You look familiar: Sitcom stars who guest starred on other sitcoms

Years before she was ever to star in a sitcom, Amy Poehler appeared in a few episodes of Arrested Development. She played her then-husband Will Arnett’s love interest, only to reveal to him that she was actually in love with his brother-in-law. 

It’s Michael Schur’s world, and we’re just living in it. The creator of works like Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Good Place often had the same actors work for him in multiple capacities. After Andy Samberg made an appearance as a jarringly loud park ranger, he joined Schur again to lead the aforementioned cop comedy. 

Another Michael Schur crossover, Rashida Jones appeared as Karen Filippelli in The Office before starring in Parks and Recreation as Ann Perkins. While most fans are Team Pam, there’s a growing sect of Office fans who want justice for Karen. 

After starring as Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation for the show’s entire run, Nick Offerman worked with Michael Schur again to play one of Captain Holt’s ex-boyfriends in an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The characters Offerman played couldn’t have been more different from one another, but Offerman was just as believable as a city-living doctor as he was as the libertarian outdoorsman we’re all familiar with. 

Comedy queen Julia Louis-Dreyfus can do no wrong when it comes to sitcoms. She steals the scene no matter what show she’s in, and she did just that when she appeared in multiple episodes of Arrested Development as one of Michael’s love interests, a lawyer who pretends to be blind to garner sympathy in the courtroom. 

Henry Winkler became a sitcom king in the ‘70s when he starred as the iconic Fonzie in Happy Days. Fast forward nearly 50 years, and Winkler is still making audiences laugh with his guest appearances. Winkler popped in and out of episodes of Parks and Recreation as Dr. Saperstein, a doctor in town with two hilariously insufferable children. 

Before taking on his recurring role in Parks and Recreation, Henry Winkler played the terrible attorney Barry Zuckerkorn on Arrested Development. The show had a knack for making great use of its recurring characters, and Winkler’s Zuckerkorn was one of its best. 

Will Arnett and Amy Poehler have appeared in many of each other’s projects, and while Poehler was starring as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, her then-husband had a guest role as one of her character’s love interests. Arnett played a doctor who took Leslie to the hospital for an MRI in the middle of their date. 

Just before starting Louis, Louis C.K. took on a recurring role in Parks and Recreation as Leslie Knope’s cop boyfriend. C.K.’s character eventually moved to San Diego in the show, but he returned for a later episode in hopes of sabotaging Leslie’s relationship with Ben. 

Of all the celebrity guest appearances on Friends , Alec Baldwin’s is perhaps the most underrated. Baldwin appeared in two episodes to play the over-eager Parker, Phoebe’s boyfriend, for a short time. Just a few years later, Baldwin would go on to star alongside Tina Fey in 30 Rock. 

Since her time on Will & Grace, Megan Mullally has appeared on various sitcoms to bring her signature voice to even more hilarious characters. On an episode of 30 Rock, Mullally played Bev, an employee for the adoption agency Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon was working with. 

No guest appearance of Megan Mullally’s has ever been quite as good as the multiple times she returned to Parks and Recreation to troll her husband, Nick Offerman, as his character’s ex-wife Tammy II. The Emmy winner was vulgar and psychotic in the absolute funniest way. 

After departing Cheers, Shelley Long appeared in multiple sitcoms for guest appearances, but she became well-known among Modern Family fans thanks to her recurring role as DeDe Pritchett, the mother of Claire and Mitchell and ex-wife of Jay. She played the slightly delusional and manipulative mother and ex-wife perfectly. 

Seeing Lisa Kudrow in a comedy role is always a breath of fresh air. We came to know and love her on Friends, but she’s appeared in other television comedies, like The Good Place. Kudrow played Patty, a hero of Chidi’s and an ethically sound philosopher who made it to the Good Place. 

Just before her own epic sitcom aired, Courteney Cox appeared in an episode of Seinfeld. At the time, Cox was just another familiar face from a few other acting gigs, but in review, fans notice her as Monica from Friends. Cox has since appeared in other comedies, too, like Shameless and Modern Family. 

Watching reruns of old sitcoms and seeing some of your favorite stars before they were stars is truly a treat. Before she ever starred in Will & Grace, Debra Messing was in two episodes of Seinfeld. Messing’s character is married when the audience is introduced to her, but she soon leaves her husband and starts casually seeing Jerry.  

We love it when couples ask their significant others to come on their shows, and long before Megan Mullally was offering her talents to Parks and Recreation, her husband, Nick Offerman, was appearing on her sitcom, Will & Grace. Offerman appeared on the show again years later, the second time as a different character. 

When network television was still ruling the space, TV shows would sometimes have crossover events. One of the best was also one of the last when Zooey Deschanel appeared in an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine as her character Jessica Day from New Girl. Jess was driving a car that Andy Samberg’s Jake Peralta needed to commandeer. Multiple characters from Brooklyn Nine-Nine appeared in the New Girl edition of the crossover episodes. 

Before assuming his role as Garrett in Superstore, Colton Dunn had a recurring role as an apathetic, ineffective, usually high animal control employee on Parks and Recreation. Dunn’s character, along with his animal control partner, didn’t get nearly enough screen time, but the scenes he did star in were comedy gold. 

If you thought Colin Robinson from What We Do in the Shadows looked familiar, you were correct. Mark Proksch, the man responsible for the energy vampire, had a recurring role in the later seasons of The Office. He played Nate, a warehouse employee and Dwight’s henchman who did things for his boss like separate the toilet paper plies only to re-ply it.