Hardly a conventional leading man, Corddry has managed to insert himself in some of the most recent classic comedies in cameo or supporting roles, thus adding to the mystique and legacy that is…Corddry.

(If you say “Corddry” in that last sentence in a whisper, it’s pretty dramatic.)

Old School

Rob Corddry didn’t really get a chance to make his Old School character, Warren, his own, but that didn’t really make the character any less iconic as a middle-aged dude who seems to be disillusioned with the way his life turned out.

As such, the paunchy and bald Corddry makes for a pretty damn funny fraternity pledge under the least humorous circumstances, so when he’s reduced to dropping bricks tied to his weenus and getting kidnapped, the laughs come in spades.

Arrested Development

As Moses Taylor, Corddry played a right-leaning gun-nut actor that Lindsay Bluth develops a crush on. Moses Taylor, a character who plays a TV character named Frank Wrench. While that name is just a characteristically bizarre and hilarious name that the writers of A.D. created, the name “Moses Taylor” is an amalgam of two Charlton Heston roles. Moses from The Ten Commandments, and Taylor from Planet of the Apes.

Of course, Heston was a real-life conservative actor who actually sat as president of the NRA. Charlton Heston never had to deal with a headline that said “Charlton Heston Hunts People.” That problem was unique to Moses Taylor.

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Here, Corddry goes predictably over-the-top, as he does so very well. He plays Ron Fox, a racist agent of the Department of Homeland Security. While going on a tear not only against the titular duo, but most everyone that crosses his path, Corddry plays the part so well that one can comfortably come to the conclusion that he’s totally a racist in real-life.

Community

As funny as he is when he’s playing angry, Corddry is at his finest when he’s playing smug and smarmy, and his role as Alan Connor in Community proved to be the perfect vehicle for such a demeanor. Connor is an old law school buddy of group leader Jeff Wingert, but it turns out this “buddy” is the one who got Wingert disbarred.

Jeff surprisingly doesn’t take too much offense to this revelation, saying that such betrayals are pretty standard in the world of law. Oh, and Alan Connor has a drug addiction, too, which ups the sleaze factor a fair amount.

The Winner

It would normally be remiss to claim that a starring role in a primetime sit-com is “under the radar,” but when the show in question was Fox’s The Winner, I think that characterization works just fine.

The short-lived show watched by few served as a sort of twisted take on The Wonder Years. Rob Corddry played Glen Abbot, a phenomenally successful businessman. Of course, a show about Rob Corddry being really successful doesn’t sound realistic at all, so The Winner consisted of flashbacks to Glen’s 30s when he was still living at home and not all that much of a winner to begin with.

Corddry’s a natural as a hapless lost soul, just sort of limping through life. It’s a shame the show didn’t get picked up, because Corddry proved pretty terrific in the starring role. Oh well. It must be the same reason that Christopher Walken doesn’t star in movies.

W.

To prove that Corddry isn’t all slapstick, absurdist humor, and guys named “Moses,” Corddry has dabbled in drama as well, most notably as White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in the George W. Bush biopic, W. Rob Corddry doesn’t look too much like the flack, but he’s bald, so I guess that’s close enough for Oliver Stone.

Is it possible that he wanted to make the spokesman a little buffoonish in an effort to exercise a slightly lefty slant on the story. Hmmm. That does sound like something Oliver Stone would do.

PCU

David Spade and Jeremy Piven in PCU

Jeremy Piven destroys anything that comes into view with a sarcastic wit that is timeless and perfect for a college movie. Teamed up with a larger Jon Favreau, Piven gives lessons in college etiquette along with an enlightened and useful view of classes to take as a freshman that are the Rosetta Stone of education. PCU takes no hostages among the various factions at their school, demystifying the higher education experience with an almost religious fervor. Roll around in the genius of this movie until you stink of old sheets and older pizza crusts. Pay particular attention to Piven’s advice about overcoming the lack of a car.

Road Trip

Tom Green with a snake in Road Trip

Surpassing adolescence as the premier rite of passage into adulthood is the cross-country car trip with your buds. Road Trip tosses together an unlikely group of friends and acquaintances and sends them across America to take care of a certain mistakenly sent package to one of their girlfriends. An amusing college movie that shows off a deep love for the buddy travel genre, Road Trip bookends the journey with the universally dreaded end of term finals—the heart of the movie is the companions realizing they need to be freed from from thei high school past in order to experience the present.

Old School

Will Ferrell partying in Old School

A soul check of a movie because if you’re not dying of laughter by the time a certain flying tackle into a fountain that takes place, then there’s a probably a good chance you spent your childhood torturing small animals. The college frat gets a remodel when a bunch of guys well past their prime decide they can start up their own—and it steam rolls into the land of belly laughs and snorts from there. The inability to let go of their early twenties is the main center of focus here, but it’ buried under a surface of the classic bonding of miscreants and weirdoes who form the same bonds that a typical fraternity would produce. Will Ferrell is on point in Old School with Vince Vaughn flanking him as they combine into a Voltron of awesomeness making this a college movie you can watch again and again.

Accepted

Justin Long and Jonah Hill in Accepted

Ingenious in its concept about a fake college acceptance letter that snowballs into the need to actually build a fake university to perpetuate the lie, Accepted makes your adolescent fears of not getting in anywhere a reality and then pushes it off a cliff. Timeless is the fear of rejection and the necessity is the mother of invention and all that jazz. Seeing Lewis Black play a dean and eventual professor alone is worth seeing, not to mention you’ll garner some valuable insight into the sheep-like pursuit of higher education. Whaddaya know, you might just learn something.

Back to School

Rodney Dangerfield throwing a football in Back To School

Back to School doesn’t even bother saying hello before it tears into the sanctity of college with wild abandon. Rodney Dangerfield is at his peak as a father who feels out of touch with his son and chooses to attend school with him so they can share the experience. The problem being that Dangerfield plays a rich businessman and therefore knows how money makes the world go round and applies it to his classes and his free time. Quips and one-liners bounce off the scenery with enough slapstick to satisfy any type of comedy lover. Without any need for a moral anchor, this film strives to deliver as much laughter as possible while carrying along a story that’s built on a foundation of the love between a dad and his son.