Stephen Colbert’s Cameo in ‘The Hobbit’ Will Likely Be As Strange As These Other Off-the-Wall Film Cameos

Just as you all expected, yes, Stephen Colbert will be making a cameo of some kind in the new Hobbit film. Very little is known about the exact nature of the role, with the Comedy Central host playing coy as to the size or description of how he'll be appearing, whether it will be a background role or play a more major character. The only thing that is for certain is that Colbert won't be appearing in this year's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but in one of the two follow-up sequels that arrive in December 2013 and Summer 2014.

I don't know about you, but I really hope the cameo is hardly recognizable, like one of those ones you have to freeze frame in order to see his head pop up in the background out-of-focus, because quite frankly, if I see Colbert's face on screen I'm probably going to start laughing thinking about his best bits over the years and not concentrate on some Elves getting their heads bashed in. And that's why I really go to these movies in the first place.

I at least appreciate that he probably won't be appearing as Stephen Colbert, there's nothing more hackneyed in film these days than a celebrity appearing as themselves. It seems like every comedy now has to shove some celebrity in the mix, which was funny in the first Hangover and Harold and Kumar but now just feels like an easy excuse for cheap laughs. How post-post-modern!

A truly great cameo is one you don't see coming and tends to be when an actor is placed out of their comfort zone. Watch below for some of the better cameos that blow Mike Tyson's umpteenth Hangover cameo out of the water.

David Bowie in Zoolander.

Matt Damon in Eurotrip.

Bob Saget in Half-Baked.

Tim Robbins et al. in Anchorman.

Martin Sheen in Hot Shots Part Deux. Even better in Italian.

Hulk Hogan in Gremlins 2 The New Batch.