8 Utterly Ridiculous TV Castings That Totally Rocked Anyway
4. Patrick Stewart As Avery Bullock American Dad
Patrick Stewart (OBE) is a legend of stage and screen. He's one of the greatest actors of his generation, has given stunning performances on every acting platform going and has been highly decorated for his services to drama over the course of his long career. So when we see the great Jean-Luc Picard and Charles Xavier in positions like this below in American Dad, the word mindf**k doesn't begin to cover it. The man in that clip is Avery Bullock, the slightly unhinged deputy director of the CIA's Langley Falls branch and Stan Smith's immediate superior. Unlike Cleveland Brown, Bullock was created to assume the likeness of his vocal artist for the sole purpose of making a respected Shakespearean actor the voice of the most surreal situations imaginable. From where we heard that voice recite some of the most dramatic moments ever written, we're now treated hearing it describe a fetish for overweight Asian women and sing cheesy 80s pop tunes on a regular basis. Bullock is arguably the most extreme character in the whole American Dad universe (second only to Roger of course); he treats his task force like children and comes up with the most insane plans to solve the simplest problems. One could easily be forgiven for finding personalities like Bullock's more over the top than humorous. Then again, it takes a special kind of person to hear the voice of Hamlet and Prospero send grown men to the 'quiet area' without milk and not find it the least bit funny. Taking a recurring role in a sitcom like American Dad shows that Patrick Stewart isn't too stuffy to add a bit of frivolity to his acting resume. And with a show littered with the highest number odd-balls you're likely to find in Western animation, Bullock is just the right amount of crazy to make it work.
A self-confessed Buffy fanatic with a penchant for sleuth shows, superheroes and anything with an infectious groove. I'm a Music and English Literature graduate with zany opinions on music, TV and film to unleash on anyone who will read them.
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