< Large Ham
Large Ham/Other
Professional Wrestling
- Seriously, does this one even NEED specific examples? Is there anyone involved in any way with professional wrestling who does NOT qualify?
- The only people in professional wrestling to get any real success without a manager acting as a Large Ham, or being a ham themselves were Chris Benoit and Bret Hart.
- Though even Bret Hart had Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart hamming it up for him during his tag team days.
- And even Hart got a tiny bit hammy during his late 90s heel run.
- Though even Bret Hart had Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart hamming it up for him during his tag team days.
- The only people in professional wrestling to get any real success without a manager acting as a Large Ham, or being a ham themselves were Chris Benoit and Bret Hart.
- WWE chairman Vince McMahon turns into a Large Ham, not only on the WWE's own programming, but whenever there's a camera on him. This is best shown in the documentary Beyond the Mat, in the scene where he gives Darren Drozdov his gimmick. "He's gonna puke! He's gonna PUKE!" Let's not forget the "tidal wave of phlegm" phenomenon that is so prominent in his way of saying "You're fired!" that it's impossible to hear it without laughing.
- And then there's Hulk Hogan, who almost merits his own page on this wiki and set the standard among Professional Wrestling for large hamminess that all others emulate.
- The Ultimate Warrior. 'Nuff said.
- Santino Marella. "Bring forth...The Honk-a-Meter!!!!"
- For a very short time, Charlie Haas (who is not very well-known for his charisma). "Mamajuana Extreme dot com!"
- "Macho Man" Randy Savage demands his place on this list, Oh Yeeeeaaaaaaaaah!!
- So does Black Machismo Jay Lethal, though his version is full of Narm.
- Bryan Danielson was long pegged as an impossibly brilliant wrestler who unfortunately had no personality. Then he won the Ring of Honor Championship and started bringing the ham. His hammy act included daring the audience to riot because he is a "ONE MAN RIOT SQUAD," forcing the ring announcer to call him "The best wrestler in the world, with an emphasis on entire world," or most famously putting his opponents in illegal holds for as long as the referee allows him because "I HAVE TILL FIVE!".
- Now, during his heel World Champion run in WWE, we have "YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!" after winning matches (or doing anything, really).
- Kurt Angle certainly qualifies. This was lampshaded by John Cena: When Kurt was throwing a tantrum in the ring, Cena popped up on the TitanTron and yelled: "Kurt! Kurt! Stop it, man, you're acting like a friggin' ham sandwich!
- CM Punk has taken a turn for the gloriously hammy ever since adding religious/cult overtones to his Smug Straight Edge gimmick. His performance at the 2010 Royal Rumble, where he cuts a promo interspersed with eliminating whoever comes out next doubles as both a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Crowning Moment of Hamminess.
- "Let me thank you all for joining me, in what will be the most historic moment my Straight Edge Society has ever seen. These were just the first of twenty-nine other men who will be thrown over the top rope, or if they have the courage that the WWE Universe LACKS... they CAN be saved! And unfortunately not everyone can win the Royal Rumble... excuse me. It's clobberin' time."
- Ted DiBiase Sr. During his Million Dollar Man days, his promos (complete with constant shouting, a maniacal laugh so OTT it has to be heard to be believed and attempts to buy everyone and everything in sight) managed to be the largest ham in a business and era filled with them.
- Ted DiBiase Jr...not so much.
- Kevin Sullivan was pure deviled ham during his "powers of darkness" phase in the 1980's.
- Vickie Guerrero seems to have developed some hammy qualities as a side effect of needing to talk over the amazing heat she gets from the WWE Universe. Her late husband Eddie Guerrero was so hammy he made nephew Chavo come off as flat.
- Jillian Hall, even before her bad singing gimmick.
- This is the entire purpose of managers. Got a great wrestler who can't work the mic to save their lives? Hire a manager.
- Or pair them up in a tag team with a ham so they can learn to work the mic. John Morrison and The Miz anyone?
- YMMV on that one, as The Miz was already decent on the mic, and John Morrison arguably got worse on the mic upon turning face. His bizarre promo styling worked tremendously as a heel, so it wasn't a good idea to drop that style immediately upon turning face.
- Or pair them up in a tag team with a ham so they can learn to work the mic. John Morrison and The Miz anyone?
- What if you got a nearly seven foot tall guy pretend to be a zombie gravedigger? He's supposed to be The Stoic, so he doesn't talk much and emotes even less. But it's early 1990s WWF, how are you going to include the requisite amount of ham? Hire a guy named William Moody, give him a Punny Name, and have him ham it up, preferably with a hilarious voice. The results are deliciously hammy.
Radio
- Sir Donald Sinden, in the BBC Radio adaptation of Death On The Nile. And the BBC Radio adaptation of The Hound Of The Baskervilles. The TV series Never The Twain was one long Ham-Off between him and Windsor Davies.
- From Spitting Image:
Sir Donald: Do you serve... a ham salad?
Waiter: We serve salad to anyone.
- The radio version of The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy features a particularly hammy performance from their Zaphod Beeblebrox. This can also apply to the TV version, it used the same actors, but the low-budget second head tends to reduce the ham.
- Daws Butler as THE FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON in St. George and the Dragonet. The dragon is arrested by St. George (Stan Freberg) for devouring maidens out of season and overacting.
- Ray Goulding, one-half of radio satirists Bob and Ray, who used his classic theatrical baritone to great effect in skits calling for this character type. Partly justified by the medium he was parodying, but mostly just because he was having a whole lot of fun.
- Edwin Blackgaard is an in-universe example from Adventures in Odyssey, but he's almost as bad off-stage. It makes for a very sharp contrast with his evil brother, Regis, who gives a quieter, more even-handed performance and is scarier for it.
- Regis even lampshades this when he's talking to Jason, saying "My brother may be a scenery chewing ham, but he does have excellent taste."
- On That Michell And Webb Sound, both Mitchell and Webb have their moments:
- Webb's would be the title character of the recurring sketch, "The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar", an insane hobo who thinks he is a dashing adventurer.
- Mitchell's more prone to histrionics, but is not likely to top the series 3 finisher, where he played a man with no arms, legs, torso, or neck, engaged in a feverish and increasingly ludicrous description of the world's most beautiful art object.
- "ANGELA! SPIT VACUUM!"
- Basil Rathbone: "I love Radio, but then I am an awful ham!"
- Anthony Head (yes, Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as gloating Card-Carrying Villain Mr Gently Benevolent in Dickensian parody Bleak Expectations
Stand Up Comedy
- Most of them, really.
- Brian Regan.
MMMMMMAAANNNNNNSSLLLAUGHTER
- Dane Cook can be one. Frankly, he'd probably be boring if he didn't tell even the most mundane of jokes by running in circles and screaming.
- Robin Williams
- Lewis Black
- Patton Oswalt
Tabletop Games
- Seemingly every person of higher rank in the Imperium of Man, Chaos, or other factions in the Warhammer 40,000 universe comes with a large slice of grimdark ham.
- "KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN! KILL! MAIM! BURN!"
- Or Khorne's.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!— HARRIERS FOR THE CUP!
- Ciaphas Cain gets his own Large Ham even, in Cain's Last Stand, when he gives a propaganda speech to the planet. Even Inquisitor Vail has no comment on it, because quite frankly it's so out of character that it speaks for itself.
- You're spelling it wrong. It's COMMISSAR CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!
- Ciaphas Cain gets his own Large Ham even, in Cain's Last Stand, when he gives a propaganda speech to the planet. Even Inquisitor Vail has no comment on it, because quite frankly it's so out of character that it speaks for itself.
- Some of the many alien powers in Cosmic Encounter seem designed to encourage players to play them this way, but especially the Sniveler.
- It's technically possible to play a Dungeons & Dragons barbarian as something other than a side of ham with an axe, but it's nowhere near as much fun.
- Certain classes (both in 3.5 and 4e) get mechanical benefits for being relentlessly hammy. Well, okay, for 'inspiring courage' and 'using words to bolster allies' but we all know what's going on here.
- In Exalted, it seems like one of the prerequisites for becoming one of the titular Exalted is to be a colossal ham, not to mention the Fair Folk, Demons and Deathlords get in on it too.
- Infernals have an especially large slice, since they can appease their demonic masters by chewing the scenery like a B-movie Super Villain, ranting about their master plan, and tying Penelope Pitstop to the railroad tracks.
Other
- Lucifer is played this way in many of his incarnations... It's so common that presenting him as low key or mellow is a subversion of his normal character.
- A good example of deviled ham would Viggo Mortenson as Lucifer in The Prophecy. He almost manages to out-ham Christopher Walken.
- Possibly an even better one is Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate, but then it is Al Pacino: "GOD! is an ABSENTEE LANDLORD!!"
- Screwtape Letters is a deliberate aversion. The author felt that Milton had accidently made Satan to attractive and reasoned that the real devil must exist at a level far below even the worst human tyrants, and thus while they might put on ham as a disguise, listening to them talking would be rather dreary. So he made hell as exciting as an office building.
- A good example of deviled ham would Viggo Mortenson as Lucifer in The Prophecy. He almost manages to out-ham Christopher Walken.
- Anyone listening to the audiobook of Neverwhere can tell that Neil Gaiman had a blast reading the part of Mr. Croup.
- Elvis Presley is caricatured as this sometimes.
- SIR I BELIEVE YOU TO BE MISTAKEN. He is simply not a LARGE, HAM... but has eaten way, way, way, waaaaaaay too many LARGE HAMS. And thus, become one.
- Jacob P. Galvatron of My Way Entertainment's Transformers parody.
- George the Volcano, from the UK Volvic ads. "Hel-lo, Tyrannosaurus Allan! I'm filling my water with volcanicity!"
- Some many parodists on Hamiright.com can be extremely hammy including Hogrimorfee (Agrimorfee), Red Ham (Red Ant) and Hammy G (Chucky G).
- Peyton Manning can really CUT THAT HAM in his commercial appearances.
- State-run TV news anchors can be very hammy in their support for their autocrats. Take this AK-47 toting Libyan news anchor for example.
- Peter Travers for the Rolling Stone makes hammy video reviews. See for yourself...
- Steve Ballmer in this Windows commercial.
- He also gets really excited during presentations. Especially if they are about developers or advertisers.
- Vince Offer. He practically sells himself.
- I AIN GON' WALK AGINNN....NOT EVEN ON... CRUTCHEYEZZZZZ Actually, the whole thing is a master class on Ham.
- Among furries, Dr. Samuel Conway, also known as Uncle Kage, is notorious and much-loved for his delightfully over-the-top persona in public. Just watch a few of his performances.
- Petalklunk's Author Avatar in the webcomic Tragic Deaths.
- Bas Rutten.
- Webcomic example: Car Hayne the hyena from Fur Piled: https://web.archive.org/web/20120712194221/http://www.liondogworks.com/fur-piled/en/109 Yes, ham can come in the form of comics, too.
- Back to Large Ham
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