5 Comedic Actors Who Brought The Drama To Law & Order: SVU

To say that "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" isn't exactly a laugh riot may well be the understatement of all understatements. It is, of course, a very serious show about a very serious topic. In addition to that, however, it's also a series that has pulled in more than a few notable guest stars over the course of its lengthy run, and some of those guests have been comedians by trade.

Given that some of the funniest comedies of all time have scored laughs through dramatic delivery — case in point: "Airplane!" — it's not entirely surprising that these comedic actors would be able to shift into more serious material, but it's still enough of a change of pace that these five performances truly stand out in the "SVU" archives.

In the Season 6 episode "Pure," 18-year-old Kaley Sellers is kidnapped and raped, or at least that's what the kidnapper initially indicates when he calls Kaley's mother. In the midst of the investigation, a gentleman named Sebastian Ballentine (Martin Short) shows up at the 16th Precinct and claims to have had a psychic vision about Kaley's whereabouts, a claim which is instantly dismissed by Captain Donald Cragen and actively mocked by Detective Elliot Stabler.

Their position changes, however, when his vision turns out to be so startlingly specific that they instead decide that he might well be the culprit. Given how hyperactive Short often tends to be with his performances, the lowkey way he plays Ballentine truly makes his performance stand out. As the episode progresses, it becomes increasingly evident that not only isn't he the helpful psychic he's initially claimed to be, but he's actually a depraved individual.

"They wrote that specifically for me, and I remember meeting with the writers for lunch at Spago — that's show-biz! — and discussed what it would be, and I kept saying what I didn't want it to be...or what I didn't think it should be, anyway," Short said during an interview with The Virginian-Pilot. "I didn't want it to blatantly be 'Martin Short is dramatic, therefore he'll never smile.' So they deliberately wrote a character who was kind of charming and affable, and you didn't really know if Chris Meloni was being neurotic or on the money. It was hard to know." Although Short wasn't nominated for an Emmy, it put him on a dramatic path that led to a nomination for "Damages" a few years later.

It's fair to say that the late, great Jerry Lewis' guest appearance on "Law and Order: SVU" never would've happened if it hadn't been for the existing friendship between Lewis and "SVU" star Richard Belzer. "I met him in the 80s and saw him every once in a while," Belzer told Smashing Interviews in 2017. "But then he became very interested in my work on Law & Order, and we started chatting. I went out to visit him in Vegas, we connected and have become incredibly close. He calls me his son, and I call him "dad." I have a tattoo of his face on my arm. Actually, I convinced him to do an episode of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.' He played my uncle."

During the episode, entitled "Uncle," Lewis' character is picked up by Stabler and his partner at the time, Dani Beck (Connie Nielsen), believing him to be a homeless man who may have committed the rape and murder of a mother and daughter. In fact, he's Andrew Munch, Detective John Munch's uncle, who's innocent of the aforementioned crimes but suffers from mental illness, and once he gets back on his medication, he straightens up his act considerably. Unfortunately, Andrew gets too caught up in the ongoing case and wants to do whatever he can to help bring the actual perpetrator to justice, resulting in a horrifying and tragic conclusion.

Bob Saget appeared in the Season 8 episode "Choreographed," but it takes a bit of time before he enters the scene. The crime that drives the episode is the death of model Danielle Masoner in Central Park, and the investigation by Benson and Stabler ultimately leads them to investigate Danielle's husband, Wesley (Chris Sarandon). In order to confirm Wesley's alibi, they interview one of the members of his dance company, Naomi (Catherine Bell), and during the visit to her home, they also meet her inventor husband, Glenn, played by Saget.

"Choreographed" is one of those "SVU" episodes where viewers spend virtually the entirety of the hour uncertain exactly who is actually responsible for the murder and why. Saget plays a big part in the proceedings, and he does so completely straight-faced, delivering a strong performance that proved his dramatic chops and ultimately led him to be cast in a different role in a 2011 episode of "Law & Order: Los Angeles."

"I've always been cast against type," Saget told "That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast" in 2021. "When you do a series, people think that's who you are. And that's good — it's a nice thing to entertain one group of an audience — but ... I was always punching out of the box."

To celebrate the 200th episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," the producers brought in arguably the highest-profile guest star of the series' run up to that point: Robin Williams. "We are thrilled that one of the most talented and versatile actors around will be starring in this powerful and complex special 200th episode," executive producer Neal Baer said at the time. "We can't imagine anyone else doing this role."

In the episode, entitled "Authority," Williams plays Merritt Rook, a lifetime anti-authoritarian who crosses paths with Benson and Stabler after he uses his skills as an audio engineer to call the manager of a fast food restaurant and — posing as a police detective — not only convince the manager that one of his employees has been stealing, but that he needs to tie her up and strip-search her. Although Rook is arrested, he successfully defends himself in court and then holds a rally in Central Park, but further investigation reveals Rook's dark history prior to his arrest. When Benson attempts to arrest him again, he tells her that he has a bomb and will detonate it if she doesn't do what he says. This leads to a confrontation between Rook and Stabler that's arguably one of the most tension-racked scenes in "SVU" history.

"Everything was electric with him," Mariska Hargitay recalled of Williams in a Vanity Fair interview. "Like, there was no line between sort of acting and who he was as a person. And the most fun person and the most generous, and ... it was pure joy." It was also a thoroughly impressive performance: Not only did Williams earn an Emmy nod for outstanding guest actor in a drama series, but "Authority" is one of TV Line's 20 best "SVU" episodes.

In the Season 10 episode "Ballerina," Carol Burnett plays Birdie Sulloway, a retired ballerina caught up in Benson and Stabler's investigation of a murder of two individuals connected to a strip club that Birdie owns. While meeting Birdie and her "nephew" Chet (Matthew Lillard), Benson and Stabler encounter Birdie's husband, Marv (Vincent Curatola), who handles Birdie's business affairs and springs the news on her that the building she thought was still the ballet studio that she'd bought a few years earlier is now the aforementioned strip club.

When Benson and Stabler find evidence that seems to connect Marv directly to the murders, they head back to Birdie's apartment, but just as they're about to enter the building, Marv plummets from above and lands on a car. Rushing upstairs and hammering on the apartment door, they're greeted by a seemingly oblivious Chet and find Birdie sitting in bed, watching an archival video of herself in her glory days as a dancer. The video used is actual footage of Burnett during an appearance on "The Garry Moore Show." After both Chet and Birdie head to the station for individual interviews, Birdie reveals that she and Chet aren't actually related — he was the son of a fellow dancer that Birdie worked with — and that they've actually been lovers since he was 18.

The remainder of the episode provides dueling tour-de-force performances from Burnett and Lillard, but it's Burnett who ultimately shines the brightest. The final act really gives her the opportunity to strut her stuff, and it's likely the portion of her performance that led to Burnett earning an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actress in a drama series.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).