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From cosmic scientists to sci-fi legends, Futurama has hosted an impressive array of guest stars! Join us as we count down our picks for the greatest celebrity appearances in this beloved animated series. From disembodied heads in jars to full-bodied characters, these stars brought their A-game to the 31st century!
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00:00Welcome to the Head Museum. I'm Leonard Nimoy.
00:03Spock? Hey, do the thing!
00:07I don't do that anymore.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:11And today, we're counting down our picks for the top 20 best Futurama guest stars of all time.
00:16Hurry up, please. I want to get back to the Head Museum.
00:19Don't worry, Miss Anderson. This won't take long.
00:22Number 20, Bill Nye.
00:24After what seemed like a thousand years of COVID, but was actually more, I declare the pandemic to be officially over.
00:33With COVID-19 finally defeated, how timely.
00:36The city of New New York celebrates with a grand ceremony.
00:40Not only that, but the mayor decides to award the key to the city liquor cabinet to none other than Bill Nye the Science Guy.
00:46Er, head.
00:47Right as the famed TV scientist declares the pandemic to be over, he and the rest of the crowd succumb to a new virus that causes everyone to break out in a fight.
00:55I'm using the principles of aerodynamics to get the hell out of here!
01:00Rage Against the Vaccine would not be the last episode Nye appeared in on the show, though.
01:04He does make a brief appearance in a later episode, The World is Hot Enough, albeit an appearance not as prominent here.
01:11Let's not rush into things.
01:13It's been a thousand years and three minutes.
01:16Science can be very confusing.
01:19Number 19.
01:20Dick Clark.
01:21We're unemployed and we have nowhere to go.
01:23Correction.
01:24We're unemployed, but we have a doddering old relative to mooch off of.
01:28How could we possibly forget one of the very first guest appearances in the show's history?
01:32After becoming familiar with the futuristic world of New New York, Fry pays a visit to his distant nephew, Professor Farnsworth.
01:39Moments prior, we see Farnsworth has fallen asleep while watching the New Year's Eve celebration, which is still hosted by Dick Clark, or by his head at least.
01:48Hello, I'm Dick Clark's head.
01:50Welcome to a special year 3000 edition of New Year's Rockin' Eve.
01:55And yes, Clark voices himself for this one particular appearance.
02:01This would be the first, last, and only time he ever appeared on Futurama.
02:06Number 18.
02:07Conan O'Brien.
02:08Ladies and gentlemen, Conan O'Brien's head.
02:16As Simpsons and Futurama fans may know, Conan O'Brien was once a writer for The Simpsons, long before he stepped into the world of late night talk shows.
02:24So it's neat to see him come back to another Matt Groening cartoon.
02:28People are getting pretty worried about this Y2K problem, huh?
02:31No.
02:32They fixed that 900 years ago.
02:35Just bear with me, sir.
02:36This Season 2 episode, Christmas Story, opens with the Planet Express crew staying at a lodge and enjoying a stand-up routine from Mr. O'Brien himself.
02:45Unfortunately, his jokes aren't exactly with the times, which leads to Bender heckling him from the crowd.
02:50Surprisingly, Conan manages to get the one-up and even manages to get Bender to break down and cry.
02:56Listen, pal.
02:57I may have lost my freakishly long legs in the war of 2012, but I've still got something you'll never have.
03:03A soul.
03:04Eh.
03:04And freckles.
03:06Number 17, Buzz Aldrin.
03:10He walked on the moon, and now he is judging a high school science contest.
03:15Truly a man who can and will do anything, Dr. Buzz Aldrin.
03:21Throughout the Season 6 episode, Cold Warriors, we get to experience some of Fry's life as a kid.
03:27One moment in particular shows him competing in a science fair named NASA Presents Nerd Search 88.
03:33At the event, the kids get a brief speech from storied astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to ever walk on the moon way back in 1969.
03:41Wow, I could have used an introduction like that when I first met the moon men.
03:49But seriously, there are moon men.
03:51And yes, that is Dr. Aldrin voicing himself in this brief scene.
03:56He may not be a massive celebrity like some of the actors and comedians we're used to seeing, but it was pretty cool seeing a historical figure be recognized and immortalized in an animated show like Futurama.
04:07Good thing Gadgie won.
04:09My dumb experiment wouldn't have lasted an hour in space, let alone a thousand years.
04:14Besides, Buzz Aldrin ran over my guinea pig in the parking lot.
04:17Number 16, Brittany Murphy.
04:20Sorry I've been taking up so much of Fry's time.
04:22He's just so interesting.
04:24Have you seen how much cotton candy he can eat?
04:27Oh my, yes.
04:28Clueless, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City.
04:31These are just a few of the movies you have likely seen the stunning and talented Brittany Murphy in.
04:37She is sadly no longer with us as she passed away in 2009.
04:40However, one of her final roles was in the Futurama movie, The Beast with a billion backs.
04:46In this feature, Murphy voiced Colleen O'Hallahan, Fry's new girlfriend who just so happens to be dating four other guys.
04:54Welcome to the relationship, buddy.
04:55Of all of the women Fry's dated, Colleen is the one that stays in our mind the most because, for a second, it did seem like she and Fry were going to work out.
05:10Only Brittany Murphy could play the role of a heartbreaker this well.
05:14I got dressed up for my date.
05:16Oop, there he is.
05:17Don't wait up.
05:20That's it.
05:21I thought I was okay with this, but I'm not.
05:24I'm breaking up with you.
05:25Number 15, Sarah Silverman.
05:28Michelle.
05:29Oh my god.
05:33Fry, is it really you?
05:36Speaking of Fry's romantic interests, let's go back to an old flame.
05:40Though Michelle was voiced by Kath Soucy in the pilot, she would be voiced by legendary comedian Sarah Silverman in all future appearances.
05:47Having returned in the season two episode, The Cryonic Woman, Michelle finds herself in the year 3000 and winds up getting back with Fry.
06:04However, the future has caused her to experience some severe culture shock and Silverman's performance and humor sell us on the mental anguish.
06:13But I used to fit in really well.
06:15Then good luck, sister.
06:16Number 14, Wanda Sykes.
06:25Hey, what can I get y'all?
06:26Wow, you can talk?
06:28Shut up and give me a slurm loco.
06:30If you're a major fan of Bender's, there is almost no way you could have possibly forgotten about this episode.
06:36In Season 7's The Bots and the Bees, Bender enters a relationship with Planet Express's new vending machine, a sassy bot named Bev.
06:45Of course, who better to deliver the sass than smart-mouthed comedian Wanda Sykes?
06:50With that big ol' caboose, it'd have to be a telephone pole.
06:54Hey-oh!
06:55Oh-ho-ho!
06:56Well, I guess a fella's gotta talk big when he's sporting a little shriveled-up antenna like that.
07:01Yes, Sykes voices Bev the vending machine and manages to hurl insults faster than Bender can keep up.
07:07But what follows her arrival is a tragic tale about neglectful parents and the ways it affects the kids involved.
07:14And it's one of the best TV episodes Sykes has ever appeared in.
07:17Aw, biscuits!
07:19I'm a father!
07:20How did this happen?
07:21Does this ring a bell?
07:23Number 13, Be Arthur.
07:25Femputer, we bring offering of bath beads and scented soaps.
07:30Your gift pleases, Femputer.
07:32Femputer demands to know why there are men on her planet.
07:37Well, we're on the subject of spunky older women.
07:40Bea Arthur guest-starred in an episode in Futurama's first run.
07:44The premiere of season 3 sees Fry, Bender, and Leela visiting a planet that is entirely inhabited and run by women.
07:51Ruling this society is Arthur's character, the Femputer, who serves as judge, jury, and executioner in every trial.
07:58After lengthy Femputations, I, Femputer, have decided the fate of the men.
08:05Femputer sentences them to death!
08:10By snoo-snoo!
08:11Not surprisingly, Arthur does a tremendous job at sounding like a sentient computer.
08:16Her delivery and sense of comedic timing are just as spot-on as they were when she was on The Golden Girls.
08:22Long live the Queen.
08:24Perhaps men are not as evil as Femputer thinks.
08:27But they make fun women's basketball!
08:30What?
08:31Did you explain how the women's good fundamentals make up for their inability to dunk?
08:35Number 12.
08:37Patrick Stewart.
08:38Heh heh, check out this dork.
08:41I saw, I'm the master of the hunt, and I'll thank you to behave like a gentleman.
08:46You're quite welcome, sir.
08:47With his posh accent and sultry voice, it only makes sense that Patrick Stewart would appear in an episode like 31st Century Fox.
08:55Here, Stewart voices a ruthless and snooty hunter known only as the master of the hunt, who frequently participates in the illegal sport of robot fox hunting.
09:05They're not foxhounds.
09:06They're springer spaniels, you twit.
09:10Or rather, spring-powered spaniels.
09:13It's a fitting episode for the famed actor to appear in as Stewart has spoken out against animal cruelty and frequently collaborated with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
09:2931st Century Fox not only served as another stellar credit for the thespian, but it was also the perfect story for him to make an appearance.
09:37Today, we hunt the most dangerous game, aside from lawn darts, a cunning robotic adversary so deviously clever that, oh, for God's sake!
09:48Number 11.
09:50Mark Hamill.
09:51Chained them up and called my holiday friends.
09:54Wants a bar and a Hanukkah zombie.
09:55Three mad wise men bearing murder and frankincense.
09:58It's just way too fitting to have Luke Skywalker himself in your cartoon show set in a technologically advanced future.
10:06And yet, his role was nothing close to anything he has played before.
10:10Hamill has been the voice of Hanukkah zombie across a couple of episodes of Futurama, starting with this appearance.
10:16Eating with that toy artillery.
10:19Door goes powder deadly but unsable.
10:21During the musical number with the other Bizarro-esque holiday characters, Hanukkah zombie sings about a spaceship, which looks eerily similar to the TIE Fighters seen in Star Wars.
10:32Comment says be slow to anger.
10:34Load down scammers.
10:35Got me seeing red.
10:36Got my TIE fighter out of the hangar.
10:38Jump back, Jack, cause I'm Jewish and I'm dead.
10:41Number 10.
10:43Lucy Liu.
10:44You're one sexy man.
10:46Fill up J. Fry.
10:47This TV and film star didn't just play herself as a pickled head on Futurama.
10:52She also voiced a full-bodied robot version of herself programmed to be attracted to Fry, as well as an army of evil Lou bots.
11:00A homage to her reputation as an action star.
11:03At one point, all the Lou's are fighting at a screening of a Charlie's Angels movie starring Lucy.
11:08That's a whole lot of Lou to pack into one show.
11:11So much so that she would even return in another episode.
11:15Love and Rock It.
11:17Who are you talking to?
11:18No one, baby.
11:19Lucy Liu is the only girl for Bender.
11:21Number 9.
11:23David Cross.
11:24You broke your promise.
11:25And you broke my heart.
11:27This quirky funny man may have only appeared on Futurama once, but it sure was a memorable guest spot.
11:33TV's Tobias Funke played the principal antagonist and titular character Yeevo in the feature-length Beast with a billion backs.
11:41Attention, beings of Universe Gamma.
11:44At first, Yeevo comes across as a scary mind-controlling alien with many tentacles from another universe.
11:51But then we find out that Schlee just wants to date us.
11:55All of us.
11:56Everyone in our universe.
11:58I was lonely.
11:59I didn't even know there was anybody else.
12:01It's not like I hurt anyone.
12:03So, who better to play a lovestruck space monster than this master of sarcastic, self-deprecating comedy?
12:10I must leave now.
12:12The nature of your universe is burning me.
12:15Number 8.
12:16John Goodman.
12:17Santa has something very special in his sack for you, too.
12:21Yes, Virginia.
12:22John Goodman did play Santa Claus, but he sure wasn't jolly old Saint Nick.
12:28This is Futurama, after all.
12:30So, naturally, Santa is a huge robotic killing machine who keeps a list of who's been naughty
12:34and seeks to eradicate the offenders with a wide array of holiday-themed weaponry.
12:39I'm going to shove coal so far up your stocking you'll be coughing up diamonds.
12:43Though the character would go on to appear a few times during the series' run,
12:47Goodman only voiced Santa's first appearance, which many would argue, for obvious reasons,
12:53is his most memorable.
12:54You've been very naughty, Bender.
12:56Number 7.
12:57Beastie Boys.
13:02So, how do you put on a great concert, bouncing around the stage,
13:06when you're just three preserved heads in a jar?
13:09It's easy as long as you get a little help from the crew.
13:12At least, that's how the Beastie Boys pulled it off when they appeared in this first season episode.
13:17Oddly, however, when Mike D voiced himself, Adam Ad-Rock Horowitz had to pull double duty,
13:22voicing both himself and an absent Adam MCA Yaush.
13:26Back in the 20th century, I had all five of your albums.
13:29That was a thousand years ago.
13:30Now we got seven.
13:31The episode started with the Planet Express crew catching one of their shows,
13:35only to have the trio show up again later on to throw some more rhymes.
13:39Hey, Bender gonna make some noise!
13:41We're trying to dry scratch by the Beastie Boys!
13:45Number 6.
13:46Dan Castellaneta.
13:48I rather think we could strike a deal, Bender!
13:52Seeing as Futurama is a Matt Groening creation, it was only a matter of time before stars from Groening's other series made an appearance.
14:00Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, and other characters,
14:05has made multiple visits to New York, voicing Beezlebot.
14:08Also known as the Robot Devil, Beezlebot ran Robot Hell, the dark underworld of Robotology,
14:17and was played to perfection by Castellaneta in all but one of his appearances.
14:23As the musically inclined deal-making manufactured demon,
14:26Beezlebot had plenty of encounters with the Planet Express crew, Bender in particular.
14:31Here on Level 1 of Robot Hell!
14:34Number 5.
14:35Sigourney Weaver.
14:37We each get one of the four buttons, remember, Bender?
14:39That was the deal.
14:40She's no stranger to outer space or dealing with alien life, and in general, she's accustomed to weirdness.
14:47But this time around, Sigourney Weaver wasn't locked in a life-or-death battle to protect her ship.
14:52She was the ship itself.
14:54If you don't like the stations, you could just play with my buttons till you find something we both enjoy.
14:58Voicing the Planet Express ship's newly installed female personality, Weaver sparks something in Bender,
15:04who finds her irresistible.
15:06The two quickly fall for each other, but when Bender gets bored, the ship gets jealous.
15:11Bender!
15:12Don't lie!
15:13I saw you at Elzar's with those two ladies of the evening!
15:17Bender clearly never saw any of Sigourney's movies, because if he had,
15:21he would have thought twice about messing with her.
15:23Leela, Bender and I really need to be alone, so I'm turning off the oxygen.
15:28Number four, Stephen Hawking.
15:31Now quiet down, and settle this like man of science.
15:34We can argue about who the most famous, most interesting, or funniest guest star was, but
15:40when it comes to the smartest Futurama guest star, it's hard to beat the theoretical physicist,
15:45cosmologist, published author, and one-time Star Trek The Next Generation guest star, Stephen Hawking.
15:51Stephen Hawking?
15:52Aren't you that physicist that invented gravity?
15:54Sure, why not?
15:56Universally regarded as brilliant, Hawking appeared in two TV episodes and one Futurama
16:01movie, each time playing himself, sometimes as a head and sometimes not.
16:06I checked the invariance of your Lagrangian.
16:09Hubba hubba.
16:10While we're sure this Hawking is just as smart as his real-life counterpart, he also has the
16:15ability to vaporize people with lasers, something the real Hawking couldn't do.
16:19I didn't know I could do that.
16:21Number three, Al Gore.
16:24I'm Al Gore, and these are my vice presidential action rangers.
16:27There have been plenty of politicians impersonated on Futurama, but when you see the two-term vice
16:32president, one-time Democratic presidential nominee, film director, and environmentalist
16:37Al Gore on the show, it's really him doing the voice.
16:40Not all missions can be solved with chess, Deep Blue.
16:43Someday you'll understand that.
16:44Sometimes, he's his head.
16:46Once, he led a shadowy group trying to preserve the timeline, and once he played himself losing
16:51the 2000 election with a little help from Bender.
16:54Robot!
16:55In all, he made an impressive five appearances on the show, though his daughter Kristen,
17:00being a writer on the series, may have helped make this happen.
17:03Put the dice away before I take them away.
17:06Number two, Beck.
17:08Wow, that was great.
17:09Hey, thanks.
17:10You a fan?
17:10Grammy-winning musician Beck is known for experimentation and incorporating electronic elements into
17:15his genre-defying sound.
17:18On Futurama, he takes it one step further by adding Bender, a fully electronic being, to
17:23his band.
17:24He even shows the robot how he can play music without the use of his arms or legs, something
17:28a rock star who's just a head in a jar would probably be pretty familiar with.
17:33Try and scrape it across your chest like a knife on burnt toast.
17:36Beck performs some of his biggest hits on the show, but also an original duet with Bender.
17:41Soy un perdidor.
17:47Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified
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18:01Number 1.
18:04The cast of Star Trek TOS
18:07My ship, whom I love like a woman, is disabled.
18:12Oh, lord.
18:13It was bound to happen, and for all our enjoyment, one time, it did.
18:18Having already featured cameos from Trek stars Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols, as well
18:24as countless Trek references, Futurama decided to bring as much of the original series cast
18:29together as they could for one episode.
18:32Nimoy and Nichols were joined by William Shatner, George Takei, and Walter Koenig, and together,
18:39they played both their own celebrity heads and youthful versions of themselves, reanimated
18:44by a cheesy, original-series-approved alien.
18:47Truly, it was a paradise.
18:49Naturally, this means there was plenty of trivia, references to the show, and, of course,
18:54some of their most famous lines throughout.
18:57Con!
18:59Which of these Futurama cameos was your favorite?
19:02Let us know down in the comments, and don't forget to subscribe to WatchMojo.
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