Summary

• Ted 2 is packed with pop culture references and celebrity cameos, adding to the star-studded cast in this irreverent comedy.
• Liam Neeson makes a brief and absurd appearance as a grizzled man who questions Ted's ability to buy Trix cereal.
• Late-night hosts Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon all make appearances, with Leno's involvement in one scene being the most surprising.

As is the case with most Seth MacFarlane projects, Ted 2 is stuffed full of pop culture references and celebrity cameos. The sequel to the 2012 smash hit comedy finds MacFarlane's teddy bear fighting to be counted as a person in the eyes of the government. The film brings back Mark Wahlberg, Jessica Barth, Sam J. Jones, and Giovanni Ribisi from the first film, while also adding Amanda Seyfried and Morgan Freeman in notable roles. However, that only scratches the surface of Ted 2's star-studded cast.

Many of the film's cameos come from the world of comedy and have worked with MacFarlane before, but there is also a fair share of surprise appearances from dramatic actors and sports figures. Ted 2, like its predecessor, is a super irreverent comedy so many of these cameos get their humor just from the absurd nature of them, while others have a more natural connection to the plot. Some are also callbacks to the first film and its own array of cameos.

9 Liam Neeson

Grocery Store Customer

After playing the main antagonist in MacFarlane's previous movie, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson made a brief appearance in Ted 2. Neeson plays a fittingly grizzled man who asks Ted if he is allowed to buy a box of Trix cereal since "Trix is for kids." It is one of the film's most absurd scenes as Neeson enters and exits the movie just to be intimidating about an extremely trivial purchase. There is also a post-credit scene that shows a beaten-up Neeson returning the box of cereal to the store, humorously implying that his behavior over adults buying Trix got him into trouble.

8 Patrick Warburton

Guy

Patrick Warburton is no stranger to the world of Seth Macfarlane, as he voices Joe on Family Guy and had a fairly sizable role in the first Ted movie. His role in the sequel is greatly reduced, but he returns as the character of Guy to help with the rescue of Ted during the climax of the movie. Since the sequence takes place at Comic-Con, Warburton is in cosplay as the Tick, the comedic superhero he played in the 2001 TV adaptation.

7 Michael Dorn

Rick

Alongside Patrick Warburton, Michael Dorn is in the Comic-Con sequence as Guy's boyfriend Rick. Like Warburton, Dorn is dressed as his most iconic character, Worf from the Stark Trek franchise. The two actors have shockingly good chemistry with each other, as they go around Comic-Con bullying those they deem as nerds, an ironic joke considering the two of them are icons in geek culture. MacFarlane is a massive fan of Star Trek and this is a neat call back to Star Trek: The Next Generation and the career of Michael Dorn, although it is still strange to see him in the Klingon makeup but not doing the voice.

6 Dennis Haysbert

Fertility Doctor

Best known for his deep voice and work in commercials for Allstate, Dennis Haysbert is a respected character actor who has appeared in countless movies and TV shows. Haysbert plays the doctor who tells Ted and Tami-Lynn that she is unable to have a baby, playing the scene rather straight. Even when insulting Tami-Lynn's medical history, Haysbert plays it with his trademark, cool charm.

5 Patrick Stewart

Narrator

Known for his legendary work on both the stage and screen, Sir Patrick Stewart is the narrator in both Ted films. Stewart brings a whimsy and dry humor to the narration that is perfect for the franchise, and hopefully, he will reprise his role in the upcoming Ted TV prequel show. Like Michael Dorn, Stewart is an alumnus of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but is also a regular voice on MacFarlane's American Dad, and has made several appearances on Family Guy. Stewart is an incredible dramatic actor, but he can also be very funny, as proven by the Ted movies.

4 Tom Brady

Himself

In the first film, there is a brief joke about Ted and John's love for quarterback Tom Brady. At the time, Brady was with the New England Patriots so the Boston-centric movies loved to incorporate him into the humor. He actually appears in the second movie as himself, as Ted and John scheme to steal a sperm sample from him so that he could be the biological father to Ted's child. This plan obviously goes wrong, and Brady has to kick the duo out of his house. It is a fittingly silly and gross moment in the movie, as well as one of the most notable cameos.

3 Jay Leno

Himself

Several late-night hosts make cameos in Ted 2, but Jay Leno's is arguably the most shocking one of them all. When Ted is at his local bar, he comments on how Jay Leno comes into the place to have anonymous sex in the men's bathroom. Mark Wahlberg's John can be heard shouting from the bathroom, only for Leno himself to step out and apologize for misreading the situation. It is a crude and irreverent joke, making Leno's involvement in the scene one of the film's biggest surprises.

2 Jimmy Kimmel/Jimmy Fallon

Themselves

The other late-night talk show hosts in Ted 2 are a lot closer to what an audience would expect from their personas. During Ted's trial to become a person, there is a montage of how the media is picking up and telling the story. In that montage both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are seen making jokes about Ted's trial during their opening monologs, however, Fallon's appearance is only in the unrated extended cut of the movie. These are nice cameos that add to the world of the film, but they aren't necessarily shocking or hilarious compared to the rest of the movie.

1 Kate McKinnon, Bobby Moynihan, & Taran Killam

Themselves

In that same montage, there is a brief clip of a Saturday Night Live sketch parodying the trial. In it, Bobby Moynihan dawns a bear suit to play Ted, while Kate McKinnon and Taran Killam play Amanda Seyfried's Samantha and John Slattery's Shep Wild respectfully. SNL, like Jimmy Fallon, airs on NBC which is owned by the same studio that released the Ted sequel, thus explaining how the movie was able to make use of all three SNL actors. While their roles were brief, their inclusion further contributed to Ted 2's stacked cast of high-profile comedians.

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  Ted 2

  Summary:

  When Ted (MacFarlane) and his wife wish to adopt a child, Ted must prove that he is "human" in the court of law, prompting a civil rights case.

  Release Date:

  2015-06-26

  Cast:

  Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane

  Director:

  Seth MacFarlane

  Genres:

  Comedy

  Rating:

  R

  Writers:

  Seth MacFarlane

  Runtime:

  116minutes

  Budget:

  $68 million

  Studio(s):

  Universal Pictures

  Distributor(s):

  Universal Pictures

  Sequel(s):

  Ted 3

  prequel(s):

  ted

  Franchise(s):

  Ted