Though I still find it cruel that Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence are always teasing us with a Clone High revival of some sort (Clone High: The Movie? Clone High: The College Years?), there’s no denying the pleasures of returning to the high school designed and administered by the Board of Shadowy Figures- or denying the impressive cast of guest stars Clone High managed to snag during its brief 13-episode run. Here are the best of the best:
Michael J. Fox
Most people don’t even notice MJF’s cameo on Clone High, in the pilot episode “Escape to Beer Mountain: A Rope of Sand” – he’s only got one line, and technically, he’s not even a character: he’s Ghandi’s remaining kidney! So how did he end up there? Simple: Bill Lawrence has a penchant for using actors on multiple shows (along with Spin City, Fox would have a short arc on Scrubs), and was able to pull in Fox for one easy-to-miss moment.
Marilyn Manson
In an episode that features nearly the entire Scrubs cast, it’s Marilyn Manson who steals the show in “Episode Two: Electric Blu-Galoo” with his ‘Food Pyramid’ song, which I still argue is the greatest nutrition-centric song ever recorded. The Manson-as-spokesperson-for-wholesome-things is a bit other shows have done since (most notably Family Guy), but it’s never more hilarious than it was on Clone High.
Jack Black
“Raising the Stakes: A Rock Opera in Three Acts” is a divisive episode of Clone High, and not just because it’s a send-up of tropes from Important Shows about Drugs – it’s the ever-conflicting Jack Black, who brings the same manic energy and overbearing singing voice to a story about drugs at Clone High, the Hardcore Pusher who sells psychoactive raisins to the poor clones of famous world figures. An episode filled with one-frame cutaway jokes (to suggest subliminal messaging) and an extended Ghandi-on-acid sequence, “Raising The Stakes” is an entertaining episode that either lists among the best or worst of the series, depending on how you feel about the Jackster.
Luke Perry
Ok, in 2014, this cameo might not be as cool – but bringing in famed high-schooler Luke Perry to play Ponce de Leon (JFK’s best friend in the world) is a stroke of Clone High genius, and leads to one of the best episodes in the series, “Litter Kills: Literally” (if you don’t count the whole Ghandi in prison showers story line, which is still an inexplicable oddity). Perry’s time on the show is brief (spoiler: he dies choking on his own litter early in the episode, in a very, very graphic way), but it leads to an episode full of a very, very emotional JFK, which is always a highlight on Clone High.
John C. McGinley
When Ghandi becomes overwhelmed by the pressures of high school, he dips out on Clone High’s equivalent of the SAT’s and takes up life as a trucker. It leads to one of the show’s more philosophic moments when he meets McGinley’s Doug Prepcourse, and has a number of “important” revelations about himself and his life. Prepcourse isn’t necessarily a venue for hilarious lines, but the material it brings out of Ghandi is worth it on the list alone (though Prepcourse’s anecdote about helping a police officer is classic).
Photo via MTV
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