Summary

• Brilliant one-off characters in TV shows can leave a lasting impact even with limited screen time.
• The best comedy shows excel at creating memorable characters that provide big laughs immediately.
• Great one-off characters can enhance the world of a TV show and bring out the best in the main cast.

While audiences can grow to love TV characters over the course of many seasons, some characters only need a single episode to leave their mark. Long-running TV shows constantly introduce new characters to keep things fresh, and sometimes these characters steal the spotlight from the protagonists. Great actors can help their characters stand out, but sometimes the very idea of a new character is so compelling that they are bound to grab people's attention. Brilliant one-off characters help to flesh out the world of the shows that they are in, and they can bring the best out of the main cast as well.

Comedy shows are especially good at creating brilliant one-off characters. Drama shows function better with deeper, more complex characters, but comedies can bring in shallow, outlandish characters for a big laugh without needing to provide a detailed backstory. Procedural dramas are also a good format for one-off characters to come in and shine, because each week on a procedural brings in a new raft of villains and victims. Since these characters play such important roles without much of an introduction, it can help if they have big personalities. If a character connects with the audience, they don't need a lot of time to become fan-favorites.

12 Daryl

Peep Show

Mark struggles to connect with people, and when he finally makes a good friend, that friend turns out to be a horrific racist. Daryl seems perfectly agreeable at first, but Mark misinterprets their shared interest in World War II history, and Daryl's no-nonsense attitude. Jeremy sees Daryl for what he is fairly quickly, but by that point he and Mark have already become friends. Peep Show season 2, episode 2, "Jeremy Makes It" also features another great one-off character, Gog, the obnoxious music producer.

11 Hank Scorpio

The Simpsons

The show even has several memorable characters who show up for the sake of one joke.

The Simpsons has plenty of great one-off characters. The show even has several memorable characters who show up for the sake of one joke, like Guy Incognito or Lord Thistlewick Flanders. Belligerent plant worker Frank Grimes, monorail huckster Lyle Lanley, and hard-boiled prohibitionist detective Rex Banner have all made lasting impressions despite showing up for just a single episode, but it's Bond villain rip-off Hank Scorpio who stands out from the pack. Voiced by the great Albert Brooks, Scorpio always has two pockets full of sugar at the ready.

Hank Scorpio almost returned for The Simpsons Movie, but this idea was scrapped.

10 Country Mac

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Mac's inferiority complex kicks into overdrive when the gang meets his cousin from outside the city. Country Mac, played by Seann William Scott, is everything Mac aspires to. He's a proud homosexual man with excellent hand-to-hand combat skills, and he even manages to convince the gang of some of his spiritualist ideals. Part of Country Mac's devil-may-care allure stems from an obvious drinking problem, but the gang love him immediately, until he dies in a pathetic motorcycle accident, and Frank flushes his ashes down the toilet in Paddy's Pub.

9 Merritt Rook

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit

Despite credits including Mrs. Doubtfire, Good Morning, Vietnam, and Aladdin, Robin Williams showed that he had just as much talent in dramatic roles as comedic ones. His outstanding guest appearance on SVU is a prime example of this. He plays a charming anarchist, who represents himself in court and manages to win over the jury with his gentle mannerisms. Williams is one of the most Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, but he disappears into his role.

8 L. Roy Dunham

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

When Miriam notices a lot of negative reviews a journalist called L. Roy Dunham, she goes to confront him at the newspaper's office, only to find that L. Roy Dunham is actually a woman. Hari Nef's performance as Dunham contains a few sly winks to her identity as a transgender woman, and she is delightfully combative as a journalist who shows pride in how devious and unethical her practices are. Dunham is more than the embodiment of salacious gossip, she is also representative of the toxic competition between professional women in the 1960s.

7 The Hash-Slinging Slasher

SpongeBob SquarePants

Working the graveyard shift, Squidward tells SpongeBob a ghost story to entertain himself. The Hash-Slinging Slasher is supposedly a former cook at the restaurant who accidentally sliced off his own hand and had it replaced by a spatula. His story frightens SpongeBob, and even Squidward himself. When a bus pulls up and a shadowy figure emerges, the pair think they are about to be slashed, but the figure turns out to be nothing more than a normal fish with a big nose. It's one of the scariest episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, although it ends in a hilariously lame anti-climax.

6 Joy

Mad Men

While Don Draper and Betty spend some time apart, he goes on a business trip to California, where he meets Joy and her eccentric group of high-society nomads. Everything in California is starkly different to New York. It's as if Don has stepped into an alternate reality where the rules of society do not apply, and there are no stresses or responsibilities. Joy is the most peculiar of Don's new companions, possessing an almost alien-like fascination with him. In a way, she represents the kind of unencumbered freedom Don could enjoy if he were to reevaluate his life choices.

5 The Soup Nazi

Seinfeld

Despite only making a single appearance, he is responsible for one of the most iconic quotes in Seinfeld.

While honorable mentions should go to the library cop Bookman and Postmaster General Henry Atkins, the Soup Nazi is Seinfeld's most memorable one-off character. Seinfeld's Soup Nazi was based on a real cook in New York City who was apparently not too pleased with his portrayal. His gruff demeanor jars with Jerry's refusal to take anything seriously, and his idiosyncratic soup ordering system also rubs Elaine the wrong way. Despite only making a single appearance, he is responsible for one of the most iconic quotes in Seinfeld: "No soup for you!"

4 The Talking Cat

Rick & Morty

When Jerry befriends a talking cat, voiced by Matthew Broderick, Rick's analytical mind is keen to understand what gave the cat the ability to speak. Jerry and the cat seem content to enjoy a vacation in Florida, but Rick eventually gets his way and scans the cat's brain to uncover its secret. The answer makes Jerry vomit immediately, and Rick even considers killing himself. It's never revealed what could be so horrific that the men react in this way, and the cat wanders off into the desert, never to be seen again.

3 Irene Adler

Sherlock

Irene Adler is one of the most fascinating characters in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novels, so it's only fitting that her appearance in Sherlock is just as attention-grabbing. Irene proves herself to be a rare match for Sherlock's intellect, even managing to get the better of him by seeing through his attempts to deceive her. She evades Sherlock's ability to deduce people's character from their appearance. After their duel of wits, Sherlock starts to refer to her as "the woman," perhaps as a sign of respect, or perhaps to conceal the true impact she has on him.