines in Spanish shoehorned into any of his movies, he will take it. There is a particularly egregious example in his directorial effort ''Film/KeepingTheFaith'', where his priest character chats to a boy in his congregation in Spanish for no plot-related reason whatsoever. It gets turned around in ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' when he spends the first act living in Brazil and speaks the local language (Portuguese) -- poorly, and when he finds himself in Guatemala he barely knows a few basic words. |
| 111 | * ''Film/AFilmWithMeInIt'' has an in-universe example: [[TheDanza Mark]] asks Pierce to make his character in the script they're supposedly writing a clarinet player, solely due to the fact that Mark can play the clarinet -- so no-one else can play the role. |
| 112 | * In the cult film ''Film/ClassOf1984'', the plot pauses to allow main villain/high school student Peter Stegman to play a piano solo, a solo written and performed by Peter Stegman's actor, Timothy Van Patten. |
| 113 | * In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' Marcus nearly falls off his horse. However, Creator/DenholmElliott was an accomplished equestrian and so knew how to nearly-fall without much of a risk involved. |
| 114 | * ''Film/TheGreatRace'' has an example that is perhaps too ''brief'' as we only hear the character of Maggie - who is [[ChekhovsSkill established as being fluent in Russian]] as Creator/NatalieWood was in real life - speaking ''one'' mere sentence in Russian while addressing and winning over the sinister Russian villagers. |
| 115 | * Creator/SteveMartin has many talents that he often works into his movies or standup routines, such as playing banjo, singing, dancing, juggling, and some acrobatic feats. This was lampshaded when Martin was a judge on an episode of ''Series/TheGongShow'' that filmed at the end of a production week and ran out of regular contestants. Martin helped pad the show by twice pretending to be a contestant playing an extremely competent banjo, before getting cut off by Chuck Barris for competing as a celebrity. |
| 116 | * Creator/TomCruise has all but built his career on this; he easily competes with Creator/JackieChan for the world's single most physical actor - any of his movies where he is seen [[BadassDriver driving]], [[BadassBiker motorcycling]], [[ClimbingTheCliffsOfInsanity climbing]], performing [[AirAidedAcrobatics acrobatics]] or [[LeParkour running]], odds are high that it's [[NoStuntDouble not a stunt double]]. ''[[http://tomcruiserunning.tumblr.com/ Especially]]'' running; he's one of the very few actors who's confident about his ability to sprint on-camera. Thus, all of his movies (especially the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' series) have scenes dedicated to showing off his sprinting ability. |
| 117 | * In two different scenes in ''Film/TheGoonies'', Creator/RobertDavi, who plays Jake Fratelli, is shown singing opera. Davi had trained as an opera singer. |
| 118 | * ''Film/HouseOfFlyingDaggers'': The dance scene in the pleasure house is mostly an opportunity for Creator/ZhangZiyi to show off what a great dancer she is. She trained extensively as one before embracing an acting career. |
| 119 | * Film/MissCongeniality has an InUniverse example: Gracie uses her FBI fighting skills in a talent show. |
| 120 | * In ''Film/RioBravo'' the action interrupts for a few minutes to allow Creator/DeanMartin and Ricky Nelson to sing a couple of musical numbers. |
| 121 | * In ''Film/TheRunningMan'', Dynamo is introduced by having him sing the aria from Act III of ''Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro''. Actor Erland van Lidth had a background as an opera singer. |
| 122 | * In ''[[Literature/TheMysteriousIsland Journey 2 The Mysterious Island]]'', Wrestling/DwayneJohnson plays the ukulele and sings "What a Wonderful World". |
| 123 | ** He also sings and plays guitar in ''Film/TheGamePlan''. |
| 124 | * Creator/GeorgeLazenby trained with Creator/BruceLee himself, and it's ''very'' evident in the fight scenes of ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService''. They had to ''slow him down'' so his actions could be picked up on film. |
| 125 | * As with Rathbone above, ''many'' actors during the early days of Hollywood were accomplished and master fencers, so every swashbuckler of the time featured the actors doing all their own fighting. |
| 126 | * ''Film/TheCourtJester'' is a showcase for Creator/DannyKaye's skill at mimicry. He was very much ''not'' a trained fencer, but he was so good at reading and mimicking other people's movements that ''he held his own'' against master swordsman Creator/BasilRathbone! |
| 127 | * Estella Warren is a former synchronised swimmer and member of the Canadian national team. She displays this skill in a very plot-unrelated scene in ''Film/{{Driven}}''. |
| 128 | * Creator/RobertDowneyJr is a practitioner of Wing Chun martial arts, so Tony Stark has a Wing Chun dummy in his garage which he is seen dealing out a few strikes to in ''Film/IronMan3'', and was the basis of his fighting style in the ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'' series. The scenes of Tony Stark soldering/wrenching/general tinkering were also informed by RDJ being a real-life gearhead. |
| 129 | * Creator/TommyLeeJones is fluent in Spanish, so there are several films that work it in; for instance, he ad-libbed the entire scene where Agent Kay speaks Spanish in the first ''Film/MenInBlack''. |
| 130 | * In ''Film/{{Airplane}}'', Robert Hays not only shows that he can match Creator/JohnTravolta's dancing during the ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' parody, he goes even further by ''juggling'' while dancing. |
| 131 | * Esther Williams was a competitive swimmer before landing an acting contract with Creator/{{MGM}}, and naturally showed off her aquatic skills in such films as ''Film/NeptunesDaughter'', ''Million Dollar Mermaid'', and ''Dangerous When Wet''. |
| 132 | * Creator/AntonioBanderas. A man of unfair talents. Singing and dancing in ''Film/{{Evita}}'', as well as ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', dancing and fencing in ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'' and doing all his own guitar work in ''Film/{{Desperado}}'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico''. |
| 133 | * Creator/JimCarrey actually does sing "Cuban Pete" in the extravagant dance number from ''Film/TheMask'', and also does his own dancing in the film. For that matter, Creator/CameronDiaz did her own dancing as well. |
| 134 | ** Carrey also does his own singing, dancing, and conga drum playing as Creator/AndyKaufman (and his various personas) in ''Film/ManOnTheMoon''. This includes getting Kaufman's Foreign Man/Latka Gravas AsLongAsItSoundsForeign gibberish down cold. |
| 135 | * Inverted in ''Stardom'', in which Canadian actress Jessica Pare, who speaks fluent French, plays Canadian model Tina Menzhal, who does ''not'' speak French. |
| 136 | * For ''Film/TheHustler1961'', Creator/JackieGleason was an accomplished pool player in RealLife; all of the shots he made in the film are his own. |
| 137 | ** During filming, Creator/PaulNewman challenged Gleason to a real pool game. After Newman broke, Gleason took his turn and sank all fifteen balls without allowing Newman another shot. |
| 138 | * In ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'', Creator/ChristophWaltz, whose first language is German, gets to display his flawless English and French, in addition to very convincing Italian. |
| 139 | * Dennis Morgan was an excellent singer who got his start in musicals, so naturally ''Film/ChristmasInConnecticut'' had to feature him playing piano and singing a Christmas carol. |
| 140 | * ''Film/WhiteNights'' is one long cast showoff. The whole plot was written around giving the lead actors (Creator/GregoryHines, who is an accomplished dancer, and Creator/MikhailBaryshnikov, who is ''Mikhail Freaking Baryshnikov'' ... okay, okay, maybe you don't know; he's only considered one of the greatest ballet dancers ever, that's all) excuses to break into dance routines. |
| 141 | * In both Film/SisterAct movies, Creator/WhoopiGoldberg gets to show off her singing skills as lounge singer Delores Van Cartier (AKA: temporary nun Sister Mary Clarence). |
| 142 | * Clemens Scheitz [[TheDanza as his character of the same name]] in ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' sure knows how to tinkle the ivories. |
| 143 | ** Also, Bruno S was a street musician in real life. |
| 144 | * In ''Film/{{Pixels}}'', during a ballroom gala scene, veteran Broadway performer Creator/JoshGad (''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' was his first claim to fame) gets to sing "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" in-character as Ludlow. A subversion, as like in the ''Coming To America'' example he sings it with StylisticSuck. |
| 145 | * In preparation for ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', Creator/LindaHamilton spent a lot of time working out and getting stronger. The scene where Sarah Connor does a OneHandedShotgunPump because her left arm is injured was one way to show that off. |
| 146 | ** To put it in perspective, not even Schwarzenegger himself could do that. |
| 147 | * The film version of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' added a lengthy bullfight scene to show off Mexican comedian Cantinflas's bullfighting skills. |
| 148 | * Being a ballet dancer, Creator/AliciaVikander used some of her dancing moves when playing Ava in ''Film/ExMachina''. |
| 149 | * The adaptation of ''Film/EllaEnchanted'' features Ella being ordered to sing "Somebody to Love" for the giants' wedding, if only so that Creator/AnneHathaway could have a song and dance number. |
| 150 | * In perhaps the sweetest use of this trope, in the second ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'', Creator/JulieAndrews was given a song that had been written specifically for her limited range, so that she could have her first musical number since the surgery that damaged her vocal cords. The cast and crew were said to be in tears during the filming. |
| 151 | * Creator/RichardGere played his own cornet solos in ''Film/TheCottonClub'' and played a piano composition he wrote in ''Film/PrettyWoman''. He also did his own tap dancing in ''Film/{{Chicago}}''. |
| 152 | * Speaking of ''Chicago'', Creator/CatherineZetaJones does her own dancing. She cut her long hair into a bob so that her face would be visible, and no one could accuse her of using a dancing double. |
| 153 | * ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' has a scene with the Winter Soldier in Bucharest, giving Romanian-born Creator/SebastianStan a chance to speak his native language. |
| 154 | * There are a lot of reasons that Creator/TomHolland is much beloved and acclaimed for his portrayal of Spider-Man in the MCU, but he certainly makes the most of the acrobatic skills acquired due to his background in gymnastics and dance. In fact, he has said in interviews that Creator/JonWatts would sometimes get carried away and ask him to perform acrobatics beyond his scope to which he claims he replied "Dude, I'm not an ''Olympian!'' I have a basic gymnastics background!" |
| 155 | * Creator/RogerMoore put his skills as a truck driver to use when he did his own stunt driving in ''Film/AViewToAKill''. |
| 156 | * Creator/DudleyMoore was an accomplished jazz pianist as well as comic actor and composed the scores for four of his movies (and two others). His musical talents were referenced/seen onscreen in many of his comedy routines with Creator/PeterCook, and from there in movies. He played orchestra conductors twice (''Film/FoulPlay'' and the remake of ''Film/UnfaithfullyYours'') and a professional songwriter in ''Film/Ten1979''. In ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'' his character plays the piano to entertain attendees at his engagement party; in the sequel, he plays one at a dive bar. He even performed the piano part of "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" to accompany the song's original performer/co-writer Christopher Cross on two television specials. In fact, this trope is '''so''' associated with Moore that in ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'''s parody ''Arthur 3: Revenge of the Liver'', the hero notices and plays a grand piano that happens to be in ''a doctor's office''. |
| 157 | * Snowy Baker was an extremely accomplished boxer and athlete before becoming an actor, even competing in swimming, diving, and boxing at the 1908 Olympics. ''Film/TheManFromKangaroo'' contains an extended sequence where his character demonstrates a variety of dives and swimming techniques for a group of admiring boys. This has absolutely no bearing on the plot whatsoever. |
| 158 | * Directors of Film/TheThreeStooges shorts took advantage of supporting player Christine [=McIntyre's=] classically-trained soprano in some of their shorts, most notably in ''Micro-Phonies'' and ''Squareheads of the Round Table''. |
| 159 | * {{Inverted}} in ''Film/{{Enchanted}}:'' Creator/IdinaMenzel noted in one interview that she was flattered to have finally been hired simply as an ''actress'' and not as a singer (she did have one duet in the film, but it was cut). PlayedStraight for Amy Adams, though, who gets to show off her singing and dancing talent. |
| 160 | * In ''Film/UnderThePiano'', Teresa Stratas plays a former opera singer. Stratas is an award-winning soprano in real life, and the movie gives her many opportunities to sing. |
| 161 | * Creator/JohnCReilly grew up doing local musicals and several films he's appeared in allow him to show off his strong singing voice. One such role (''Film/{{Chicago}}'') even got him an Oscar nomination. On a few occasions he's even played guitar in his movies (''Film/BoogieNights'', ''Film/APrairieHomeCompanion'', ''Film/WalkHard''). |
| 162 | * Creator/PatrickSwayze was trained in ballet since childhood, and many of his works showcased his athletic agility, whether it was a dance scene or a fight scene. He also showcased his singing ability in several films as well, with his "She's Like The Wind" from ''Film/DirtyDancing'' even landing at number 3 on the Billboard charts while the film was cleaning up the box office. |
| 163 | * Creator/CameronDiaz show off her ability to slice open a bottle of wine with a knife in ''[[Film/CharliesAngels2000 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle]]'' and ''Film/WhatHappensInVegas''. |
| 164 | * In ''Film/TheOddWayHome'', Rumer Willis as Maya sings "Blind," which she co-wrote. |
| 165 | * ''Film/CrystalFairyAndTheMagicalCactus'': Gaby Hoffmann drew all Crystal Fairy's drawings herself. |
| 166 | * In ''Film/BloodHarvest'', Music/TinyTim as Marvelous Mervo sings a number of songs, including an IAmSong over the end credits. |
| 167 | * ''Film/{{Zachariah}}'' features jazz drummer Elvin Jones as Job Cain, who plays an elaborate solo. |
| 168 | * The Irish film ''Spears'': |
| 169 | ** Rebecca Rose Flynn did ballet as a child, and starred in several musicals, so she puts these skills to use in a scene where Rachel dances in Florence Cafe. |
| 170 | ** Bobby Calloway is a practicing yogi, and Gerard Lough had him do a few poses on camera in the hotel room, including fitting his leg behind his head. The original script just had him doing push-ups. |
| 171 | * In ''Film/Paris36'', Creator/NoraArnezeder provided her own singing. She never ventured into professional singing afterwards, but her main song in the film still got a nomination for the MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalSong. |
| 172 | * The end credits for ''Film/DownWithLove'' include a scene of the leads singing "Here's To Love". The number was added after Creator/EwanMcGregor pointed out to Creator/PeytonReed that he and Creator/ReneeZellweger had recently starred in (respectively) ''Film/MoulinRouge'' and ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' and it would be a waste if they didn't do something to show that off. |
| 173 | * Why does Ed Warren sing "Can't Help Falling In Love" in ''Film/TheConjuring2''? So we can all listen to longtime Broadway leading man Creator/PatrickWilson sing "Can't Help Falling In Love", of course. Nobody's complaining. |
| 174 | * Creator/VeraFarmiga is an excellent pianist, something which to showoff it, other among things, ''Film/{{Orphan}}'' and At Middleton. |
| 175 | * In ''Film/TheBlueIguana'', Pamela Gidley as Dakota sings several songs with Dakota's band. |
| 176 | * ''Film/YogaHosers'': |
| 177 | ** The Smiths and the Depps pretty much made this movie as a star vehicle for their daughters. Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp's songs display the musical chops they gained while playing in a rock band at summer camp and in their last one, Depp's [[Creator/JohnnyDepp father]] joins them on guitar. Lilly Rose also has a scene where she speaks French, which she's fluent in due to being born and raised in French (she's half French from her mom, and has French citizenship). |
| 178 | ** The role of Arcane is a showcase for Smith's ''Podcast/HollywoodBabbleOn'' co-host Ralph Garman and his talent for accents and celebrity impressions. |
| 179 | * A very specific ability was shown in ''Film/It2017'' and ''Film/ItChapterTwo'' by Creator/BillSkarsgard: an idea passed around early on is that whenever Pennywise appears on screen, no matter where he's looking, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou one of his eyes would always be subtly looking right down the camera]], which would be accomplished with CGI. As it turned out, Skarsgård could point his eyes in two different directions all on his own, saving production the time and resources. |
| 180 | [[/folder]] |
| 181 | |
| 182 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 183 | * ''Series/ThirtyRock'' likes to make use of Jane Krakowski's singing skills by making her character Jenna Maroney an in-universe Cast Showoff. Jenna seems dead set on launching a singing career that just isn't happening, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff aside from some success in Eastern Europe]] with a ditty called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2iqxQcx-NY Muffin Top]]". The whole thing is particularly lampshaded when she forcibly inserts herself into the center of a song and dance number that has absolutely nothing to do with her, much to the mild annoyance of the other characters in the scene. |
| 184 | ** This was also done with Krakowski a lot in ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', which make it seem it's Krakowski herself who contractually obligates shows she joins to let her sing. It is a little excessive. |
| 185 | *** ''Ally [=McBeal=]'' is an excellent example of this trope all together; everybody in the cast who can remotely carry a tune (and some who can't) takes the stage at the bar at least once. |
| 186 | *** Ironically, the producers of ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt'' decided that Krakowski's character on that show has a terrible singing voice to bar her from engaging in this trope. |
| 187 | ** In the second ChristmasEpisode, Jack's mother gets to sing. Elaine Stritch, who played her, was a Tony-nominated Broadway actress and singer notable for, among other things, originating the role of Joanne in Sondheim's ''Theatre/{{Company}}''. |
| 188 | ** Creator/TinaFey has gotten to show off her college-level German a number of times. |
| 189 | ** Jack has a few opportunities to showcase Creator/AlecBaldwin's celebrity impressions. |
| 190 | * In season 6 of ''Series/SeventhHeaven'', Robbie (Adam [=LaVorgna=])'s love interest, Joy Reyes (played by singer Joy Enriquez) sings her own single "Tell Me How You Feel" at a bar owned by her father, supposedly as a way of rebelling and impressing Simon, but obviously as a way to promote her singing career. |
| 191 | * ''Series/AbbottElementary'' has Creator/SherylLeeRalph given a few chances to sing, showing off her impressive singing skills. Dipped into parody in one episode, where her extravagant, drawn-out version of "Happy Birthday" frustrated the students who wanted to get to the cake. |
| 192 | * ''Series/TheAfterparty'''s MusicalEpisode shows off Creator/BenSchwartz's quite impressive singing skills. |
| 193 | * ''Series/{{Alias}}'': |
| 194 | ** Michael Vartan's hockey skills. His character has always been given an opportunity to use French, something that becomes an increasingly important plot point as the show progresses. Vartan tends to be viewed as French by Americans and American by the French (he actually refers to himself as a Polish Jew born to Bulgarian and Polish parents who just happened to be born and raised in France). |
| 195 | ** And Creator/JenniferGarner got to sing in an episode as well. |
| 196 | * Linda Lavin singing on ''Series/{{Alice|1976}}''. To be fair, the character in the original movie sang, too. |
| 197 | ** The character was supposed to be a singer who had to take a waitress job to make ends meet. Lavin was hired for the part ''because'' she could sing. |
| 198 | * Once on ''Series/AllMyChildren'', Music/JesseMccartney performed in character as J.R. Chandler with his real life boy band, Dreamstreet. |
| 199 | * ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory'': |
| 200 | ** ''[[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryCoven Coven]]'' gave Joan Ramsey, a relatively minor and altogether unsympathetic character who only appears in four episodes, a genuinely heartwarming moment where she sings to her comatose son. It is likely that that moment came about because Ryan Murphy and the writers couldn't resist giving two-time Tony Award winner Patti [=LuPone=] a song. |
| 201 | ** ''[[Series/AmericanHorrorStoryFreakShow Freak Show]]'' had Matt Fraser, who had been a drummer for 15 years, do some scenes where he plays the drums. |
| 202 | * ''Series/{{Angel}}'': |
| 203 | ** "[[Recap/AngelS03E13WaitingInTheWings Waiting in the Wings]]" was originally conceived as an excuse for Creator/JossWhedon to utilize Creator/AmyAcker's dancing talent. The only scene that required her to dance was cut from the episode for pacing reasons. It did, however, allow him to display former ballerina Creator/SummerGlau's dancing talents. |
| 204 | *** Summer Glau is arguably a case of CastTheExpert -- this was the very first acting role that she ever took, so when Joss hired her, she wasn't so much an actor who could also dance as a dancer who could also act. In hindsight, however, it becomes a straight example. |
| 205 | ** Creator/JAugustRichards shows off some juggling skills in "[[Recap/AngelS03E07Offspring Offspring]]". |
| 206 | ** The mere existence of ''Caritas'', the demon karaoke bar safe-haven where no one is allowed to fight, seems tailor-made to let the cast show their talents or lack thereof. Unsurprisingly, except for Lorne, it's always [[VillainSong the villains who get the best songs.]] |
| 207 | *** Supposedly Caritas and Lorne was created solely because Creator/AndyHallett was a gifted singer (though not professional until much later) and a friend of Creator/JossWhedon. |
| 208 | *** Creator/ChristianKane left the show after two seasons and worked on the film ''Film/SecondhandLions'', for which he became a skilled fencer. When he returned, Lindsey was suddenly revealed to halve also spent his time away training to become a great swordsman and got a sword fight with Angel in "[[Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome You're Welcome]]". |
| 209 | *** An earlier example is in "[[Recap/AngelS02E18DeadEnd Dead End]]", when Lindsay was in the Caritas where he sings a song for Lorne. The song in question was written by David Greenwalt and Christian Kane, the latter of whom provided his own vocals. |
| 210 | * Happens in ''Series/ANTFarm'' with Chyna (China Anne [=McClain=]). Justified because her character is a musical prodigy. |
| 211 | * Creator/JodieComer gets to show off her incredible ear for accents and languages in ''Series/KillingEve''. She very rarely speaks in her native Liverpool accent and usually uses a Russian one. She has spoken English, French, Russian, Italian, and a bit of Mandarin in the show. She flawlessly switches between four accents in a minute in this clip. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoSQYvjC5YY]] |
| 212 | * Subverted in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', in that the cast members' various talents were well-showcased, from Creator/NicholasSmith's musical performances to Creator/JohnInman cross-dressing (and displaying why he was considered one of the great "pantomime dames" of his generation).[[note]]According to rumour this partly contributed to Creator/TrevorBannister (Mr. Lucas) departing the show; he felt perpetually overshadowed by the older castmates on a show that was intended as a vehicle for him.[[/note]] |
| 213 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}''[='=]s Sara Lance, the show's Black Canary [[spoiler:before she died and her sister Laurel, the true Black Canary, took over]], does a lot of action kung-fu and fighting. In RealLife, her actor Creator/CaityLotz is trained in martial arts, dancing, parkour, and stunt work. ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' gives her a costume that shows her face, giving Lotz the chance to showcase her skill set with less use of a stunt double. |
| 214 | ** While Creator/StephenAmell does not do a lot of his fights, he does all of his other stunts himself - he is an avid parkour practitioner and bodybuilder, so it was inevitable. On multiple occasions, a point is made to show his face as he performing the incredible feats he does, and the salmon ladder in particular was included specifically because Amell could do it. |
| 215 | * A late Season 3 episode of ''Series/TheATeam'' featured Creator/DirkBenedict's (Face's) piano skills in the middle of an ATeamMontage. He was pretty damn good. |
| 216 | ** Later in the same episode, Creator/DwightSchultz (Murdock) broke into a random, pretty, lyrical song [[BunnyEarsLawyer just because]]. More often it was opera and, in one episode, everything Music/FrankSinatra ever recorded. |
| 217 | *** He also got to show off his talent for voices, impressions, and accents in every episode. He now does voice acting for video games. |
| 218 | * Creator/JimmyNail, a former nightclub singer who had had a UK hit single after Series 1, was given a chance to display his singing in Series 2 of ''Series/AufWiedersehenPet''. |
| 219 | * In the 1960s ''Series/Batman1966'' episode "That Darn Catwoman," pop singer Lesley Gore (of "It's My Party" fame) played the villainess Pussycat and sang one of her songs to Catwoman's henchmen. |
| 220 | * Halfway through the fourth season of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'', conservatorium-trained operatic baritone Alessandro Juliani (Gaeta) was given a storyline in which the character sang to help himself endure the pain of an amputated leg; the song was later re-recorded and became the lead number on the Season 4 soundtrack album. Juliani later also recorded the male vocal part of the duet "Capricoperactica" for the mid-season finale of ''Series/{{Caprica}}''. |
| 221 | * ''Series/BeakmansWorld'' was able to use the fact that Senta Moses is trained in martial arts for a segment on the science behind breaking boards. |
| 222 | * ''Series/{{Benson}}'': At least once a season, Robert Guillaume would have the opportunity to show off his singing chops. |
| 223 | * The Season Four finale of ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' finally allowed Creator/MichaelMcKean to sing in a karaoke scene. The season 2 episode "Cobbler" features fellow [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spın̈al Tap]] alumnus Ed Begley Jr. playing guitar. |
| 224 | * Brian Austin Green showing off his dancing, singing and rapping "skills" on ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''. His performances look painfully outdated now. |
| 225 | * Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'') is skilled as a stage magician and has gotten to perform tricks on more than one episode. He also is a skilled impressionist, showing off his impressions of Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, and Nicholas Cage, as well as castmate Kunal Nayar. |
| 226 | ** Amy's character is a neurobiologist, specifically because Creator/MayimBialik has a doctorate in neurobiology. She not only understand all of the science in her lines, but reportedly helps to vet them for accuracy. |
| 227 | ** Johnny Galecki (Leonard) plays the cello and Simon Helberg plays the piano. Both do so in character at various points. Mayim Bialik took harp lessons especially for the show but was a bass guitarist before that. |
| 228 | * In one episode of ''Series/BlackBooks'', it is discovered that Manny has a great talent for the piano, which is exploited by Fran and Bernard who both wish to appear that they can play. Manny is played by Music/BillBailey, who, of course, is a very talented multi-instrumentalist. Bailey recorded all musical renditions in this episode, including those heard on the radio. |
| 229 | * ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'': |
| 230 | ** Margot Bingham, who plays Daughter Maitland, is an accomplished Broadway singer. Two of Bingham's songs can be found on the released Season 4 soundtrack. |
| 231 | ** Anthony Laciura, who plays Eddie Kessler, is a voice instructor and opera singer. He displays his talent in "What Does the Bee Do?" and "All In". |
| 232 | ** Established Broadway actor Stephen [=DeRosa=] plays historical vaudeville actor Eddie Cantor in the show, and his talents show repeatedly. He sings the SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic of the season 1 finale and in the season 3 premiere, his number also serves to introduce Billie Kent. |
| 233 | * The soap ''Series/TheBoldAndTheBeautiful'' lets any actor with a good singing voice do a whole lot of singing. |
| 234 | * ''Series/{{Bones}}'' contained a short scene of Zack Addy, whose actor Eric Millegan is trained in musical theatre, surprising several of his coworkers by singing. |
| 235 | ** Emily Deschanel also sings in that episode. ([[Creator/ZooeyDeschanel Singing runs in the family]].) |
| 236 | ** And of course, if you have a classically trained jazz singer turned [[TheEighties Eighties pop icon]] and Broadway star Music/CyndiLauper playing the PolicePsychic, and invite said character to the sweeps week wedding, the producers gonna make use of those pipes. |
| 237 | * ''Series/TheBradyBunch'': Multiple examples: |
| 238 | ** Barry Williams, Maureen [=McCormick=] and Florence Henderson have legitimate singing abilities and were showcased in multiple episodes throughout the series' run. |
| 239 | ** Eve Plumb is a legitimately talented artist, whose work was showcased in several episodes, starting with a detailed drawing of a sparrow that she drew in the first season's "Is There a Doctor in the House?" (In one of the retrospectives of the series, any item that the script called for the kids to make, that particular kid made; sure enough, Eve drew "Jan's" sparrow.) |
| 240 | * ''Series/BreakingBad'' has Charles Baker [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_974ZusIvhk playing "Solfeggietto" by C. P. E. Bach on the keyboard]] flawlessly in the episode "[[Recap/BreakingBadS5E3HazardPay Hazard Pay]]". Considering that his character, "Skinny Pete" is a borderline illiterate low-level drug runner, this comes as a great surprise. For many people, it added some interesting depth to the character. |
| 241 | * ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 242 | ** Seasons four and five of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' increasingly called on Creator/AnthonyHead's services as a singer and guitarist, which just serves to illustrate how drastically his character changed with time. |
| 243 | ** The MusicalEpisode in Season 6, "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E7OnceMoreWithFeeling Once More With Feeling]]" reportedly was written after Creator/JossWhedon discovered how many of his cast could sing well during an after-shooting karaoke party; the episode was written specifically to show off the cast's various talents. Notably, Creator/MichelleTrachtenberg, who'd had dance training, got a scene where she danced with the BigBad's {{Mooks}}, and Creator/AlysonHannigan sang about two lines without accompaniment; her other lines were mostly filler. She reportedly begged Joss not to give her many singing lines because she hated her voice, although when she heard how good she sounded after post-production Hannigan regretted giving up so much singing time. Most notably, the Tara solo "Under Your Spell" was supposed to be a duet with Willow. |
| 244 | *** Creator/EmmaCaulfield apparently surprised Joss Whedon with her singing voice, resulting in the writers giving her another song in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E5Selfless Selfless]]" (in a flashback to "Once More With Feeling"). |
| 245 | ** Creator/SarahMichelleGellar's [[ActionGirl Taekwondo and Kickboxing skills]] came in handy for most of the series, but in the episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E9WhatsMyLinePart1 What's My Line, Part 1]]" she got to show off her ice skating talents too. Also, at Anya and Xander's wedding in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E16HellsBells Hell's Bells]]", she got to juggle in order to distract the attendees. In an ironic inversion, Gellar also happens to be terrified of graveyards. |
| 246 | ** Marc Blucas, a gifted college player, had a couple of basketball scenes. |
| 247 | * ''Series/BurnNotice'' seamlessly blends actor Jeffrey Donovan's extensive martial arts training, skill for accents, and even dancing background into the show, which are justified by his character being an ex-spy who would need to know such things. Curiously, the fight-scenes are often filmed in such a way that Jeffrey's face can't be seen, leading some viewers to think that a stunt-double is used (much to Donovan's frustration). |
| 248 | * In the ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' episode "The Last Call", the main cast does an impromptu performance of "Piano Man". Most fans were [[WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog already aware of]] Creator/NathanFillion's voice, but many were amazed by Creator/SeamusDever and Stana Katic's chops. Rumor has it, Creator/JonHuertas (Esposito) is pushing for a musical episode. |
| 249 | ** While not a full episode, he got the chance to show off his tenor in "Swan Song," which dealt with a murdered musician. |
| 250 | * Creator/RoseMcGowan shows off her singing abilities as Paige in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' in the episode "Sense and Sense Ability", performing "Fever" (onstage) and "Hush Little Baby". |
| 251 | * ''Series/{{Cheers}}'': Diane (Creator/ShelleyLong) loves to la-la-la quite a bit--and two episodes in particular ("Father Knows Last" and "Coach Buries A Grudge") feature her singing her heart out, to beautiful effect. |
| 252 | ** Lilith (Creator/BebeNeuwirth) also breaks out into song, on occasion. In "[[Recap/CheersS8E24 Mr. Otis Regrets]]", Lilith gets singing lessons, which she naturally demonstrates by the end. |
| 253 | * In ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', Creator/YvonneStrahovski, who is Polish-Australian and whose first language is Polish, speaks some of her native tongue. The first time she does this is in conversation with the Swedish-speaking Mini Andén. |
| 254 | * Creator/StephenColbert is a pretty good singer, and often duets with his musical guests on ''Series/TheColbertReport'' (and later ''[[Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert The Late Show]]''). |
| 255 | ** One episode allowed Colbert to sing not only with Willie Nelson but allowed the late US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke to show his pipes. |
| 256 | * The ''Series/ColgateComedyHour'' allowed many celebrities to show off talents the audience didn't know they had, often at the expense of the plot. [[RuleOfFunny No one cared much about the plot anyway]]. |
| 257 | * ''Series/{{Community}}'''s cast likes to show off. |
| 258 | ** "Home Economics": Pierce becomes a keyboardist in Vaughn's band, allowing Creator/ChevyChase to briefly display his skills as a musician. |
| 259 | ** "Environmental Science": Troy and Abed's duet of "Somewhere Out There". |
| 260 | ** "Comparative Religion": Troy harmonizes nicely during Jeff and Abed's singing of "Oh, Christmas Troy". |
| 261 | *** In "Regional Holiday Music", Creator/DonaldGlover (Troy) takes the opportunity to demonstrate his skill at rapping. |
| 262 | ** "Interpretive Dance": The dance recital serves as an opportunity for Troy, Britta, and Abed to show off their dancing skills. |
| 263 | ** "Intro to Political Science" and "Studies in Modern Movement" allow Joel [=McHale=] to sing. Ironically, he is one of the weakest singers in the cast, but he is decent enough at it |
| 264 | ** "Physical Education": Not only can Joel [=McHale=] play pool, he also looks good naked, everybody! Yes, those two facts were related. |
| 265 | ** "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas": They all sing, and very well by the way (especially Yvette and Alison). |
| 266 | ** Season 5 included Jeff doing a stand-up skit. Joel Mchale is a comedian himself. |
| 267 | ** Danny Pudi shows off his abilities as an impressionist multiple times, doing impressions of Nicholas Cage, Don Draper. and even fellow cast members Joel [=McHale=] and Donald Glover. |
| 268 | ** In general, anytime Shirley gets to sing is a chance for Yvette Nicole Brown to go big. |
| 269 | * ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' had an episode in its first season where Heathcliff participates in a senior's track and field event. Creator/BillCosby ran track at Temple University. |
| 270 | * Matthew Gray Gubler does magic tricks, which were put to good use in two episodes of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', first when he had to palm a chip he was pretending to pull out of a crazy guy's body and later for the noble purpose of picking up a sexy badass bartender. |
| 271 | ** He's also an artist. In one episode, when Reid (Gubler's character) makes a sketch of an unsub who approached him in the metro, it's his actual work. |
| 272 | * On original ''Series/{{CSI}}'', Gary Dourdan showed off his piano skills in one episode. |
| 273 | * ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': |
| 274 | ** Creator/GarySinise gets to show off his bass guitar skills at the end of both "[[Recap/CSINYS02E14 Stuck on You]]" and "[[Recap/CSINYS04E04 Time's Up]]." |
| 275 | ** Creator/MelinaKanakaredes shows off her fluency in Greek in several episodes, including, but not limited to, the arc with Stella's investigation of Greek antiquities thefts. |
| 276 | ** Creator/EmmanuelleVaugier gets to show off her knowledge of French a couple times, usually when Jess is flirting with Don. |
| 277 | ** "[[Recap/CSINYS01E22 The Closer]]" has Danny help replicate damage in a case involving a baseball player throwing a baseball at a door, thus letting Creator/CarmineGiovinazzo show off his baseball ability (he wanted to go pro, but, [[ActorAllusion like Danny]], got hurt). |
| 278 | * ''Series/TheDailyShow'' actually managed this on [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-6-2009/playing-the-race-card the 6 October 2009 episode]]: apparently, Larry Wilmore is a really good magician (at least with card tricks). Lampshaded by Jon at the end of the segment: |
| 279 | -->'''Jon Stewart:''' I'm starting to think that you made this segment just so you could show off those card tricks. |
| 280 | * Creator/BurtReynolds on ''Series/DanAugust'': In almost every episode, Burt got to make use of his football skills. He'd make flying tackles of fleeing suspects or do other sorts of physical stunts, like sliding down the middle of a church on his belly. The opening credits show quite a few of these moments. Burt was a college football star at Florida State University prior to becoming an actor. |
| 281 | * ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'' has become a fountain of this. If an actor does reasonably well on the show, you can almost expect them to have a character dance soon after. Creator/ChelseaKane danced on ''Series/BabyDaddy'' as did Creator/MelissaJoanHart and Creator/JoeyLawrence on ''Series/MelissaAndJoey.'' Many times, they'll cast their partner from ''Dancing'' to be their partner on their new show as well. |
| 282 | * The sitcom ''Series/DearJohn'' featured an episode in which ultra-nerdy, socially incompetent Ralph Drang got out onto the dance floor--and suddenly turned into Creator/FredAstaire, courtesy of actor Harry Groener (a full-fledged professional dancer). |
| 283 | * ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' has done this a lot. Craig's band is the actor's real life band, and Ashley (who also once was in a couple of bands) in real life has said she loves singing. |
| 284 | * Dixie Carter, who played Julia Sugarbaker on ''Series/DesigningWomen'', sang frequently on that show as part of a bargain with the head writer: Whenever the left-leaning Julia spouted a rant that ran counter to Dixie's (conservative) politics, Dixie got to sing in the next episode. |
| 285 | * ''Series/DiagnosisMurder'' showcased everybody's "hidden" talents at some point: Creator/DickVanDyke got to dance, sing, and perform magic (although how good he was depended on the writer); Creator/VictoriaRowell had an episode in which she displayed her ballet training (referenced once or twice before); Barry Van Dyke did some boxing. |
| 286 | * Much of ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow'' revolves around the talents of the writers of a sketch-comedy show. Buddy's one-liners, Sally's voice, Rob's Dick-van-dyke-ness. Mary Tyler Moore was allowed to showoff just as frequently. |
| 287 | ** On the rare occasions that viewers saw clips from ''The Alan Brady Show'' (the ShowWithinAShow where the main characters worked behind-the-scenes) it was usually to show off song-and-dance numbers performed by the main cast despite the characters being Alan Brady's writing staff (or in Mary Tyler Moore's case, the writer's housewife) and not themselves performers. |
| 288 | * Mike Rowe of ''Series/DirtyJobs''. Full stop. The guy can do ''anything'', and every episode showcases this. He's even a classically-trained opera singer! |
| 289 | * ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': In "Bedlam", we get a couple of long sequences of Blake playing the piano, with the camera circling to make sure we can tell it's Craig [=McLachlan=] himself playing... |
| 290 | * Creator/SharonSmall, a classically trained lyric soprano, got to show off her serious vocal talents at the end of her guest spot on ''Series/DoctorFinlay'' when she performed the classic Irish ballad "Carrickfergus". |
| 291 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 292 | ** Creator/CaroleAnnFord was a trained dancer, which is exploited in her EstablishingCharacterMoment of her doing a very peculiar dance to some [[GenreMotif/{{Pop}} chart pop music]]. |
| 293 | ** A choreographer, Rosalyn de Winter, was consulted to develop the movements for the Zarbi, Menoptera and Optera in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E5TheWebPlanet The Web Planet]]", and the crew was so impressed with her that she was given the role of the lead Menoptera character in the story, Vrestin. |
| 294 | ** Creator/PatrickTroughton: |
| 295 | *** One of the Second Doctor's standard maneuvers was WigDressAccent, which was deliberately written in to exploit how the Doctor was now played by an extremely versatile character actor who could convincingly alter his entire appearance just by affecting a different voice and mannerisms. Good examples are "Doktor von Wer" and the HarmlessLadyDisguise from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E4TheHighlanders The Highlanders]]", and the deliberately convoluted IAmHeAsYouAreHe situation in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E4TheEnemyOfTheWorld The Enemy of the World]]" where he gets to play the Doctor, the Doctor's CriminalDoppelganger, and both of them pretending to be each other, or pretending to be the other pretending to be them - some viewers even find that the Doctor and his lookalike come across so differently that ''they don't look remotely like each other'', almost breaking the plot. |
| 296 | *** Troughton, in real life, loved playing the recorder and carried one about with him to play in idle moments, a quirk that got written into the character. The recorder the Second Doctor uses was his own. |
| 297 | *** The Second Doctor's ability to obsessively read people's social dynamics started when Gerry Davis was fascinated by Troughton's ability to do the same. |
| 298 | ** Creator/JonPertwee: |
| 299 | *** Had a fascination for gadgets and cars, which cropped up in the Third Doctor's stories. In fact, one car used by the Doctor during his run was Pertwee's own personal property, and not a BBC prop. This is why it is never seen or mentioned again after "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]" (where the episode-long chase sequence was mostly done as a farewell gift to him), unlike Bessie, the more often seen yellow roadster. |
| 300 | *** Another of his Doctor's quirks was that he was into martial arts, particularly 'Venusian aikido'. Pertwee was a highly-skilled martial artist and tried to do his own stunts whenever possible (although a lot of the time the fight scenes aren't much more elaborate than running up to someone, lightly touching their arm and yelling 'hai'). Sadly his back was starting to get the better of him during his final year, and being no longer able to do his own stunts was one of the reasons he left the show. |
| 301 | *** Pertwee was a well-loved and accomplished singer and voice actor, and one of his Doctor's quirks is a fondness for singing in idle moments, usually in a funny voice or a bang-on impersonation of the original artist. |
| 302 | *** Pertwee was also an accomplished [[ComicalOverreacting gurner]]. Several scenes were written which gave Pertwee an excuse to do his amazing face-pulling. |
| 303 | ** Creator/TomBaker: |
| 304 | *** Could pop his already large, wide eyes partway out of his sockets. After a few years, him doing this in an EyeTake was a standard cliffhanger lead-in. |
| 305 | *** WordOfGod says the reason Creator/TomBaker was given an elaborate PatrickStewartSpeech in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E2TheArkInSpace The Ark in Space]]" was to show off the then-newly cast Baker's speaking ability - both in terms of his ability to pull off the kind of soliloquies that his predecessor would never have been able to, and in terms of showing off his gorgeous voice, with which the production team was universally infatuated. Some writers (especially Creator/RobertHolmes) would even sneak {{Inherently Funny Word}}s into the Doctor's dialogue in scripts, just for the joy of hearing Baker say them. |
| 306 | ** The Fourth Doctor's regeneration into the Fifth had the conceit that the Doctor was deliriously thinking he was still in his own past regenerations, allowing Creator/PeterDavison the opportunity to [[ContinuityCavalcade show off his gift for impressions]] as he played the first four Doctors. |
| 307 | *** Davison also got to show off his cricketing skills in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E5BlackOrchid Black Orchid]]" and his fencing prowess along with Creator/AnthonyAinley in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS20E6TheKingsDemons The Kings Demons]]". |
| 308 | ** The whole of Season 23 features the Doctor defending himself in a trial. Before he was an actor, Creator/ColinBaker was a lawyer. |
| 309 | ** Creator/SylvesterMcCoy was a trained clown and vaudevillian before getting the role, working with the Ken Campbell Roadshow (a postmodern version of traditional variety acts) and ''Series/VisionOn''. At various points he demonstrates his ability to [[ThePratfall do a proper pratfall]] and any number of small magic tricks, including magicking his CallingCard out of nowhere. He also plays the spoons, a talent Creator/SylvesterMcCoy mastered during his vaudeville career, and which he would also use in his turn as the Fool in ''Theatre/KingLear'' opposite Sir Creator/IanMcKellen. It was amusingly [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] by [=McCoy=] in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS25E4TheGreatestShowInTheGalaxy The Greatest Show in the Galaxy]]" - in his first scene, he's trying and failing to learn to juggle from a "teach yourself" book. This is because scriptwriter Stephen Wyatt had assumed that he could juggle because of his background, and it was late in the production that he admitted to the director that he was unable to do the juggling scene that had originally been written. |
| 310 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol A Christmas Carol]]" features Music/KatherineJenkins' singing talents as a major plot point. |
| 311 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E12ClosingTime Closing Time]]" establishes that since [[spoiler: leaving the Doctor]], Amy Pond has become a popular model. In real life, actress Creator/KarenGillan was a model before she was an actor. |
| 312 | ** Averted on at least two occasions: the 2005 and 2006 seasons co-starred Creator/BilliePiper, who was a very successful pop singer, while the [[Recap/DoctorWho2007CSVoyageOfTheDamned 2007 Christmas special]] co-starred Music/KylieMinogue, who needs no introduction (apparently she's a pop singer from Australia?), yet neither sang a note during their appearances on the series (and Minogue's episode even included an original song, which was performed by someone else). |
| 313 | ** The Eleventh Doctor's actor Creator/MattSmith wanted to be a professional footballer before a back injury closed that path for him, playing for the youth teams of several notable clubs, including captaining the youth side of Leicester City, then a top ten Premier League side (in short - he was ''good''). In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E11TheLodger The Lodger]]", we get to see some of his skills on the pitch, and he's still got it. |
| 314 | ** The Twelfth Doctor gets to show off his electric-guitar-playing skills in several episodes of Series 9. Creator/PeterCapaldi played guitar and sang in the punk rock band Dreamboys when he was in college, and did all his own guitar playing. The most spectacular example is at the end of TheTeaser for "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E4BeforeTheFlood Before the Flood]]", which continues into the credit sequence, in which he plays the usual top line of the theme. |
| 315 | * Another example of Creator/JossWhedon utilizing someone's talent for accents: Enver Gjokaj as Victor in ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}''. He spends all of the first three episodes imprinted as a Russian mobster named Lubov, and later takes on imprints of both [[spoiler:Dominic]] and Topher--two characters that were already established enough that the audience would know if he was less than stellar. He nailed them both. |
| 316 | ** The IntoxicationEnsues episode gave Creator/HarryLennix an opportunity to tickle the ivories onscreen. |
| 317 | * ''Series/DoomPatrol2019'' has a DaydreamSurprise in the first season that lets Creator/MattBomer show off his pipes in a Kelly Clarkson duet with Broadway performer Alan Mingo, Jr. They even released it as a single. |
| 318 | * The episode 'Mountie Sings The Blues' on ''Series/DueSouth'' let Paul Gross show off his singing ability, and the 'Two Houses' song that Huey and Dewey are trying to 'write' is actually written by Paul Gross and his singing partner David Keeley. It's on their first CD. Also, 'All The Queen's Horses' had Paul singing 'Ride Forever', also on that CD (as well as the soundtrack). Paul sings again in 'Mountie on the Bounty', doing Stan Roger's 'Barret's Privateers' and his own '32 Down on the Robert Mackenzie'. |
| 319 | * The punchline to a Creator/BenElton standup routine about trying to urinate with an erection is his confession that he wrote the whole routine just to prove he can walk on his hands. |
| 320 | * Notably averted (possibly defied) in ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard.'' Although both lead actors had the opportunity to sing during the run of the series, they refused. They wanted the public to first hear them sing as John Schneider and Tom Wopat, not as Bo and Luke Duke. After the series ended, both went into careers as country music singers. Schneider was the slightly more successful of the two. And what happened? Deejays would play his hit songs, come back on the air, and joyfully announce, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy "That was Bo Duke!"]] |
| 321 | * Happens often in the Series/EurovisionSongContest. Sometimes it's just as simple as being particularly great at dancing, playing an instrument, or (shocker!) singing, but there are also often showcases for if the performer is accomplished at gymnastics, yodeling, or some other such unique skill. One of the most famous examples is Norway's Alexander Rybak, who both sang and played the violin in his song "Fairytale" and won the contest. |
| 322 | ** A variant is when the performers write their own songs, such as Katrina and the Waves or ABBA. |
| 323 | ** Happens a lot with the hosts as well, especially if they're singers in their own right. The first time this happened was when famous Swedish singer and entertainer (as well as a former Eurovision representative herself) Lill Lindfors hosted in 1985, which began with her singing a song about the joys of music. Happened again the two years after that, when Norwegian folk singer Åse Kleveland (also a former Eurovision representative - same year as Lill, in fact) hosted in 1986 and when Belgian pop star Viktor Lazlo hosted in 1987. Downplayed for a while after that, as most contests opted to use TV and radio presenters as hosts, but it would show up again in years like: |
| 324 | *** 1991 - both hosts were former Eurovision winners and took a good chunk of time at the start of the show to reprise their respective winning songs. |
| 325 | *** 1996 - co-host Morten Harket, of Music/{{Aha}} fame, performed his newest single as an opening act. |
| 326 | *** 1997 - similarly, co-host Ronan Keating of Irish boy band Music/{{Boyzone}} joined his bandmates to perform the interval act |
| 327 | *** 2002 - one host was an opera singer and the other was a Shakespearean actor, and both would make sure you were aware of those facts several times. |
| 328 | *** 2003 - both hosts had represented Latvia at Eurovision in the past and sang in the interval act. |
| 329 | *** 2006 - Greek singer Sakis Rouvas and Greek-American TV host/model Maria Menounos got to sing a bit of "Love Shine a Light" at the beginning of the semi-final. |
| 330 | *** 2008 - subtly: co-host Zeljko Joksimovic, a famous Serbian singer-songwriter and composer who had represented his country and others at Eurovision (and would again in the future), actually wrote that year's Serbian entry (and it finished sixth)! |
| 331 | *** 2011 - co-host Stefan Raab took every possible opportunity to show off his skills as a multi-instrumentalist, taking both drum and guitar solos at different points in the shows. |
| 332 | *** 2012 - Eldar Gasimov, one of the co-hosts and half of the previous year's winning duo Ell & Nikki, joined his duet partner and several other former Eurovision champs for a rendition of "Waterloo" during one of the semis. |
| 333 | *** 2013 - Petra Mede, a famous comedian and TV host in Sweden, not only hosted the whole show herself; she also performed an elaborate musical interval act called "Swedish Smorgasbord," not only showing off a good sense of humor about Sweden's international image, but also a good singing voice! |
| 334 | *** 2014 - co-host Pilou Asbæk displayed decent Chinese skills, for whatever reason. |
| 335 | *** 2016 - Petra Mede returned, as did the previous year's champ Måns Zelmerlow, with both performing elaborate songs making fun of and celebrating Eurovision and the latter performing his winning song "Heroes" and a new single. |
| 336 | ** Among the talents contestants have displayed beyond singing: magic tricks (Estonia's Jüri Pootsmann in 2016), drumming (a whole bunch, including Bulgaria's drum-happy duo Elitsa and Stoyan in 2007 and 2013 and Romania's Luminita Anghel in 2005), flute-playing (Finland's Vesa-Matti Loiri in 1980 and Slovenia's Tinkara Kovaç in 2014), piano- and guitar-playing (too many to list, but special props to Ireland's Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, who accompanied themselves on piano and guitar with no orchestra or playback and won handily), violin-playing (major examples being Switzerland's Egon Egemann in 1990 and Sebalter in 2014, Estonia's Sandra Nurmsalu of Urban Symphony in 2009, and not one but two Norwegian winners: Secret Garden's Fionnuala Sherry in 1995 and the aforementioned Alexander Rybak in 2009 and his return attempt in 2018), unicycling (Moldova's Zdobi si Zdub in 2011), saxophone-playing (Moldova's [=SunStroke=] Project in both 2010 and 2017; [[MemeticMutation no prizes for guessing who]]), and plenty more either mentioned here or where that came from. |
| 337 | * ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond '' had Ray Romano actually playing the piano at the end of the "Mozart" episode from Season 2. |
| 338 | * The "Literature/SleepingBeauty" episode of ''Series/FaerieTaleTheatre''. Of ''course'' Bernadette Peters got to sing. She's Bernadette Peters. |
| 339 | * A few times on ''Series/TheFactsOfLife'' Blair got to utilize her actress Creator/LisaWhelchel's ventriloquism skills. |
| 340 | * A rescue of a drunken Steve Urkel on ''Series/FamilyMatters'' served a dual purpose: a VerySpecialEpisode about teenage drinking, and a chance for Telma Hopkins to show off her tightrope act from ''CircusOfTheStars''. |
| 341 | ** Jaleel White was also a fan of martial arts (and was also building muscle), so one episode has him transform into Creator/BruceLee using his special chamber. This was revived for two other episodes. |
| 342 | ** Shawn Harrison, who played Waldo, got to show off his tap dancing skills in one episode. |
| 343 | * ''Series/FamilyTies'' had an episode where Jennifer Keaton is the lead singer in a band, performing at the end a cover of "Baby I'm Back in Love Again". Guess what song Tina Yothers released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DT3jZw1sYc&feature=player_embedded as a single]]? |
| 344 | ** Trivia: Two of her bandmates were played by a pre-''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' Creator/ChristinaApplegate and Rainbow "sister of River" Phoenix (who herself had a band at the time). Yothers would go on to form a real band with her brother Cory in the early 2000s (!). |
| 345 | ** More Trivia: Tina's salsa band appeared on ''Radio/TheHowardSternShow'' to take on Howard's band, the Losers, in ''Celebrity Battle of the Bands''. Her band lost. |
| 346 | * On ''Series/FantasyIsland,'' Tattoo was often shown painting landscapes and nature in the later seasons, and Mr. Roarke tells a guest who admires a painting in Mr. Roarke's office that Tattoo is the artist. Creator/HerveVillechaize had studied at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited his paintings. |
| 347 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' found a lot of ways to use the skills of the cast: |
| 348 | ** Aeryn's untranslated "Sebacean" langauge is Creator/ClaudiaBlack speaking backwards with ''no'' additional processing. In [[Recap/FarscapeS02E15WontGetFooledAgain "Won't Get Fooled Again"]] a Scarran copy of Aeryn does a tongue undulation to indicate she's not the real Aeryn, another trick of Claudia Black's. |
| 349 | ** "Won't Get Fooled Again" also gave Wayne Pygram a chance to show off his drumming skills as the Scarran projection of Scorpius appears as a drummer in a nightclub. |
| 350 | ** [[Recap/FarscapeS03E13ScratchNSniff "Scratch 'N Sniff"]] features a scene of Jool and Chiana showing off at a party. Jool's gymanstic backflips were Tammy [=MacIntosh=]'s party piece while Chiana's fire-poi routine was Gigi Edgeley's. |
| 351 | * Whenever there was a musical number on the sketch comedy series ''Series/FastForward'', Gina Riley would always portray a female singer. |
| 352 | ** And sometimes male singers. |
| 353 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': |
| 354 | ** In the episode "[[Recap/FireflyE04Shindig Shindig]]", River deconstructs the mobster Badger, all in a Cockney accent -- again utilizing Creator/SummerGlau's knack for accents, or what the show's producers thought was a knack for accents. Her Cockney accent [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent has been heavily criticized, however.]] |
| 355 | ** In a CastTheExpert cross-over, River is an expert in dancing, which she displays in "[[Recap/FireflyE05Safe Safe]]". Her flexibility is also shown off in a few instances, notably in "[[Recap/FireflyE14ObjectsInSpace Objects in Space]]" and several instances where she [[CeilingCling clings to the ceiling]]. |
| 356 | * ''Series/TheFlash2014'''s Barry Allen has him singing "[[Film/{{Grease}} Summer Nights]]" rather well. Barry's actor Grant Gustin in real life is trained in musical theatre and aspires to be on Broadway, Glee was his biggest break. |
| 357 | ** Joe's Earth-2 doppelgänger was a jazz singer and sang the standard "Where or When". Makes since given Jesse L. Martin is a Broadway level performer, most famously a member of the now legendary Original Cast of ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''. |
| 358 | ** In a deleted scene Carlos Valdes shows off his skills at playing the guitar, when Cisco is requested to do so for his brother's birthday. |
| 359 | ** The second crossover episode between the Flash and ''Series/Supergirl2015'' sees the two leads (Creator/MelissaBenoist was ''also'' a ''Glee'' alumnus - OF COURSE she got to sing (and rap) on her own show as well...) being [[AllJustADream trapped]] in a Movie Musical. The episode contains five song numbers, two of which are original and written for the episode: "Superfriend" and "Come Running Home To You." And the cast did all the dance numbers too: the choreographer who did the steps worked on Glee before with Grant and the Warblers cast. |
| 360 | * ''Series/FlashForward2009'' featured an eppisode in which Demetri Noh sang karaoke. This is because Creator/JohnCho is actually a quite talented singer (and is the frontman of an LA-area band). |
| 361 | * ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' has used music from cast members Hugh Dillon (better known in Canada as the singer of punk band The Headstones) and Creator/AmyJoJohnson. |
| 362 | * ''Series/ForeverKnight'' had a musical scene in one ep that let Geraint Wyn Davies show off his piano skills. |
| 363 | * In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', the eponymous character was a highbrow, artsy type, so it was totally in-character (and often humorous, due to context or song selection) for Kelsey Grammer to sing on several occasions throughout the show. He does it quite brilliantly -- he's also the singer of the ending credits theme "Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs". |
| 364 | ** Both Creator/KelseyGrammer and Creator/DavidHydePierce can play the piano and demonstrate this several times on the show. As Hyde Pierce isn't as good a singer but a better pianist than Grammer, Niles is often called upon to play the piano while Frasier sings. |
| 365 | ** Creator/WendieMalick, who appears as lounge singer Ronee Lawrence in Frasier's final season, sings at the drop of a hat. The most egregious example is where she sits at the piano singing about the Crane family breakfast to the tune of several well-known songs. (She also has a song-and-dance routine, but that's in a dream sequence of Martin Crane's, so we'll let her off.) |
| 366 | ** Creator/JaneLeeves is a trained dancer and got to demonstrate this ability a couple of times on the show, most notably in the episode "Moon Dance". Her flexibility comes in handy in later seasons when she gets to show off yoga moves. |
| 367 | ** Despite playing all-American dad Martin, Creator/JohnMahoney is actually from Manchester[[note]]He was born in Blackpool on the Lancashire coast after his family was evacuated there to avoid German bombing raids during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; they moved back to Manchester after the war.[[/note]] and in one episode mocked Daphne's Mancunian accent by mimicking it rather eerily. Ironically, Daphne's Mancunian accent is put on; Jane Leeves is actually from London. |
| 368 | * ''Series/{{Friends}}'': |
| 369 | ** Creator/LisaKudrow is fluent in French (and is married to a French advertising executive), and that's a key element of the 10th season episode "The One Where Joey Speaks French". |
| 370 | ** Although Joey is portrayed as being useless at speaking French (in the episode mentioned above), Creator/MattLeBlanc is fluent in the language. |
| 371 | ** In some episodes Chandler (played by Creator/MatthewPerry) is seen playing tennis well and is also a good ping pong player. Perry had a keen interest in tennis and was a top-ranked junior player. Matthew also played a tennis player on ''Series/BeverlyHills90210''. |
| 372 | * ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': |
| 373 | ** "What's Will Got to Do With It?" This episode is spent having all the other characters praise Tatyana Ali's singing voice. |
| 374 | ** In the pilot episode, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQNiN-9vaCM DJ Jazzy Jeff gets to show off his skills with a drumkit]] while appearing as Will's [[TheDanza best friend Jazz]]. |
| 375 | ** Alfonso Ribeiro's dance experience was put to use several times, notably in "Sooooooooul Train" and "Strip-Tease for Two." Subverted in that Ribeiro's character Carlton Banks was famous for having outdated taste in dance moves, despite his innate skill. |
| 376 | * ''Series/FullHouse'' with John Stamos' music skills, who has toured with Music/TheBeachBoys (he also played drums and sang backing vocals on an ''Series/{{ER}}'' episode). Dave Coulier also showed off his skills in cartoon impressions very frequently, mostly ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}. Also, he gets to showcase his hockey playing skills in a few episodes. |
| 377 | ** Stephanie was frequently seen dancing throughout the run of the show and even a few episodes where it a PlotLine. |
| 378 | ** Bob Saget got a chance to show that he can play the guitar in a later season episode. |
| 379 | ** Michelle's friend Derek sang a couple of times on the show. |
| 380 | * ''Series/GameOfThrones'' had Bronn lead some soldiers in singing a drinking song. His actor Jerome Flynn was a pop singer back in the nineties. Another character compliments Bronn for his singing voice. Musical theatre star Kerry Ingram (Shireen) is also given a chance to show off her skills. |
| 381 | * Parodied in ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'', where one episode has an inserted music video of supporting actor Todd Rivers, featuring a "rap" by Dean Lerner. |
| 382 | * ''Series/GeneralHospital'' had an entire annual event called the Nurses' Ball, which was used to get the cast to show off their chops. Many years prominently featured Jack Wagner and Rick Springfield singing (both had top 10 hits in the '80s) and Kelly Monaco ballroom dancing (she was the first winner of ''Series/DancingWithTheStars''). |
| 383 | * Lorelai in ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' is shown singing some times. While not a professional, Lauren Graham certainly has a good voice and (AFAIK) is very knowledgeable about music, which may have helped her character's endless witty references. |
| 384 | ** Rory showed off her Spanish speaking in one episode while speaking to one of Emily's maids. In real life, Alexis Bledel is actually Latina. This also came up during interviews for ''Literature/TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingPants''; Bledel surprised fellow Latina actress America Ferrera when she spoke Spanish to an interviewer. |
| 385 | * On ''Series/GimmeABreak'', they let star Nell Carter (a veteran Broadway performer) strut her vocal stuff practically every chance they got, even bringing in musical guest stars for her to sing with. ([[DoItYourselfThemeTune And guess who sang the theme song?]]) Ironically, they cut back on that sort of thing once Telma Hopkins (formerly of Tony Orlando and Dawn) joined the cast. Then they ramped them back up when Joey and Matthew Lawrence joined the cast. |
| 386 | * While ''Series/{{Glee}}'' is made to show off the entire cast's singing abilities, there are a few scenes that show Heather Morris (Brittany), Harry Shum Jr. (Mike), and Matthew Morrison's (Will) dancing abilities. Even when the whole group is dancing in unison, if you watch Morris and Shum, their moves are always far cleaner than the rest of the cast. Morris was cast after she was brought on to teach Chris Colfer the Single Ladies dance, as she had recently finished touring with Beyonce. |
| 387 | ** Special notice goes to the "Special Education" episode, where Morris and Shum get a spectacular swing dance duet during "Valerie", and "The Substitute", where Shum and Morrison do a jaw dropping comedy-dance routine to "Make Em Laugh". |
| 388 | ** "I Am Unicorn" shows off Creator/ChrisColfer's (Kurt) skill with Sai swords. It's pretty damn awesome. |
| 389 | ** Prior to Glee, Kevin [=McHale=] was in a boyband, and before the addition of Harry and Heather, was said to have been among the cast's best dancers. While he spends most of his time in a wheelchair, he does learn all the routines standing up. His character has been given two dream sequences, giving [=McHale=] a chance to show off his dance skills. The first dream sequence was plot related, but the second, in which he performs Michael Jackson's 'Scream', was probably an excuse for him to show off. |
| 390 | ** It was pretty obvious that Gwyneth Paltrow and later Kate Hudson's guest starring roles were mainly used as a tool for the actresses to show off their singing (and in the latter case's dancing) abilities. |
| 391 | ** Darren Criss sung and played piano for both Teenage Dream and Against All Odds live. |
| 392 | ** Many cast members showcase their abilities with instruments as well: Mark Salling (Puck), Kevin [=McHale=] (Artie) and Chord Overstreet (Sam) all play guitar and Cory Monteith (Finn) plays the drums. |
| 393 | * In ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' episode [[Recap/TheGoldenGirlss07E18JourneyToTheCenterOfAttention "Journey To The Center Of Attention"]], Dorothy (Creator/BeaArthur) puts her singing skills to good use at a bar called "The Rusty Anchor" (where Blanche and later Dorothy are greeted like Norm from ''Cheers''). |
| 394 | ** Earlier episodes also gave Bea Arthur the chance to demonstrate her singing skills – [[https://youtu.be/4sRQELNLRG8 "Big Daddy's Little Lady"]] (season 2) and [[https://youtu.be/g3JLu-Y13mY "An Illegitimate Concern"]] (season 5) in particular. |
| 395 | *** Interestingly also a subversion – Rose is shown playing piano in both these episodes to accompany Dorothy singing, but Betty White couldn't really play at all and is miming for all she's worth. |
| 396 | * More and more as ''Series/GomerPyleUSMC'' went on, Jim Nabors was given opportunities to showcase his bell-like if somewhat bland singing voice. The sharp contrast between this and his in-character hick accent stopped being striking or funny fairly quickly. |
| 397 | ** It had already been shown a few times on ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', alongside Griffith's singing, guitar playing, and unique storytelling style.[[note]]These days, his singing is what he's better known for; he had sung "Back Home Again in Indiana" before the Indianapolis 500 for decades and would continue to do so until he passed away in 2012.[[/note]] |
| 398 | * ''Series/TheGoodies'' had frequent musical moments. While the other two saw them as an opportunity to muck about, they demonstrated that Bill Oddie was a proper musician and songwriter. |
| 399 | * ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' has a talented cast who all get at least one chance to showoff. |
| 400 | ** PJ is the guitarist for his band, and Jason Dolley plays the guitar in real-life as well as the piano. |
| 401 | ** Spencer and Emmet both can dance and they have a dance-off in which they take turns serving each other. |
| 402 | ** Teddy (Brigit Mendler) has a few chances to sing on the show, once for a talent show, a contest, and an audition for a school musical. |
| 403 | *** Her friend Skylar does a duet with Teddy for the talent show, but they combine with PJ and Emmet's band and mash-up both songs and subsequentally win the talent show. |
| 404 | ** Leigh-Allyn Baker appears for have professional dance training, and Amy Duncan tries to teach her family simple and complicated dance moves and routines in an episode when she wants them to do a song and dance number for her hospital's fundraiser. When they don't even try to duplicate what she just showed them, she asks, "what are you waiting for?" and Teddy says "10 years for dance lessons." Which may be a hint to Leigh-Allyn having dance training, or could just be a joke, or both. She even gets an applause track played after the more complicated part of her routine, probably pointing to the former. |
| 405 | * ''Series/GoodNewsWeek'' frequently has Paul [=McDermott=] singing for no good reason, though it's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic certainly not unwanted.]] Every episode also has two cast members singing popular songs as clues for a game. Sometimes, the contestant, in particular, can't sing - the usual answer to this is to just have them sing off-key with a piano for support, followed by them singing off-key with [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic ABSURD AWESOME-NESS]] for support. Case in point: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5KJ2P_YBqI Colin Lane sings Thriller.]] |
| 406 | * ''Series/GoodTimes'': Ralph Carter (Michael) - who was a Broadway performer before and after the show - was given plenty of opportunities to sing. When Ben Powers (Keith) joined the cast, they let him do impressions at every opportunity. Ironically, Music/JanetJackson (Penny) showcased her Mae West impression far more than her singing abilities. |
| 407 | * ''Series/TheGreatBritishBakeOff'': Paul enjoys taking any opportunity to show off his genuinely awesome kneading skills. |
| 408 | * Creator/BruceLee as Kato in the TV adaptation of ''Series/TheGreenHornet''. In prior versions of the property (a radio series and two film serials), Kato was merely Reid's valet and the Hornet's sidekick, and he did not demonstrate any notable fighting skills, much less martial arts mastery. Owing to Lee's status as a martial arts master, his Kato was given every chance to show that mastery on the air. This has influenced subsequent adaptations of the property; it is probably now unthinkable for Kato ''not'' to be a martial arts master in any new adaptation of ''Film/TheGreenHornet'' in any medium. |
| 409 | * The entire point of the ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' episode [[MusicalEpisode "Song Beneath the Song"]]: nearly all of the characters sing at one point, but the focus is on Callie (Creator/SaraRamirez), Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Owen (Creator/KevinMcKidd), all of whom have excellent voices. Series/ChylerLeigh also gets some solos in, and since the episode barely give her story it's clear that they're just using the voices. Ramirez even has a Tony for ''Theatre/{{Spamalot}}''. |
| 410 | * While the central character on ''Series/HannahMontana'' is already a professional singer (like Music/MileyCyrus), the show also worked as a platform for Mitchell Musso's (Oliver) rising singing career. Again, it's Disney. Coincidentally, Music/SelenaGomez guest-starred on an episode as a singer (though the vocals were recorded by someone else), years before her singing career began. |
| 411 | * Subverted in season 2, episode 5 of ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'': the writers wanted to show Hannibal Lecter showing off his culinary skills, and in particular, they wanted him to flip an egg into the air with a spatula, catch and crack the egg on the edge of the spatula, and drop the contents into a bowl. A difficult trick indeed, so they arranged for a number of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teppanyaki teppanyaki]] chefs to be on set to do the trick in close-up. When Creator/MadsMikkelsen arrived on set, he was told about the trick, and asked to try it himself. He performed it perfectly. Mikkelsen had been a juggler in his youth. |
| 412 | * The later seasons of ''Series/HappyDays'' had a lot of Anson Williams [Potsie] breaking into song for various flimsy reasons. Granted, his character was a singer, but after a while it got blatant. The "Pumps Your Blood" song he nominally used to memorize the cardiovascular system for an anatomy test is a good (and catchy) example. |
| 413 | ** The infamous JumpingTheShark episode was done in part because Creator/HenryWinkler was a good water-skiier. |
| 414 | * ''Series/TheHardyBoysNancyDrewMysteries'': Shaun Cassidy (who played Joe Hardy) had a successful singing career outside the show. A number of episodes featured Joe singing either with his "band back home in Bayport" or with whatever musical act happened to be in the show that week. Luckily, the show worked around this through the running gag of his brother Frank never sticking around to hear Joe perform. The plot follows Frank, with cut-backs to Joe's performance. |
| 415 | ** Parker Stevenson was also a good surfer in real life. One episode, "Wipe Out" had a silly contrived mechanism of Frank Hardy placing in a national surfing competition, just to get the boys to Hawaii and in the middle of a hotel theft ring. |
| 416 | * The new ''Series/HawaiiFive0'' introduces the ME, Max, as he's playing the piano. It's partly to reinforce Max's quirky character, and partly to showcase Masi Oka's piano skills. |
| 417 | * ''Series/{{Hellcats}}'' allowed Sharon Leal, Music/AshleyTisdale and Creator/AlysonMichalka to not just show off their physical agility but also their vocal chops. Especially Aly Michalka (compare Tisdale sharing a number with 3OH!3 to Michalka having whole solos). Especially when her sister came onto the show... |
| 418 | * In one episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Micah plays the piano, showing off Noah Gray-Cabey's musical talents. (This was a major part of his role on ''Series/MyWifeAndKids''.) |
| 419 | ** Creator/LouiseFletcher got to use American Sign Language in a guest spot on ''Heroes''. She learned it in her childhood, as both her parents were deaf. |
| 420 | *** Considering both Creator/HaydenPanettiere and Creator/KristenBell are not averse to bursting into song onscreen - the former even did it in her ''Series/GuidingLight'' days; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGp5KxClHSE see for yourself]] - it's curious how NBC never "suggested" they do a bit of vocalizing. (Then again, maybe they just couldn't find a logical way to fit it in.) |
| 421 | ** Hiro's swordplay was just Creator/MasiOka showing off his kendo skills (he's a ''shodan''), no stunt training required. |
| 422 | * A part of the reason Joe Dawson owned a blues bar in ''{{Series/Highlander}}'' was so that Jim Byrnes could show off his skill as a guitarist and blues singer. |
| 423 | * Hilariously subverted in ''Series/HogansHeroes'' - Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink) was a world-class violinist, and the son of a classical composer and noted orchestral conductor. Klink, on the other hand, played the violin like a cat losing a fight with a band saw. However, other episodes did showcase the singing talents of the cast (noticeably Robert Clary, Richard Dawson and Larry Hovis). Bob Crane also got to show off his drumming chops in one episode. (He also played the drums for the show's theme music.) |
| 424 | ** It should be noted that Klink could play one song perfectly: The American National Anthem |
| 425 | * ''Series/HomeImprovement'': |
| 426 | ** Zachery Ty Bryan is a saxophonist in real life and got to show off his skill at it on a few episodes. |
| 427 | ** He also got to show his soccer playing as well. |
| 428 | * ''Series/{{House}}'' is not only the world's greatest diagnostician, he sings, plays the guitar and the piano, and is an amateur magician. Of course, the same applies to Creator/HughLaurie, who plays him -- except for the "diagnostician" bit (the closest he gets to that is being the son of a doctor). The writers' success at not making it too blatant varies. They have at least succeeded at not making House a novelist (that we know of). Which Hugh Laurie also is, of course. There's not much Hugh Laurie doesn't seem to be doing, so that some of it would rub off on his character seems inevitable. |
| 429 | ** Hugh Laurie has also shown off his musical talent in other roles, particularly that of Bertie Wooster of ''Series/JeevesAndWooster''. What makes the ''Jeeves and Wooster'' thing even more remarkable is that there's no dubbing in those scenes. He's playing the piano and singing AND acting like an upper-class twit. Nice. |
| 430 | ** A season five episode of ''House'' had Hugh Laurie play both the piano and the harmonica AT THE SAME TIME. How's that for show off? |
| 431 | ** Luckily for the show, the character of House is such that he is the type that ''would'' actually go out and learn all these things, either because he's bored and just needs to fill time (magic, most likely) or he wanted to prove that it could be done (anything music related). The character is ever learning, as demonstrated by his taking cooking classes. |
| 432 | ** One of the more justified examples as Literature/SherlockHolmes (upon whom House is based) was an accomplished violinist. |
| 433 | ** A season seven episode featured a musical dream sequence which allowed Hugh Laurie to show off his vocal range (again) while also giving Lisa Edelstein a chance to show off her pipes. |
| 434 | ** Whilst Hugh Laurie's real talent is performing a flawless American accent every week (when Bryan Singer first cast him, he didn't realize he was English), there is a fun twist on this trope in an early episode when House calls a hospital in the middle of the night and pretends to be calling from the UK, using the excuse that he's not rude, he just forgot the time difference. What's really brilliant about this to British fans is that the accent he uses ''isn't Hugh Laurie's real accent''. It's the "[[UpperClassTwit upper-class-twit]]" voice he used as [[Series/JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] and [[Series/BlackAdder the Prince Regent]]. |
| 435 | ** He also juggles while discussing the diagnosis-of-the-week in "Clueless" - his giant tennis ball, the Magic 8-Ball, and a pencil case - and while three-ball juggling is pretty basic, juggling differently-shaped objects adds a few layers of difficulty. |
| 436 | * Barney in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' does anything to impress the ladies, and magic tricks are just one of those things. He even had an intervention... and magic is just one of the many talents of the great [[Creator/NeilPatrickHarris NPH]]. |
| 437 | ** NPH seems to be the go-to when the writers need someone to do a long bit, such as when he rattled off a whole bunch of reality show elimination catchphrases. |
| 438 | ** You can't forget the oft-gratuitous singing, either (harmonizing to 'Silent Night', anyone?), and NPH is far from the only one. ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' has also showcased Creator/JasonSegel's singing and piano-playing talents with the [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic totally awesome]] Slapsgiving song, and the [[SoBadItsGood infamous]] Robin Sparkles videos let Cobie Smulders show off ''her'' pipes too. Why there has not been a musical episode for this show yet is beyond me. |
| 439 | ** And the 100th episode, "Girls vs. Suits" gives us NPH, Jason Segel, Josh Radnor, Cobie Smulders, and Creator/AlysonHannigan singing a musical number - "Nothing Suits Me Like a Suit". And it is, you guessed it, legendary. |
| 440 | ** Josh Radnor (Ted) gets his chance with his song about the "Super Date" in "Of Course". Really it's only Alyson Hannigan who (quite openly) can't sing. |
| 441 | ** Josh Radnor also utilizes his apparent fluency in ASL in at least 2 episodes. Ted's use of ASL is worked into the plots fairly gracefully. |
| 442 | ** In the seventh season, Neil and Cobie have another chance to show their talents with an impressive dance number, and later in the season, Neil and Josh get to sing again when Barney and Ted have a duet parody of ''Series/{{Cheers}}''' "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" about the impromptu bar they opened in Ted's apartment. |
| 443 | ** TheTag to the Season 8 episode "The Time Travelers" involves Neil and Josh doing a barbershop sextet rendition of Billy Joel's "For The Longest Time" (with their eponymous time-traveling selves, that is). |
| 444 | ** Season 9 allowed Cristin Milotti, aka [[spoiler: the mother]] to show her singing skills. |
| 445 | * In ''Series/HowToGetAwayWithMurder'', Laurel speaks to her father in both English and Spanish and then later speaks to her mother primarily in French. Her actress, Karla Souza, is fluent in all three languages. |
| 446 | * In Episode 12 of ''Series/HumanTarget'', Jackie Earle Haley (who has a Black Belt) uses some of his martial arts skills. |
| 447 | * Creator/StepfanieKramer, who played LAPD detective sergeant Dee Dee [=McCall=] in ''Series/{{Hunter|1984}}'', had another career as a singer. In one episode of the series, [=McCall=] went undercover as a nightclub singer. |
| 448 | * ''Series/ICarly'': Sam/Creator/JennetteMcCurdy shows off her dancing skills in "iDream of Dance" and "iWas A Pageant Girl". |
| 449 | ** Carly/Miranda shows off her singing ability for a few lines of AmazingFreakingGrace in "iPie", and performs an entire song in "iDo". |
| 450 | * ''Series/ILoveLucy'' seemed determined to showcase Desi Arnaz's singing performances whenever possible, usually running longer than preferable and sometimes [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment lacking any relevance to the episode's plot]]. (But, after all, he was the producer.) |
| 451 | ** William Frawley and Vivian Vance also occasionally got chances to sing or perform with no relation to comedy. Lucy's performances were never played straight. |
| 452 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': |
| 453 | ** Creator/JacobAnderson and Steven G. Norfleet, who portray Louis and Paul de Pointe de Lac respectively, tap dance during the wedding scene. |
| 454 | ** Creator/SamReid, who plays Lestat de Lioncourt, also sings "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PuWm9t5WY8 Come to Me]]" for the show's soundtrack. |
| 455 | * ''Series/ItAintHalfHotMum'' (which focused on a British Army "Concert Party" stationed in Burma during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII) allowed the whole cast to showcase their talents, notably Don Estelle's singing. The trope is subverted in one episode where an outside recruit is brought in and proceeds to demonstrate his many impressive talents - singing, playing the piano, tap dance, ventriloquism and more. In the end, the men conspire to get rid of him because he risks replacing Lofty, who will then have to be posted "up the jungle". |
| 456 | * On ''Series/{{JAG}}'', Creator/CatherineBell (Mac) often got the chance to speak Farsi, a langauge in which she is proficient. |
| 457 | * ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'' didn't shy away from showing off the martial artists cast in it. Considering how two of them were playing characters who are essentially career soldiers, those scenes don't stand out all that much. |
| 458 | ** The third episode of features a scene where Len, portrayed by karate champion Matt Mullins, trains on a rooftop. Although it makes sense for the character, the scene has absolutely no plot relevance. Looks good, though... |
| 459 | ** Another example is the fight between him and Danny Cho/taekwondo martial artist and stuntman Mike Moh. The scene is both relevant ''and'' looks good with Daytime Emmy Award. |
| 460 | ** Later in the season, there's a sparring scene between Len and the Advent Master, played by Mark Dacascos. That scene exists to show off their skills. |
| 461 | ** As far back as the original series' "Let's Go Rider Kick" (performed by Creator/HiroshiFujioka), ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series have featured insert songs performed by the lead actors in order to show off their singing skills. However, ''[[Series/KamenRiderDenO Den-O]]'' takes the cake for allowing star Takeru Satoh to show off his singing, acting, and even break-dancing skills. In fact, odds are Ryutaros' penchant for breakdancing was created entirely to allow Satoh more opportunities to show off. |
| 462 | ** Nearly the entire cast of ''Series/KamenRiderKiva'' getting to show off their vocal chops during things like the Holy Fang Christmas live show. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KgAnayKAoo=related Koji]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyO3h97ySFw&feature=related Seto]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOD_kF5ElHY Kenji Matsuda]] especially. |
| 463 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' had an episode where a MonsterOfTheWeek challenges the Kamen Rider Club to a contest, and even lets them choose the terms. Gentaro chooses Double Dutch, which is Sota Fukushi's specialty; likewise, JK (Shion Tsuchida) chooses breakdancing. |
| 464 | ** The Hyper Battle Video of ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' had Gaku Sano, Yutaka Kobayashi and Yuumi Shida showing off their interests, most notably Yutaka's baking skills. Yutaka even briefly had a web series called "Yuta Café", where he would bake things for the other cast members. And during the Baron focus episode of Gaim Gaiden, this comes into play again when [[IdenticalStranger Shapur]] bakes a cake for Mai. |
| 465 | *** Because ''Gaim'' initially centers on teams of street dancers, several members of the cast were talented in that field and got to show it off both in dance sequences and unmorphed fights. It's quite noticable that Kouta is more far more nimble when he's untransformed (and played by Gaku Sano) than he is once he changes into Gaim (at which point suit actor Seiji Takaiwa takes over). |
| 466 | *** ''Gaim'' also gives us ActionGirl Yoko Minato/Kamen Rider Marika; she was played by professional stuntwoman Minami Tsukui, giving the franchise its first example of NoStuntDouble in over 40 years[[note]]Creator/HiroshiFujioka did his own stunts in [[Series/KamenRider the original series]], but after he broke his leg during a stunt gone wrong, Toei was much less open to face actors doing stunts[[/note]]. Besides Tsukui being her own suit actress, she also got plenty of unmorphed fights to show off her martial arts skills. |
| 467 | ** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' has Masamune Dan play piano and sing some parts like the first words of his ImageSong, Justice. Hiroyuki Takami is singer and songwriter of pop band Acess. |
| 468 | * As Lenny Briscoe in ''Series/LawAndOrder'', Jerry Orbach displayed his skills at pool, particularly with trick shots. |
| 469 | ** And also a total subversion of this trope: although Orbach was a Tony Award-winning song-and-dance man (even released an album!), his character never sang a note on the show and even claimed in one episode he knew nothing about music! |
| 470 | * ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': |
| 471 | ** When Creator/JeffGoldblum was on the show, he was given a few chances to display his piano playing skills. This wasn't the first time this happened - Goldblum also played piano in ''Film/TheFly1986'', ''Series/{{Raines}}'', ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', and ''Film/EarthGirlsAreEasy''[[note]]channeling Creator/JerryLewis as Buddy Love[[/note]]. |
| 472 | ** Creator/VincentDOnofrio's skill with magic and sleight of hand tricks shows up a few times over the course of the series ("Crazy", "Vanishing Act", "All In"). |
| 473 | * ''Series/LazyTown'''s Sportacus (Magnus Scheving) showcases the actor's amazing stunts and talent as a gymnast, to the point where the character won't simply ''walk'' anywhere - instead he'll flip, somersault, walk on his hands, cartwheel, etc. just to get to wherever he needs to be. Granted, the show was ''created'' by Scheving himself, but still... |
| 474 | ** There was one scene where Sportacus made the simple act of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMa_dUe3tgw writing a letter]] look like an exhausting gymnastic workout. |
| 475 | * In the second episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'''s second season, the team infiltrates a cabaret in Nazi-occupied France by having Stein claim to be Hitler's favorite singer Max Lorenz, to whom he supposedly bears a resemblance (the fact that Lorenz was in his early 40s doesn't come up). The rest of the team quietly panic when he's forced to sing to prove his identity, but of course, Victor Garber is a veteran of Broadway musicals, and Stein brings even a high-ranking Nazi to tears with a rendition of an "original song" [[Film/TheSoundOfMusic Edelweiss]]. |
| 476 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has managed to do this twice in season 3, and has somehow kept it from seeming contrived or out of character. Aldis Hodge (Hardison) had his opportunity to play the violin in "The Scheherazade Job," while Creator/ChristianKane (Eliot) sang and played guitar in "The Studio Job."[[note]]Hardison previously claimed that he had the talent to play violin but simply hadn't done so in several years, with Nate [[spoiler:hypnotizing him to draw that talent back out]], while Elliot is simply [[TheAce good at anything he attempts]].[[/note]] |
| 477 | ** Also, that painting of Nate's "ancestor" (a stylized version of Nate, really) that Hardison claimed to paint himself - yeah, that was really painted by the actor himself. |
| 478 | * In an episode of ''Series/LieToMe'', Brendan Hynes (Eli Loker) and guest star Creator/FeliciaDay get to sing a little duet -- about ''lies'', of course. |
| 479 | * An episode of ''Series/{{Life|2007}}'' makes good use of Creator/SarahShahi's fluency in Farsi. |
| 480 | * ''Series/LivingSingle'' gave T. C. Carson (Kyle) and Queen Latifah (Khadijah) many opportunities to show off their singing abilities. |
| 481 | * Sophia Nomvete and Megan Richards both got to show their singing abilities in ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''. |
| 482 | * Evangeline Lilly's talent for climbing trees is used often on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. |
| 483 | * ''Series/{{Lucifer|2016}}'' gives Creator/TomEllis (who plays the title character) many chances to show off his singing and piano playing. For instance, Season 2 opens with him performing "All Along the Watchtower" by Music/BobDylan, and Season 4 with "Creep" by Music/{{Radiohead}}. He can also juggle. |
| 484 | -->'''Chloe:''' Please don't juggle the evidence, Lucifer. |
| 485 | * ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' had several episodes that featured ice hockey prominently. Creator/RichardDeanAnderson loves the sport and these gave him a chance to show off his hockey skills. |
| 486 | ** But they only showed him playing guitar once; RDA had his own band for quite some time. |
| 487 | * The UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade coverage on Creator/{{NBC}} has done this for many many years. Most times stars of their shows get to sing on a float or elsewhere. Examples include Creator/NellCarter, who performed at least twice in the 80's, her fellow ''Series/GimmeABreak'' costar Joey Lawrence, who made frequent appearances well into the 90's (when he was on ''Series/{{Blossom}}''), Creator/KelseyGrammer, Creator/AlanRachins, Creator/JaneKrakowski, and Creator/VickiLewis. Notably, Creator/ArleenSorkin and Creator/HarryGroener were paired up to sing "We're A Couple of Swells" in 1988. On the non-musical side, Creator/HarryAnderson, a skilled magician, demonstrated a card trick the same year. |
| 488 | * ''Series/MadMen'': |
| 489 | ** Season 1 had Peggy Olson doing dancing routines that shown off the ballet training Creator/ElisabethMoss had as a teenager. Season 7B had her repeat the feat--but this time, it involved her in roller skates with no helmet! |
| 490 | ** Season 3's "My Old Kentucky Home", an entire ''episode'' that seems to be dedicated to Cast Showoffs: |
| 491 | *** Creator/VincentKartheiser shows off his dancing skills in the scene where Pete and his wife Trudy stop Roger's party dead by doing the Charleston. |
| 492 | *** Creator/MichaelGladis duets with Miles Fisher (formerly of an a cappella group at Harvard) on "Hello, My Baby" in the scene where Kinsey and his old college buddy from Princeton's Tigertones show off their acapella skills. |
| 493 | *** Creator/JohnSlattery singing the title song (in {{blackface}}, for ''extra'' {{Squick}}) at Roger and Jane's engagement party |
| 494 | *** Creator/ChristinaHendricks appears to sing a rendition of "C'est Magnifique" while accompanying herself on the accordion, at Joan and Greg's dinner party. The singing voice was dubbed but the accordion-playing was all her. |
| 495 | ** Season 6 opens with Jessica Pare singing "Zou Bisou Bisou" in her native French Canadian while doing some Burlesque steps. |
| 496 | ** Season 7A ends with Creator/RobertMorse singing and dancing to the old show tune "The Best Things in Life Are Free" as Don Draper's hallucination (or was it?) of the now-deceased Bert Cooper in the series' biggest (if not only) BigLippedAlligatorMoment (but a delightful and tasteful one!). Morse is, of course, a veteran of Broadway musicals, and his role on ''Mad Men'' was a CastingGag referring to his breakout performance in the original 1961 production of ''Theatre/HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying''. |
| 497 | * On ''Series/TheMagician'', all of the illusions performed by the protagonist Tony Blake were actually performed by Creator/BillBixby, who was an extremely talented amateur magician, without any trick photography. |
| 498 | * ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': |
| 499 | ** The writers started up a game called "What will Bryan Cranston do?" which led to them writing in plots of him doing roller disco and other bizarre and increasingly dangerous stunts just to see if the actor would ever say no. Not only did he not object, he also kept pulling them off. After this culminated in Bryan being covered in live bees in one episode, the name of the game changed to "What ''won't'' Bryan Cranston do?" |
| 500 | ** Erik Per Sullivan actually knows how to play the piano and was able to work it into the series. |
| 501 | * Creator/DavidMcCallum is an accomplished musician (singer, conductor, songwriter/composer and multi-instrumentalist). So, in the ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' 2nd season episode ''The Ultimate Computer Affair'', Illya Kuryakin goes undercover as [[MasterOfDisguise very disreputable quasi-Latino guitar-playing busker]] to get himself thrown into prison, and in the 3rd season episode ''The Take Me to Your Leader Affair'', Illya plays guitar and sings a duet with the "Innocent of the Week" played by [[StuntCasting Nancy Sinatra]] on the flimsiest of "creating a diversion" pretexts. And [=McCallum=] also wrote the song that he and Nancy Sinatra sang! |
| 502 | * ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' demonstrated David Faustino's rapping, Christina Applegate and David Garrison's dancing, Ed O'Neill's football playing, and Katey Sagal's singing talents at different times. |
| 503 | * In one early episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', where a USO troop entertained the camp, Gary "Radar" Burghoff sat in with the USO band and performed an impressive drum solo. Several other episodes included moments where he would show off his skills as an impressionist (notably of John Wayne and Jack Benny). |
| 504 | ** Season 5's "Movie Tonight" did this both for Burghoff and for Loretta Swit, who sang "C'est Magnifique" during a break in the film screening. All the main characters got in on the "Father Mulcahy Soundalike Contest", something that the cast members had done at one point. (Burghoff was arguably the winner.) |
| 505 | * Philip Michael Thomas and his....ahem, ''singing abilities'' in the first two seasons of ''Series/MiamiVice''. Tubbs would hum or sing a selection from his album, "Living the Book of My Life", during a break in the action, although this was a rare occurrence. |
| 506 | * ''Series/MissionImpossible'': |
| 507 | ** Shannon went undercover in several roles that required her to sing, which allowed Jane Badler to showcase her talent as a singer. |
| 508 | ** In "Gunslinger", Jim Phelps remarks that he used to be pretty good with a sixshooter and does a few GunTwirling tricks to the admiration of his teammates. The filming makes it obvious that Creator/PeterGraves is doing his own twirling. |
| 509 | ** The above examples from the '80s version, but the original had Barbara Bain's Cinnamon singing three originals in "Illusion," Greg Morris' Barney going undercover as a singer... but ironically the most musically talented member of the cast(s), Lesley Ann Warren as Dana, barely got to sing! |
| 510 | * Over the course of its run, ''Series/ModernFamily'' had a few episodes where Creator/ArielWinter's character Alex Dunphy sings. |
| 511 | * In ''Series/TheMonkees'' episode "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth", Davy Jones must win a horse race in order for a young boy to be able to keep his beloved horse. Jones was a jockey prior to becoming an entertainer (and after, actually, as he still holds the record as the oldest amateur rider to ever win a graded UK stakes race.) |
| 512 | ** Ironically, it was the ''lack'' of cast showoffs that sank Music/TheMonkees when word got around that the cast didn't play their own instruments, though Peter and Michael were actually gifted musicians and Micky became a passable drummer ("It's not brain surgery" as he put it). Davy never played anything more complicated than a tambourine. |
| 513 | ** The Monkees were quite capable of singing in close harmony, as demonstrated in an episode that aired around Christmas where they sang an acapella version of the Spanish carol [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_hlYgCNFZc "Riu Riu Chiu"]]. |
| 514 | * Cybill Shepherd and Creator/BruceWillis are both guilty of this charge, on ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'' and off - but especially Cybill, whose penchant for working her pipes into her projects makes Creator/ScarlettJohansson seem like Scott Speedman in ''Duets.'' |
| 515 | * Many scenes from ''Series/MorkAndMindy'' were just excuses for Creator/RobinWilliams to let loose with his improvisational comedy act. Considering that Williams' manic act was considerably funnier than the average episode's script this was an improvement that was obvious enough to the producers to have [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny specific gaps in the scripts]] where he could improvise to his heart's -- and the audience's -- content. |
| 516 | * Both ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' and ''Series/SesameStreet'' grant big musical numbers to puppeteers with particularly great singing voices, including Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and West End actress Louise Gold. ''Sesame'' did the same for both human characters (Northern Calloway, Alan Muraoka, Lillian White, Alaina Reed Hall, Bob [=McGrath=]) and puppeteers (Stephanie D'Abruzzo, John Tartaglia) with established careers either in music or theater. Bob, in particular, was famous for being a soloist on the series ''Sing Along with Mitch'' in the '60s, leading him to become [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a teen idol in Japan]] - naturally, Bob's job on the show was as a voice teacher. |
| 517 | *** And some just happen to be talented and don't even have those excuses - Emilio Delgado (Luis) got to show off his guitar skills, and former puppeteer Kevin Clash (best known for Elmo) got to show off his vocal range a great deal. |
| 518 | *** In the famous "Goodbye, Mr. Hooper" episode, Big Bird gives drawings he made of his friends to them. All of them, including the one of Mr. Hooper that is on display at Big Bird's nest to this very day, were drawn by Caroll Spinney, a cartoonist and painter who also wrote an illustrated the official Sesame Street book "How to Be a Grouch" with his wife, Debra. |
| 519 | * During the filming of ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' Season 10, the cast had a karaoke night in which Mouna Traoré, who plays Rebecca James, "blew everyone’s mind". This was the direct inspiration for her choir subplot in the ChristmasEpisode. |
| 520 | * ''Series/MyLivingDoll'': Creator/JulieNewmar was an accomplished dancer when she was signed to play Rhoda the robot in this short-lived sitcom. She has said in interviews that she approached the role in part as a dance performance; this is clearly noticeable in episodes like "The Pool Shark". Newmar is also a skilled classical pianist, so Rhoda was allowed to show off her musical talents in "The Beauty Contest". |
| 521 | * While Mike/Joel and the bots all took turns at songs and musical riffs in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (including Mike Nelson being the singer of the Mike-era theme songs), Kevin Murphy's Tom Servo had the lion's share, making use of his powerful singing voice. Ironic, considering he was the smallest robot. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ree220FiOEg Case in point.]] |
| 522 | ** The Invention Exchange skits which kicked off most of Joel's episodes were specifically devised to make use of Joel's skills as a prop comedian. That's why they were dropped when Mike took over. |
| 523 | * All of the Series/{{Mythbusters}} came from some kind of professional background in the F/X industry, and would ussually show of their various skills whenever they could. |
| 524 | * ''{{Series/Nashville}}'' runs on this trope, since most of the cast play either professional or aspiring singers/musicians and the ones who play guitar also do their own playing. That said, Juliette doing a solo number in church ''in front of'' the choir settles it for her. |
| 525 | * ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': In the episode "Forced Entry" Special Agent Gibbs tosses a football to a kid going deep, with a perfect spiral and everything. Gibbs's actor, Mark Harmon, was the starting quarterback for UCLA back in his college days. |
| 526 | ** Creator/CoteDePablo is a pretty good singer and gets to sing the Music/TomWaits song "Temptation" from ''Music/FranksWildYears'' in one episode. |
| 527 | *** "Pretty good"? She used to do Broadway! |
| 528 | ** Every episode, Abby is this. Pauley Perrette has a degree in criminology. |
| 529 | *** Similarly, but inverted, David [=McCallum=] (Ducky) prepared for his part like a method actor, and eventually became good enough to act as a consultant. Whether he does so now or not is unknown, but according to some DVD extras, he's been asked to speak at professional forensics conferences! |
| 530 | ** During a guest appearance, Bob Newhart's character conducts a brief reprise of Newhart's signature "one-sided telephone call" schtick. |
| 531 | * In series such as ''Nestor Burma'' and also on film, if Creator/GuyMarchand's characters had to play either piano, saxophone or clarinet, he did it for real. |
| 532 | * ''Series/NewGirl'' has Creator/ZooeyDeschanel singing constantly, including creating an in-universe theme song in front of the other characters, one of whom asks "if she just made up a theme song for herself". |
| 533 | ** Zooey sings a full two and a half minute long theme song, which is cut down to 15 seconds on the show itself. |
| 534 | * ''Series/TheNewsroom'' showcased Olivia Munn's fluency in Japanese in an episode about the radiation as a result of the Fukushima Earthquake. A later episode also had Jeff Daniels and former Broadway actor John Gallagher Jr. sing and play the guitar. |
| 535 | * Harry Stone of ''Series/NightCourt'', played by magician/comedian Harry Anderson, is prone to doing magic tricks and playing practical jokes. Since this was established as part of his character fairly early on, it's not too blatant. |
| 536 | ** He also played a magician named Jack Fable when he took a SesameStreetCred on ''Series/TheNoddyShop''. |
| 537 | * ''Series/Numb3rs'': |
| 538 | ** Creator/RobMorrow really was playing the piano in the final scene of ''The Running Man''. |
| 539 | * ''Series/TheOC'' included an episode in which Sandy Cohen, played by Broadway veteran Peter Gallagher, sang to his wife. |
| 540 | * Season 2 of ''Series/OddSquad'' has many scenes that serve to show off the dancing abilities of Isaac Kragten, who is a professional dancer as well as a child actor and plays Otis in the show. Similarly, Season 1 has numerous moments of Filip Geljo showing off his well-known athleticism, mainly through dance scenes. |
| 541 | ** ''Film/OddSquadTheMovie'' also has a scene where Otto and Otis dance together in order to get to the switch that will shut off the security cameras in Weird Team's headquarters. |
| 542 | * In the US version of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'', the characters go to an ice rink on Michael's birthday so that Creator/SteveCarell, a former hockey player and great skater, can show his skills off. Averted in the same episode when Jenna Fischer, who learned to skate for ''Film/BladesOfGlory'', played Pam as being poor at it. |
| 543 | ** Also used in-universe in Michael's self-made movie ''Threat Level Midnight'', which includes a completely irrelevant hockey subplot seemingly just to show off Michael's skill at it. |
| 544 | ** Also, Andy, played by Ed Helms, gets many chances to sing to show off Ed Helms' talent. |
| 545 | *** And play the banjo. Rainn Wilson frequently picks up the guitar--Dwight and Andy played "Duelling Banjos" in one episode. |
| 546 | ** Prior to getting into comedy, Craig Robinson was a music teacher. Several episodes show off his keyboarding and singing chops. |
| 547 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'' had a MusicalEpisode just before the Season 6 finale to give the main cast a chance to show off their singing skills. The only exceptions were Jared Gilmore, who sang a single line in the last song; and Creator/RobertCarlyle, who either couldn't sing or couldn't sing in his Rumpelstiltskin voice. |
| 548 | * ''Series/{{One Day at a Time|1975}}'': |
| 549 | ** A 1976 episode had the gang from the apartment building staging a musical show for some senior citizens. It was highlighted by Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as Elton John and Kiki Dee performing "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". |
| 550 | ** They performed a second show at the same retirement home in a later season. Notable for Nanette Fabray, who played Bonnie Franklin's grandmother, performing the song "Triplets", which she originally performed in ''Film/TheBandWagon'' with Creator/FredAstaire. |
| 551 | * In ''Series/OrphanBlack'' episode 3:9, Siobhan sings a song with a blues-rock band in a pub. The actor, Creator/MariaDoyleKennedy, is also a professional singer and wrote the song with her musician husband, who was also in the on-screen band. |
| 552 | * The "talent show" episode of ''Series/{{Oz}}''. |
| 553 | * Chris Pratt does his own singing and guitar playing as Andy Dwyer on ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''. He also wrote one of Andy's songs. |
| 554 | ** Both played straight and subverted with the character of Ron Swanson, played by Creator/NickOfferman. Ron's passion for woodworking was added to reflect Offerman's own real-life skills. However, when the writers created Ron's alternate persona of Duke Silver, saxophone-playing smooth jazz musician, they did ''not'' know that Offerman ''already played saxophone''. |
| 555 | * ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' took every chance itg could get to show off Creator/BronsonPinchot and Mark Linn-Baker’s singing abilities, to a point where it made [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes clearing songs for DVD releases a problem]]. |
| 556 | * ''Series/ThePlayboyClub'' only aired, like, 3 episodes, but every single one of them featured at least one song for Creator/LauraBenanti to sing. |
| 557 | * ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'' had an episode where Tommy and Tanya had to sing every single line, briefly turning the show into a musical and displaying their singing talents (or lack of in Tommy's case). ''Series/{{Mighty Morphin|PowerRangers}}'' also had an episode in season 3 where Kimberly sings an original song, playing her own acoustic guitar as backup. ''[[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder Dino Thunder]]'' would pull a similar trick with Yellow Ranger Kira, but as a singer with her own band who dreamed of getting a record contract one day, Kira performed significantly more often in-show than Kimberly ever did. |
| 558 | ** In ''Dino Thunder'', Tommy and Creator/JasonDavidFrank's martial arts skills returned. He seldom used a stunt double. In an episode where Tommy dreamed fights with his first three ranger forms, that stuntman was in those suits instead. |
| 559 | ** Also, ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' and Dustin's mad motorcycle and saxophone skills. [[ShirtlessScene And]] [[FanService others]]. |
| 560 | ** And let's not forget that the original series tailored its martial arts battle to cater to each person's ability, Trini's kung fu, Jason's martial arts ability, Zack's dancing, and Kimberly's gymnastics. Billy didn't get to really show off until about season 3. |
| 561 | ** Besides MMPR actors, a number of other actors in the series have showcased their martial arts talents, including [[Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue Michael Chaturantabut]], [[Creator/DanSouthworth Daniel]] [[Series/PowerRangersTimeForce Southworth]], [[Series/PowerRangersDinoCharge Yoshi Sudarso and Brennan Mejia]]. |
| 562 | ** Kira Josephson, who plays Jane in ''Series/PowerRangersDinoFury'', got to flex her tap dancing skills in an episode. Chance Perez, a musician and former member of the boy band In Real Life, plays a musician in the show and has gotten to sing and play several times so far. |
| 563 | * Wentworth Miller was a competitive swimmer in school, apparently the only reason he's swimming on a first-season episode of ''Series/PrisonBreak''. Not to mention playing a swimmer in a second season episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. |
| 564 | * Lucy Hale got two opportunities to show off her singing voice during ''Series/{{Privileged}}'': The first was a rehearsal scene where Rose and Sage were trying to impress their new publicist and the second was in the final episode, during Marco's marriage ceremony. She's also had a few chances to sing on ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars''. |
| 565 | * Staying with Rosewood, Janel Parrish also got to show off her voice. |
| 566 | * ''Series/{{Psych}}'': |
| 567 | ** Dulé and James show off their singing skills from time to time, starting with their performance of Music/TearsForFears's "Shout" during their ''American Duos'' audition. It's put into focus when Gus's college singing quartet Blackapella appears (Shawn filling in for the deceased member). "[[Recap/PsychS07E15PsychTheMusicalPart1 Psych: The Musical]]" lets the whole ensemble cast flex their vocal talents (as they often do in the blooper reels). |
| 568 | ** Dulé Hill's tap dancing skills are first showcased in Season 5's "[[Recap/PsychS05E02FeetDontKillMeNow Feet Don't Kill Me Now]]," where Gus teaches Lassiter to tap dance. A recital scene at the end lets Dulé go all-out. |
| 569 | * ''Series/PushingDaisies'' has Broadway performers Creator/KristinChenoweth (Galinda in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'') and Ellen Greene (Audrey in ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'') among its ranks. The writers couldn't seem to make it through the second episode of the series without showing us that yes, Kristin Chenoweth can sing, though it took as long as the ''fourth'' episode for Chenoweth and Greene to have a duet (they sang [[Music/{{Flood|TheyMightBeGiants}} "Birdhouse in Your Soul"]] by Music/TheyMightBeGiants). Some things are just too good to pass up, it seems. |
| 570 | * The nature of ''Series/QuantumLeap'' allowed the series to exploit star Scott Bakula's various talents, frequently in instances of SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat. Bakula's character Sam Beckett frequently found himself leaping into dancers and musicians to justify the inclusion of scenes in which Sam then had to dance, sing, or play the piano. In the penultimate episode ("Memphis Melody") he leaped into [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis freaking Presley]], although the ultimate example has to be "Catch A Falling Star," in which he leaps into the understudy for the lead role of a production of ''Man Of La Mancha''! Even when the leapee of the episode ''isn't'' a musician or dancer, episodes like "Double Identity" and "Pool Hall Blues" still throw in musical interludes purely in order to showcase Bakula's musical chops. |
| 571 | ** Donald Bellisario said that unless it was dangerous Bakula would rarely use a double for anything. |
| 572 | ** However the [[BrainBleach less said about Dean Stockwell's rapping]] in "Shock Theatre" the better. (It's telling that the version on the soundtrack album is very different, both in terms of performance and words, to the one in the actual episode.) |
| 573 | *** This has happened with Bakula again in ''Series/NCISNewOrleans''. His character, Dwayne Pride, is frequently seen playing the piano at his bar. |
| 574 | *** And again when he guest-starred in an episode of ''Series/BostonLegal'' as a successful lawyer and old flame of Shirley Schmidt's. Playing piano and singing in a bar. |
| 575 | * ''Series/RedDwarf'' had a few examples, given that most of the cast were not "legit" actors at the start of the series. The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} has to be the "Tongue-Tied" music video at the beginning of the second-season finale as performed by Creator/DannyJohnJules (who was a professional dancer), but there were several episodes where Creator/ChrisBarrie (an impressionist and ''Series/SpittingImage'' alumnus) would either do a voice-only part or have Rimmer break into a surprisingly excellent impression of a particular voice or accent (and of course, Ace Rimmer has a different-sounding voice to Rimmer as well). |
| 576 | ** Subverted in one episode, though, where apparently it turns out that Ace's voice is the one voice that Rimmer ''can't'' do well, sounding "67% more weaselly" according to Kryten. |
| 577 | ** The audiobook of "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" is performed by Chris Barrie alone, but sounds like a full cast recording. Barrie also does this on an unbroadcast script episode ("Identity Within") that was included in the Series VII DVD as an extra. |
| 578 | * In ''Series/{{Rentaghost}}'', cast showoff Michael Staniforth as Timothy Claypole could juggle (not unlikely for a court jester), tumble (ditto) and disco-dance on roller skates. He also wrote and sang the theme tune. |
| 579 | * In the season two premiere of ''Series/{{Roswell}}'', the now ex-Sheriff Valenti (William Sadler) starts to sing at the Crashdown Cafe; his son Nick expects to be embarrassed. Both he and we are surprised to find his dad can actually sing pretty well. |
| 580 | * In ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey'', Julian Curry--an amateur wine expert and wine populariser--occasionally got to show off his wine knowledge whenever his character, Claude Erskine-Brown, went off about wine. Curry's help was apparently invaluable in the writing of the episode "Rumpole and the Blind Tasting", which centred around a receiving stolen property case in which the (allegedly) stolen goods were a massive shipment of (allegedly) extremely expensive fine wine. [[spoiler:The goods were not stolen and the wine was in fact [[ExpensiveGlassOfCrap cheap plonk in empty bottles that previously housed the good stuff]]. The whole thing was actually an elaborate case of InsuranceFraud by the alleged victim of the theft. Curry's knowledge of wine apparently helped Mortimer set up how Rumpole would crack it.]] |
| 581 | * In ''Series/Runaways2017'', Ariela Barer (Gertrude) shows off her singing ''and'' songwriting skills by singing a little lullaby she wrote. The Minoru family were initially an aversion. Even though all three actors are black belts, they weren't given a chance to show off their skills in the first season because the writers didn't want them to come off as [[AllAsiansKnowMartialArts sterotypical]]. But in the second season, they're able to showcase their talents in an impressive fight scene in the season finale. |
| 582 | * RuleOfFunny set in when, in an episode of ''Series/RutlandWeekendTelevision'', Creator/DavidBattley (as a cop) chased the actors away because 'This is a fire lane. You can't act here,' and then pulled some unidentifiable fruit out of his jacket, beginning to show off some very good juggling as the credits rolled. |
| 583 | * Creator/JohnGoodman is an adept impressionist, as seen in his many ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' hostings, so ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' frequently had Dan launch into one-line impressions or whole routines as anybody from Creator/RobertDeNiro and Creator/MarlonBrando to all [[Film/TheThreeStooges Three Stooges]] or even Creator/JuliaChild. It worked pretty seamlessly as Dan was a film and TV buff and usually just being the fun dad for his kids and wife. He also sings during the course of the show, as does Bonnie Bramlett. |
| 584 | * Michael Greyeyes, who plays Terry Thomas in ''Series/RutherfordFalls'', trained as a ballet dancer, so in the first episode of season 2, naturally they had him perform the entire final dance sequence from ''Film/DirtyDancing''. |
| 585 | * ''Series/SamanthaWho?'' played with this. It is shown that Samantha used to be an excellent and highly trained dancer like Creator/ChristinaApplegate, but after the amnesia had lost the ability and couldn't get it back, This results in a hilarious ending in which she and her mother, end up showing up ''Dancing With the Stars'' pro Mark Ballas through their bond [[PowerOfLove as Mother and Daughter]] in a ballroom dancing competition, only to later be shown that it's all an ImagineSpot, and in reality the two are horrendous. |
| 586 | * Some episodes of ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' showcased Mario Lopez's wrestling and drumming skills. One episode gave him an opportunity to perform a bodybuilding posing routine after his character entered a beauty pageant as a prank. |
| 587 | * ''Series/SchittsCreek'': Head writer and creator Creator/DanielLevy likes to write to his cast's talents: |
| 588 | ** Creator/CatherineOHara and Creator/NoahReid have both been given opportunities to sing and arrange the music for their performances. On top of that, Jen Robertson, Creator/SarahLevy and the other Jazzagals have all been given chances to sing. |
| 589 | ** Creator/EugeneLevy and Creator/ChrisElliott are often given OddCouple scenes that lean in to their history as comic actors, with Levy's awkwardness and Elliott's oafishness on full display. |
| 590 | * Used often in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': |
| 591 | ** Creator/SarahChalke (Elliot) is fluent in German and French. She's used both languages in a few episodes. |
| 592 | *** She also does this in her part in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' and ''Series/CougarTown''. |
| 593 | ** Sam Lloyd (Ted) belongs to an a cappella group called 'The Blanks', which was written into a multitude of episodes performing as The Worthless Peons. |
| 594 | ** Scrubs had a musical episode too. Not all the cast were good singers (hence why Chalke wasn't a part of the brief musical number they had in season 2), but some were and the rest gamely did their best toward an enthusiastic and entertaining performance overall. |
| 595 | *** The patient with the brain aneurysm in this episode is played by Stephanie D'Abruzzo, who is best known for being in the original Broadway cast of ''Theatre/AvenueQ''. |
| 596 | ** Franklyn [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwog-Pz26Nk sings "Hey Good Lookin'" in Japanese]]. Creator/MasiOka is Japanese-born and sang ''a capella'' in college. |
| 597 | * The ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' episode "The Bookstore" allows John O'Hurley to show off his dancing skills, later to be demonstrated quite thoroughly in the first season of ''Series/DancingWithTheStars''. |
| 598 | ** Subverted in ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. We hear George's singing in which he can't hold a note to save his life. His actor, Creator/JasonAlexander, is a Broadway veteran and a very talented singer who had to be recorded singing twice as he sounded too good the first time. |
| 599 | ** In "The Junior Mint", Jerry gets bored with Elaine catching up with Roy the artist in the hospital and breaks out a yo-yo to pass the time, showing real Jerry's prowess with one. |
| 600 | * ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' seemed to intentionally avert this trope in the casting of Mikhail Baryshnikov (as Aleksandr Petrovsky, or "The Russian"). Baryshnikov is frequently cited as one of the greatest ballet dancers of the age, yet never once is his character given an opportunity to dance. In fact, in the one scene most likely to feature him dancing, it's quickly cut off before he takes his first steps. |
| 601 | ** He does run for a taxi at one point with balletic skips and hops, though. |
| 602 | * ''Series/ShakeItUp'' gives Creator/DavisCleveland a chance to sing in their ChristmasEpisode in which Deuce is managing carolers and Flynn gets to sing solo for a line or two. He sounds a lot like Oliver Twist from the 1960's version of ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'', and apparently he was well received, as he has since sang backup for costar Caroline Sunshine in the music video "Roam". |
| 603 | * Chosen Man Hagman from the ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' series is often seen singing or playing music. John Tams who plays Hagman is also a folk musician and composer. He also co-authored music score for the series. |
| 604 | * ''Series/{{Sliders}}'': Cleavant Derricks has a beautiful singing voice, showcased in several episodes. Justified, in that Rembrandt was a professional musician on the homeworld. |
| 605 | ** This was used to expose Rembrandt as a fraud in one world - that world version is royalty, and tone-deaf. |
| 606 | * Several episodes of ''Series/SmallWonder'' allowed Marla Pennington to demonstrate her culinary skills or, more often, Tiffany Brissette to show off ''her'' talents, from gymnastics to voice mimicry. |
| 607 | * ''Series/SonnyWithAChance'' started off having Sonny (Music/DemiLovato) as a comedy actress, not a musician (although from the very first episode and opening credits it's seen she's got a guitar). That, until a second season episode where she shows she sings, plays the piano and writes music (like Demi Lovato themself). Probably justified, seeing as how it's a Creator/DisneyChannel show, and Disney loves to promote its stars as {{Idol Singer}}s. |
| 608 | * The ''Series/TheSopranos'' episode "[[Recap/TheSopranosS3E13ArmyOfOne Army of One]]" had Junior Soprano, played by Dominic Chianese, singing an Italian ballad; Chianese is an accomplished tenor in real life. This is something of a subversion; while the adult characters are enjoying it, their kids are bored out of their minds. Meadow Soprano even starts heckling, and later describes the song as saccharine and cliche. |
| 609 | * ''Series/StargateSG1'': When Anubis' ship crashes into arctic waters off the coast of Alaska, one scene requires Jonas Quinn to swim underwater, reroute power, swim to a set of rings and escape. The original plan was to shoot it in stages, until the director found out that the actor, Corin Nemec, is an extremely good swimmer. The entire scene is filmed as a single shot lasting just under two minutes, and actor performs various physical activities while holding his breath underwater. When he finally surfaces, he's barely out of breath. In the DVDCommentary, the director still can't get over his surprise at the actor not needing to resurface for air. |
| 610 | * ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': Since Creator/RachelLuttrell is a trained singer (and dancer, but we don't really get to see that), one episode has her singing a song at a friend's funeral, implying that all Athosian funeral ceremonies are done this way. According to Luttrell's audio commentary on the episode, she had to fly to LA to do the singing twice since her first attempt sounded too much like a classically trained singer (I wonder why?) which the character, Teyla, is not. |
| 611 | * ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': David Soul is a professional musician; Hutch therefore is given opportunity to sing and play guitar in a number of episodes. |
| 612 | * ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' did this ''a lot''. The Doctor (Robert Picardo) started singing regularly on screen during season two, and once it became apparent she had a great set of pipes so did Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). |
| 613 | ** The show even went so far as to have a whole episode with a plot based around the Doctor's singing, in which he becomes a celebrity to a race of aliens that have never heard music before. (Ironically, that episode - "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E13Virtuoso Virtuoso]]" - features the only use of a TalentDouble for the Doctor's singing - operatic tenor Agostino Castellano dubbed over Robert Picardo for ''Don Carlo'' and ''Rondine Al Nido'' (all other songs in the episode are performed by Picardo). |
| 614 | ** Apparently Kate Mulgrew is a pool shark. So at the post-climax scene they are in a bar on the holodeck where Tom asks the captain to play pool. She claims that's she never played before... right before cleaning all of them out. |
| 615 | * Not to mention all those times on ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' where they let cast members explore their range; whether it was Dwight Schultz performing ''Cyrano de Bergerac'', Creator/PatrickStewart doing Michael Williams from ''Theatre/HenryV'', or Creator/BrentSpiner playing three different characters having a face-to-face conversation. |
| 616 | ** Creator/GatesMcFadden, a noted Broadway choreographer, actually choreographed her character's tap-dancing lesson for Data and did all her own dancing. Given a bit of a lampshade when Dr. Crusher mentions that she hated the nickname of the "Dancing Doctor" at school. |
| 617 | ** Creator/JonathanFrakes is a skilled poker player, and introduced the tradition of the main cast (minus Picard until the finale) playing poker in their downtime. He could play the trombone at the drop of a mute. Again, however, sometimes Frakes required a TalentDouble - professional trombonist Bill Watrous. In Frakes' own words: "When Riker played badly, it was me, but when he was playing well, it was Bill Watrous." |
| 618 | ** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E8Unification2 Unification, Part II]]", we get Frakes playing a brisk piece on the piano as well as Creator/MichaelDorn singing a part of a Klingon opera. |
| 619 | *** In an out-of-series example, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, and [=LeVar=] Burton produced [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jexAHF_NpQ a song for Spiner's album "Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back"]], styling themselves 'The Sunspots'. |
| 620 | * ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}'': Creator/GeorgeTakei didn't know how to fence prior to being cast for ''Star Trek'', though he was a huge fan of the Robin Hood movies of the 40's and 50's, which had fencing in them. In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]", the screenwriters initially planned to have Takei act like a Japanese Samurai under the influence of the virus, which Takei diplomatically referred to as "ethnically consistent" (read: stereotypical), and inspired by the movies he watched as a child suggested that he could fence instead. The screenwriters asked him if he could fence and he told them it was his favorite sport and he fenced when he was young, so they okayed the change. Takei then swiftly arranged to have his very first fencing lesson ever before the episode started filming, and discovered he liked it so much that he actually kept at it. |
| 621 | ** And Creator/NichelleNichols was also an accomplished singer who prior to being cast in ''Star Trek'' had toured the US, Canada, and Europe as a vocalist with the Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton bands. In the first few episodes of the first season, Uhura was given several chances to show her singing talents. |
| 622 | *** Uhura's singing abilities are so integral to the character that when Uhura was cast in ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' as a young cadet fresh out of the academy they went with Creator/CeliaRoseGooding, a trained Broadway musical actress, who has had plenty of opportunities to show off her exceptional voice during the show even before it did a [[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E09SubspaceRhapsody big damn musical episode]]. |
| 623 | * ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'''s Malcolm Reed shows himself to have a talent for voices much like actor Dominic Keating's in early episodes, mimicking Trip and affecting an American accent to go undercover. |
| 624 | * Played straight and subverted in one episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', when Avery Brooks and Rene Auberjonois (as Sisko and Odo) sing "You Can't Take That Away From Me" together: Sisko sounds great, but Odo grumbles through it in a very off-key rendition, though Auberjonois has an excellent voice and has performed in Broadway musicals and ''Theatre/TheLittleMermaid''. |
| 625 | ** Then there are the various songs sung by Vic Fontaine, played by Creator/JamesDarren. |
| 626 | ** And Vic and Sisko's duet of "The Best Is Yet To Come". |
| 627 | ** And Nana Visitor [[spoiler:but not as Kira]] singing "Fever". |
| 628 | ** ''[[InvertedTrope Inverted]]'' in "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E04TakeMeOutToTheHolosuite Take Me Out to the Holosuite]]"; Max Grodénchik (Rom) was a semi-pro baseball player in high school, nearly going full-professional before getting into acting. He was actually incapable of playing as badly as Rom was supposed to be (Rom was supposed to be by far the worst player on the team), which is why he plays left-handed in the episode. |
| 629 | * The creators of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', with Creator/MichelleYeoh playing Philippa Georgiou, couldn't resist giving her spectacular sword-fighting scenes [[spoiler:as both versions of the character]]. |
| 630 | * ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': Creator/AlisonPill gets to show off her voice (her first taste of showbiz was in the Toronto Children's Chorus) in the episode "Two of One", when Jurati sings the Music/PatBenatar power ballad "Shadows of the Night" at a party to create a distraction for the other characters. |
| 631 | * Dolores Duffy has playing the bongos on her professional resume so Iris Puffybush played the bongos in one episode of ''Series/StrangersWithCandy''. |
| 632 | * ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s Bobby Singer, like his actor Jim Beaver, is fluent in Japanese. He actually asked the producers to add a line in Japanese to give him a chance to use it. |
| 633 | ** Averted with the character Dean Winchester, who is a terrible, tone-deaf singer, unlike his actor, Jensen Ackles. The directors have to ''remind'' him to sound bad. |
| 634 | * In ''Series/SweetTooth'', Marlon Williams (as Johnny) performs a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Music/SimonAndGarfunkel's "The Boxer". |
| 635 | * Creator/AndyKaufman had to be convinced to do ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' in the first place, and over time became increasingly bored with his character [[FunnyForeigner Latka]]. The final episode of Season 3 thus had Latka choosing to remake his personality, becoming the suave jerk Vic Ferrari and temporarily forgetting who he really was; the following season revealed Latka had developed multiple personalities, allowing Andy to take on other personae in addition to Latka's. (For those unaware, playing multiple persons was a large part of Kaufman's shtick.) This plot thread was wrapped up by the end of the season (though in the process, another change came -- Latka got married). |
| 636 | * Done in episode 11 of ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'' where Moune forms a cheerleading squad to raise money for a LittlestCancerPatient - the actress, Mikiho Niwa, belongs to idol group Canary Club whose repertoire includes cheerleading. |
| 637 | * ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger'': Stinger/Sasori Orange sings several songs [[note]]Sasori No Uta, Mienai Kizuna, Ichirin No Kage and unnamed song from ''Space 39''[[/note]] through the story. Yosuke Kishi has a singing career outside of being an actor. |
| 638 | * ''Series/TedLasso'': Several of the cast periodically get the chance to showcase their musical talents. Most notably Rebecca -- played by West End icon Creator/HannahWaddingham, whose voice is beyond spectacular -- sings at least once per season, but Jeremy Swift plays upright bass a couple of times in seasons 1 and 3, and Nick Mohammed got to show off his violin playing in an episode of season 3. |
| 639 | * ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': |
| 640 | ** Cameron learns ballet in the episode "The Demon Hand". Creator/SummerGlau, the actress who plays Cameron... [[RunningGag do we even need to say it?]] (She in fact got her big break--working with Creator/JossWhedon in an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' which later led him to bring her on ''Series/{{Firefly}}''--playing a ballerina, as noted above.) |
| 641 | ** Singer Shirley Manson makes her acting debut in the Season 2 opener; the opening scene is set to the backdrop of her singing, even before her character has any screen time. Her character's daughter mentions in a later episode that [[IronyAsSheIsCast "Mommy can't sing."]] |
| 642 | ** In the episode "The Tower is Tall But the Fall is Short", Bonnie Morgan, an actress who is also a contortionist, plays the Terminator "Rosie" and gets bent every which way in a fight with Cameron--and yes, her body can and does really bend like that. |
| 643 | * Creator/TopherGrace as Eric Forman on ''Series/That70sShow''. It's very mildly put in few episodes, but Eric will often sing a line or two (once singing "My Way" by Music/FrankSinatra and, early on, "Fernando" by Music/{{ABBA}} with LoveInterest Donna) in the show (whether it's plot relevant doesn't really matter because it could be considered in-character for Eric Forman's quirkiness), and he's a surprisingly good singer. Especially compared to everyone else in the [[MusicalEpisode "That 70s Musical" episode]]. |
| 644 | ** How Grace was discovered by the producers of ''That '70s Show'' was actually performing in a high school musical as the lead; arguably this could be LampshadeHanging from the producers... |
| 645 | ** It's entirely in character, but Wilmer Valderrama as Fez has a dance routine in every five episodes. |
| 646 | * ''Series/TopGear'' has done this a couple times, largely PlayedForLaughs. James May has a music degree and has been called on twice to reinterpret the opening theme, once with engine sounds and once, when the show [[BottleEpisode spent all its budget and couldn't afford the licensing fee]], he substituted with a Casio keyboard. Richard Hammond studied photography at art school and has produced a few paintings. He's also played bass a couple of times. |
| 647 | * Now being foreshadowed by Wendell Pierce as trombonist Antoine Batiste on ''Series/{{Treme}}''. His trombone playing in season one is mimed to pre-existing tracks (though he does it so well you'd never know), but after filming a couple episodes he decided to take lessons, and hopes to be able to do his own playing from season two onward. |
| 648 | * The guitar sequence with Maddy and Donna and James in ''Series/TwinPeaks.'' |
| 649 | * ''Series/TwoPintsOfLagerAndAPacketOfCrisps'' did a LiveEpisode including a talent show, almost solely so Will Mellor (Gaz) can demo his juggling ability and Natalie Casey (Donna) can sing (her song, "Chick Chick Chicken", is an ActorAllusion - Casey holds the record for the youngest ever person to make the UK charts, having done so when that song made number 72 way back when she was three years old). |
| 650 | * It took ''Series/UglyBetty'' four seasons, but they finally had Vanessa Williams sing on the show. She did "Maneater", among other songs, [[ItMakesSenseInContext during a drag show]]. |
| 651 | ** Vanessa Williams actually sang "The Way We Were" in Season 1 while reminiscing over her time with Marc. However, this was only in voice-over. |
| 652 | * Subverted in ''Series/UnbreakableKimmySchmidt''. In the third season, Broadway veteran Creator/DaveedDiggs plays a college student who plans a presentation on Shakespeare, to be given in rap form. The presentation goes terribly when the character [[StylisticSuck just can't sing.]] |
| 653 | * Brent Morin of ''Series/{{Undateable}}'' has a fairly powerful singing voice in the high tenor range so Justin belts out a variety of pop hits throughout the series. It annoys Danny to no end, however. |
| 654 | * Steve Valentine has appeared on a number of shows (''Series/{{House}}'', ''Series/{{Monk}}'', ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'') as different characters, but always as a magician. |
| 655 | * Creator/CandiceAccola sang "Eternal Flame" in ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' while "living out her rockstar dreams." |
| 656 | * The ''Series/VeronicaMars'' season 1 episode "[[PunBasedTitle Clash of the Tritons]]" had a scene that took place in a karaoke bar where Veronica got called up to sing. Kristen Bell did all her own singing, which is probably half the reason the scene was written in the first place. (The other half: it's ''[[RuleOfCool karaoke]]''. The show's creator, however, mused on the prevalence of musical episodes in shows at the time, that since she was the ''only'' cast member who could sing...) |
| 657 | * Creator/RogerLloydPack got several opportunities to show off his chops as a singer after Owen joined the church choir in ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley''. |
| 658 | * Happens often in ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' to show off Victoria Justice's singing skills. Especially noticeable in the episode "Beggin' on Your Knees". |
| 659 | ** This would also apply to Leon Thomas' skills as a musician and singer. |
| 660 | ** This occasionally applies to Ariana Grande and Elizabeth Gillies, both of whom are singers, having previously appeared on Broadway. |
| 661 | ** Elizabeth Gillies also gets numerous chances to show off her talents as a [[ManOfAThousandVoices Woman Of A Thousand Voices]], with numerous scenes involving her character doing funny voices (a deep, Jersey-accented "man" voice, a Judy Garland-esque voice to mock Tori, and even a pitch-perfect imitation of Ariana Grande's voice, among others). |
| 662 | * On one episode of ''Series/TheState'' spinoff ''Series/VivaVariety'', the musical guest was Cake Like, co-host Creator/{{Kerri Kenney|Silver}}'s band. This involved her introducing the band in character, then switching costumes and singing a song as herself. |
| 663 | * In some episodes of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'', Artie Nielsen sits down at a piano. In "Regrets," he plays a piece that he's written for his father. The piece, "Nocturne for Artie's Dad," was composed and performed by Saul Rubinek himself. |
| 664 | * Creator/AllisonJanney's, uh, performance of "The Jackal" on ''Series/TheWestWing''. Also, possibly, Rob Lowe's impression of Martin Sheen a few seasons later. |
| 665 | ** Except that the Jackal lip-sync was ''totally'' in character for CJ, adds to rather than stop the episode's flow, and is universally adored by ''West Wing'' fans. |
| 666 | * In the short-lived ''Series/WhatAboutJoan,'' cast member and noted Broadway star Donna Murphy was given several uncalled-for singing scenes. |
| 667 | * From ''Series/WhatsHappening,'' Fred Berry was an accomplished disco dancer and was previously a member of a dance group known as The Lockers. Naturally, his character Rerun had a few opportunities to show off his dance moves. |
| 668 | * ''Series/WheelOfFortune'' co-hostess Vanna White is more than just a pretty face. She's also a pretty good singer, as seen on a series of Christmas Week episodes in 1996 where she promoted her Christmas album. She crochets, too. |
| 669 | ** Host Pat Sajak subverted this on a Christmas episode in 1988, where he gave an [[StylisticSuck intentionally off-key]] rendition of "White Christmas" while Vanna accompanied him on a piano. |
| 670 | ** He later played it straight in December 1994, singing the theme to the 1950s ''Zorro'' TV series after a contestant failed to solve the bonus puzzle ZORRO. |
| 671 | * The episode 'Plan B' of ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' in which Alex puts together a band seems to exist solely to let Selena Gomez show off her singing skills. |
| 672 | * ''Series/WillAndGrace'' had two moments that stand out: An episode where Jack challenged Will's boss Ben to a tap-dance-off to prove he was better at something, with the ''real'' reason being to display Gregory Hines and his dancing abilities. Then there was the finale, which had Jack and Karen performing a duet of "Unforgettable," with no excuse given other than "I feel a song coming on." |
| 673 | ** As the show got in to its final two or three seasons the writers took every opportunity to showcase Megan Mullally (As Karen)'s singing voice, towards the end of the show they stopped even trying to be subtle about it. |
| 674 | * The episode of ''Series/WonderWoman'' called "Amazon Hot Wax". Going undercover to stop extortionists in the record industry gives Diana Prince a chance to show off her vocal abilities. Creator/LyndaCarter performs songs from her debut album ''Portrait'' as a form of advertisement. |
| 675 | * Adam [=DeVine=] of ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'' has displayed his impressive voice several times, most notably in the episodes 'Office Campout' and 'Man Up'. The show also makes reference to Anders Holm's collegiate swimming days, though this hasn't yet been displayed on the show. |
| 676 | * In ''Series/TheWorstYearOfMyLifeAgain'', Laurence Boxhall has two dancing scenes in the episode "Sam's Party". |
| 677 | * One of the hobbies of the title character in detective series ''Wycliffe'' was playing jazz piano - which gave actor Jack Shepherd plenty of opportunities to show off his own skill. |
| 678 | * In a couple ''Series/TheXFiles'' episodes, David Duchovny shows off his basketball skills. He played junior varsity at Princeton. |
| 679 | * ''Series/{{Zoey 101}}'': Michael's girlfriend Lisa gets to sing a Open Mic Night. which she does very well, as she was played by former ''Series/AmericanIdol'' contestant Lisa Tucker. |
| 680 | * Virtually every time a wrestler stars or guest-stars in ''anything'' they're shown using wrestling moves, even if they're not supposed to. This led to a hilarious subversion in ''Series/{{Chuck}}'' when they introduce Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin as an enemy agent and expert at close-quarters combat, but is revealed to be a ''sword expert'' who ends up performing no wrestling moves whatsoever. |
| 681 | ** Completely averted by Wrestling/CodyRhodes' guest spot on ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}''; he plays an ex-football player (in a bit of an ActorAllusion), but never does any wrestling moves. |
| 682 | ** One particularly blatant example comes from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In one episode Wrestling/DwayneJohnson (credited simply as "The Rock") appears for one scene just so he can wrestle Seven of Nine. They even let him do a couple of his trademark moves (including The People's Eyebrow). The Eyebrow can, at least, be justified by the fact that he is playing a gladiator. It would make sense for him to have a trademark, of sorts. |
| 683 | * While he doesn't do it in his film work, inevitably every single character Creator/MandyPatinkin plays on television will be shown cooking. This is because Patinkin is a huge foodie and a self-trained chef and loves to cook as much as he loves to eat. |
| 684 | ** Interestingly, the scene from ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' where he demonstrates the difference in skills needed to be a home chef and a professional chef was originally supposed to show Rube's cooking skill, but Patinkin insisted the script be changed to reflect the fact that most "home chefs" couldn't last an hour in a real industrial kitchen. |
| 685 | * In the 1950s ''Zorro'', Henry Calvin, who plays the slovenly and inept Sgt. Garcia gets to show off his rich baritone several times in the show's run, usually traditional ballads or drinking songs. |
| 686 | [[/folder]] |
| 687 | |
| 688 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 689 | * Creator/ChristopherLee [[CompellingVoice provided narration on the]] [[HeavyMithril fantasy-metal opus]] ''The Dark Secret'' by Italian power-metal band Music/RhapsodyOfFire. Initially disappointed he wasn't asked to sing, the band re-recorded the epic ballad "The Wizard's Dream" not only as a duet between Lee and lead singer Fabio Lione but in four different language versions that Lee [[OmniGlot was fluent in]]. |
| 690 | ** He also recorded a SymphonicMetal album titled Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross, a concept album about First Holy Emperor of Rome, King Charlemagne (whom he is a descendant of) which he sang the lead vocals on. |
| 691 | ** In Bob Johnson and Peter Knight's rock opera ''Literature/TheKingOfElflandsDaughter'' Lee was the narrator and played the King. His wild, unearthly singing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxQ05AteCk has to be heard to be believed]]. |
| 692 | * Neil Hannon of Music/TheDivineComedy is a baritone, yet holds a ridiculously high note for "a stupidly long time" in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kro27B8eXeE&t=2m35s Can You Stand Upon One Leg?]]". |
| 693 | * Music/{{Pink}}'s live shows spend more and more time showing off her acrobatic/aerial abilities. |
| 694 | * Creator/ChristopherWalken showed off his impressive dancing skills in the music video for Music/FatboySlim's "Weapon of Choice". |
| 695 | [[/folder]] |
| 696 | |
| 697 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 698 | * Wrestling/{{Konnan}} would frequently record his own entrance music, as well as those for other wrestlers. Wrestling/{{WCW}} even had him do some music videos for them. The same trait applies to {{tag team}} partner Wrestling/RonKillings. |
| 699 | * Wrestling/JerryLawler got to show off some of his illustration skills when Wrestling/UltimateWarrior was trying to put over his then-new comic book in the 1990s. |
| 700 | * Wrestling/BobbyHeenan's "Brain Scan" in the 1990s, which featured him doodling famous cartoon characters while insulting baby {{face}}s. |
| 701 | * Wrestling/JimmyJacobs's music videos dedicated to The Lovely Lacey in Wrestling/RingOfHonor. Cheesy as they were, he proved to be a surprisingly good singer. The "Death Of Wrestling/{{Chikara}}" angle years later proved he could still sing. |
| 702 | * WWE had an anonymous referee who was a pretty good beatboxer. The ref got to show off his beatboxing twice - once to help Brian "Spanky" Kendrick make fun of Wrestling/JohnCena, the other time to help Wrestling/KurtAngle make fun of John Cena. |
| 703 | * Wrestling/RoddyPiper was a skilled bagpipe player, once coming fifth in an international competition. |
| 704 | * Wrestling/{{Raven}} made a surprise appearance in Russia for the ''IWF 2007 President's Cup'' to cut a promo in Russian. |
| 705 | * Rich Swann has a tendency to sing while playing his guitar before or at the start of Wrestling/DragonGate and Wrestling/{{CZW}} events. |
| 706 | * At the 2013 [[FanConvention Wrestlecon]], Tony Atlas drew his own artwork for Filsinger's Legends Of Wrestling {{c|ollectiblecardgame}}ard game. |
| 707 | * The Local Hero Joe Hendry is an excellent singer and incorporates it into his gimmick by singing his own entrance music; each time it's a different SongParody of a popular pop tune. For instance, for his [[WebVideo/WhatcultureWrestling What Culture Pro Wrestling]] debut match, he sang his own variation of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0diFvGnb6_o "Hello"]] by Music/{{Adele}}. |
| 708 | * Reby Sky is a fairly accomplished pianist, and she played the piano as part of the Broken Hardys entrance for Bound for Glory 2016. Not only that, the song she played was the notoriously difficult 3rd movement of Beethoven's Midnight Sonata. |
| 709 | * Aiden English's 'Thespian' gimmick was partly inspired by his real-life experience in theater and singing. On one occasion back in their NXT days, he challenged Big Cass to a singing contest. Cass was ''also'' a trained singer, and embarrassed English. |
| 710 | * Wrestling/XavierWoods can play the trombone, so eventually he began to bring one out ringside for promos and managerial duty for The New Day, including doing a scale flourish when Kofi Kingston or Big E would size up a big running attack. |
| 711 | * "The Drifter" Elias Samson of NXT really does play the guitar and sing in his promos. |
| 712 | [[/folder]] |
| 713 | |
| 714 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 715 | * Rarely does an episode of ''Podcast/TheBrianAndJillShow'' go by without some opportunity for co-host Jill Whelan to display her talent as a singer. She even snagged a role on ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' after their friend Jeff "Swampy" Marsh heard a sketch that had her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl3pdDXbEKg singing the blues]]. |
| 716 | [[/folder]] |
| 717 | |
| 718 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 719 | * And in the more recent days of radio, on ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'', Will Ryan's propensity for playing the ukulele (he would actually bring it to recording sessions) carried over into his character, Eugene. |
| 720 | * Subverted in ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'', which generally does not feature musical rounds when any of the panel members are talented singers (and which ''always'' has at least one musical round when Jeremy Hardy is on the show, because his singing voice is ''terrible''). |
| 721 | ** The exception is Rob Brydon, who during his first appearance did a "Pick Up Song" of "Delilah" in which he revealed a ''really'' good and Tom-Jones-ish voice as well as a freakish ability to stay in time when the music came back in. The show's accommodating him by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7KUqXOAPgU continuing to give him Tom Jones songs in subsequent appearances]] arguably does qualify him for Cast Showoff. Rob's true SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic comes in "One Song To The Tune Of Another". In a round when even decent singers consider themselves lucky to get to the end, he manages to make the most ridiculous combinations sound like that was how they were supposed to sound all along. |
| 722 | ** [[DefiedTrope Defied]] in another episode: |
| 723 | --->'''Humph:''' Since we have Phill Jupitus with us today, everyone agreed that it would have been a real shame not to include a game specially designed to show off his particular talents. And they were right -- it was. So, on with the next round... |
| 724 | ** Lampshaded in Season 76 Episode 2, when a musical round unexpectedly has accompaniment by someone other than Colin Sell at the piano: |
| 725 | --->'''Jack''': You may have noticed in that there was the introduction of an electric guitar. Tony Hawks, who was playing the guitar there, is not only a comedian, writer and actor, he's also an accomplished showoff. |
| 726 | * ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'': |
| 727 | ** OlderThanTelevision: Back in 1932, the program had a tenor named Kenny Baker (and later, Dennis Day) who would get a show-halting song OnceAnEpisode. This even carried over into television. |
| 728 | ** Also parodied on the show, as one of Benny's running gags was his painful violin playing, despite Benny actually being very talented at the instrument. |
| 729 | ** Back in the day, every radio show had one of these. |
| 730 | * In ''Radio/TheNavyLark'', most of the cast had a massive talent for humorous voices, particularly Jon Pertwee and Tenniel Evans, leading to many episodes having a great deal of [[ActingForTwo Talking to Themselves]]. |
| 731 | * ''Radio/CabinPressure'' stars Creator/RogerAllam, a twenty-year veteran of the West End and the original Javert in ''Theatre/LesMiserables''. Needless to say, his character, Douglas Richardson, does some singing, notably in "Fitton" and "Ottery St Mary". (His co-star Creator/BenedictCumberbatch, a fine singer but not quite of West End caliber, joins in and certainly holds his own, but the musical limelight is Allam's.) |
| 732 | -->'''Carolyn:''' Hell is being trapped in a grounded aircraft with two middle-aged pilots singing Puccini at you!\ |
| 733 | '''Anthony Head & Roger Allam:''' It's not Puccini! |
| 734 | * One of Creator/AdamCarolla's first regular jobs was on ''Radio/TheKevinAndBeanShow'' playing a spoof phone-caller character called Mr. Birchum, a cranky old high school woodwork teacher. In reality, Carolla's "day job" at the time was doing carpentry on construction sites, allowing him to drop enough convincing woodwork talk into his routines to convince some viewers that he was a real member of the public and not a comedy character. |
| 735 | * In the Hexagonal Phase of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'', Left Brain (formerly Zaphod's other head) explains they were separated in a TeleporterAccident, and immediately launches into "[[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p061m3yq The Teleportation Blues]]" (from ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse''). Because why get Music/MitchBenn and ''not'' have him sing? |
| 736 | [[/folder]] |
| 737 | |
| 738 | [[folder:Theater]] |
| 739 | * Little Nell was given a chance to audition for ''The Rocky Horror Show'' after the director saw her tap dancing on the street. Her tap dancing was displayed during the Time Warp number and was kept in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. |
| 740 | * [[Theatre/LesMiserables "Bring Him Home"]] was supposedly written for Colm Wilkinson's voice and range. Similarly, Christine was changed from a member of the chorus to a member of the corps de ballet in order to show off Sarah Brightman's skills en pointe. |
| 741 | * In the original production of ''Theatre/ShowBoat'', TheElevenOClockNumber included a bit where Kim did imitations of Ethel Barrymore or Ted Lewis or whatever contemporary stars the audience requested, for no good reason other than allowing featured actress Norma Terris to show off. When Terris was replaced with Creator/IreneDunne, the imitations were cut, and the otherwise ultra-complete 1987 recording didn't try to recreate them. |
| 742 | * ''Theatre/LittleVoice,'' and the movie made of it, were both written specifically for Jane Horrocks after her incredible talent for mimicking singers and actresses was discovered. |
| 743 | * Several of Creator/NoelCoward's plays have moments where the character originally acted by the author sits down at a grand piano and plays angrily. |
| 744 | * The actor who played Gary in ''Theatre/PokemonTheMewsical'' also wrote the entire score. |
| 745 | * Odette Myrtil made her career in musicals written to show off her abilities as singer ''and'' as a violinist. This made more sense in ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheFiddle'' (where her character was [[TheDanza named Odette]]) than in ''White Lilacs'', where she played George Sand. An earlier actress named Hazel Dawn also made a specialty of playing the violin in musicals such as ''The Pink Lady''. |
| 746 | * ''Theatre/{{Once}}'' is a notable example because ''there is no orchestra''. All the music comes from the entire cast playing backing instruments when they are not part of the action. Sometimes they even do it in-character. |
| 747 | * Similarly - just like the movie - all of the kids in ''Theatre/{{School of Rock}}'' can actually play their own instruments, as do Dewey and the members of his old band. Also, to an extent, Sierra Boggess as Rosalie Mullins - while she does sing a lot in-character, the only moment she lets her soprano voice shine is when she sings along with ''{{The Magic Flute}}''. |
| 748 | * Typically, productions of ''On the Town'' cast professional ballerinas as Ivy, since she does a lot of complicated ballet dances. Ballerinas who have assumed the role include Megan Fairchild, a principal dancer of the New York City Ballet, Sono Osato (most famously of Ballets Russe de Monte-Carlo), and none other than ''Misty freaking Copeland'', a principal with American Ballet Theatre. |
| 749 | * Same for ''Theatre/AnAmericanInParis'' -- Broadway originators include Robert Fairchild[[note]]Megan's brother[[/note]] and Leanne Cope, both professional dancers (the former with NYCB, the latter with The Royal Ballet). |
| 750 | * The 2005 revival of ''Theatre/{{Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street}}'' also had actors and actresses playing their own instruments (including, notably, Patti [=LuPone=] on tuba.} |
| 751 | * Before she got into acting, Cathy Rigby was an Olympic gymnast. She did get to display some of her talents when she was cast as the lead in the stage production of ''Theatre/{{Peter Pan|1954}}''. |
| 752 | * At least part of the reason for the increasingly elaborate {{Patter Song}}s in Creator/GilbertAndSullivan operas was that George Grossmith was very good at performing them. |
| 753 | * Creator/DannyKaye, even before becoming a movie star, had quite a way with rattling off rambling {{Patter Song}}s on the scarcest pretext. Though these were normally written for him by his wife Sylvia Fine, it was the regular songwriters behind ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark'' and ''Let's Face It'' who respectively provided him with "Tchaikowsky" and "Let's Not Talk About Love." |
| 754 | * ''Theatre/{{Finale}}'' has the cast doing some impressive acrobatics during "Break Free". |
| 755 | * Lampshaded in ''Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone'': according to the Man in the Chair, the song "As We Stumble Along" - a "rousing anthem about alcoholism" - was only added because the actress playing the Chaperone in the ShowWithinAShow demanded a rousing anthem about ''something'' in every show she did. |
| 756 | ** The song "Show-Off" may serve as an in-universe-in-universe example: in the show within a show, Janet is a famous actress and notable LargeHam. Thus, even her declaration that she's giving up the stage requires a 5 minute, elaborate musical number that showcases her many, many talents. The irony does not escape the others present. |
| 757 | ** Subverted and then played straight by the character of Tottendale, who, according to the Man in the Chair, is played by a woman named Ukulele Lil, who presumably plays the ukulele - but doesn't in this show. In the finale, Tottendale/Ukulele Lil is the first character to appear to the Man in the Chair, and sure enough, she's playing the ukulele. |
| 758 | * RenaissanceMan Creator/LinManuelMiranda has acted as the writer, songwriter, lyricist, and star actor of both ''Theatre/InTheHeights'' and ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', and sung two of the songs for ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'', which he also wrote the music for. It seems that whenever he wants to be in a play about something, he just goes ahead and writes it himself. |
| 759 | ** He also does this for the actors in his works: once he knew he had Daveed Diggs and Renée Elise Goldsberry as Lafayette/Jefferson and Angelica Schuyler, he went ahead and wrote "Guns and Ships" and "Satisfied", which feature some of the fastest sung lyrics on Broadway, simply because he knew Diggs and Goldsberry would be capable of performing the songs (although, as Diggs pointed out in an interview, they don't even touch the fastest songs in Hip Hop). Lin also noted that he looks forward to the day where high-school age actresses perform "Satisfied" in high school productions, simply because he wants to see if they're capable. |
| 760 | * Originally Glinda was meant to be a Mezzo-Soprano Belter like Elphaba in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''. After casting Creator/KristinChenoweth many songs were written so she could showcase her amazing and heavily trained Operatic-Coloratura Soprano range, specifically "No One Mourns the Wicked," and "Thank Goodness." |
| 761 | * It's not a requirement, but if it's possible to have Roger from ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'' playing his own guitar, then he will. The same goes for Angel's drums. |
| 762 | * ''Theatre/TheSpongeBobMusical'' has [=SpongeBob=] doing the splits right as he hits his high note in "No Control". There's no logical explanation for this except for the fact that Ethan Slater can hit the splits and this was as good a time as any. |
| 763 | * ''{{Theatre/Chicago}}'' has Billy Flynn's actor hold a note during "We Both Reached For The Gun" for an impressively extended period of time which varies from actor to actor. Jason Danieley holds the record, maintaining the note for a whopping 35.5 seconds. |
| 764 | [[/folder]] |
| 765 | |
| 766 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 767 | * In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', it's possible to prompt [[BadassBookworm Mordin]] [[DeadlyDoctor Solus]] into revealing a love of musicals and have him burst into a variation of the MajorGeneralSong. His voice actor, Michael Beattie, was on the chorus in a version of ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''. |
| 768 | * In the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' games, the voice of [=GLaDOS=], Creator/EllenMcLain, is an operatic singer, and sings the credits song for both games. In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', she also performs [[spoiler:an actual opera]]. |
| 769 | * In ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'', the leaders of the Ronin, a Yakuza-esque gang, speak Japanese. Creator/YuriLowenthal, the voice of Shogo Akuji, is fluent in Japanese, German, and French. |
| 770 | * In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' Creator/TroyBaker shows off his skill with a guitar and Courtnee Draper gives some beautiful vocals. The director purportedly had to ask them to "tone down" their skills to match their characters' amateur status, rather than sounding like a duet between "Eric Clapton and Sheryl Crow". |
| 771 | * [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] by ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' with Creator/TroyBaker's character Joel; he mentions he can play guitar, but we never get to see it onscreen. |
| 772 | ** Joel gets to show off his guitar (and singing) skills in the [[VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII sequel]], where he's still played by Troy Baker. |
| 773 | ** Ditto with Creator/AshleyJohnson, who sings [[Music/AHa "Take On Me"]] to Dina in the sequel. |
| 774 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'': |
| 775 | ** The English actress for the MysteriousWaif songstress Azura is long-time Broadway actress and singer, Rena Strober. Whereas the Japanese version gave her [[NonSingingVoice an actress for speaking and an up-and-coming singer for singing]] (Creator/{{Lynn}} and Renka, respectively), Rena Strober both speaks and sings. |
| 776 | ** Creator/YoshimasaHosoya and Creator/MatthewMercer voice Azura's son Shigure in Japanese and English, respectively. In the main game, they do not get to show off their singing talents, but the ''Heirs of Fate'' DLC pack finally gives them the opportunity to do so with a previously unknown fourth verse of the game's main theme. |
| 777 | * In the English version of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'', Silque's VA Bonnie Gordon [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzKptJ9VIiE sings the credit song.]] |
| 778 | * In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Rhea sings the "Song of the Nabeateans", which means her English and Japanese voice actresses, Creator/KikukoInoue and Creator/CheramiLeigh, respectively, get to show off their singing skills, if only for all of ''4 lines'' (it starts off with the vocals and then only the instrumental is left after that). More so for Cherami, as Kikuko Inoue was already established as a professional singer by then. |
| 779 | * In ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', Creator/KisshoTaniyama gets to voice the In-universe musician Aoidos, singing the character's "Judgement Night" and "Bloody Garden" songs. Tanimaya is a singer in real-life and a member of the band GRANRODEO. |
| 780 | * Little Gray, a monkey, was added to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' because Raiden's motion actor was really good at doing monkey impressions, and made the crew crack up by doing them in the [[MotionCapture mocap]] clothes. Hideo Kojima decided to add a monkey character for him to play in addition to Raiden. |
| 781 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'': Creator/JoeZieja, the voice of Full Band, served for a time in the United States Air Force. He lent his knowledge from his time in the military to ironing out the script, to make it as faithful to real air forces as possible. |
| 782 | * ''VideoGame/Persona4'' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Golden]]'' saw Creator/LauraBailey get to show off her surprisingly good singing chops during a new event for the game where the Investigation Team became a band for one day, with [[IdolSinger Rise]] on vocals. Creator/RieKugimiya also got sing as Rise in ''The Animation'' but she already had experience singing anime themes by then. |
| 783 | [[/folder]] |
| 784 | |
| 785 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 786 | * ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' lives and breathes this trope, with the same two guys writing, animating, and voicing all but a couple of the characters themselves, but special mention goes to Matt's talent as a ManOfAThousandVoices (no other series with only one voice actor could handle the many characters they've added over the years), and the brothers' songwriting skills, which they started showcasing every few episodes or so by 2008-ish. |
| 787 | * Although there are no songs in the show proper [[https://battlefordreamisland.fandom.com/wiki/Griffin_Weber GriffinWeber]] gets to show off his singing talents in the music videos [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytGnd-1Ztjk "Jingle Bell Rock"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep9M3pSng30 "This is BFB: Season Recap]]. |
| 788 | [[/folder]] |
| 789 | |
| 790 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 791 | * Miguel Nogera sings better than expected in [[WebVideo/DaSuisa Grasse and Da Homa Truck Drivers]]. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with La Morgan. |
| 792 | * ''WebVideo/TheGuild'': |
| 793 | ** Bladezz is occasionally seen toying with a deck of playing cards. Vincent Caso is known for carrying these everywhere he goes and is noted on his character page to be "an accomplished sleight of hand artist and playing card handler." |
| 794 | ** Amy Okuda, who plays Tink, has been a dancer since she was 13. She gets to show it off in ''Do You Wanna Date My Avatar'' and ''Game On''. [[{{Fanservice}} Nobody objected.]] The music videos also highlight Felicia Day's talents as a singer. |
| 795 | ** Day has said she likes to write in actor's talents into the script so that's why Codex is a former violin prodigy (Day was a violinist) Tink playing basketball (Okuda played basketball). |
| 796 | * Andrew, who plays all but three roles in ''WebVideo/TheTimeGuys'', is the only cast member who speaks Spanish, and this has influenced several gags. It doesn't seem like he helps the others' Spanish, [[FridgeLogic though it wouldn't be in character for them to know proper Spanish pronunciation and vocabulary.]] |
| 797 | * ''Everybody'' in ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' -- after all, it's a musical. Who knew Creator/NathanFillion and Creator/NeilPatrickHarris could sing so well? Neil did play Toby in ''[[Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet Sweeney Todd ]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt0A4-d7Kk in Concert]]''. And Mark in ''Theatre/{{Rent}}''. |
| 798 | * ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' allows Creator/MatthewMercer, voice actor and dungeon master, to show off his talents as a ManOfAThousandVoices, portraying various characters with a unique voice for each and every one. |
| 799 | * ''WebVideo/ThereWillBeBrawl'': In addition to directing the series, Creator/MatthewMercer is [[DescendedCreator the live actor]] for Ganondorf and the voice of [[CreepyAwesome Kirby]] and Meta Knight. |
| 800 | * Several Website/ChannelAwesome contributors: |
| 801 | ** Creator/DougWalker is a very talented singer and has been known to show it off whenever possible. He gets extra points for being able to sing as both a Tenor ''and'' a Baritone. |
| 802 | ** [[WebVideo/TGWTGYearOneBrawl The First Year Anniversary Brawl]] opens with him singing a parody of "[[Theatre/{{Oklahoma}} Oh What a Beautiful Morning]]," and it has an operatic quality. |
| 803 | ** The ''Film/MoulinRouge'' review he did with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick and Music/{{Brentalfloss}} shows their singing talents. It also features an opening sung by [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]. Hell, even ''WebVideo/{{Phelous}}'', with his very unique Bass-Baritone sounding voice, shows off that he can sing. [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] with [[WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh Oancitizen]] who goes [[BerserkButton berserk]] at not being invited to sing in the review. |
| 804 | ** And of course, the Nostalgia Critic's ''Les Misérables: MUSICAL REVIEW'' is all about this; it features [[WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh Oancitizen]], WebVideo/PawDugan, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]], WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows, and [[WebVideo/VampireReviews Maven (Elisa)]] showing off their singing chops. [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] and [[ParodiedTrope parodied]] with Brent, who is normally a good singer, mocking Russel Crowe's singing from the film; he sounds terrible and everyone tries to avoid him because of it. It's {{played for laughs}}, of course. |
| 805 | ** Let's not forget Rachel Tietz, who is an accomplished singer and guitarist, who gets to show off her chops in the ''Les Misérables'' review, as well as the review for ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. |
| 806 | ** WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows opens every episode with a piano cover of the song that he is reviewing. |
| 807 | ** When reviewing an anime where characters would randomly switch between English and Spanish for no clear reason, WebVideo/BennettTheSage shouted in mock horror "Have the Mexicans taken over the world? Oh God, why didn't I listen to Fox News when I had the chance!" in perfect Spanish. |
| 808 | ** WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick has a great voice and shows this off whenever she can as well. The ''Film/XMen1'' review has her singing a parody of "[[Music/EltonJohn Candle in the Wind]]". |
| 809 | ** [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] as well has shown his Sinatra-esque singing talents on occasion, not least with the character of Harvey Finevoice. This is lampshaded in his review of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Treehouse of Horror #2]]'', where he sings "A Policeman's Lot" (which Sideshow Bob does in the comic), and has this to say... |
| 810 | --->''Oh, no joke or anything. It's just that I was in ''Penzance'' as the main police officer and it's rare for me to get a chance to sing the music, so I'm just indulging myself.'' |
| 811 | *** And his abilities with tongue twisters. |
| 812 | ---->''[[ComicBook/AmazonsAttack "Circe the sorceress sells circular seashells by the seashore for sixty cents."]]'' |
| 813 | ** WebVideo/{{Marzgurl}} is fluent in Japanese, and really shows it off in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights''. |
| 814 | ** ''WebVideo/BrowsHeldHigh'' is Oancitizen saying "I have an education in film and theater," but he also dedicated an entire episode to showing off his singing voice by singing his review of ''Film/TheManWhoFellToEarth'' to the tune of David Bowie. Similarly to WebVideo/MarzGurl, he can also speak Dutch. |
| 815 | ** Hilariously parodied in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' [[spoiler: in a scene in which WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick is about [[WeNeedADistraction to sing a song to distract]] one of the main villains and a group of {{Mook}}s. Oancitizen desperately wants to join in to fulfill this trope, but since he's posing as a character already identified as TheSpeechless, doing so would blow their cover. During the ensuing sequence, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the Chick has to physically wrest a microphone from him at several points to keep him from trying to sing]] (and at one point, the villain himself does so unintentionally); by the end of the song, Oancitizen has had enough and sings the final line, prompting this line from the villain after he realizes he's been had.]] |
| 816 | --->'''General Zodd:''' Destroy that ''fantastic'' tenor! |
| 817 | ** ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' showcases Orlando's complete dominance in terms of martial arts skills. |
| 818 | ** Chad Rocco of ''WebVideo/FamiliarFaces'' started out as a fan artist on Website/{{deviantART}}, who drew obscure characters in the style of a completely different artist or show and challenged his viewers to figure out who they were. That collage of headshots that appears at the beginning of every video and looks like it was ripped from dozens of random fanart galleries? All his own work. |
| 819 | ** [[WebVideo/WhatTheFuckIsWrongWithYou Nash]] has his homebuilt Stratocaster, Laura, and the combo amp he built. He gets to show off not only his musical chops (which, while not excellent, aren't bad, either) but his technical know-how. |
| 820 | ** As seen in the joint review of ''A Talking Cat!?!'' with The Nostalgia Critic, Creator/AllisonPregler aka Lupa is a pretty good singer too. (She and Critic sing a duet WithLyrics over the song's instrumental opening theme.) |
| 821 | ** WebVideo/TheRapCritic, a rapper, and trained opera singer, has both rapped and sang opera in videos. |
| 822 | ** The joint musical review of ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' features not only Doug Walker's singing, but also Beth Elderkin of ''WebVideo/SharkJumping'', who is a trained singer. |
| 823 | * ''WebVideo/StuffYouLike's'' 10th episode is this for presenter Sursum Ursa. A sung review of ''Theatre/LesMiserables''? In several parts? To the tune of "One Day More"? Why not? |
| 824 | * WebVideo/ShinyObjectsVideos: Though usually played for StylisticSuck, Daniel proves he really can sing in "Psychic Powers". As a writer, Curly likes to show off his extensive knowledge of trivia, as well. |
| 825 | * WebVideo/{{Caddicarus}} has shown off his talents on guitar (dating all the way back to his "Randasongs" before he became a video game reviewer, but also in a thank-you video to his fans), drums (several random drum covers, along with his reviews of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' franchise), and bass guitar (when pointing out an EarWorm in a ''Net Yaroze'' game). |
| 826 | * Each of the stars of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' English exhibited some amazing talents, many in their debuts alone, which endeared them to not only their target English-speaking audience, but to Japanese fans as well, helping them achieve stardom practically overnight. |
| 827 | ** [[DontFearTheReaper Calliope Mori]] not only made her introductory animation in addition to Kiara's, but has amazing singing chops as well, debuting four rap songs in her first week. |
| 828 | ** [[ThePhoenix Kiara Takanashi]] is [[CunningLinguist fluently trilingual]] in Japanese, English, and German. |
| 829 | ** [[HumanoidAbomination Ina'nis Ninomae]] is also [[CunningLinguist fluently trilingual]] in Japanese, English, and Korean. In addition, she is a talented artist and animator. The preview image for hololive English was drawn by her. |
| 830 | ** [[CuteMonsterGirl Gura Gawr]] has amazing rhythm, a beautiful singing voice, and is a pro at rhythm games. |
| 831 | ** [[SherlockHomage Amelia Watson]] is an expert at both video editing (the MushroomSamba portion of her debut stream showing off her skills at video effects) and FPS games such as ''VideoGame/{{Valorant}}'' and ''VideoGame/ApexLegends''. |
| 832 | * WebVideo/JonTron is a pretty good singer, as evidenced during his ''Dino City'' and ''Titenic'' reviews (among others). |
| 833 | [[/folder]] |
| 834 | |
| 835 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 836 | * ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': |
| 837 | ** Gayle gets an opportunity to sing in a few episodes. Gayle is voiced by Megan Mullally, whose singing talents are discussed above in Live-Action TV under ''Series/WillAndGrace''. |
| 838 | ** In one episode, Mr. Fischoeder also gets a chance to sing when he acts as Gene's voice double for a school play. Kevin Kline, who voices Mr. Fischoeder, has appeared in several Broadway productions and won two Tony Awards for his performances. |
| 839 | * The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode "Hidden Talent" was part of an attempt to establish Creator/ChristyCarlsonRomano as a part-time singer/actress. Creator/{{Disney}} does this a lot with its female leads; Creator/LindsayLohan, Creator/RavenSymone, Music/HilaryDuff, Music/MileyCyrus, Music/SelenaGomez, Music/DemiLovato, and Music/VanessaHudgens. Christy would later provide the romantic theme under the ending credits of TheMovie (not quite the GrandFinale) "[[WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama So The Drama]]", except there she's not performing as Kim. |
| 840 | ** The song is spot on for what has happened in the show though, so it could easily be thought of as performed by the character. |
| 841 | * The ending theme song of ''WesternAnimation/GrimAndEvil'' was sang by Creator/JenniferHale, who is known for voice acting. |
| 842 | * Since its return, ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has increasingly become a platform for Creator/SethMacFarlane to show off his [[AuthorAppeal fondness for musical Broadway theatre and vintage MGM movies]] and, [[ActingForTwo since he's half the cast]], also his tremendous singing ability. In one season, not an episode went by without the show breaking into spontaneous chorus. Eventually this is parodied in "Road to Germany", where having gone back to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era Europe via a time machine, Stewie, Brian, and Mort Goldman are trapped by [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]], who threatens them with execution unless they perform a song and dance routine (each of the ''Road to...'' episodes up to that point had included one). Brian and Stewie begin to sing, but Mort cuts the song short, yelling at them to shut up and just get in the time machine. |
| 843 | ** The episode ''Spies Reminiscent of Us'' may well have been written as an opportunity for Mila Kunis to speak in her native Russian. |
| 844 | ** Unsurprisingly, ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' appears to be going down the same route, if not to quite the same extent. Stan Smith has gotten a few great musical numbers courtesy of Seth. Also, Scott Grimes is a professional singer, and many episodes reference Steve Smith's singing talent. Additionally, Seth's sister, Rachael, who performs Hayley, had come out with a jazz album and had Hayley become a jazz singer for Roger's bar in one episode |
| 845 | * ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': |
| 846 | ** Over the years the show has been used heavily as a vehicle for showcasing Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone's talents, interests, and ''incredible'' singing abilities. Usually manifests in the form of musical numbers or hilarious use of horribly improper, but grammatically correct Japanese. Parker has a long relationship with music and studied Japanese in university before making it big. |
| 847 | ** Let's Fighting Love is the combination of both of these talents. |
| 848 | ** Isaac Hayes before he left. In almost every appearance, he's singing. |
| 849 | ** The series in general is Matt and Trey showing off that each of them is a ManOfAThousandVoices, since the overwhelming majority of the male cast is one of them. Heck, part of the plot of one episode was probably done to show off a spot on ''Dark Knight Rises''-styled Bane impression. |
| 850 | * Creator/PaulDini seems to enjoy writing musical parts for the cast to perform when he writes. He claims that he wrote the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/TheAdventuresOfBatmanAndRobinE7Harlequinade Harlequinade]]" after hearing Arleen Sorkin sing for an upcoming audition. He has written episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' that also showcase the cast's singing talent. |
| 851 | ** And of course, there's the famous scene in which Arleen Sorkin herself performs "Amazing Grace" on a kazoo. |
| 852 | ** Apparently getting Batman to sing was something that they were trying to do from the beginning because the voice actor Creator/KevinConroy had an excellent voice. He was one of the singers for the tongue-in-cheek Batman Musical bit in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' but it wasn't until ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' that they got [[https://youtu.be/1K_L4UE3b9Y?t=115 Batman to sing in-character]]. |
| 853 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' has "Mayhem of the Music Meister" which is essentially all about showing off the musical chops of its cast and guest star. The villain is played by none other than Creator/NeilPatrickHarris. |
| 854 | ** Subverted in that this Batman is normally voiced by Diedrich Bader, while his singing voice was provided by Creator/JeffBennett. Probably done because, as Batman himself put it, he's "more of a baritone" and justified InUniverse by him artificially modifying it with a Bat-gadget. |
| 855 | * Susie Carmichael had a few songs in ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' (and even a few in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' timeline). Her voice actress Cree Summer had made a few records and lyrics herself. |
| 856 | * Showing off Cree's singing voice isn't just limited to the ''Rugrats'' franchise. She appears to get at least one chance to sing in most of her roles as of late, such as ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', and most prominently, ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' (although to be fair, her character in that show, Foxxy Love, is supposed to be a ''musician''). |
| 857 | * ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': |
| 858 | ** The ''Total Drama Action'' episode "The Princess Pride" features a song performed by Courtney, whose voice actress Creator/EmilieClaireBarlow is an accomplished jazz singer. |
| 859 | ** ''Total Drama World Tour'' is a showcase for the singing talents of the rest of the show's cast. |
| 860 | * Olivia Olson has had two characters geared to this: Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' (which fits in quite well since there's a song every episode anyway), and Marceline the Vampire Queen in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''. |
| 861 | ** Speaking of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', in the [[GenderSwap gender-swapped world of Fionna & Cake]], Prince Gumball (the male version of Princess Bubblegum) is voiced by Creator/NeilPatrickHarris, and Marshall Lee (the male Marceline) by Creator/DonaldGlover, so they got prominent singing and rapping sequences, respectively. |
| 862 | ** Banana Man, who is voiced by Music/WeirdAl, also got to do a short musical number in his second appearance. This is in contrast with Banana Man's first appearance, where he said almost nothing at all. |
| 863 | * It's been suggested but never proven that Creator/KelseyGrammer has an understanding that he gets to sing at least once during each of his Sideshow Bob appearances on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. |
| 864 | ** Yeardley Smith gets to show off her beautiful singing voice in several episodes, as well as several albums. Creator/DanCastellaneta has as well, with Homer having been a barbershop singer, a rock singer and an opera singer. |
| 865 | * The two female leads on ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' get to show off singing talents: Velma at the end of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheLegendOfTheVampire,'' Daphne in the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' episode "In Fear of the Phantom". |
| 866 | ** Velma's singing voice in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheLegendOfTheVampire" was Krystal Harris while Nicole Jaffe reprised Velma's speaking voice. |
| 867 | ** Daphne played by Creator/GreyDeLisle sings in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryInc'', and has a duet in ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMusicOfTheVampire''. |
| 868 | * In the DVD commentaries, the writers for ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' shamelessly admitted that they tried to get Jon Lovitz to sing any chance they got, noting that he has a very powerful singing voice. |
| 869 | * A couple examples on ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': |
| 870 | ** Inverted with Desirée Goyette, who performed many songs on the [[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials animated TV specials]] before becoming the voice of Nermal on ''Garfield and Friends'' (a role which saw her singing on multiple occasions). |
| 871 | ** ''Garfield and Friends'' had many musical segments with Garfield and Jon, showing that both Lorenzo Music and Thom Huge had pretty good singing voices. The ''ComicStrip/USAcres'' segments also gave many musical segments which allowed Creator/GreggBerger to sing in-character as Orson. |
| 872 | * Creator/JeffBennett gets to show off a rather impressive singing voice on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', when Kowalski sings to the other penguins about a bus called Graveyard Eight. |
| 873 | ** Bennett also got to sing when he was voicing The Cowlorado Kid on ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCowboysOfMooMesa''. |
| 874 | * Many of the later episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' had song and dance numbers, once again, to show off Creator/JasonAlexander's singing voice. |
| 875 | * An aversion in ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'': In the DVDCommentary, Mandell admits that he really wished he wrote an excuse for Zach (played by Jerry Orbach) to sing. He ''did'' manage it with Laura Dean (Niko) in "The Ax," though. |
| 876 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' |
| 877 | ** Most of the cast have voice doubles for songs, but Creator/AshleighBall does the singing voice for both of her characters. It's not a coincidence that she happens to be the lead singer for band Music/HeyOcean. |
| 878 | ** Similarly Apple Bloom has never been written as having any singing talent, but when it was discovered that her actress Creator/MichelleCreber had a great voice she was assigned as the singing double for her best friend Sweetie Belle. However, beginning with the fourth season, Claire Corlett got to do her own singing as Sweetie Belle. |
| 879 | ** Creator/AndreaLibman voices Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy and is Fluttershy's singing voice. She is also fluent in French; a fact noted by fans upon hearing Fluttershy pronounce "haute couture". |
| 880 | ** In an ironic reversal, ''WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls'' seems to be intent on showing off the acting talents of the singing doubles, Rebecca Shoichet (Singing voice for Twilight Sparkle) and Kazumi Evans (Singing voice for Rarity and Princess Luna) have both gotten major roles. |
| 881 | * The entire cast on ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'' got a chance to sing, even Creator/KarenFukuhara got to sing! |
| 882 | * Thanks to having a song at the end of almost every episode (and a few songs within episodes) in ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'', E.G. Daily was able to show off her singing voice as Rudy. She's released a few records and lyrics herself. |
| 883 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot,'' Jenny has software that renders her an {{Omniglot}}. However, she's only seen speaking English and Japanese, because her voice actress, Creator/JaniceKawaye, can speak Japanese ''really'' well. |
| 884 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the Rita & Runt segments usually provided an excuse for Creator/BernadettePeters to sing. Many of the most beloved episodes also featured at least one of the Warners singing a song, as Creator/RobPaulsen, Creator/JessHarnell, and Creator/TressMacNeille all happen to be good singers. |
| 885 | * Creator/JohnDiMaggio is known for his beatboxing skills, something which pops up from time to time in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Some particular examples include Fry's 20th century friend Noticeably F.A.T. from "Luck of the Fryrish", Robot Santa Claus beatboxing in [[JiveTurkey Kwanzaabot]]'s rap as part of the musical number "This Trinity's Going to War" from "Bender's Big Score", and the beatbox version of the theme song used during the intros for "Spanish Fry" and "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television" with Billy West's vocals added for a good measure. |
| 886 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. Creator Rebecca Sugar deliberately made sure that everyone cast for the show had some singing talent. The biggest examples of this trope would be "Stronger Than You" to make use of R&B singer Estelle, and "It's Over, Isn't It" to compliment Deedee Magno's Broadway experience. |
| 887 | * ''Franchise/MarvelRising'': Gwen is a drummer in a band, the same as in [[ComicBook/SpiderGwen her comics]]. Unlike comics Gwen, however, the ''Marvel Rising'' version is also a singer, since her voice actress Creator/DoveCameron is as well. ''[[WesternAnimation/MarvelRisingBattleOfTheBands Battle of the Bands]]'' has her perform "Born Ready", a song sung by Dove Cameron which had appeared in previous ''Marvel Rising'' animations, such as as the credits song in ''[[WesternAnimation/MarvelRisingSecretWarriors Secret Warriors]]''. |
| 888 | * Due to there being many songs in ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'', Creator/AshleighBall frequently gets to show off her singing talent. It helps that she's a singer in real life. |
| 889 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee'', Creator/LaraJillMiller gets to sing several times as the titular character. |
| 890 | [[/folder]] |
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