The 10 Best Danny McBride Movies and TV Shows, Ranked (2025)

The Mullet King himself, Danny McBride, is killing it as Jesse Gemstone, the eldest son of megachurch founder and inspirational author Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), in the hit HBO show The Righteous Gemstones. With his straight-talking, shoot-from-the-hip crassness and in-your-face, foul-mouthed bravado, he has always brought a larger-than-life gravitas to the roles he has played throughout his career.

From film roles in big projects like Alien: Covenant and This Is the End to a handful of unforgettable HBO original shows and successful voice-over work, McBride has become a recognizable performer. McBride's best shows and movies feature a generous dose of his trademark hectic persona blended with a compelling and endlessly entertaining story. Choosing Danny McBride's best project isn't easy, but luckily, there is no shortage of options to choose from.

11 'Hot Rod' (2007)

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Always more than willing to bring the brash, McBride played a memorable supporting role in Andy Samberg's Hot Rod in 2007. Rod has dreams of becoming the next Evel Knievel, and McBride is part of the "Hot Rod" pit crew as Rico Brown. McBride hadn't fully formed his on-screen persona in 2007 - his portrayal of Rico has a buzz haircut and is far less of a confrontational blowhard. However, he remains just as unfiltered and inappropriate, often blurting out the stream-of-consciousness non-sequiturs that make him so funny.

Hot Rod is among the many great hidden comedy gems from the 2000s that deserve reappraisal from modern audiences. It's hard to believe that it has been 16 years since this movie came out, and McBride has evolved quite a bit since his Hot Rod days. And how newcomer Samberg managed to land legends Sissy Spacek and Ian McShane as his parents remains one of Hollywood's biggest mysteries.

Watch on Showtime

10 'The Angry Birds Movie' (2016)

Directors: Clay Kaytis, Fergal Reilly

Anyone with such a distinct voice as Danny McBride has a good chance of finding a good bit of voice-over work in Hollywood. In The Angry Birds Movie, he voices the character Bomb, also known as the Black Bird. This version of the Georgia-born actor is a little softer than the real-life characters he usually plays on screen, but he still has the kind of short temper that McBride can let go so beautifully.

Directors Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly made the correct decision by anthropomorphizing Bomb in the movie to match the larger-than-life actor. The result is a bizarre experience where the bird and McBride seem eerily similar without entering into uncanny valley territory. The Angry Birds Movie is not perfect, but it doesn't rank among the all-time worst animated movies either. Instead, it sits comfortably in the middle, providing enough laughs to justify its existence.

Watch on Netflix

9 'Kung Fu Panda 2' (2011)

Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson

McBride joined Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and Dustin Hoffman in a star-studded group of performers for Kung Fu Panda 2. The sequel to the mammoth animated movie Kung Fu Panda, the plot follows Po as he faces a new enemy that forces him to recall the mysteries of his past. McBride has a smaller part in the film as Boss Wolf, the leader of Lord Shen's Wolf Army.

Never one to limit himself, McBride doesn't need much time to leave an indelible mark on a movie. Boss Wolf has all the trademark McBride bravado and intimidation rolled into an animated character voiced by the likes of the boisterous actor. Kung Fu Panda is among the best trilogies in animation, thanks to its vivid visuals and its reliable cast of voice actors, who made the most out of the already compelling material.

Watch on Netflix

8 'Alien: Covenant' (2017)

Director: Ridley Scott

McBride plays Tennessee, the captain of the colony exploration ship the Covenant, in Ridley Scott's 2017 sci-fi Alien: Covenant. Scott has always liked to include at least one crew member who may seem like a rebel who marches to the beat of his own drummer, like Idris Elba in Prometheus and Sigourney Weaver in Alien.

While McBride's part isn't as big as those two dramatic actors, he still brings a polecat swagger and a hard southern drawl with him into the Alien universe. Covenant's emotionally dramatic moments allow McBride to spread his dramatic wings more than audiences had seen him do in the past. Ultimately, he fits in just fine in Scott's world and more than holds his own against the likes of Katherine Waterston and Michael Fassbender.

Alien: Covenant

R

Alien Covenant is a sci-fi horror film set in the Aliens franchise and takes place after the events of Prometheus. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members of the colony ship Covenant discover what they consider an uncharted paradise. While there, they meet David, the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. An expedition deeper into the planet soon turns dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form forces the crew into a deadly fight for survival.

Release Date

May 19, 2017

Director

Ridley Scott

Cast

Michael Fassbender , Katherine Waterston , Billy Crudup , Danny McBride , Demián Bichir , Carmen Ejogo , Jussie Smollett , Callie Hernandez , Amy Seimetz , Nathaniel Dean , Alexander England , Benjamin Rigby , Uli Latukefu , Tess Haubrich , Lorelei King , Goran D. Kleut , Andrew Crawford , Tom O'Sullivan , James Franco , Guy Pearce , Noomi Rapace

Runtime

123 Minutes

Rent on Prime Video

7 'Pineapple Express' (2009)

Director: David Gordon Green

The 46-year-old actor got in with the Judd Apatow crew in 2008's Pineapple Express, arguably the genesis of the McBride on-screen personality that fans know today. Apatow gave the actor the latitude to use his magnetism and unhinged machismo as Red, the mentally unstable drug supplier of Saul (James Franco).

There's no one better to play a comedic, psychologically-unhinged criminal than Danny McBride, and Apatow saw the potential there. It was the first of several collaborations with Franco, Seth Rogen, and Apatow over the next decade. They haven't replicated this kind of lightning in a bottle again, but Pineapple Express remains among the best buddy comedies from the 2000s and is just good enough to justify all the subsequent attempts. More importantly, Pineapple Express is crucial in McBride's career, creating the bombastic persona that turned him into a star.

Watch on Starz

6

5 'This Is the End' (2013)

Directors: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

How would a bunch of Hollywood actor buddies cope with the end of the world? Well, audiences get a glimpse of it in the 2013 apocalyptic comedy This is the End. McBride plays a heightened, fictionalized version of himself alongside a terrific ensemble led by Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Craig Robinson, and Jay Baruchel.

One of the 21st century's best R-rated comedies, This Is the End makes it abundantly clear that fans don't want to be anywhere near Danny McBride if the world does end. The actor brings some of his best trash talk to the film and unleashes it on this group of A-listers who have the misfortune of being trapped with a gluttonous and crass McBride at his disgusting best. This Is the End features Danny McBride playing fans' idea of Danny McBride, and it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Watch on Netflix

4 'Tropic Thunder' (2008)

Director: Ben Stiller

Tropic Thunder is the story of some oddball and eccentric actors (Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black) who find themselves going way off script while shooting a war movie in Vietnam. It also features smaller parts from Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, and a young McBride as explosives expert Cody Underwood.

Although it has faced considerable scrutiny in the years since its release for its treatment of race and disabilities, Tropic Thunder remains among the 21st century's best war comedies. McBride and Nick Nolte make a great tandem, as Nolte is an earlier version of McBride from the 80s and 90s. Tropic Thunder is a showcase for every actor involved, including McBride, who seamlessly blends with the film's chaotic, disruptive, over-the-top, and politically incorrect humor.

Watch on Hulu

3 'Vice Principals' (2016-2018)

Creators: Danny McBride, Judy Hill

For a second time, fans get to see The Mullet King work without his Samson-esque powerful long hair in Vice Principals. McBride shines as the self-important and totalitarian vice principal at North Jackson High, accompanied by the ever-reliable yet somehow still underrated Walton Goggins.

McBride and Goggins make Vice Principals a raucous romp, so much so that HBO brought them back for parts in The Righteous Gemstones. Vice Principals is a remarkable achievement for McBride, encapsulating his talents for black comedy with wicked glee. The show's black, often mean-spirited humor can sometimes be a tad much, but McBride and Goggins are too hilarious together to ignore.

Watch on Max

2 'The Righteous Gemstones' (2019-Present)

Creator: Danny McBride

Jesse Gemstone is the unquestioned alpha in The Righteous Gemstones. If anyone crosses him or insults him in even the smallest of ways, they will immediately regret it, as the wrath of Jesse's foul mouth is beyond comparison. No one can string together curse words into an insult like Danny McBride with the sting factor it carries, and he has fully embraced that gift.

McBride is a fully-evolved, mature comedic actor in The Righteous Gemstones, completely comfortable within the niche that he has carved out for himself. It's an amalgam of all the characters he has both played and voiced over a career spanning 25 years. The Righteous Gemstones is also the pinnacle of McBride's career as both an actor and creative force.

The Righteous Gemstones

TV-MA

Comedy

Follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work.

Release Date

August 18, 2019

Cast

John Goodman , Danny McBride , Adam Devine , Edi Patterson , Cassidy Freeman , Tony Cavalero , Skyler Gisondo , Gregory Alan Williams

Seasons

4

Watch on Max

1 'Eastbound & Down' (2009-2013)

Creators: Ben Best, Judy Hill, Danny McBride

Danny McBride started to really embrace his now-popular on-screen persona with the role of failed big league pitcher Kenny Powers in the first of three HBO original shows called ten years ago. The strong Southern sensibilities are on full display as Powers craps out of professional sports and starts on a downward spiral that includes a healthy dose of both booze and delusions of grandeur.

This is the starter kit character to Jesse Gemstone with the mouth and the complete lack of self-awareness or ability to read the room. Eastbound & Down's Kenny Powers may have been the role McBride was born to play, and he successfully parlayed it into three HBO shows and an ever-evolving big-screen career.

NEXT:The 10 Funniest Episodes of 'The Righteous Gemstones,' Ranked

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