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Large Ham / Live-Action TV

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ALLEZ CUISINE!

"DON'T YOU DARE CHANGE THE CHANNEL!"

Shows Worth Their Own Pages

More Must Ham TV:

  • 24:
    • The ULTIMATE ham of 24 is Jack Bauer... the show wouldn't be a tenth as good if Kiefer Sutherland played the role low-key.
      "Who is the ham man in Visalia!?!?"
      "Where's the ham bomb?!?!".
    • In the seventh season, Jon Voight played Jonas Hodges, an executive at the Private Military Corporation Starkwood, part of the Cabal that has been present since Season 5. He was also one of the hammiest villains with bizarre dialog like:
      "Stress is the fertilizer of creativity. Now, let's play some darts."
      "They're six year olds, Greg. And they need to eat their carrots."
    • Although Dennis Haysbert's performance was very subtle, President David Palmer was certainly not above snacking on scenery.
      "That is an obscene suggestion!"
    • Ham must be a Palmer family treat. Sherry, Wayne, and Sandra Palmer all bust out several plates of ham when they deem it necessary.
    • Now compare the Palmers to total nut-case and Manipulative Bastard Charles Logan. Enough ham for days.
  • Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock does this in-universe both on and off camera. She's apparently even petitioned the people who run the Tony Awards to add a category for "acting theatrically in real life." Tracy Jordan gets his moments, as well. Also, while Alec Baldwin is very capable of subtle acting, every now and then he breaks out a big old Irish ham.
  • That '70s Show has Fez and Fenton.
    "WHERE'S MY CAN-DY, YOU SON OF A BITCH?!"
  • Jessica Lange in American Horror Story, and then it seems again in American Horror Story: Asylum as the same mentally disturbed bitch character, except this time she's a nun in Asylum. Then she turns it up to eleven during American Horror Story: Coven where she plays an over the top Witch with a Capital "B".
    • Zachary Quinto and James Cromwell during Asylum, and most of the cast of Coven all give a game try attempting to out-ham Lange as well.
    • Evan Peters also gives his best attempt at out-hamming Lange, particularly in American Horror Story: Hotel, where he plays a charming serial killer with a penchant for explosively violent fits of temper. His default facial expression that season can best be described as "consistently sexually aroused by murder."
  • The portrayal of Constantine the Great in The BBC documentary Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire with his fondness of Chewing the Scenery is definitely this trope.
  • Pick a panelist from an episode of Around the Horn. Any panelist. Any episode. Odds are they will lapse into large ham territory at some point. Host Tony Reali can get pretty hammy himself.
  • Tobias from Arrested Development. And Barry Zuckercorn. And Lucille Austero. And Carl Weathers, and Wayne Jarvis, and Maggie Lizer... in fact, at least half the Recurrers. Still, only Barry (played by The Fonz himself) can out-ham Tobias.
    • Buster has his moments, of course.
      "I'M A MONSTER!"
    • Gob, especially when he's performing an illusion.
  • Arrowverse:
    • Arrow:
      • Seth Gabel is terrifyingly so as Count Vertigo. The distinctive theme doesn't help.
        The Count: Quiet, please! I'm threatening.
      • Deadshot, one of the first recruits for Task Force X. Michael Rowe is obviously enjoying playing the character.
        Deadshot: Why don't you just say it like it is? It's a Suicide Squad!
    • The Flash (2014):
      • Leonard Snart, AKA Captain Cold. While he started out as The Stoic, it soon became clear that he was just bored. Once he realized the Flash was a real challenge, he went full Evil Is Hammy.
        Mick: He's coming back, Cold!
        Snart: YES! TO DIE!
      • The Trickster, being played by Mark Hamill, is clearly enjoying every second he's onscreen.
        Trickster: Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel, I made you out of... C4!
    • Legends of Tomorrow:
      • The first major villain, Vandal Savage, never passes up an opportunity to remind everyone that he's immortal and impossible to kill.
        Vandal Savage: Who are you to stand up to me, Vandal Savage, destroyer of empires?!
        Snart: Leonard Snart, robber of ATMs!
      • In the second season, Damien Darhk, Eobard Thawne, and Malcolm Merlyn all team up, resulting in constant scenery chewing.
        Damien: Mister Gasmer, you have something that belongs to us.
        Malcolm: The Spear of Destiny, where is it!?
    • Supergirl (2015):
      • Nia, AKA Dreamer, when she first starts out as a superhero, is a little too enthusiastic.
        Dreamer: Surrender or die!
        Supergirl: Maybe take it down to like, a seven.
        Dreamer: Surrender or else!
      • And of course, Lex Luthor.
        Lex: [regarding Superman] And when he dies, they will finally wake up and see him for what he really was: A false god.
        Lena: At least he's a good man.
        Lex: HE IS NOT A MAN! I was the Man of Tomorrow, not him! Not him!
  • Several examples from Babylon 5:
    • Draal, played by John Schuck. Apparently that Epsilon III machine had a large database on overacting.
    • Jason Ironheart from the first season episode "Mind War" proved for some that this trope is not always a good thing.
    • Gregory Martin as Colonel Ben-Zayne in "Eyes" could give Ironheart a run for his money in hamminess and overacting.
    • Knight #2 from the first season episode "And the Sky Full of Stars". Perhaps he was planning to make Sinclair talk through exposing him to his purposeful overacting.
      Knight #2: "Maybe you're asleep! Maybe you're insane! Maybe you're dead! Maybe you're in hell! Not that it matters much, Commander Sinclair, because wherever you are — wherever you go — you're mine!"
    • Wayne Alexander as Sebastian.
      Sebastian: "Your only destiny is to be the nail that gets hammered down. Bang, bang, bang!"
    • Centauri seem generally prone to overacting, but there's a reason Londo Mollari became Emperor, and it's not the Shadow/Rifa conspiracy.
    • Dr. Franklin, the head of medicine on Babylon 5, was played by Richard Biggs, who had an earlier career on television soap operas. In one "memorable" episode ("Walkabout"), Franklin is stabbed in the stomach and winds up having an imaginary conversation with himself, where the fake Dr. Franklin mocks and yells at the real Dr. Franklin. Meaning the scene essentially becomes a competition between two Richard Biggs, each trying harder than the other to overact as much as humanly possible.
    • Bruce Boxleitner, aka John Sheridan, could drift into this, although he also demonstrated his subtlety on any number of occasions, notably in his scenes with Delenn. Choice ham quote:
      "Get the hell out of our galaxy!"
  • Basil Brush from The Basil Brush Show and also his cousin Mortimer to some extent. That laugh.
  • The 1960s Batman (1966). There was no point in even auditioning for a role, no matter how small, if the actor or actress wasn't ham through and through. Even the nameless mooks were Large Hams.
    • Cesar Romero's Joker was way over the top, rivaling Nicholson's.
    • Then there was Frank Gorshin who was rivaling Jim Carrey for his part as The Riddler and putting a very, VERY high bar for any future actors in the role.
    • Burgess Meredith may have been playing a bird, but he was all porker.
    • And Victor Buono's King Tut served a super-sized helping of ham with every appearance.
  • Battlestar Galactica:
    • Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek. He is usually fairly quiet compared to some of the ham on offer on this page, but prone to dramatic statements and poetic descriptions that stand in stark contrast to every other character, giving the impression he feels momentous times require momentous performances.
      "Zeus has returned to Olympus"
    • Then there is the hard-boiled and harder-assed leader of the fleet, Adama.
    • And his often times drunken XO, Colonel Saul Tigh. Especially when he started to lose it near the end of Season 3.
      "Will someone turn off THAT FRAKKIN MUSIC!!
  • Tutter from Bear in the Big Blue House — despite being the smallest member of the show's main cast — is one of these, thanks to the talents of the great Peter Linz. For example, there's his freak-out in the episode "Friends For Life"...
    "How many times — HOW MANY TIMES do I have to say it, Treelo?! I! AM NOT! A SNOW BEAR! I! AM A MOUSE! TUTTER THE MOUSE!"
  • Beetleborgs:
    • One word: Flabber. He's one hammy flabberific phasm. It helps that his mannerisms are based on Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura and that he's also a cross between Robin William's Genie and Jim Carrey as The Mask.
    • Fangula. He was based on Dracula though, and that makes it a prerequisite.
  • Stuck-up producer Gustavo Rocque of Big Time Rush hams it up quite a bit.
  • Bill Nye the Science Guy. There is no better way to teach science. For an added bonus, he was discovered and cast for Almost Live! because the producers were impressed with his Shatner impersonation. The Speedwalker sketches, in particular, were even hammier than the science.
  • Dylan Moran in Black Books. Bill Bailey has his moments as well.
  • Blackadder:
    • Rik Mayall as the various incarnations of "The" Lord Flashheart, again largely within the context of the series.
    • Chris Barrie as the cannibalistic 'eeeeevil Revolutionary' in "Nob and Nobility". In the space of ninety seconds, he graces the screen with a French accent as thick as bouillabaisse, pantomimes murdering a nobleman and turning him into pâté, engages (and utterly defeats) Tim McInnerny in Ham-to-Ham Combat and calls Baldrick a 'guh-nome'. It's astonishing viewing, even to this day.
    • Also, Stephen Fry as "The Iron Duke" of Wellington in "Duel and Duality" and as General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth
      BAHHHHHH!
    • Hugh Laurie as Prince Ludwig the Indestructible in the last episode of the second season.
    • BRIAN BLESSED from Season 1!
      Messenger: "My Lord, news: the Swiss have invaded France."
      BRIAN BLESSED: "EXCELLENT! WHILE THEY'RE AWAY, TAKE 10,000 TROOPS AND PILLAGE GENEVA!!"
      Messenger: "But the Swiss are our allies, My Lord."
      BRIAN BLESSED: "Oh yes... Well, er, get them to dress up as Germans, will you?"
    • Captain Rum from "Potato". "YOU HAVE A WOMAN'S HAM, MY LORD!"
      • Well, what do you expect from Tom Baker in a beard?
    • The scenery-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells from "Money". "Have you ever considered a career in the CHURCH?!!"
    • Edmund's aunt, Lady Whiteadder, in "Beer," who spends most of her time making loud, sanctimonious pronouncements about how everything is the work of the Devil, punctuated with bugeyed Death Glares.
    • Plus the two actors, Keanrick and Mossop, in the third season. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOH, TO HAM OR NOT TO HAM?!"
      • "HOT POTATO, ORCHESTRA STALLS, PUCK WILL MAKE AMENDS!!!"
    • We're not done here without mentioning the unbelievable Frank Finlay as the Witchsmeller Pursuivant in "Witchsmeller Pursuivant", who makes BRIAN BLESSED sound like HAL 9000. Behold him in all his batshit glory.
  • James Spader deserves a mention. He's Chewing the Scenery on The Blacklist as Raymond Reddington. His rant during the Madeline Pratt episode where he goes full Camp Gay to free Liz is a delight.
  • William Shatner is only one of a smorgasbord of Hams on Boston Legal. 99% of the lawyers at Crane, Poole and Schmidt have a Master's in Chewing the Scenery (except for Brad), along with several of the judges ("It's shocking!, "Jibber Jabber!"), and most of the clients (remember Shirley's Stalker with a Crush?).
  • Will Friedle as Eric Matthews in the later seasons of Boy Meets World. He started out fairly subdued, but as Eric got crazier and Friedle developed better comic timing he added more and more ham to his performance until he became a full on large ham by about Season 6.
  • BRIAN BLESSED in everything he's ever been in. He's a trope unto himself.
    • As the friendly Greek handyman Spiro in My Family and other Animals (the 1987 original version, not the 2005 remake), from the books by British writer and naturalist Gerald Durrell about his memories of his childhood on Corfu during the 1930s.
    • The guy even played Saint Peter like this. Seriously.
    • BRIAN BLESSED doing snooker commentary. Mundane Made Awesome!?
    • He was enjoyably hammy as the evil priest Vargas on Blake's 7, "Cygnus Alpha": "I will return to them a GO-O-O-O-ODDD!!!"
    • In a notable subversion for the actor, BLESSED was actually restrained and subtle as the Ghost in Hamlet. (Branagh was really intense all the time in the same movie.)
    • While much of his performance as Emperor Augustus in I, Claudius was surprisingly sedate (for both Blessed and Augustus), he definitely had opportunities for Chewing the Scenery in so vast and grave a role: IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO'S NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER!?!?
  • Tuco Salamanca in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. "TIGHT! TIGHT! TIGHT!"
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • The Master, a powerful vampire who seems to live off scenery, not blood.
      "Yes, shake, Earth! This is a sign! We are in the final days! My time is come! Glory! GLORY! *pause* What do you think? 5.1?"
    • Then there is Angelus. He relished in making everything he did — including his heinous acts of violence — as big and noticeable as he possibly could.
    • Spike revelled in maintaining a permanent rockstar swagger in everything he did and liked to make a show of himself whenever possible, including a particularly flashy murder of the Anointed One. Fitting, for a former victorian poet-turned-Fully-Embraced Fiend Blood Knight. It tones down considerably once he gains his soul, but even then, he's still prone to Casual Danger Dialogue and moments of over dramatization... maybe it's in the vampiric line?
    • Adam, Glory the First, and Caleb also qualify. The First in particular is rather hammy. It's the source of all evil, and knows it.
    • Olaf the Troll from "Triangle". All his lines were written in ALLCAPS, and it came across onscreen. The actor is clearly having a blast.
      • He attacks the scenery.
        (Thumps dumpster) "MWAHAHAHAHAAAA! PUNY RECEPTACLE!"
    • Warren Mears in "Seeing Red":
      "You think you can just do that to me? You THINK I'd let you get AWAY WITH IT? HA HA! THINK AGAIN!"
      • For context: While saying this he is pointing a gun at Buffy. The line is designed to show that he's coming unhinged, and took the whole "evil nemesis" thing vastly more seriously than the other two members of the trio.
    • And then we have Cordy and Wesley acting out the saga of Buffy and Angel in "Fredless":
      Wesley: "Oh, Buffy..."
      Cordy: "Yes, Angel?"
      Wesley: "I love you so much I almost forgot to brood!"
      • Really, from the second season finale of Angel onward, Charisma Carpenter seemed to be contractually obligated to gnaw on the scenery whenever she was on camera.
    • In Buffy's Musical Episode, "Once More With Feeling", most of the cast release their inner hams during their musical numbers (except Alyson Hannigan, who spends most of the episode looking profoundly uncomfortable, as she was apparently less than enthused by the musical idea — which would explain why she's the only one who doesn't get a solo number or a duet). James Marsters (playing Spike) in particular appears to be having way too much fun.
      • Fridge Brilliance, of course; Willow was established as having chronic stage fright and being uncomfortable with singing as early as the first season. On the other hand: When Alyson mimed to the "mustard song" between takes, she definitely hammed up to eleven.
    • Balthazar from "Bad Girls", a huge demon who yelled and splashed around in a little pool of water, was one of the hammiest characters in the entire series.
  • Castle has been known to ham it up. A prime example from the Season 2 episode "Vampire Weekend". His mother Martha, being something of a White-Dwarf Starlet, maintains some level of hamminess almost every time she's onscreen.
  • Frasier Crane any time something riles him up. It began in Cheers with his classic "YOU WILL *RUE* THE DAY YOU DID THAT!"
    "IN YOUR FIREY THRONE PRESIDING OVER THE DAMNED!"
    • Diane Chambers can be a small glazed ham of her own, especially when something gets her worked up. And something will get her worked up.
    • And then in Frasier, his brother Niles is almost as large a ham as him, albeit with a somewhat different style. And the two see each other almost every day and have loads of Sibling Rivalry, meaning buckets and buckets of delicious Ham-to-Ham Combat.
    • Frasier's agent Bebe Glazer is no slouch in the ham department either, occasionally giving even Frasier a run for his money in how over the top she can get. Her attempts to convince Frasier to go along with some of her morally dubious antics are accompanied by copious amounts of Milking the Giant Cow.
    • Happens in-universe in "The Show Must Go Off". Frasier and Niles, when they were children, were awed and inspired by Jackson Headley's (played by Derek Jacobi) performance in King Lear. Frasier rediscovers him at a Sci-Fi convention and offers to fund a one-man show for him. While watching Headley rehearse the final scene of Hamlet the Cranes are aghast to discover that he's an enormous ham. They convince themselves he's just rusty with age but when they dig up a video of the King Lear performance they're horrified to learn he was always that bad.
      Jackson Headley: "Oooohhhh! I diiie, Horatio! *GASP!* The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit: *GASP!* I cannot live to hear the news from England; But I do prophe-sigh...the election lights...on Fortinbras: *GASP!* He has...my dying voice. The rest...is......(whispered) silence. *GASP!*"
  • Lenny Henry's titular character in Chef! (1993) definitely qualifies.
    Chef Gareth Blackstock: Everton, please remove the maggots, rat carcasses, and corpses of shocked health inspectors and make the place fit for the preparation of sodding food!
    Chef Gareth Blackstock: Somebody bring me a knife, very long and razor sharp. I need to castrate the person who made this sauce and I don't want to cause any unnecessary suffering. I'm not a vindictive man, I'm not out to cause pain, but with this man's DNA in the gene pool, humanity is doomed.
  • C'mon Midffîld has Mr Arthur Picton, a very short-tempered football captain who happens to have the most incompetent football committee in Wales. When your referee is an absolute idiot and screws up the game from the other side of the pitch, you need a giant voice to set him straight — "''WALI, Y BLINCING TWMFFAT!".
  • The vast majority of the hosts and guests on the Colgate Comedy Hour.
  • Community: Professor of Drama Sean Garrity, played by Kevin Corrigan.
    • Dean Pelton as well.
    • John Goodman as Vice Dean Laybourn gets to have even more fun than his work with the Coen Brothers.
    • Ken Jeong as Señor Chang regularly hams it up yelling at students in the first season.
      Pierce: You can't do that!
      Señor Chang: HAVE YOU MET ME?!
  • On The Cosby Show, Jade, the girlfriend of Theo's friend Dennis, is a drama student and is like this. "If truth shall be my companion in the FUHLAAMES, so be it."
  • Keith Olbermann of Countdown with Keith Olbermann enjoys eating a large ham sandwich before delivering the news. He double doses before his Special Comments.
  • An episode of Covert Affairs had a really, really hammy Iranian defector. "FOR SHIZZLE! I WANT TO DEFECT TO THE U. S. A! =D"
  • CSI: Miami: Horatio... *shades* Caine.
    "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
  • Baron Ambrosia, of The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia, is but one Large Ham among many (and since it's on The Cooking Channel, it could potentially be a literal World of Ham).
  • Dad's Army: Ian Lavender had a lot of fun pretending to be a German officer in "Ring Dem Bells":
    So, ve are ze masters now, eh?
  • Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable: Both Dan and Papi are huge hams.
  • David E. Kelley is a writer/showrunner, not an actor, but he deserves some kind of lifetime assist award for scripting deli platters of ham (especially courtroom scenes) for the following shows:
  • As befitting a town where pigs play a vital role in the local ecosystem, Deadwood is absolutely packed to the gills with Large Hams:
    • Calamity Jane: "Cocksuckers!"
    • E.B. Farnum: "No deceit. Too prolonged. No errand too demeaning. Get outta here! No rebuke too vile. Al Swearengen's a cue and Farnum merely his billiard ball. Shit! Quagmire of piss and bullshit!"
    • Cy Tolliver: "Don't fuck with the fuckin' deity, Leon! You've got to come to him wholehearted, even when you're asking for partial relief. Oh, Lord! Let Leon cut down, Lord, on the motherfuckin' dujie."
    • Jack Langrishe (both in and out of character): "I am BAREly speakin' to YOU!"
    • Mr. Wu: "WU! AMERICA!"
  • Dickinson: Walt Whitman is portrayed as a very loud, energetic man trying his best to get injured soldiers' spirits up and enthusiastically tells Emily to embrace her love for Sue.
  • Alan Tudyk takes his hamminess to scary levels in Dollhouse.
  • Drake & Josh:
    • Josh is like this for the first and second seasons, including him repeating words for emphasis. "EMPHASIS!"
    • One episode with Josh's rival Mindy had her exit grandly shouting about her cockapoo and her exact clone of that cockapoo.
    • Papa Nichols.
      "USA! USA! U...S...AAAAA!!"
    • Where to begin with Helen the theater manager? For one thing, whatever you do, never give her the vague direction to "act scared" for a TV scene.
    • And of course, let us not forget about the show’s crown jewel of hamminess himself: Crazy Steve.
      Steve: With all the pain and hunger and disease in the world, there's really no better use of my time than to make sure every blessed cup holder IS ROCK SOLID STEADY!!! SO THAT LITTLE WHINY PUNK-HOLES LIKE YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR PRECIOUS LITTLE LEMONADE BEING A TEENY BIT UNBALANCED!!!
      Josh: [after a beat, nervously] I had the fruit punch.
      Steve: Well, FROODY-DOODY-DOO!!! I QUIT!!!
  • Dylan Moran's stand up (especially once you realize he's playing a character) is also full of these moments.
    "I cannot convey to you in words exactly how much I DON'T CARE!!! I didn't even know we had windows until you pointed them out to me!"
  • The somewhat shady CIA agent Darius Jedburgh (Joe Don Baker at his best) in Edge of Darkness has to be the most over-the-top American ever shown in a BBC mini series.
  • In Emerald City, the Wizard gives an amazingly bombastic performance every time he speaks to the crowds of Emerald City.
  • From F Troop, Larry Storch as Corporal Agarn.
  • Family Feud:
    • When Richard Karn was the host, he would often display this in his hosting style. Most notably in shouting "I'M DOUBLING/TRIPLING THE POINTS!!!" before the double and triple rounds, and "TWENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!" in the Fast Money Bonus Round.
    • Steve Harvey, who took over in 2011, likes to shout at contestants and mug the camera when a particularly off-the-wall answer is given.
  • Family Matters: Steve Urkel says hello.
  • In Farscape, out of all the hammy villains encountered, Maldis is by far the hammiest:
    "YOU KNOW WHAT I THINK, JOHN?! YOU CAN TALK 'TILL YOUR TONGUE FALLS OUT! HE'S GONNA KILL YOU REGARDLESS! AAAAAAAARRRRRGHH!"
  • Father Jack Hackett of Father Ted:
    "DRINK! FECK! ARSE! GIRLS!"
  • Firefly tends to avoid being overly melodramatic, except for some notable exceptions.
    • One of those being when someone threatens Mal's crew. Because when you turn on ANY OF HIS CREW, YOU TURN ON HIM!
    • Wash sometimes count, especially when playing with his dinosaurs.
      "NOW DIE!!!!"
  • Food Network's Anne Burell and Paula Deen are Large Hams who will teach you how to make large ham. Guy Fieri is an even Larger Ham who will teach how to make even larger ham, and will show you where you can find ham even larger than that.
  • Numerous guest stars on Friends from which Gary Oldman is the most memorable.
    • The recurring character of Janice was another female example, complete with her Incoming Ham Catchphrase "Oh! My! God!!!" It's clear that Maggie Wheeler was having a lot of fun with the part.
    • In-universe examples are Phoebe and Ross. They tend to go over the top when they "act".
    • Ross in general is pretty dramatic especially when he's disguised as the HOLIDAY ARMADILLOOOO!!!
    • Monica has her moments too. One example is after she 'fired' Joey in her kitchen, where she started intimidating the rest of her staff...
      "All right. Anybody else gotta a problem? How about you chuckles? You think this is funny now?! How 'bout if I dance AROUND all covered in sauce, huh, you think it's funny now?! Take those salads to table four! And you, take the swordfish! And you! Get a haircut!"
    • This seems to be what Joey is trying for when he acts, particularly as Dr Drake Ramorey.
  • Game of Thrones:
    • Three episodes in and we're introduced to the delightful and very dramatic Syrio Forel who combines this with Strange-Syntax Speaker and gives little Arya Stark lessons in both swordfighting and advanced scenery-chewing. He tends to be prone to great proclamations of his skill. Of course, these proclamations are very correct.
    • Khal Drogo goes on an epic Roaring Rampage of Revenge Rant after the failed assassination attempt on Daenerys. He channels the Maori haka dance during the Rousing Speech where he proclaims said revenge.
    • King Robert Baratheon. Mark Addy is clearly having the time of his life. Especially in public, Robert is prone to grandiose declarations and drunken boasts. He nearly scrapes the castle walls clean while arguing with Ned about Daenerys' assassination.
    • Tywin is a cross between this and cold ham, he tends to speak calmly and clearly BEFORE RAISING HIS VOICE, then returning to his cold and collected self.
    • The Greatjon is a prime cut of quality Northern ham, capable of laughing his ass off when faced with his own fingers getting bitten off. "Your meat, is BLOODY TOUGH!".
    • Carice van Houten's Lady Melisandre: "The night is dark and full of terrors." It would be ham to the point of narm if it wasn't so creepy. Her hammy prayers to the Lord of Light enhance her creepy Hot Witch persona.
    • "Chaos isn't a pit. CHAOS IS AH LADDAH!"
    • Joffrey and Viserys are deliberately played quite hammily, being very melodramatic at the best of times, frequently losing their self-control and shouting (or, more accurately, screeching) whenever something doesn't go their way and whenever they speak in public showing their insanity and leaving bite marks in the scenery. This is because they are both totally convinced of their divine right to rule and blind to their complete lack of competence, so take themselves far too seriously and end up looking rather ridiculous. It doesn't help that they are both barely sane at the start, and it takes very little to make them break down further. Note that their hamminess is generally not played for comedy; Viserys being over-dramatic but totally pathetic ends up being rather sad, and Joffrey's instability coupled with his great power is definitely not a laughing matter.
    • Daenerys herself loves to ham it out with an intimidating speech whenever she has the chance, always including her string of titles ('I am Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen...') and then there's her shouting for her dragons...whether she's in any position to make good on her threats varies greatly.
    • Boisterous barbarians like Tormund Giantsbane and Shagga son of Dolf.
    • Roy Dotrice's One-Scene Wonder performance as Pyromancer Hallyne does credit to his equally hammy readings of the A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks.
    • Oberyn Martell hams it up during a duel partially to throw his opponent off.
    • Given that Hodor can only say his name, it's likely enforced to watch his mannerisms while speaking so one could understand what he's trying to say.
    • Ramsay, whenever he's mocking or threatening Theon.
      Ramsay: WHAT. IS. YOUR. NAME!?
    • Euron brings his amused, slightly unsettling theatricality wherever he goes. When battle comes, he quite literally roars into action.
  • A staple of the So Bad, It's Good series Garth Marenghis Darkplace.
  • George Takei of Star Trek fame never quite left the ham behind, as evidenced here. And an ad for new TV technology features Takei who is necessary in this ad for nothing but the ham and the Stealth Pun (see page for details).
  • Don Rickles' guest appearance on Get Smart.
  • Everyone on Gilligan's Island was a Large Ham — even by the standards of that hammiest of decades, The '60s. By their standards, Jim Backus, as Thurston Howell III, went so far above and beyond, it's hard not to believe that he's actually a pig in disguise.
  • Glee: Sue Sylvester. Just...Sue Sylvester.
    I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat. And then, on some dark, cold night I will steal away into your home... AND PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE.
    • Jesse St. James, too.
    • Puck has his moments.
    • The Glee medal for scenery-chewing hamminess has to go to Coach Roz Washington. Everything she says is Serious Business and delivered in loud and bombastic tones.
  • Ian Wright was by far the hammiest of the hosts in The Travel Channel's Globe Trekker.
    Wright: [upon meeting a bunch of Dir en grey cosplayers in Shinjuku] "ARE YOU GUYS MONSTERS?!"
  • Pretty much everyone on The Goldbergs, simply because of the show's pacing and style, but Beverly, Barry and Coach Mellor take the prize; Murray and Pops have their moments too.
  • Crowley of Good Omens...look, he just has a lot of feelings, OK?
  • Gossip Girl episodes where Chuck Bass deals with the death of his father have Ed Westwick either chewing very large narmy hams or delivering his best performance yet.
  • Lampshaded in Green Wing where Sue White wanders in dressed as a giant leg of ham.
  • Everyone on Hannah Montana. The teacher being a very obvious example, as he is kind of a take-off of Jack Black's character from School of Rock.
    • Greg Baker, who plays the teacher, also plays a character on I'm In The Band who is EVEN WORSE.
  • The Fonz, after the second season of Happy Days.
  • Harland Williams. A good example of his hamming it up, interestingly, come from the commercial bumpers that they had him appear in for Kids WB (view some of them here; needless to say, someone at Warner Bros. soon realized we didn't need him to tell us that The Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries was back from the commercials in a Dracula voice.
  • Harry Hamlin's Uncle Marty in Harper's Island. Who goes to the abattoir at the end of the first episode.
  • From Heroes, which considering the superhero movie examples, is not strange:
    • Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Linderman. Over time, McDowell's metabolism has changed to the point where he can now only subsist on a diet of chewed scenery.
    • Hiro Nakamura is a honey glazed Christmas ham that can feed a family of forty. In a subversion, the actor is anything but.
    • Sylar has always been deli cold cuts, if not a complete Christmas ham.
      "MY. NAME. IS. SYLAR!!!!!"
  • While a lot of Immortals on Highlander probably qualify, Kronos really stands out.
    • Slan was a good example of this. Adrian Paul wandered into it once, during Darius' death scene.
      Duncan: DAAARRRRIIUUUSSSS! DARIUS! (check out the onscreen expression and it'll be clear).
  • Don Cherry on Hockey Night In Canada. The largest ham on television, and what's worse (or better, given your perspective) is that he's not playing a part.
  • Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton on The Honeymooners.
  • Colonel le Marquis de Moncoutant, of the fourth Horatio Hornblower episode. The eye-bulging! The personal guillotine! The smirk!
  • Kevin Spacey as Frank Underwood in House of Cards (US). Go to Netflix and binge on the delicious smoky goodness.
  • How I Met Your Mother: Barney Stinson. Everything he does is a big chunk of ham.
    • Marvin Eriksen Sr. definitely qualifies.
    • The fictionalized HIMYM-verse version of Regis Philbin.
    • Sandy Rivers, who embodied the So Bad, It's Good form of this trope when reporting on TV. Ted and Marshall used to watch him for the lulz.
  • Ian McNiece plays a massive slab of Classical Ham as the really epic Forum newsreader in Rome, complete with Milking the Giant Cow posing. McNiece is one of the hammiest characters out there, particularly in his roles as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune and Children of Dune, Wagonmaster General Runciman in Sharpe's Battle and as Winston Churchill in Doctor Who.
  • iCarly:
    • Lewbert perfectly fits this trope.
    • Carly and Freddie also had instances of hammy moments.
      Freddie: PONYTAILS!
    • Carly's brother Spencer also gets hammy from time to time
      Spencer: THAT IS NOT HOW WE CELEBRATE!
    • Goopy too. Even though he's a very minor few-liner character, he pulls as much ham in his single lines.
      Goopy: SEDDIE! / SPAGHETTI!
  • I, Claudius. It stars BRIAN BLESSED and John Hurt! Virtually everyone gets moments of large ham. Livia, Julia, Augustus, Caligula, the Sibyl prophetess from the beginning, etcetera.
    "IS THERE ANYONE IN ROME WHO HAS NOT SLEPT WITH MY DAUGHTER?!??!"
  • Into the Badlands: Almost every member of the cast is either The Stoic or afflicted with Dull Surprise, but they can get away with it, because Marton Csokas chews enough scenery for everyone. Quinn manages to make eating ice cream look epic.
  • Iron Chef: "And the secret ingredient is.... HHHHHAAAAAAAMMMMM!"
    • To put this into perspective, when the short-lived Iron Chef USA was put into production, they got the actor with the closest reputation to Takeshi Kaga they could find: William Shatner.
    • At least for Iron Chef America, early in March 2008 there was a ham battle.
      • With Alton Brown Lampshading it the whole way. "Battle HAM! is under way! Battle HAM! will be right back..." etc.
    • Iron Chef America's Chairman, Mark Dascascos, can give Kaga a run for his money in the dramatic secret ingredient unveiling stakes. Complete with Fascinating Eyebrow action!
  • The IT Crowd has Matt Berry (who manages to ham up adverts) as Douglas Reynholm, and his ffffaaaather Denholm Reynholm played by Chris Morris, both of whom did some great Ham and Cheese. Hell, just about any comedy character played by Matt Berry is likely to be phenomenally hammy. For example, take his character Beef in Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer's sitcom House of Fools.
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has many hammy scenes — most of which are provided by Dennis Reynolds, who calls himself "The Golden God" and frequently goes on loud tirades befitting that name, usually in response to extremely petty slights. Actor Glenn Howerton went to Juilliard, and he definitely puts his theatrical training to heavy work.
    I have contained my rage for as long as possible, but I will UNLEASH my FURY UPON YOU, LIKE THE CRASHING OF A THOUSAND WAVES! BEGONE, vile man, BEGONE from me! A starter car? This car is a FINISHER car! A transporter of gods! THE GOLDEN GOD! I AM UNTETHERED, AND MY RAGE KNOWS NO BOUNDS!
  • Jeeves and Wooster: Roderick Spode. "BRRRRRITISH BICYCLES!"
  • Mr. Hyde from Jekyll. Never before has talking about lions and dancing in a cage full of them been so hammy and so terrifying.
  • John Cleese almost goes without saying.
    • Basil Fawlty.
    • Any of his various Monty Python characters. Seriously, that is some epic shouting.
    • His guest appearance on Cheers.
      Dr. Simon Finch-Royce: "Ok; Sam, Diane, you two are perfect together. I'm sorry I made a mistake before but you are the most perfectly matched couple ever. But, why am I telling this to you? Let's share it with the rest of the world. (yells out a window) Hear this, world. The rest of you can stop getting married. It's been done to perfection! Envy them, sofa, envy them, chair, for you shall never be as cozy as they for their union shall be an epoch-shattering success and I STAKE MY LIFE ON IT. Wait a moment! Let me get this on record (talks into his tape recorder) "I, Dr. Simon Finch-Royce, being of sound mind and body declare that Sam and Diane shall be happy together throughout all eternity and if I am wrong I promise I will take my own life in the most disgusting manner possible!" Here, take the tape, NO, take the whole machine! It's my wedding gift to you. The most perfect couple since the DAWN of TIME!"
  • John Larroquette tends to be all over this trope, as shown in any episode of Night Court, his guest spot in Chuck, and a memorable guest spot in The West Wing.
    Lionel Tribbey: "I will KILL people today, Leo! I will KILL people with this cricket bat, which was given to me by Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth Windsor, and then I will kill them again WITH MY OWN HANDS!"
  • Jack Gallo in Just Shoot Me!.
  • Appears multiple times in the Kamen Rider series. A large number of Kamen Riders emphasize their transformation cry 'Henshin', complete with cool pose.
    • "The heavens cry out! The earth cries out! The people cry out! They cry out for me to destroy evil! Listen up, evildoers...I am the warrior of justice, Kamen Rider Stronger!"
    • Kamen Rider Kabuto: "Grandmother said this: Walking the path of Heaven, the man who will rule everything. TENDOU! SOUJI!!"
    • In Kamen Rider Den-O, the local Boisterous Bruiser Momotaros would use the simple fact that he had arrived as his Catchphrase.
    • Kamen Rider Decade has Narutaki whose presence there really made a lot of scenery. Especially his "ONORE DIKEIDOOO!!!!!"
    • Most Kamen Riders ham with their voices. Shoutaro Hidari hams with his facial expressions.
    • Kosei Kougami from Kamen Rider OOO would like to wish you "HAPPY BIRTHDAAAAAAAAAAY!"
      • SUBARASHIIIIIIIIIII! (Splendid.)
      • He's such a ham that you hardly notice lesser hams who would definitely make the list in any other series, like Ankh.
      • The OOO Driver doesn't just announce the form, but shouts each animal medal's name, and for full combos, sings the first part of the form's theme song. Pu! To! Ty! Ra! Putotyr-an-no-SAAAAAUR-us!
    • Kamen Rider Fourze is an outright World of Ham. The list of characters who aren't over the top would be shorter.
    • Kamen Rider Wizard has Shunpei Nara acting as the local hamsmith until he's eclipsed by Kousuke Nitoh, Kamen Rider Beast.
    • While Kamen Rider Drive is another World of Ham like Fourze, Kamen Rider Mach is a standout in his initial appearances, being such a ham that he can literally smash the fourth wall with a mallet. He's not nearly so hammy once his mask breaks.
    • Kamen Rider Ghost has Onari and Igor seemingly determined to make up for the Dull Surprise their respective masters display by acting hard enough for the both of them.
    • Kuroto Dan, once exposed as the Big Bad, pulls at least four or five faces in every episode that would each get a character thrown in this list all by itself. Evil Is Hammy indeed.
      • After a while Ren Amagasaki took over, complete with grandiose gestures and a deep yet loud voice. The way he speaks and all just oozes with it.
      • And once the true Big Bad Masamune Dan/ Kamen Rider Chronos arrives after he was detained in jail, there is no stopping him from even chewing the scenery when he does what he does best.
    • Kamen Rider Build like Fourze above is a World of Ham entirely with the main characters, who each got their respective over the top moments including the intros.
    • Kamen Rider Zi-O has got the Prophet Black Woz, who's the Hammy Herald in his introduction of Zi-O after his first transformation is so bombastic that he practically steals the scene. Also, he introduces every new Ridewatch that Zi-O uses in this way and hates when someone interrupts him. He essentially serves as Zi-O's hype man, proclaiming his every action as if it came from a majestic tale. And he will make sure everyone within a five block radius can hear his proclamations. He even hypes himself once he transforms into Kamen Rider Woz for the first time and also ham it up when Sougo, Geiz and him tranforms in to Zi-O Trinity everytime so much to the dismay of Geiz and Sougo.
      • His Alternate Self White Woz/Kamen Rider Woz also counts that who's more Hammy than Black Woz as the Herald to Geiz Revive's timeline.
    • Even American adaptations aren't immune. General Xaviax of Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is quite the ham himself.
  • Scott Thompson in The Kids in the Hall.
  • Robin Williams' guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (and almost everything else he's been innote ).
    "PUSH! THE! BUTTONNNNNNNN!!!!!"
  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Detective Goren, played by Vincent D'Onofrio, has been getting increasingly hammy over the years, though it is debatable whether this is a case of overacting or caused by the further development of the character's own psychological problems due to the stress of his work and family (and he was probably a few fries short of a Happy Meal to begin with).
  • The laziest and hammiest person in LazyTown is without a doubt Robbie Rotten. Portrayed in an over-the-top style similar to Jim Carrey's portrayal of the title character in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He'll keep on hamming........''FOREVER!!'.
  • Half the characters on The League of Gentlemen qualify, though no amount of make-up can mask the demented glee on Reece Shearsmith's face when playing Papa Lazarou. Special mention goes to Tubbs and Edward from the same series.
  • Dee Bradley Baker as Olmec on Legends of the Hidden Temple. "The choices are yours and yours alone!"
  • Leo McKern, everyone's favorite second in command on The Prisoner (1967). "DEGRRRREEEE ABSOOOOLUUUUTE!" McKern himself has had a hamtastic career-spanning performance as Deadpan Snarker Rumpole of the Bailey, especially when he's in the throes of his particularly sarcastic brand of advocacy.
  • In-character example: Sophie Deveraux from Leverage is an incredibly skilled and versatile con artist... when she's on a job. Unfortunately, all she really wants to do is act.
  • The 2008 BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Little Dorrit has Rignaud played by Andy "Gollum" Serkis. Serkis plays the role with a strong French accent for a start.
  • In Lois & Clark:
    • John Shea as Lex Luthor was all crazy-eyes, all the time. Not adverse to alternating slimy and seductive shtick with voluble intense outbursts of villainous venom.
    • Lane Davies playing Tempus, who is a time traveller from the future where Superman's secret identity is well known, indicating Superman revealed it at some point. Tempus is mocking Lois for being "galactically stupid" in not noticing that Clark Kent looks amazingly like Superman wearing glasses. (Tempus puts on a pair of glasses, "Look, I'm Clark Kent!". He then takes off the glasses, "Now I'm Superman!". Repeat several times in a sarcastic mocking tone.) Total ham.
  • Alex Kingston as Mrs Bennett in Lost in Austen. Kingston is more than capable of giving a subtle, nuanced performance (and has even done so on Show Of Ham Doctor Who most of the time) — but she chucked it all out the window and went to town as Mrs Bennett. Although to be fair, anyone who doesn't play Mrs Bennett as an over-the-top piece of smoked, delicious ham is doing it wrong. To be fair, she has her hammy moments on Doctor Who as well, such as her opening scene from "The Time of Angels"note :
    River: "You might want to find something to hang onto."
  • Lost in Space:
    • Jonathan Harris as Doctor Zachary Smith. "Never fear, Smith is here!" "Oh, the pain, the pain." In fact, one of the complaints about The Movie was that Gary Oldman's Dr. Smith wasn't hammy enough.
    • Doug Walker's portrayal of the same character (though it's inspired by Oldman's version) is not only goofy and over the top, but terrifying beyond imagining. Unless you're somehow used to Noel Fielding playing this sort of character on The Mighty Boosh.
  • MacGyver (1985):
    • The coach in "Legend of the Holy Rose". "RYAN!!! I WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!!"
    • Murdoc, in pretty much every appearance.
  • Jim Cramer from CNBC's Mad Money. "You! Me! Let's try to make some MONEY!!!"
  • María la del barrio would've probably been just another run-of-the-mill Soap Opera starring Thalía... had actress Itatí Cantoral not been casted as the Big Bad, Soraya. She hammed it up with absolute delight and gusto, and so much that her screaming and Chewing the Scenery made her a walking Fountain of Memes.
  • Game show hosts have always been known to be a bit hammy, but the 1970s revival of Match Game turns it up to eleven with Gene Rayburn, Brett Somers, Richard Dawson and Charles Nelson Reilly milking it for all they've got — no brow too low, dignity be damned. If it got a laugh, then roll with the punches.
  • Matt Berry's stint in The Mighty Boosh playing Dixon Bainbridge was a classic slice of Ham. Also, any character ever played by Rich Fulcher, from series regular Bob Fossil, to Howard's blind friend Lester Corncrake, to pretty much any one-off character — he steals every scene he's in. Bainbridge and Fossil's spontaneous rendition of "Total Eclipse of The Heart" was a high-point (and a Funny Moment).
  • Mimpi Metropolitan: As Alexi's Cloudcuckoolander side becomes prominent, so does his over-the-top way of speaking. And thanks to his poor acting, his character in Ada Azab Dalam Cerita speaks exclusively in Large Ham.
  • Mr. Brain: It's obvious rock-star GACKT is having a lot of fun playing a cannibalistic serial killer.
    "I will be called back from the dead. (laughs). I will kill you all...AND COME FEAST UPON YOUR FLESH!"
  • The endlessly unexpected SPANISH INQUISITION!! from Monty Python's Flying Circus... but only when they can get their lines straight. Really, no matter what the character(s), the Pythons had plenty of opportunities to ham it up over the years. And the whole concept of the Large Ham is poked fun at in an Episode 25 sketch in which excessively melodramatic actors are committed to the Royal Hospital for Over-acting (their SHOUTING TENDENCIES in particular are addressed). There's a whole unit given over to performers who've gone too far in playing Richard III.
  • Mr. T, fool!
  • MST3K subject The Sword and the Dragon has everyone talk like this. One of the host spots had Bill as the hero, "For it is ham that I seek! Ham! HAAAAAMM!!!" It actually comes off underplayed compared to the actual movie.
  • Uncle Deadly from The Muppet Show had quite the hammy first few appearances.
  • MythBusters: Adam in particular, but anyone who isn't Jamie qualifies to some degree. Carried into it's Spiritual Successor, White Rabbit Project, where everyone gets to ham up at least once an episode.
  • NewsRadio has:
    • Jimmy James, who was actually part of the regular cast.
    • Bill McNeil is the bigger ham on the show. Nobody else in television has actual lines like "BEGONE!!!"
  • When she's not plotting and scheming to win custody of her nephew and niece Ben and Lucy, or lusting after her male school pupils, the deliciously over-the-top Rachel Culgrin of Night and Day is most likely to be found berating her neighbours with pompous Shakespearean diatribes. Even her visions of disappeared schoolgirl Jane Harper get it in the neck: 'Begone, vile figment!' Resident Snark Knight Ryan Harper is similarly larger-than-life, and delights in concocting amusingly verbose insults.
  • The announcer for Ninja Warrior enthusiastically improvises Purple Prose for every contestant possible. The Japanese announcer uses even purpler prose that the English translation does.
  • David Oyelowo in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, which features the guy playing a role with enough ham for several meals.
  • Once Upon a Time: The Enchanted Forest versions of the Evil Queen and Rumplestiltskin.
    • Zelena: "This is the Wicked West!"
    • In fact virtually every Disney villain who appears is a Large Ham, especially Cruella, Maleficent, and Hades.
    • Once Upon a Time in Wonderland: The White Rabbit. It's John Lithgow, what did you expect?
    • Also from Wonderland; Peta Sergeant is enjoying a scenery-laced meal as the evil and sexy Jabberwocky.
  • Principal Osgood Conklin on Our Miss Brooks. What happens if you reach him on the telephone at Madison High? First thing you're likely to hear is him bellowing "Principal's office. This is Osgood Conklin, HIMSELF, speaking!"
  • Both Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on Pardon The Interruption are like this. Most guest hosts, such as Bill Simmons or Dan LeBatard are pretty big hams as well.
  • E4's and X-Factor's Peter "Ruddy" Dickson — a voiceover man whose work now is practically built on this trope.
    "IT'S TIME... TO FACE... THE MUSIC!"
  • Aethelwynne in Pixelface, who overplays every scene of his video game, and even adds extra syllables to words to draw out the length of his cut scenes.
  • Peter Wyngarde is ham with (fancy) dressing in Department S and Jason King. For a double helping of ham, see him in The Avengers (1960s) episode "Epic".
  • PJ Katie from PJ Katie's Farm. Just look!
  • Pray Tell in Pose, although that's just his stage persona while being an emcee; when he's just being himself he's surprisingly quiet and introspective, bordering on melancholy. Elektra is this all the time, and Matt has shades of it too.
  • In Power Rangers, every Big Bad, Dragon, and the occasional Evil Duo are either Knights of Cerebus or this (sometimes both, but not often). And pretty much every ranger when they're morphed falls under this category (especially when calling attacks and summoning Zords), and at least one per group when they're not is still a ham. It's a World of Ham.
    • The original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers set the bar high enough that no subsequent incarnation has been able to touch it. Big Good Zordon was a large ham in the tradition of Optimus Prime, with very little actual drama to it, but several metric tons of gravitas per syllable, while Big Bad Rita Repulsa's iconic screeching voice has yet to be topped. "I'VE GOT SUCH A HEADACHE!"
    • While not necessarily the most iconic ham, a villain whose catchphrase is "Viva La Diva, baby!" has to be the Ur-example in this category. Some of Divatox's more memorable moments were "ARISE...AND MEET YOUR BRIDE!" and the somewhat famous "I LOVE it when a plan comes together!"
    • The TV Tropes page for Astronema just lists "Big Ham: Jiminy Christmas...". It's well-deserved.
    • Radster from Lost Galaxy also counts.
    • Lothor of Ninja Storm, throws in a little Medium Awareness as well. "What did you expect, he wasn't going to get smaller." (He looks directly into the camera as he says it, too.)
    • One of the most memorable hammy villains was Devastation from SPD. This guy's entrance was punctuated by fireworks, and he said his own name upon appearing on the scene. After trouncing the Rangers, he actually told them to "marinate...IN FEAR!" As opposed to Devastation himself, who seemed to have been marinated in animal fat and then lightly basted before being served up as Christmas dinner. He sounds just like "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
    • Tenaya 7 of Power Rangers RPM is frequently pausing in the middle of fights to make speeches, which she never gets to finish.
    • Antonio the Gold Samurai Ranger from Samurai impressively out-hams the entire franchise to date. Ironically enough, for all the ham he's got, his theme is seafood. Take his debut where he shows off his Ranger form for the first time:
      Antonio: Now this... is a big moment. Man, this is gonna be so golden! Now let's do this! Samurai Morpher! Gold power! [Transformation Sequence] Gold is good to go! [Beat] That's it? No "Thanks for helping"? Or a little "What? What?" Alright, I get it. You need a minute. What can I say? When I make an entrance, it's go BIG, or go home! Am I right?
  • And when you say Power Rangers, realize that the Super Sentai counterpart can be hammy when it requires to do so. I mean, look at Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's Ikenami Ryuunosuke (A Kabuki actor known to yell "TONOOOOOOO!!!") and Umemori Genta (over the top sushi seller).
  • Shawn Spencer from Psych — who is without a doubt the biggest pseudo psychic ham in all of network television. The show plays with the trope, as Shawn mainly hams it up when doing the psychic schtick, and it's deliberate.
    • Oh, he can ham it up pretty good without having one of his "experiences", particularly when dealing with Gus or his father.
      Dad, please tell me you are wearing that shirt so someone can see you from SPACE!
  • In-universe in the Red Dwarf episode "Marooned", Rimmer performs the beginning Richard III's unforgettable "Now" speech.
  • Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In: Many castmembers (Along with several guest stars) have their moments, but no one chews the scenary more than Jo Anne Worley.
  • The Saint — the TV episode Island of Chance has Dr. Charles Krayford (David Bauer) — a disgraced, reclusive scientist working to create a panacea to share with the world (using, of course, flasks of bubbling, coloured liquids and sundry interconnected glassware). He's utterly dedicated to his research, and earnestly chews the scenery whenever pleading his case. He goes all-out in his death scene, which ends up being rather narmy as a result.
  • Saturday Night Live's appearance here should come as no surprise.
  • Mr. Belding on Saved by the Bell.
  • SCTV satirized this with such characters as Lola Heathertonand Count Floyd. Two very noticeable examples being Johnny LaRue and Bobby Bittman. With the latter being a parody of Vegas style comedians, every bit of him is hammy, including his catchphrase "HOW ARE YA?" He even cracks a joke about a sandwich shop debuting the Bobby Bittman Special that involves "plenty of ham and Vaseline on the side."
    • Melonville is a World of Ham and it would be much shorter to list characters who aren't at least slightly ham-flavored.
  • John Rhys-Davies in his guest-starring role as Alexandre Dumas in The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.
  • Seinfeld:
  • Sebastian Stark of Shark, along with nearly every other character James Woods has played. Stark's hammy personality seems to be one of his preferred courtroom strategies.
  • Jeremy Brett's brilliant performance as Sherlock Holmes was rife with ham, his version of Holmes having No Indoor Voice and tendency towards rambling and manic-depressiveness, much like his original book counterpart.
  • Smallville:
    • Zor-El notes "THE BLOOD OF THE HOUSE OF EL RUNS THROUGH YOU!"
    • And when Michael Shanks makes guest spots as Carter Hall/Hawkman, scenery will shake and be chewed to pieces.
    • Large Ham seems to be a requirement to play a Smallville villain. From Season 1, John Glover is beautifully over the top as The Magnificent Bastard, Lionel Luthor and Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor gets hammier with each season that passes. Cassidy Freeman is a female example as their successor, Dark Action Girl Tess Mercer. And then there's Callum Blue as Major Zod. "Unlike you I will lead from a throne, not from the shadows! Everyone on earth, including the woman you love, will Kneel Before Zod!" As of Season 10, Mackenzie Gray has been hammishly Ax-Crazy as Lex's aging, dying clone, and Ted Whittal as Rick Flag? Whoo boy. He recites the Star Spangled Banner as he fires a missile at General Lane. He's not as loud as the other examples, but the sheer intensity Whittal brings to the character puts him here.
    • Booster Gold, period.
      "I am Booster Gold, the greatest hero you've never heard of... 'TILL NOW!"
  • Soap Operas in general have their share.
    • One Days of Our Lives cast member stands out above all others — Louise Sorel, whose portrayal of the scheming, stark-raving-mad Vivian is so far over the top it's halfway down the other side. And studded with cloves. And pineapple.
    • Erica Kane from All My Children is a good example of a soap character that can be quite hammy.
    • Reva from Guiding Light is another one.
  • Apparently, Chad in Sonny with a Chance is a Large Ham in-universe, as apparent by this quote:
    Chad: "You smell like ham."
    Sonny: "I've seen your acting... so do you."
    • Grady can get hammy himself when he's excited or frustrated.
  • Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy, whenever he is angry with someone, takes this to ridiculous levels. It's particularly noticeable because he loses his temper very often. The other characters, especially Clay, usually try to resolve things peacefully. Makes sense, since the series is loosely based on Hamlet.
  • Every actor in the 1970s sci-fi series Space: 1999 is either completely wooden (Barbara Bain is lucky Emmys can't be rescinded by ATAS), or producing metric tons of ham. Sometimes in going from one to the other in the space of a single line. "Death's Other Dominion" and "The Metamorph" featured BRIAN BLESSED (in different roles).
  • Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa never stops in Space Rangers (1993), even mugging for the DVD cover photo. The rest of the cast have their moments as well.
  • Squid Game has a great female case in 212/Han Mi-nyeo, a brash, loud and overall unhinged person who Honest Trailers described as "Nicolas Cage reincarnated as a Korean woman".
  • In Stargate SG-1, virtually all of the Goa'uld System Lords were bonded to this trope at a subatomic level. Apophis, Anubis and Ba'al are probably the three standouts, though Chronos, Sokar and Yu are right up there. The real fun came from mixing character tropes: Anubis was a Large Ham, while Ba'al was an Affably Evil Large Hamming Magnificent Bastard, and ended up becoming one of the most popular characters in the series. Guest Star hams were probably led by Dom De Luise, who starred in the episode "Urgo" where he was amazingly annoying to everyone, including hamming it up to the extreme. Their enemies The Jaffa are often hammy as well, particularly Bra'tac. It probably comes from hanging around System Lords. All this hamminess might be unbearable if it weren't for the fact that Jack O'Neill is constantly making fun of this tendency.
    • It's not just the System Lords — pretty much all Goa'uld ever are Large Hams (well, except for the Tok'ra). It crops up as far back as episode two with the Goa'uld that infests Kowalsky: it's constantly yelling stuff like "HRRRRNGH RELEASE ME NOW!!!!". And that one was still in its larval state, so Goa'uld are basically Large Hams from birth.
  • The Always Chaotic Evil Wraith from Stargate Atlantis are also like this, so much so that most of their dialogue in the first few seasons consisted mostly of variations of "I AM YOUR DEATH!" or "WE SHALL FEED!". This goes to such an extent that when, later in the series, a notably non-hammy Wraith (affectionately named Todd by Sheppard) becomes a recurring character, his straight, cynical delivery becomes hysterical.
    • Todd did have a few hammy moments, most notably in the episode Vegas:
      "I know your destiny...JOOOOOOHN SHEPAAAAAARRD!!!"
  • "Nation, I am furious that it took this long to mention Stephen Colbert."
    "Ha HA! Baby got backfat."
    "All of us are TREEEEES!!!"
  • Pick a comedic episode of Supernatural.
    • Watch as Jensen Ackles hams it up and nibbles on the scenery. He's a ham on the bonus features, too.
    • Jared Padalecki, though, is the king of hammy-ness when it comes to comedic episodes, like his David Caruso parody. He owns the scene (in a good way).
    • Uh, Gabriel. "Can't we all just get along?"
    • Arguably, Crowley seems to fluctuate between being a Deadpan Snarker of a Magnificent Bastard and this when he gets particularly angry.
      • "THIS ISN'T WALL STREET, THIS IS HELL. WE HAVE A LITTLE SOMETHING CALLED INTEGRITY!"
  • Teen Wolf:
  • Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has Doctor Silberman's return in "The Demon Hand" as a psychotic, deranged man living in the mountains, who starts off as a fairly calm and collected person who steadily begins chowing down on larger and larger servings of ham. By the end of the episode, he's thrashing about in an insane asylum, screaming "THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!"
  • Derek Grim (David Haig) from The Thin Blue Line is easily the most bombastic of the cast. He even lampshades the trope when talking about how he managed to beat Fowler in an audition for the local Amateur Drama Society.
    Grim: Fannying on about 'internal motivation'... I said, 'Rubbish, mate! All you have to do is shout!'
  • Top Gear: Jeremy Clarkson is one of the largest hams...in the world.
  • Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq from True Blood (as played by Evan Rachel Wood), though she is rapidly being edged out by Russell Edgington.
  • The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "The Little People" with Joe Maross as power-mad spaceman Peter Craig shouting "I'M THE GOD, I'M THE GOD!" as he gleefully stamps on the little aliens' city. A line that was parodied by Dr. Forrester in the MST3K Movie.
  • Many of the recurring characters on Twin Peaks.
  • The Vampire Diaries: Damon Salvatore is what happens when you combine the tropes of Vampires Are Sexy, Aloof Big Brother, Cain and Abel and Jerkass Woobie. He is delightfully hammy when he needs to be.
    • Ian Somerhalder said in an interview that he thinks he has the best lines on TV.
  • Victorious:
    • Mr. Sikowitz from is this trope in spades.
    • Robbie has moments of such too.
    • Trina Vega is ham.
  • The West Wing:
  • WandaVision has Kathryn Hahn as Agnes\Agatha Harkness, specially once she's revealed as a villainess, complete with a bombastic Villain Song.
  • EVERYBODY on Whose Line Is It Anyway?. By extension, everyone on Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. Especially Jeff, Colin, Brad and Jonathon.
  • Virtually every guest star on The Wild Wild West was a big slab of bacon, but the Largest Ham of all was Michael Dunn, who stood less than 4 feet tall.
    • He was nowhere near as OTT as Patsy Kelly ("The Night of the Big Blast" and "The Night of the Bogus Bandits"), Karen Sharpe in "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse" — "TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!"note  (this episode was directed by Irving J. Moore, who liked his actors to go into orbit — tellingly, Sharpe's performance in "The Night of the Flaming Ghost" is ham-free) — or John Harding as Thaddeus Toombs in "The Night of the Winged Terror," a man so hammy he had to have two episodes to fit all the porkiness in! (Coincidentally, this was the show's only two-parter.)
    • But if you're looking for Ham in large portions, Victor Buono (as Count Manzeppi) is your man (see above).
  • William Shatner has wholly reinvented — and reinvigorated — his career in latter years based on his reputation as the embodiment of this trope. Memorable results include Commander Murdock in Airplane II: The Sequel, Denny Crane from Boston Legal, The Big Giant Head on 3rd Rock from the Sun, the overdone opossum death scene in Over the Hedge and various Priceline.com commercials.
  • In Wizards of Waverly Place, Justin Russo actually uses a spell entitled "Ham it Up", which produces a literal large ham. When he, and later Alex, take a bite of the ham it immediately ascends them to large ham status.
  • In Wolf Hall, Bernard Hill plays the Duke of Norfolk. For those who know him as the dignified Theoden King or Norfolk as a slightly dim old fellow, sit back and watch Bernard Hill chew his way through tapestries as Mantel's crass, violent, shouty old bastard, clearly enjoying every bit of it.
  • Wonder Woman: Mariposa (Henry Gibson) in "Screaming Javelins" and Cagliostro (Dick Gautier) in "Diana's Disappearing Act" were tremendous at chewing up the scenery.
  • X-Play's Johnny X-Treme, a parody of the "extreme" trend in the mid-00's who spouted absurd catch phrases, broke beer bottles on his crotch, and made a game with a boss battle that involves a T. rex with a hammerhead shark for a head (the entire shark) in front of the White House.
    Johnny X-Treme: IT'LL PUNCH YOUR BALLS OFF!'
  • Parodied by The Young Ones, in which a guest star Barry Stanton's particularly blustery appearance as the Postman in the Series 2 episode "Nasty" earns supposed "applause" from the Laugh Track while the real studio audience is still laughing. After exiting at the end of his scene, he can be heard recounting theatrical anecdotes in a loud voice from the wings until Vyvyan tells him to shut up. Even that gets a parting shot.
    Postman: Little squirt does one advert, he thinks he's Dustin Hoffman!

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