Thinly-Veiled TV Characters

HBO's cancellation of Bored To Death is a tragedy -- on a network full of awesome shows, it was still one of the awesomest. Created by New York City writer and notorious pervert, Jonathan Ames, it starred Jason Schwartzman as "Jonathan Ames," a New York City writer and... you get the idea. But this Ames has a second career as an unlicensed private detective that brings him into a number of pretty bizarre situations. Interestingly enough, the character of Ray (Ames's cartoonist friend) is also based on a real person, Brooklyn cartoonist Dean Haspiel.

No, Michael Scott isn't a real dude. But one of the Dunder Mifflin employees is actually a thinly fictionalized version of the actor who plays him. Quality Assurance employee, Creed Bratton (played by Creed Bratton), is a burned out ex-hippie who has some of the show's best lines. The real Creed has been described as exactly like his screen persona without the evil side -- he was in the B-level 60s band, "The Grass Roots," and apparently smokes a lot of weed. One of the best thinly veiled TV characters of all time.

With the increasing number of celebrities going into politics, it's no surprise that Family Guy would poke fun at the concept. The mayor of the fictional town of Quahog is Adam West, a silver-haired former actor, famous for playing a kitschy 60s superhero -- Much like the real Adam West, who provides the voice for the mayor. Some would argue that the cartoon West is a little more unhinged than his real-life counterpart, but the real-life Adam West has been acting pretty kooky lately.

There seems to be a trend of former stand-up comedians sticking pretty close to their real-world personas when they get a TV deal. Probably the most famous example of this is TV classic, Seinfeld, which featured Jerry Seinfeld as the titular main character. The fictional Jerry and real-life Jerry were pretty close to each other in many ways, except for the fact that the fictional Jerry wasn't a multi-millionaire. Although he did own an apartment on the Upper West Side, so he had to have some scratch.

For a bonus thinly-veiled TV character (that's also Seinfeld related,) there's Larry David (Seinfeld co-creator) from the show Curb Your Enthusiasm. David basically plays a fictionalized version of himself on that show as he deals with the minutia of life. This is a two-for-one entry.