These 7 Comedians-Turned-Actors Are In Shows And Movies That Will Make You Cry Laughing Or Cry Crying
The current state of social affairs has me flipping between comedy and drama to laugh to keep myself from crying and then actually cry so that I keep my sense of humanity during all this change.
Columbia Pictures / Via media.giphy.com
These comedians-turned-actors show up in projects that will have me running out the room cackling or sitting down on the floor in tears.
1.The “Hood Hero” DeRay Davis.
When I want to laugh, I turn on DeRay Davis and keep the tissues nearby because I know that I am guaranteed to cry laughing.
DeRay Davis is one of the funniest comedians I have ever seen, hands down. His energy and delivery present a form of comedy that makes light of the truth with his vicious bite. From Davis's monologues about men and women’s dating dynamics to how he’ll heckle a heckler with the truth so bad, they’ll walk away wondering how the comedian sees into their soul.
The Hollywood Improv has some of the best comedy acts the art has to offer, and its weekly MonDeRays show is especially entertaining.
I needed some laughs, so when I saw DeRay Davis has a residency called MonDeRays at the Hollywood Improv on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, I stopped by.
At the Hollywood Improv, Davis hosts the stand-up night on Mondays, where he is often joined by comedian Lewis Belt, who calls himself a “young OG” and relies on his Oakland roots as the basis of his comedy, which grabs laughs from the whole house. There’s always a great line-up and tons of special guests such as hip-hop icon and actor Tip “T.I.” Harris. In early March, Harris took to the Improv stage as he announced that he had been doing comedy for six and half weeks. He’s pretty damn good, too. Other comedians have made recent appearances, including Michael Colyar, Corey Holcomb, and Michael Blackson.
Long before I saw South Side of Chicago native DeRay Davis at the Hollywood Improv, his comedy kept me laughing. Now I watch him as a stone-cold gangster on Snowfall.
In 2010, Davis produced a comedy special called DeRay Davis: Power Play. It’s a stand-up special that had me and my whole family in caskets by the end of it. Davis is known as a Chicago comedy legend for his realness and incredible talent, which rocketed him into Hollywood in the early 2000s. He has appeared in comedic works including Ice Cube's Barbershop, Reno 911, The Boondocks, Black Dynamite, License to Wed, 21 Jump Street, and Empire. Now Davis has a recurring role on FX’s Snowfall as Peaches, a stoic gunman who kills on sight.
DeRay’s character Peaches is first introduced to audience members in Season 2, Episode 1 of Snowfall on FX. Peaches is a henchman for Franklin’s Uncle Jerome. He appears during the montage scene of the first act while handing out crack to children from an ice cream truck. The scene depicts a story that some Black communities are all too familiar with in real life.
DeRay Davis transforms from his “Hood Hero” stand-up persona to a stone-cold killer who comes to be an entrusted member by central character Franklin Saint — played by Damson Idris — as the story of Snowfall develops.
Since the role of Peaches is such a flip from much of his previous work, the performance shows more range, showcasing Davis's dramatic acting chops.
DeRay Davis’s Peaches has the air of a made man who plays by simple rules: Lady of the house Aunt Louie needs a bodyguard — Peaches is there. Two men dare to enter the base of operations — Peaches shoots them dead. Peaches don’t play nobody’s games. Davis's dramatic acting employs the technique of stillness to movement as Peaches is a watchman, guard, and gunman.
DeRay Davis has successfully done the one thing that every great comedian-turned-actor must do: master the art of not acting.
Comedians are loved for their physicality and quick, big emotional reactions. It works well in stand-up and comedic film projects; however, Davis steps his game up as Peaches.
Comedians are often explosive in their performance to get a reaction out of audiences while reminding them it’s a joke and OK to laugh rather than being scared or worried. Drama lives in the “real world,” where fear is fear, not funny. Drama is all about compression even though the stakes are so high in the story — usually life and death.
FX’s Snowfall is a crack origin story that brings audiences to understand the CIA’s key involvement in the 1980s crack epidemic that targeted African American communities.
Manuel Betancourt for Remezcla wrote in 2018: “Snowfall is the kind of history lesson-turned-must-see TV we need more of. The kind that isn’t content with telling violent and bloody stories of drug dealers. The kind that asks us instead to see those stories as mapping larger socio-political issues.”
The show also intimately explores family relationships, collective trauma, and the need for healing.
With Davis's affinity for thinking big, it makes sense that Snowfall is a project that speaks to him. He is a man with a vision for what he wants his legacy to be, and it is etched into the way he chooses his work.
“I would like to bring back those shows that made us like Def Comedy Jam,” DeRay Davis expressed when doing an exclusive interview with BET.com in February 2022, while discussing the Black comedy docuseries Phat Tuesdays.
To cry-laughing watch DeRay Davis’s Netflix Comedy special How to Act Black. To cry-crying watch FX’s Snowfall.
2.Mr. Triple Threat Jamie Foxx
Jamie Foxx began his career as a stand-up comedian. His acting career took off after being cast as Crazy George on the Fox television show Roc, which starred Charles S. Dutton. In 1991, he graduated to dazzling members on the now-infamous Black sketch comedy show In Living Color — a show created by and starring Keenan Ivory Wayans plus castmates David Alan Grier, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh, Jim Carrey, Tommy Davidson, Kim Wayans, Kelly Coffield Park, Shawn Wayans, and Damon Wayans.
By 1996, Jamie Foxx had worked his way into starring in his own television show.
The Jamie Foxx Show showcased his acting, singing, dancing, explosive comedic talent, and so much more. From 1996 to 2001, his performance on the show made my family laugh out loud as we sat in front of the television to watch what he would do next.
Jamie Foxx on the show was joined by an all-star cast including Garrett Morris, Ellia English, Garcelle Beauvais, and Christopher B. Duncan. The chemistry on the show was undeniable and resulted in some of TV audience’s favorite scenes including that time Foxx and his favorite work rival Nicole Evans — played by Rhona Bennett — had a jingle-off to see which of them could freestyle sing the best jingle on the spot.
The actor from Terrell, Texas, with immense talent starred in Any Given Sunday in 1999 alongside LL Cool J.
Foxx also happens to be a former high school quarterback. The film was surrounded by rumors that the two were beefing on set and that a fight even took place. In an interview with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on Showtime Sports, Foxx describes his "beef" with LL Cool J as a thing that makes the film so good. It was a friendly competition that worked well for a film about football.
Jamie Foxx’s work in Ray and Just Mercy put my emotions in absolute shambles.
Roger Ebert: The movie would be worth seeing simply for the sound of the music and the sight of Jamie Foxx performing it.
The film Ray details the life and career of soul music architect Ray Charles, who was born as Ray Robinson on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. Jamie Foxx masters the physicality of Ray Charles, who became blind at the age of 6 when he contracted glaucoma. His chemistry with Kerry Washington in Ray is palpable, from the love scenes to the fight scenes. His passion for music-making bursts off the screen in a story that is filled with such lively music as a backdrop to some of life’s most tragic moments.
Watching Jamie Foxx’s perform as Ray Charles’ joy, suffering, and everything in between has pulled just about every tear out of me each time that I’ve watched it.
But it doesn’t stop there. Jamie Foxx stars in Just Mercy alongside Michael B. Jordan, bringing the ills of mass incarceration to the silver screen, and it hit me where it hurts.
To say that Jamie Foxx’s performance was heartfelt is an understatement as he portrays a man who receives the rescue of exoneration.
In Just Mercy, Jamie Foxx gives a face to the invisibilization of mass incarceration.
When I want to laugh, I watch Jamie Foxx’s comedy special I Might Need Security and Horrible Bosses (or Horrible Bosses 2) just to see him in the franchise’s most memorable scenes where he plays Motherfucker Jones. For a good cry, it’s Ray and Just Mercy for me.
3.Mr. Variety Show Steve Martin
The undeniable talent of Steve Martin is captivating. He is a comedic genius so loved by the industry that he has 23 award wins and 59 nominations for his work. His career has spanned 45 years, with his first acting credit appearing in 1967 for voiceover work in an episode of the animated series Off to See the Wizard.
Martin’s work spans from Saturday Night Live to voicing the character Hotep in the Prince of Egypt — a film that notably only included two credited African American voiceover artists at the time, Danny Glover and James Avery. Steve teamed up with fellow comedic genius and comedy powerhouse Eddie Murphy in the 1999 film Bowfinger.
Steve Martin teaches comedy.
There are so many Steve Martin classics to choose from, but the Father of the Bride film franchise takes the cake for laugh-cry moments.
Father of the Bride was released in 1991. It follows the story of George Banks, a guy who has everything together. His wife, Diane Keaton’s Nina, respects him, and he adores her. He owns a sneaker company and has a thriving son and a beautiful, successful daughter. Until…his not-so-baby-girl Annie comes home one day and says, “Dad, I met a man in Rome. I’m getting married.” For George Banks, nothing will ever be the same again. At least nothing has ever been the same again for two more films and a Netflix special called Father of the Bride Part 3ish.
What ensues for the father of the bride when Annie, who Kimberly Williams-Paisley plays, announces her engagement is a series of incredibly painful but laughable freakouts over wedding plans. Then there’s dealing with the world’s craziest wedding planner, Franck Eggelhoffer, who Martin Short plays.
Steve Martin’s performance as George Banks alongside Williams-Paisley as his daughter Annie is a story about a family that struggles to out-grow old dynamics.
His over-the-top facial expressions while fighting to accept his daughter's maturity are met with such low-stakes reactions from Keaton and Williams-Paisley that it makes Martin’s character appear even more ridiculous. Like the scene where Annie’s fiancé touches her knee, and her father George’s eyes nearly burst out of his head, no one notices.
Father of the Bride is a family film with a touching message about a father’s love for his daughter, and his duty to protect and provide for her.
There are a number of beautiful moments in the film that center around how much George truly cares for Annie, such as when she comes home crying and says, “The wedding’s off," and he consoles her by just listening to his daughter express her emotions. Even though George doesn’t really understand what’s going on and isn’t particularly excited about Annie marrying this guy, he’s there for his daughter to lean on. The scene takes a turn when Annie shares that her fiancé lied to her about something her father did — something George knows to be true. This sort of dramatic irony is common throughout the film and really kicks up the comedy.
Steve Martin’s drama-dey acting is showcased incredibly well in the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building.
Steve Martin is hysterical as Charles-Haden Savage.
Playing an older-aged, barely working actor who lives in a private condo community in Manhattan doesn’t seem like much of a stretch for the comedian who understands his “type” so well. Martin brings to life the ominous nervousness and curmudgeon-like nature of Charles through his judgmental looks in the elevator and his reluctance to sit near his neighbors after the building is cleared one night due to a fire alarm.
The series also follows a romantic storyline where Amy Ryan from The Office plays Martin’s love interest, Jan, an equally bizarre bassoonist in the building. Jan admires Charles from afar until she closes in on him and he finally works up the chops to pursue her. This bit of the story tells a tale of finding love in one’s golden years, and that is a beautiful sight to see. Unfortunately, things don’t bode well for the seasoned lovers when Charles discovers Jan has been completely misrepresenting herself and getting close to Charles just to manipulate him.
Some of the most emotional scenes from Martin include ones where Charles describes his relationship with his previous lady.
Charles was in love with a woman who had a daughter, and they formed what he thought was a family. He still wakes up and makes breakfast the way her daughter like but finds himself constantly throwing it in the trash. The trio was scheduled to take a cruise together, but his ex wasn’t interested in family time — she felt he was too focused on playing a fatherly role, and she left him. Charles has had a tough time connecting with anyone ever since, until he opens his heart up to Jan.
For laughs, then cries watch Father of the Bride, and then watch Only Murders in the Building.
4.Comedy King Kevin Hart.
Real Husbands of Hollywood is by far one of the silliest shows I have ever seen. Real Husbands of Hollywood is an improv fictional reality show that takes on a camped-up version of the Real Housewives brand where Kevin Hart is the central character.
Real Husbands of Hollywood is a certain kind of magic.
Real Husbands of Hollywood has played such a significant role alongside the development of Kevin Hart’s career that it even manifested a joint comedy tour with comedic mastermind Chris Rock.
In November 2021, Kevin Hart spoke to CBS News about his recent Netflix series True Story, which also stars Hollywood OG Wesley Snipes.
In the interview, the comedian-turned-actor describes his relationship with the character he plays named Kid who, like Kevin Hart, is also a comedian rock star from Philadelphia.
Rolling Stone says, “Real Kevin Hart Plays a Fake Kevin Hart in True Story – Yeah, It’s Confusing.” What isn’t confusing, and is rather captivating, is Kevin Hart’s grounded performance.
True Story is an almost Shakesperian story of two brothers.
Comedy King Kevin Hart relies on reality.
Hart's stand-up comedy performances often rely on making light of his childhood experiences and family dynamics. “When Hart performs stand-up, he treats his father as a jester, arriving coked up to cheer his son at spelling bees or giving his kids another family’s dog when they wanted a puppy. But there was a darker side to Witherspoon,” says Brent Lang for Variety.
Lang spoke with Kevin Hart about his first book, I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons. While Hart uses his dad’s parenting mistakes for his material, his book shows a more serious side to the artist, who describes instances where his father’s behavior was less than amusing. In addition to being addicted to drugs, his father was also in and out of jail.
“In the book, Hart recounts how his father broke into his mother’s house to steal money. Another time, he robbed Robert Hart’s barbershop and crashed his car,” says Lang.
Eventually, Hart chose to heal his relationship with his father — making him a better man and a better actor.
The way that Kevin Hart connects with his character Kid in True Story is evident in how "in genre" his performance is, despite being known as the guy who makes people smile using family trauma.
Watch Kevin Hart in Real Husbands of Hollywood or his collection of comedy specials to make you laugh, and check out True Story because it just might make you cry.
5.Man of a thousand faces, Jim Carrey.
Talk about a comedian-turned-actor with incredible range and the résumé to match.
Jim Carrey’s most talked-about work just may be his performance in the now-infamous film The Truman Show.
Jim Carrey performs as a man whose sense of peace is shattered, as he goes through a mental breakdown that unveils itself to truly be a breakthrough right before the audience's eyes, and it is stunning.
The range of emotions portrayed is no easy feat. Carrey is anxious around his wife, wildly free with his lover, and out-of-pocket with his neighbors once the jig is up. The film inspired a number of parodies, including one of my favorite episodes of Boy Meets World.
The Canadian-born US citizen has brought audiences laughs through In Living Color, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, and The Mask. However, Fun With Dick and Jane is a hidden gem.
One of his most tear-jerking performances can be seen in the romantic sci-fi film Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.
The story depicts a love so strong, so meant to be that this couple perhaps unknowingly saves their relationship by trying to erase it.
Laugh with Jim Carrey in Fun With Dick and Jane. Laugh-cry when you watch The Truman Show. Smile-cry when you watch Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.
6.The late, great Robin Williams.
During his lifetime, Robin Williams delivered performances that generated 108 acting credits. The Chicago native was born on July 21, 1951, and died on August 11, 2014.
Robin Williams brought laughs and cries to audiences over his 38-year professional acting career since appearing as a lawyer in the 1977 comedy sketch film Can I Do It ’Till I Need Glasses?. By 1978, Williams had a role on Happy Days as “Mork, from Ork,” which sparked a spinoff series called Mork and Mindy. By the 1990s, Williams was in Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Good Will Hunting, Aladdin, and Patch Adams.
Williams’ performance in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire captured the hearts of families who gathered to watch the story about a father who fights to protect his role in the lives of his children.
Robin Williams delivers a no-holds-barred performance in Mrs. Doubtfire.
Williams was the kind of artist to leave everything on the stage. There’s firey energy in the way he lit up the screen with a range of funny voices and such busy-body-like behavior, qualities that also speak to the acting style of Jim Carrey. Williams understood stakes very well, and it is portrayed in how his performance as Daniel is wired with nervous energy built up from the innate need to protect his children, keeping up with all the lies he’s telling, and the fear of being caught because the consequences mean he may lose his relationship with his children.
At the center of the comedic drama is a heartfelt story about a man who loves his family so much, including his former wife, that he makes a complete fool of himself to look out for them. Enter the cry moments here. This story relies on sentimental cinematography while depicting children who beg their father and mother to work things out. Young Matthew Lawrence, Lisa Jakub, and Mara Wilson play Daniel’s children, Chris, Lydia, and Natalie. Each share tender and unique moments with Robin Williams when Daniel reveals his true identity. They discover that their father has been there all along, looking out for them.
Actress Lisa Jakub on working with Robin Williams: "He was very open about his issues with mental wellness. He taught me it was OK to be vulnerable. What was most meaningful to me was to see that human beneath the comedic act."
The big heart of Robin Williams is seen through his therapeutic work in the 1998 film Patch Adams.
Williams brings this true story to life with his light.
In Patch Adams, Williams plays the doctor who dares to be caring with his patients instead of treating them like experiments or dollar signs. “Patients are opening up to me, Carin. They’re sharing their dreams, their fantasies,” Williams says in the film. His exuberant personality bursts through balloons, funny fake noses, and playful pranks as Adams uses humor to heal his patients in ways that touch their spirit.
Many of the patients in the story have terminal diseases or are otherwise in their last days, and as a new medical student, Adams is limited in terms of how he interacts with patients. This leads him to give away free medical treatment and form a clinic for the purpose. It’s not long before his comedic antics and the clinic he has been running put him in hot water with a medical school administrator who kicks Adams out of his educational program.
The real Dr. Patch Adams says he never charged money for patients in the clinic.
Williams gives Patch Adams a theatrical air that communicates the love behind his work.
Truthfully, Patch Adams wasn’t pleased with the film, and neither was Roger Ebert because of the Hollywood spin it put on the true story. Patch Adams may not be a historical reference for the exact sequence of events, but I believe it does represent the messages of empathy, compassion, joy, and spirituality in a way that resonates.
Reconnect with Robin Williams through his work. Laugh and cry to Mrs. Doubtfire and Patch Adams.
7.The quiet but lethal Deon Cole.
In Deon Cole’s Reel Talk interview with BET in March 2021, he shares he is a quiet person, which throws some people off because they expect him to be a loud, in-your-face comic. As a child, Cole was very imaginative. “No father figure. Just me and my mother and my mother trying to make enough for us to eat. It was just me and my imagination.”
He also says a $50 bet led to his comedy career when his friend dared him to go onstage and perform stand-up. His picks for the greatest comedians of his life that have affected him: Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Eddie Murphy, Red Foxx, George Carlin, Bernie Mac.
Deon Cole's comedy is centered on uplifting people while making them laugh.
Jason Tabrys interviewed Cole for Uproxx about his Netflix special Cole Hearted. “Comedically, man, I’m just trying to be on a page where I can just uplift people, no matter what it is. Just try to give them some type of upliftment and make them laugh. At the same time, make them think about something they wouldn’t normally think about,” the actor and comedian shared.
One of his greatest inspirations is stand-up comedian and actor Steven Wright. “To tap into the obvious like that and then make it funny like that, is pure genius. To take something so small and blow it out of proportion like that, is genius, and I love that. That’s a style that is his vibe.”
Early in his career, Deon Cole appeared in Ice Cube’s Barbershop, alongside fellow South Side of Chicago comedian DeRay Davis.
Cole plays the role of customer Darrel in the 2002 film Barbershop. By 2007, he joined the cast of Nick Cannon’s Short Circuitz, where “Nick Cannon and a troupe of actors perform a series of brief topical sketches, impersonations, and parodies.”
In 2009, Deon Cole made three appearances on The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien and later on 35 episodes on Conan.
Deon Cole’s Charlie Telphy on Black-ish is distinctively, memorably funny.
Charlie’s “frosty” relationship with Diane Johnson masterfully brings more laughs.
After snagging Charlie on Black-ish and DJ Tanner on Angie Tribeca in 2016, Deon Cole delivered a stunning performance as Wiley Escoe in the Black Western The Harder They Fall.
Katie Nodjimbadem for Smithsonian Magazine: “Though [Nat] Love’s tales from the frontier seem typical for a 19th-century cowboy, they come from a source rarely associated with the Wild West. Love was African-American, born into slavery near Nashville, Tennessee.”
“African-American cowboys faced discrimination in the towns they passed through — they were barred from eating at certain restaurants or staying in certain hotels, for example —but within their crews, they found respect and a level of equality unknown to other African-Americans of the era,” says Nodjimbadem.
However, The Harder They Fall tells a more gritty and dramatized version of Nat’s story, where Deon Cole’s Wiley Escoe is a bad dude in a bad situation.
When Deon Cole visited The Kelly Clarkson Show in late 2021, I was there to request "Ohh Laa" by John Legend during Kellyokey. Cole talked about his career, moving from Chicago to Los Angeles, and the real history of Black cowboys while he gave a bit of behind-the-scenes dirt on cast member Idris Elba. Kelly also ran a clip from the film to the in-studio audience.
“He was a part of the Rufus Butt gang. He ended up going on his own and shouldn’t have. He gets into a situation with trying to even out the score with Idris,” Cole says about the fictional version of his character Wiley Escoe.
The Harder They Fall is a tale about a community rife with rivalry where brothers are enemies and so are friends.
The well-produced film pulls viewers into a gun-shotting, bomb-exploding world where men who have been abandoned by their father find themselves on the other end of a bitter gang rivalry. Jonathan Major's Nat Love faces off with Idris Elba's Rufus Buck over being traumatized as a boy by the latter's affinity for blowing heads off people with whom he has beef.
Deon Cole’s Wiley Escoe is caught between the two in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of situation. His performance gives drama so well in scenes with his co-stars. The spilling of family blood and witnessing a story that shows violence perpetuating the Buck family inter-generationally like a plague makes the film worth more for a few teary moments.