Zach Galifianakis’ 10 Best Movies And TV Shows

The best Zach Galifianakis movies and TV shows have allowed the actor to show off his unique sense of humor and quirky personality. Galifianakis got his start by working at a public access television station and then made his TV debut on Boston Common. He then had a chance to join Saturday Night Live but left the show after just two weeks. This, however, led to him getting roles in several comedy movies in a supporting role as well as the drama movie Into the Wild.

After raising his stock with a VH1 talk show called Late World with Zach and several appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he picked up a consistent series of episodes on the Funny Or Die website called Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis. This led to several huge moments, including Galifianakis interviewing President Barack Obama. He finally got his mainstream breakout in The Hangover, which became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy at the time, and Galifianakis has been a major star ever since.

10

Due Date (2010)

Ethan Tremblay/Ethan Chase/Stu

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Due Date

pg-13

Comedy

Documentary

Drama

ScreenRant logo

7/10

Release Date

November 4, 2010

Runtime

95minutes

Director

Todd Phillips

Writers

Alan R. Cohen, Alan Freedland, Adam Sztykiel

Cast

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    Robert Downey Jr.

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    Zach Galifianakis

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In 2010, Zach Galifianakis had just found his biggest mainstream success in The Hangover, and Robert Downey Jr. had just become a top box office star thanks to Iron Man. This led to The Hangover director Todd Phillips taking the two up for the comedy road trip movie Due Date. The plot sees Downey as a successful architect who is trying to get home to Los Angeles before his child is born but ends up on a road trip with an eccentric aspiring actor named Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis).

At its core, this is an offshoot of the classic Steve Martin-John Candy road trip comedy Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, which hurt Due Date in the long run when it came to critical reviews. The film has only a 40% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics saying it was only occasionally funny. However, even the bad reviews pointed out the humor from the mismatched stars, praising both Downey and Galifianakis. Due Date did end up as a box office success, making $211.8 million on a $65 million budget.

9

A Wrinkle In Time (2018)

The Happy Medium

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A Wrinkle In Time

PG

Family

Adventure

Fantasy

Sci-Fi

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5/10

4.5/10

Release Date

March 8, 2018

Runtime

109 minutes

Director

Ava DuVernay

Writers

Jennifer Lee, John Stockwell

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    Mindy Kaling

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    Storm Reid

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The 2018 adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s novel A Wrinkle in Time was released in 2018, directed by Ava DuVernay. The story follows a young girl named Meg Murry (Storm Reid) and her adoptive brother Charles (Deric McCabe), who set off on a journey to find their missing father. They find help from three astral travelers with magical powers (Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling) and then battle an ancient evil to find and rescue their dad (Chris Pine).

As with the fantasy genre, they have to find help along the way, and part of this comes from a character known as Happy Medium, played by Zach Galifianakis. Happy Medium lives on Orion, a very private person living on a boring planet. At first, he is not willing to help, as he does not feel comfortable around Meg. The film was a box office failure and only received awards attention at the Teen Choice and People’s Choice Awards. Critics mostly said it struggled to maintain its large scope.

8

The Beanie Bubble (2023)

Ty Warner

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The Beanie Bubble

R

Comedy

Drama

ScreenRant logo

6/10

Release Date

July 28, 2023

Runtime

110 Minutes

Director

Kristin Gore

Writers

Kristin Gore, Zac Bissonnette

Cast

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    Zach Galifianakis

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    Elizabeth Banks

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Zach Galifianakis took on a more serious role in the comedy-drama film The Beanie Bubble. In this film, he plays Ty Warner, the billionaire toy manufacturer who created and sold the Beanie Babies. Based on the 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette, the movie tells the story of Warner and the women who helped him find success in the marketplace. Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan play these women.

The Beanie Bubble Real Story Changes

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This was an Apple TV+ film, with it receiving a small limited theatrical release before dropping onto the service after just one week. Critics were mostly split on The Beanie Bubble, and the movie sits at 47% on Rotten Tomatoes. Most pundits said it was an easy movie to watch, but the actual real-life story was only touched on and remains a slightly intriguing tale. However, the actors mostly received praise, with Viswanathan “stealing the show.

7

Into The Wild (2007)

Kevin Wallis

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Into the Wild

R

Adventure

Biography

Drama

Release Date

October 19, 2007

Runtime

150 minutes

Director

Sean Penn

Writers

Sean Penn, Jon Krakauer

Cast

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    Emile Hirsch

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    Marcia Gay Harden

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    William Hurt

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    Jena Malone

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Before he appeared in The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis was mostly known for his small supporting and guest roles in comedies. In 2007, there was one exception, as he starred in the biographical adventure drama Into the Wild. This movie starred Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless, a young man who hiked across North America and into the Alaskan wilderness in the 1990s. Directed by Sean Penn, the film’s ending was known since it was based on a true story, but the journey to that point was what won viewers over.

Zach Galifianakis stars as Kevin, a man who was teaching Chris how to survive and eat from the land before the young man set out on his journey. Since Chris ended up dying in the end, starving to death, it was clear his teacher was not quite up to par. Into the Wild earned two Oscar nominations and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Galifianakis and the rest of the cast were also nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at the SAG Awards.

6

Only Murders In The Building (2024)

Himself Portraying Oliver

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Only Murders in the Building

PG-13

Comedy

Mystery

Crime

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8/10

27

9.4/10

Release Date

August 31, 2021

Showrunner

Steve Martin, John Hoffman

Directors

Cherien Dabis

Writers

Steve Martin, John Hoffman

Cast

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    Michael Cyril Creighton

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    Aaron Dominguez

Creator(s)

Steve Martin, John Hoffman

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The fourth season of the hit Hulu series Only Murders in the Building sees the entire franchise go meta by having real actors playing fictional versions of themselves. The three true-crime enthusiasts who have helped solve real crimes (Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez) are now in Hollywood, and a movie is being made about their adventures. What is fun is that the season is having real actors playing themselves as they are cast as Charles, Oliver, and Mabel.

Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez as Oliver, Charles, and Mabel in Only Murders in the Building season 4 (2024)

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Eugene Levy plays Charles (Steve Martin), Eva Longoria plays Mabel (Selena Gomez), and Zach Galifianakis plays Oliver (Martin Short). The series then has the actors play over-the-top fictionalized versions of themselves, which offers up a great chance for Galifianakis to really play into his eccentricities, and it provides plenty of scene-stealing opportunities for the actor. Zach even gets shot in an episode, adding to the meta twist. The season received a 93% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.

5

Up In The Air (2009)

Steve Sewa

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Up In The Air

R

Comedy

Drama

Romance

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9/10

10/10

Release Date

December 23, 2009

Runtime

109 minutes

Director

Jason Reitman

Writers

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Cast

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    Anna Kendrick

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    George Clooney

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Up in the Air is a Jason Reitman movie that stars George Clooney as a man who travels around the country terminating people from large corporations. The film is mostly a look at a man with no home and no loved ones to return to, someone who realizes that he is missing something. However, another part of the story is the idea that his job is to end people’s careers with a severance package and then move on and not think about those people again.

Zach Galifianakis plays one of those people, Steve, a fired employee. He is one of the people who gets a bit of screentime to show the effects that Clooney’s Ryan has on the people that he fires. When another woman dies by suicide after threatening it, Ryan’s young protege Natalie (Anna Kendrick) quits on the spot. In a rare, serious role, Galifianakis is fantastic as a man who is losing his job and does not know what is coming next. The film received five Oscar nominations but didn’t win any.

4

Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) (2014)

Jake

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Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

R

Comedy

Documentary

ScreenRant logo

9/10

8.7/10

Release Date

October 17, 2014

Runtime

120 Minutes

Director

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Writers

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo

Cast

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    Andrea Riseborough

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    Naomi Watts

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Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance) was a polarizing 2014 movie starring Michael Keaton. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman had Keaton in an almost meta-role as Riggan Thomson, an actor famous for playing a movie superhero called Birdman. However, he has been struggling in recent years and has started to hear voices and eventually begins to believe that he really is Birdman and has the powers of his big-screen superhero. It was an interesting role for the man who played Batman.

Zach Galifianakis plays his best friend Jake, a lawyer, who is producing a play that Riggan has signed on to star in on Broadway. The supporting cast is incredible, with Edward Norton, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts joining Galifianakis and Keaton in the cast. The film received nine Oscar nominations and won Best Picture and Beart Director, with Keaton nominated for Best Actor. The cast won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

3

The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

Joker

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The Lego Batman Movie

PG

Comedy

Action

Animation

ScreenRant logo

8/10

8/10

Release Date

February 10, 2017

Runtime

104 minutes

Director

Chris McKay

Writers

John Whittington, Jared Stem, Erik Sommers, Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna

Franchise(s)

LEGO Batman, LEGO

Cast

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    Will Arnett

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    Ralph Fiennes

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Zach Galifianakis has voiced several characters in animated movies over his career. However, one of the best was Joker in The LEGO Batman Movie. This film was a LEGO spoof of Batman, with the character introduced in The LEGO Movie playing up his “dark brooding” role here in a film where he has to team with Batgirl, Robin, and others to battle a plethora of villains. One of the best running jokes in the movie is when Joker calls himself Batman’s archenemy, but Batman shoots the idea down every time.

Galifianakis does a great job of showing Joker as he becomes more frustrated with Batman’s rejection as the film wears on. While it wasn’t as critically acclaimed as The LEGO Movie, it was still a big box office success, making $312.2 million off an $80 million budget. It also has a 90% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Galifianakis earned an Annie Award nomination for Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production​​​​​.

2

Baskets (2016-2019)

Chip Baskets / Dale Baskets

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Baskets

TV-MA

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

2016 – 2018

Network

FX

Writers

Jonathan Krisel, Samuel D. Hunter, Karen Kilgariff, Theresa Mulligan, Rebecca Drysdale

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Alexandre Chen

    Cook

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    André Tardieu

    Mr. Fournier

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    Carlos Antonio

    Highway Patrolman

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    Casey Kramer

    Beatrix

Creator(s)

Louis C.K.

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The most successful Zach Galifianakis television show is his FX series Baskets. Airing from 2016 to 2019, Louis C.K. and Galifianakis co-created the show with Jonathan Krisel about a man named Chip Baskets who wants to become a professional clown. Baskets couldn’t get a degree in a Paris clowning school and is stuck working as a rodeo clown in California. Galifianakis plays Chip Baskets and also plays his twin brother Dale, who is the dean of a vocational college.

This series gave Galifianakis a great opportunity to play two very different characters – a successful family man and a depressed clown who can’t seem to make his dreams come true. Baskets ran for four seasons and 40 episodes and helped Galifianakis show he was more than just a weird comedy actor. Louie Anderson won a Primetime Emmy for his performance in 2016, and Galifianakis also received a nomination for his role in 2017.

1

The Hangover (2009)

Alan Garner

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The Hangover

R

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

8/10

7/10

Release Date

June 5, 2009

Runtime

100 minutes

Director

Todd Phillips

Writers

Scott Moore, Jon Lucas

Sequel(s)

The Hangover Part II, The Hangover Part III

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Ed Helms In The Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix's 'Family Switch'

    Ed Helms

  • Headshot Of Heather Graham

    Heather Graham

Franchise(s)

The Hangover

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Not only was The Hangover the movie that made Zach Galifianakis a star, but it is also the most successful film of his career. In the film, three friends (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha) plan to go to Las Vegas for one of their bachelor party getaways. They are convinced to take the bride’s brother, Alan (Galifianakis), a socially awkward man who acts very erratically and seems to have no idea that he is often making a fool of himself.

Year

Movie

2009

The Hangover

2011

The Hangover Part II

2013

The Hangover Part III

The movie has the groom end up lost, and none of the friends (nor Alan) can remember anything that happened the night before. They have to piece together the clues to find their friend before his wedding is ruined. Zach Galifianakis stole every scene he was in as the funnyman compared to the frustrated and embarrassed other characters, and he was a big reason The Hangover finished its run with $469.3 million, the highest box-office total for an R-rated movie in history at that time.

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