Unexpected projects from "Saturday Night Live" alums

Kristen Wiig was a star pretty much from the moment she first appeared on “SNL.” Her starring in movies like “Bridesmaids” and even “Ghostbusters” made total sense. Even some of the dramatic work is sensible, though it is admittedly not her strong suit. However, we have to admit we never envisioned Wiig as the villain in a massive comic book movie, which is the case with “Wonder Woman 1984.”

Bill Hader and Wiig starred together in the dramatic film “The Skeleton Twins,” so we had seen that Hader could do drama. That being said, “Barry” took things to a whole new level. Hader had some goofy characters on “SNL,” but there is nothing goofy about “Barry.” In the dark comedy (like, pitch black), Hader plays a hitman who decides he wants to be an actor. That violence remains inside him, though, which means Barry keeps on killing people.

We were surprised when we heard that Chevy Chase was cast in “Community” as Pierce Hawthorne. Not because he isn’t funny. Chase was the first breakout star of “Saturday Night Live.” He then proceeded to burn basically every bridge in Hollywood, and he had basically been an afterthought when “Community” debuted on NBC. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Chase and “Community” creator Dan Harmon had a lot of issues, and Chase ended up leaving the show after the fourth season.

Fred Armisen has done some unusual things in his career. Just check out “Standup for Drummers” for proof of that. “Los Espookys,” though was a really interesting choice. The HBO show is in Spanish and features bilingual actors. Armisen co-created the show and is a producer on “Los Espookys,” in addition to his acting role. Unexpected as it was, “Los Espookys” is actually quite a good show, even if it is quite specific and quite odd.

When you think of Dan Aykroyd, maybe you think of “Ghostbusters” or “The Blues Brothers.” Or perhaps you think of his vodka sold in crystal skulls. Usually, though, we don’t think of Aykroyd as a dramatic actor. He showed up in “Driving Miss Daisy,” though and that’s a film that won Best Picture.

To be fair, Will Ferrell has made so many odd choices that maybe nothing should be unexpected. Sometimes he gets dramatic out of nowhere. He made regional beer ads as a bit. He played for a bunch of baseball teams during spring training for a documentary. And yet, “Casa de mi Padre” was a real left turn. Ferrell in a comedy makes sense, but a telenovela-style spoof that’s in Spanish? We did not anticipate that.

So many young actors popped up in “Band of Brothers,” and many of them went on to big acting careers. One of the actors in the miniseries had a very successful career afterward, though not as an actor. We’re talking about Jimmy Fallon. Known mostly for his bubbly personality and the ease with which he laughs at seemingly everything, Fallon is nobody’s idea of a dramatic actor. He mostly has given up acting to host “The Tonight Show,” a role that works better for him.

Will Forte starred in “MacGruber.” If you’ve seen that movie, you can’t imagine Forte doing anything serious. The man loves absurd, raunchy comedy. Nevertheless, he stars in Alexander Payne’s dramatic family tale “Nebraska.” Also in that movie is Bob Odenkirk, who serves as a sterling example of a comedic person who completely remade themselves as a dramatic actor.

No, not the movie. We’re talking about the anthology series on FX. The fourth season saw two different criminal syndicates going head to head for control of Kansas City. One family was led by Jason Schwartzman. The other family? They were led by Loy Cannon, who was played by Chris Rock. The extremely-successful standup hasn’t had the best acting career, but he went for it in this dramatic role, perhaps his meatiest role to date.

“The Heat” is an action-comedy, so comedic performers showing up does make sense. Still, you might think they’d get somebody known for their menace and dramatic chops to play the big bad. Well, this is a bit of a spoiler (it’s been a few years), but the villain is actually played by Taran Killam. He does a solid job in the role, though the movie is largely carried by Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.

“Southland Tales” is a bonkers movie. It’s a weird oddity in the filmography of basically everybody in it. That’s true of Dwayne Johnson. That’s true of Justin Timberlake. And, of course, that’s also true of Jon Lovitz, who shows up in the film about…well, whatever “Southland Tales” is about.

Kate McKinnon is a truly beloved “Saturday Night Live” cast member. She’s going to end up in the all-time pantheon given her skills, impressions, and longevity. McKinnon has shown up in some movies but hasn’t had a breakout role yet. We were a bit surprised to see her in “Yesterday,” but that movie is at least light and somewhat comedic. “Bombshell,” on the other hand is very much a dramatic movie.

Norm MacDonald wasn't much of an actor. He probably wouldn’t have disagreed. MacDonald basically was always MacDonald, whether he’s doing standup or doing an acting role. We don’t think of Norm as an actor in general, but it’s also truly bizarre that he voiced a pigeon on Adult Swim’s ironic “Mike Tyson Mysteries.” Hell, it’s weird that “Mike Tyson Mysteries” even exists.

It’s not so much that Jason Sudeikis doesn’t make sense starring as Ted Lasso in “Ted Lasso.” Really, it’s more about the story of how we got here. Sudeikis first played Lasso, an American football coach who heads to England to be a football coach, which is to say a soccer coach, in ads for NBC. That was years ago. Many years later they decided to take the Lasso character and give him a show on Apple+. What’s even more surprising? People by and large really enjoy “Ted Lasso.” Not bad for an old ad.

Molly Shannon has done some silly comedy – we’re looking at you “Superstar,” but she’s done some dramatic work as well. Usually, it’s in comedy-dramas, like “Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl,” and “Enlightened.” “Other People” is also a comedy-drama, but it was also a tremendous showcase for Shannon. In fact, she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.

Most Adam Sandler movies are goofy as hell. Some of them are funny, many of them suck. Given that, people are always surprised when Sandler does a movie that doesn’t feel like a “Sandler movie.” There was a lot of that about “Uncut Gems,” but we had seen Sandler excel in a dramatic turn before that. When he made Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love,” though, it was really stunning to see Sandler not doing a silly voice and mugging for the camera.

Rob Schneider's primary movie roles are in Sandler movies as well. The two are buddies, and that has given us Schneider in films like “The Waterboy,” not to mention the Schneider-starring “The Animal.” Before all that, though, Schneider unexpectedly turned up in “Demolition Man,” a dystopian sci-fi action film starring Sylvester Stallone. He then showed up in another Schneider film a couple of years later in “Judge Dredd.”

Eddie Murphy was arguably the biggest star in the world in the ‘80s. Then, his movie career started to slip. He made movies like “The Adventures of Pluto Nash” and “Norbit.” Some say “Norbit” cost Murphy an Oscar from “Dreamgirls.” After all that, and after Murphy was basically forgotten and not really in movies anymore, he returned to star in “Dolemite Is My Name.” The Netflix film sees Murphy playing Rudy Ray Moore, a musician, and comedian who turned himself into an actor and a director in making the “Dolemite” films.

Bill Murray has made iconic comedies and had fine dramatic turns as well. Wes Anderson loves him and so does Sofia Coppola. There are only a few missteps in his career. One of those is “Garfield: The Movie,” where Murray voiced the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating cat. When the movie came out and bombed, many wondered why somebody like Murray agreed to do this. To hear Murray tell it he thought the film’s co-writer Joel Cohen was Joel Coen, of Coen Brothers’ fame.

Mike Myers has actually only made a handful of movies, and many of them are successful series. He’s Austin Powers and the voice of Shrek. There are a couple of major duds in there, of course, especially “The Cat in the Hat.” Myers made a really strange choice a few years ago from a career perspective. The Canadian actor decided to host a reboot of “The Gong Show.” Actually, that doesn’t tell the full story. He decided to host “The Gong Show,” but he did it in character as a guy named “Tommy Maitland.”

There are noteworthy names in the horror film “House on Haunted Hill,” a remake of a William Castle flick. It had some young actors on the rise like Taye Diggs, Famke Janssen, and Ali Larter. It also featured a turn from Chris Kattan in the main cast. It’s pretty much the only non-comedy the actor was ever in, and it’s only his second movie ever.

We get a twofer here, as both Maya Rudolph and Martin Short were both “Saturday Night Live” cast members, even if Short was only one for a year as a favor after his career was already established. It’s not that Rudolph and Short don’t make sense as variety show hosts. They totally do. No, what was so unexpected is that they did a variety show in 2016, about 40 or 50 years after the heyday of the variety show ended. Maybe it isn’t surprising it only lasted six episodes.

Tina Fey is as well-known for her writing skills as her acting. In addition to being the former head writer of “SNL,” she created and wrote on “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Acting-wise, she was quite good on “30 Rock” basically playing herself. It was a little more of a surprise when she showed up as a journalist who becomes a war correspondent.

Amy Poehler has been pivotal in the world of comedy, be it cofounding UCB or starring on “Saturday Night Live” or leading one of the top sitcoms of its generation in “Parks and Recreation.” She’s always been a comedian, though. Then, it was announced she was co-hosting “Making It,” a crafting competition show. Her co-host was her “Parks and Rec” costar Nick Offerman, who is a carpenter. His appearance on “Making It” made more sense. Poehler and Rudolph now co-host "Baking It," which is a baking competition.

This is a project that would have been surprising for anybody, even Andy Samberg. Maybe it’s a little less surprising from Samberg than others, but “The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience” is a trip full stop. Samberg and Akiva Schaffer star as Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, aka the Bash Brothers, in a half-hour rap musical about the Oakland Athletics’ slugging duo. It’s even more bizarre than it sounds, even if Samberg started rising to fame in the rap group The Lonely Island.