Six British Comics Who Tried to Invade Hollywood

SCREEN > THE SIX PACK

By Matt Prigge

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Oct. 6, 2009

Charles Chaplin: For some comics, success in England is enough. But for many, there’s always new land to conquer. Those who feel that way can at least look to Chaplin, who went from impoverished music hall runt to slapstick king. Although one shouldn’t emulate him completely: after successfully  segueing into sound with The Great Dictator , his films began tanking, his style went irrelevant and, in 1952, his lefty ways got him denied reentrance into America. 

Dudley Moore: Those who know Moore chiefly as a lovable alkie are tragically unaware he was half of a great comic duo beside Peter Cook. Such is the downside of making it big in Hollywood: your vastly superior work winds up  remembered only by Anglophilic nerds. 

Rik Mayall: But it’s better than no sucess at all. The most combustible of the Young Ones made a go for Hollywood as Phoebe Cates’ mega- annoying imaginary best friend in Drop Dead Fred. So much for learning from mistakes: Russell Brand is set to star in a remake to a movie no one liked in the first place. 

Steve Coogan: A stone-cold legend back home, Coogan planned his Hollywood takeover slowly, doing small roles and waiting for his big break. Which was to be the sleeper hit/Sundance crossover Hamlet 2 . Then no one saw it. Which should be the perfect excuse to resurrect Alan Partridge once again. Please? 

Sasha Baron Cohen: The jury’s still out on whether the underperforming Brüno means America’s love affair with the truly fearless, possibly suicidal Baron Cohen is over. But surely you’re curious what he’ll do next. 

Ricky Gervais: The onetime David Brent pissed off Simon Pegg by decrying British cinema, all while plotting his own American conquest. Luckily everyone agrees The Invention of Lying is a far superior vehicle than last year’s woeful Ghost Town.