Sometimes, your favorite television shows score a great guest star. They might come on for a handful of episodes and play a recurring character. However, it might be better and is certainly more surprising when a recognizable face makes a seemingly random cameo on a show. Luckily, the 2010s had more than a few instances of that happening.
It could be a case where someone makes a cameo playing a version of their real-life selves or when they arrive to take on a role for a single episode. There are even some who reprise roles they popularized in other shows or films. These are the best and most surprising television cameos of the decade.
10 Michelle Obama (iCarly & Parks and Recreation)
It's difficult to think back to an American First Lady more beloved than Michelle Obama. She was so popular that fans were ecstatic when she opted to make surprise appearances on a few television shows. First, there was a 2012 role on Nickelodeon's iCarly.
Obama agreed to do the show because her daughters were big fans. She appeared as herself and even joined in on the show's dancing bit, proving that she could bust a move if she had to. In 2014, Obama also cameoed on Parks and Recreation as herself, prompting a hilarious reaction from Amy Poehler's Leslie Knope.
9 Rihanna (Bates Motel)
This is the lone case on the list where the celebrity cameo wasn't playing themselves or reprising an old role of theirs. Bates Motel focused on telling the backstory of Norman Bates, the infamous serial killer from the horror classic, Psycho.
The scene everyone recalls from Psycho sees Norman murder a woman, Marion Crane, while in the shower. The multi-talented Rihanna guest-starred to take on the role of Crane. Rihanna was great in her limited screen time. The series also opted to change things up and go a different route from the film with her fate.
8 Ginuwine (Parks And Recreation)
We're back to Parks and Recreation for another entry on this list. Spoiler alert: it won't be the last time the series appears. Anyway, anyone who watched this series understood the love that Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) has for 90s R&B music. So his shock is hilarious when he finds out that his co-worker Donna (Retta) is Ginuwine's cousin.
When this is first discovered, it's just done via a photo of Ginuwine at Donna's home. However, the musician guest-starred in the season six finale "Moving Up" as himself. He performed a rendition of his hit "Pony," dedicated to the late Li'l Sebastian.
7 Carrie Fisher (The Big Bang Theory)
If you're going to base your entire series around a group of nerds, then you need to bring in actors who are iconic to them. The Big Bang Theory certainly pulled that off on more than one occasion. Their greatest coupe had to come during 2014's "The Convention Conundrum."
In the episode, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) has a fun night out with the voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones. The two decide to pull a prank on Jones' fellow Star Wars icon, Carrie Fisher. They knock on her door leading to a great cameo from Princess Leia herself.
6 Mark Linn-Baker (The Leftovers)
There might not have been a more creative and unexpected cameo on television in the decade than this one. For those who don't remember, Mark Linn-Baker starred as Larry Appleton in the 80s and 90s on the sitcom Perfect Strangers. Nobody expected that to lead to a cameo on a 2010s HBO series.
However, that's just what The Leftovers managed to pull off. During the show's first season, the characters discovered that celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and the cast of Perfect Strangers had all perished during the "Sudden Departure." Season two revealed that Linn-Baker was actually alive and hiding out in Mexico. He was confronted about it and pretended to only speak Spanish. Linn-Baker appeared again in a more emotional role later on.
5 Tom Brady (Living With Yourself)
The most recent cameo on this list comes from Netflix's Living With Yourself. The show centers on a man (Paul Rudd) who goes in for a spa treatment only to find out that he has been replaced by a cloned version of himself. That premise is what makes this cameo so great.
NFL icon Tom Brady exits the spa at one point and is asked if this was his first time visiting. Brady smiles and claims that it was his sixth. That's a reference to the number of Super Bowls that he has won, insinuating that after each win, he replaces his older self with an improved clone.
4 Joe Biden (Parks And Recreation)
We told you that we'd be back to Parks and Recreation. On his own, Joe Biden might not sound like the most exciting cameo. However, the former Vice President was lucky enough to have an existing storyline ready for him to work with because Leslie Knope was known to have a huge crush on him.
Leslie's husband Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) introduces her to Biden and she is starstruck. It's hilarious to see her combination of shock, admiration and flirting. The cameo came off so well that Biden returned for a flash-forward scene in the series finale.
3 LeVar Burton (Community)
The best cameos are often the most unexpected. In Community, we got one of the all-time greats in that department. During the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking," Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) pretends to be dying so he can exact revenge on his study group for not taking him seriously.
As punishment for Troy Barnes (Donald Glover), Pierce brings in LeVar Burton to meet him. This tortures Troy because he always wanted a signed photo of Burton only. He's terrified to meet his idol and spends the entire time with Burton starstruck and unable to say anything. It's hilarious. Burton returned for Troy's final episode two seasons later.
2 Prince (New Girl)
You know your cameo is going to be special when the episode you appear in is named after you. That happened during an episode of New Girl titled "Prince." This season three installment is considered to be among the best in the series. In it, Cece (Hannah Simone) and Jess (Zooey Deschanel) get invited to a party at Prince's house.
Jess gives a strange response when her boyfriend Nick (Jake Johnson) tells her that he loves her. He and his friends crash the party and it leads to an encounter where Nick and Jess meet Prince. They initially freak out at the sight of him. Prince ends up helping them get through their rough patch over pancakes. Anyone who has seen the classic Chappelle's Show sketch about Prince will understand why the pancakes inclusion was such a joy.
1 Everyone (What We Do In The Shadows)
There's honestly too many to fit in the heading. FX's What We Do in the Shadows is a comedy horror mockumentary show that follows vampires living in New York. It is based on a 2014 film of the same name. The seventh episode, "The Trial," featured an incredible number of cameos. For starters, there was Taika Waititi, Jermaine Clement, and Jonny Brugh reprising their roles from the original movie.
There was also Dave Bautista and Kristen Schaal surprising us as vampires. The real treat came with the rest of the appearances. Evan Rachel Wood as her True Blood vamp, Paul Reubens from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn), Tilda Swinton from Only Lovers Left Alive, and Wesley Snipes via Skype playing Blade for the first time in over a decade. It was an incredible get and they even referenced other characters from Interview with the Vampire, The Lost Boys, and Twilight. Maybe they'll show up in season two.
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