32 Actors You Forgot Had Cameos In Reno 911

For almost 20 years (but just 8 seasons and some movies), Reno 911! has been cracking us up. The creators and core cast members, Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenny-Silver, and Robert Ben Garant, all started on MTV's The State (along with late-season cast member Joe Lo Truglio), clearly used all their connections to bring in both up-and-coming comedians at the time (like Zach Galifianakis) and established superstars (like Kenny Rogers and Paul Reubens). Here is a list of actors who you may have forgotten played roles in the classic comedy.

Zach Galifianakis

Before he became a household name in The Hangover series, for which he delivered many of the funniest lines in the movie, Zach Galifianakis was a semi-regular contributor to Reno 911!. He played the role of Frisbee, a survivalist with a boatload of kids who lived out by the airport (and thought aliens were invading) in multiple episodes of the show in the early years.

Patton Oswalt

Comedian Patton Oswalt's career started with a slew of funny but small-ish parts in movies like Magnolia, Down Periscope, and Dodgeball. He first appeared on Reno 911! in the show's second season and went on to multiple appearances, playing multiple characters, including appearances in the two movies, Reno 911!: Miami and Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon.

Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens really needs no introduction. As Pee-wee Herman, he became a Gen X (and all the generations after) icon. Reubens, who died in 2023, played the amazing character Rick, who headed up his own "citizens' patrol" which cracked up audiences, and annoyed the members of the Reno Sheriff's Department.

Paul Scheer

Paul Scheer has made it a habit to star in some of the funniest shows of the last 20 years. Shows like The League, Veep, and Black Monday have made Scheer a household name. HE also played multiple roles in Season 6 of Reno 911!

Natasha Leggero

Natasha Leggero's first role came in one of too-oft forgotten fake reality show Joe Schmo 2 in 2004, the follow-up to the original The Joe Schmo Show. From there, she appeared in the reality show MTV's The 70s House. Leggero parlayed that into three appearances on Reno 911! playing different characters, mostly getting arrested.

Ryan Stiles

Ryan Stiles is certainly most well-known for delivering some of the funniest lines on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where he's been a cast member going back to the 1990s. He also popped up on Reno 911! as a police officer charged with training the idiots in the sheriff's department on how to go undercover in Season 5.

Jamie Lee Curtis

One of the most surprising cameos in the show's history came in one of the later seasons when none other than Jamie Lee Curtis appeared as Lt. Donna Fitzgibbons, a one-eyed, no-nonsense from Sparks Sheriff's department who Dangle brings in to prank the other members of the squad. She also shares Dangle's sense of fashion.

Keegan-Michael Key

One of the funniest recurring morons the Reno Sheriff's Department has to deal with is the "hypothetical criminal" played by the great Keegan-Michael Key. He appeared a bunch of times over the years as a character who comes with hypothetical crimes he definitely didn't commit. Somehow, he seems to keep getting away with the crimes.

Paul Rudd

The ageless Paul Rudd appeared in five episodes of the show in the final seasons of the original run. He played Guy Gerricault, a very unnerving Lamaze coach for Trudy while she's pregnant. He also appeared in the first movie, Reno 991: Miami as a completely different character.

Rachael Harris

After bouncing around Hollywood for about a decade, working regularly but never really starring in anything, Rachael Harris appeared in Reno 911! as Dangle's ex-wife. She's best known these days for her role as Linda in Lucifer.

Christina Applegate

Christina Applegate has an almost "blink and you'll miss it" cameo as the legendary Terry's wife. It's hard to believe Terry (Nick Swardson) would be married to anyone, especially someone who looks like Christina Applegate.

Dwayne Johnson

There isn't a bigger star on the planet than Dwayne Johnson. The Rock, as he was known in wrestling, seems to have endless energy, with movies starring him being constantly released. One such movie is the first one from this franchise, Reno 911!: Miami, where he plays a cartoonish SWAT team leader. It's a role that suits him perfectly, of course.

Ron White

Stand-up comic Ron White is one of the funniest comedians around and his character on Reno 911!, as a drunk pilot, is exactly the kind of role White was born to play. He's simply hilarious.

Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis

Before they played Charlie and "The Waitress" in Always Sunny In Philadelphia, real-life couple Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis played twins in a... disturbing...relationship in Reno 911!'s second season. The chemistry they are known for now was on full display in their one hilarious appearance.

Murray SawChuck

Fans of Pawn Stars will recognize Murray SawChuck (or Murray the Magician) as one of the experts Rick brings in when he needs to evaluate the value of a magic prop. He's also well-known for his stage show in Las Vegas. In his appearance on Reno 911!, SawChuck plays a magician who gets pulled over, and then pulls out a bunch of tricks, of course.

Nick Swardson

Without a doubt, the most popular recurring "criminal" on the show is Terry, played by the hilarious Nick Swardson. It's fair to say you probably haven't forgotten his unforgettable appearance across pretty much every season and movie from the franchise, but we had to include him on this list, of course.

Danny DeVito

Did you know that one of the "producers" of Reno 911! is the iconic Danny DeVito? On the show, he has appeared as himself, who is a producer of the fake show that the real show is mockumenting. How meta!

Jim Rash

Jim Rash is best known for playing the hapless Dean in the NBC sitcom Community. He's also an accomplished writer, earning an Oscar nomination for writing The Descendants, starring George Clooney and Shailene Woodley. He was one of the more "regular" recurring characters, Andrew, in the early seasons of the show, who was arrested, usually in a compromising position, a number of times. He appeared 15 times in total as the wacky character.

Michael Ian Black

Though he was never a full-time cast member of Reno 911!, Michael Ian Black, as a member of The State, is a good friend and regular cohort of many of the cast of Reno 911!. Black appeared in multiple episodes, playing multiple characters on the show, and in the movie, Reno 911!: Miami.

Ian Roberts

Ian Roberts was never part of The State, but he did cut his teeth in another legendary improv group, Upright Citizens Brigade, which he helped found with Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, and Matt Walsh. Heady stuff. He joined the regular cast of Reno 911! in the show's first final season in 2009.

Oscar Nunez

We all know Oscar Nunez from The Office and its sister show, The Paper, where his character, also named Oscar, is the lone crossover character between the shows. Before The Office, Nunez appeared in a couple of episodes in the first season as Captain Dwayne Hernandez. He appeared in a later season as "Spanish Mike" as well. He even popped up in the movie Reno 911!: Miami, as "Jose Jose Jose."

Diedrich Bader

At the same time that Reno 911! was a hit on Comedy Central in the mid-2000s, Dog the Bounty Hunter was a phenomenon on A&E. Naturally, the mockumentary about a police department had to mock the bounty hunter. Enter Diedrich Bader, famous for his roles in Office Space and The Drew Carey Show. Bader played "Tommy Hawk," modeled after the Dog (Dwyane Chapman), right down to the blonde mullet.

George Lopez

Every police department in every city has to deal with the mayor sometimes. When that mayor is a drunk, like George Lopez's character in Reno 911!, he can be maddening for the cops, but hilarious for audiences.

"Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic has the honor that no one else on Reno 911! ever had. The legendary musician and actor got to play a person from real life. Appropriately, it was another musician, Ted Nugent. Of course, it's a completely over-the-top satirized version of the Motor City Madman, but Weird Al's look is dead on.

Seth Green

Sometimes it seems like Seth Green is literally everywhere. This was especially true in the 2000s. Whether it was shows like Robot Chicken, which he also co-created, or Entourage, or, of course, Family Guy, or movies like the Austin Powers franchise and The Italian Job, Green was great. He was also hilarious in his Reno 911! cameo as the ridiculously mean boss of two sheriffs who were undercover as fast food employees.

Rainn Wilson

If we're honest here, Rainn Wilson's appearance in Reno 911! as a murderer taking the sheriffs on a wild goose chase feels like it could almost be his character from The Office, Dwight's brother, or cousin. It's honestly one of the funniest episodes of the whole series.

Debra Wilson

Debra Wilson is probably best known as the longest-serving cast member of MadTV, which included the first 8 seasons of the classic variety show. In addition to a ton of voice work in movies and TV, she's also known for playing Oprah Winfrey in the Scary Movie franchise, and for playing Dominatrix on three episodes of Reno 911! in 2008.

Brian Posehn

Yet another stand-up who played a great recurring character on the show is Brian Posehn. Posehn played Stevie the Coroner in a few episodes in the show's original run on Comedy Central. It's a perfect character for the comic, famous for his deadpan delivery. Who doesn't want a seriously funny, but deadly serious, coroner on a show like this?

Nick Krull

Another actor who plays the absolutely perfect role for his talents is Nick Krull. Krull plays an offensive shock jock who makes his name by saying the most ridiculous things. His take on Cinco de Mayo is as funny as it is offensive.

Scott Thompson

Like others on this list, Scott Thompson is a veteran of a legendary sketch comedy troupe, The Kids In The Hall. He popped up in the show's sixth season in two episodes.

Masi Oka

Masi Oka is most famous for playing the biggest hero on Heroes, Hiro Nakamura. That role earned him an Emmy nomination. He also played a more serious role as the medical examiner, Dr. Max Bergman, in the reboot of the '60s show Hawaii Five-0. Oka got to show off his comedic chops in a couple of episodes of Reno 911! as a Japanese translator.

Jeff Foxworthy

Even some of the biggest Reno 911! fans may have missed this very brief cameo. The legendary Jeff Foxworthy. Not only was it brief, but audiences never actually saw Foxworthy in the one episode in which he appeared in the third season of the show. The "redneck" comedian played Fast Eddie McClintock, the "fastest criminal in Reno, and we only very briefly hear his voice over his CB radio as he speeds away from the sheriffs in his black Trans Am.