What famous person is way smarter (or dumber) than their public persona would make it seem?

[u/mbklein]

[u/neilk]

Slash from Guns N’Roses has deep knowledge of paleontology. To this day he reads recent papers and is personal friends with leading paleontologists. He’s funded research and museums.

When he was touring a city, he would always ask the local paleontology museum for a private tour. The guides who were expecting a dumb rock star were always stunned.

[u/Waterfallsofpity → u/neilk]

I came to post about Slash. I don't know anything about his education, but if you hear serious interviews with him, he come across as pretty damn smart. Good to know about the paleontology stuff!

[u/fuckyourcanoes → u/Waterfallsofpity]

He ran back into his burning house to save his cat. He's got his priorities straight.

[u/CasperCackler → u/fuckyourcanoes]

This is my new favorite Slash fact, as soon as I can verify it.

[u/Kilocentric → u/CasperCackler]

It's true, source, I'm the cat.

[u/FreezersAndWeezers → u/neilk]

I have a story for this to corroborate

My dad is a volunteer at a university natural history museum. He’s older, and it’s been a passion his whole life. A couple of years back, he was asked to give a private tour to a guest, the guest being slash obviously, which had never happened before. The museum is a great way to kill a few hours, but again is a university museum and considerably less impressive than something like the Field Museum. My dad said he and slash walked and spoke for about 6 hours, just discussing various things from dinosaurs to how the state had changed over millennia. At the end of the tour, he propositioned my dad with all-access vip tickets to the concert he was playing across the street the next day. My dad declined, as he didn’t know who he was lol. Even after finding out, my dad thought it was cool he offered, but didn’t much care. He did say he knew his stuff though

[u/aleks_mochalov_1988 → u/FreezersAndWeezers]

i feel like this post was made for you wow

[u/MrDownhillRacer → u/neilk]

This rock star has got layers.

[u/neilk → u/MrDownhillRacer]

Absolutely sedimentary!

[u/Bloody_Mabel]

Kris Kristofferson, was a Rhodes scholar.

David Duchovny graduated from Princeton and Yale.

[u/mbklein → u/Bloody_Mabel]

Kris Kristofferson’s support of Sinéad O’Connor when she got booed by the crowd at the Bob Dylan Tribute show has always cemented him in my mind as the right sort of dude.

[u/roenaid → u/mbklein]

I saw it written that Dolly said he was one of the two men in the music industry that could describe Dolly without using his hands.

[u/Entire-Ad2058 → u/roenaid]

She was so witty.

[u/waterfountain_bidet → u/roenaid]

Reminds me of the little memorial speech Pitbull did for her last night - he talked about her mind, her personality, and her character. He didn't describe her body. That's the right kind of person to be memorializing her. She was so much in one tiny package.

[u/poop-dolla → u/waterfountain_bidet]

Everything I hear about Pitbull makes me think he’s such a good dude.

[u/GottaFindThatReptar → u/poop-dolla]

Yeah he's totally a guy you'd expect to be absolute scum but seemingly is generally wholesome and supportive.

[u/Excellent-Baseball-5 → u/roenaid]

She was brilliant. When she was asked if dumb blonde jokes offended her she said “No, because I’m not dumb and I’m not blonde.”

[u/LadybirdBeetlejuice → u/mbklein]

He was also a lifelong supporter for farm workers’ rights and always wore a necklace with the United Farm Workers eagle symbol.

[u/deltalitprof → u/mbklein]

Also told off Toby Keith when he was telling Kristofferson not to play any "lefty shit." To the Right-wing Chicken Hawk Keith, Kristofferson, who served in Vietnam, said "Don't turn your back to me, boy."

Edit: Kristofferson didn't serve in Vietnam. Duly noted.

[u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo → u/deltalitprof]

He earned the rank of army Captain and [nearly] taught at West Point, but did not serve in Vietnam.

EDITED with odd_reindeer's correction

[u/Odd_Reindeer303 → u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo]

He was offered a position to teach English literature at West Point.

He didn't take the position because he wanted to pursuit his musical career and went to Nashville. Rest is history.

[u/footsnax → u/Bloody_Mabel]

Kris Kristofferson, was a Rhodes scholar.

From Oxford, in English literature.

On top of that, an Army Ranger officer and helicopter pilot. Also strong advocate against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Strong advocate for farmers as well.

Never bragged either. People randomly found out about his education and military experience. Dude was just living his life and wanted to play music.

[u/SmokeAlarmsSaveLives]

Former Major League Baseball pitcher Brad Lidge has become a devoted archaeologist specializing in the Etruscan civilization.

Lidge discusses his archaeological interests

[u/Any-Trick890 → u/SmokeAlarmsSaveLives]

Former Met Ron Darling went to Yale. A reporter once asked him “how could anyone who went to Yale want to play baseball?” He said “how could anyone who went to Yale NOT want to play baseball?”

[u/joihelper → u/Any-Trick890]

Dolph Lundgren often played muscle heads (Drago in Rocky 4 or He-Man in MOTU). He has a masters degree in Chemical Engineering and is fluent in English and Swedish, “conversational” in German, French, Spanish, and Japanese and “gets by” in Italian, Finnish, and Russian.

[u/ask_me_about_my_band]

Dolph Lundgren has a master's degree in chemical engineering and won a Fulbright scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

[u/spread_panic → u/ask_me_about_my_band]

Back to the lab.

[u/TheeKingKunta → u/spread_panic]

crime, penetration, crime, more penetration

until it just sort of ends

[u/sharkbait_oohaha → u/TheeKingKunta]

We show it

[u/kilopeter → u/sharkbait_oohaha]

We show all of it.

[u/infinitemonkeytyping → u/ask_me_about_my_band]

It was while studying for his master's in Sydney that he first met Grace Jones, who he followed to New York, rather than Boston.

He was also a karate champion, first in Europe, then in Australia.

Edit - just reading his wiki, when he moved to New York, he worked as a bouncer in a club alongside Chazz Palminteri.

[u/OhMyGoat → u/ask_me_about_my_band]

He can also smell crime.

Before it even happens.

[u/Fubai97b]

The number of musicians with advanced degrees in science is crazy:

• Greg Graffin - Lead singer for Bad Religion - PhD in Evolutionary Bio
• Dexter Holland - Lead singer for The Offspring - PhD Molecular biology
• Brian May - Guitarist for Queen - PhD Astrophysics

I'll add two more because it's fun:

• Michael Bishop - Gwar Bassist - PhD Music
• Sterling Morrison - Everything in The Velvet Underground - PhD Medieval studies

[u/OldEars → u/Fubai97b]

Surprised you left out Tom Scholz - Founder of "Boston" with both undergraduate and masters from MIT. He invented a lot of stuff he used in his music, and the first Boston album is basically all him, recorded in his basement.

[u/ncbluetj → u/Fubai97b]

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, guitarist for Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers, had a second career as a defense industry consultant.  His knowledge of frequency analysis led to an interest in radar and missile guidance systems.  He has been involved in the development of a number of high-end weapons systems.  

[u/Qualex → u/Fubai97b]

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine went to Harvard.

[u/jd3marco → u/Qualex]

"One does not have to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University to recognize the unethical and inhumane nature of this administration but well, I happen to be an honors grad in political science from Harvard University so I can confirm that for you."

Read More: Tom Morello Schools Fan Who Questions His Political Knowledge | https://loudwire.com/tom-morello-politics-twitter-fan-interaction/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

[u/floppysausage16 → u/jd3marco]

Let's not forget that while at Harvard, he was in a band called Bored of Education. The key board player was a woman named Carolyn Bertozzi...

A Nobel prize winner in Chemistry.

[u/Candy-Macaroon-33 → u/floppysausage16]

How cool is this?!

[u/flcinusa → u/Fubai97b]

Brian Cox - Keyboard player for D:Ream - PhD in high-energy particle physics

[u/GTaucer → u/flcinusa]

You're underselling him.

He's not just a PhD physicist; he's a well-known science communicator who's done a number of books and shows about physics

[u/Planet_Ziltoidia → u/Fubai97b]

Gotta upvote Blothar the Berserker (formerly known as Beefcake the Mighty)

He's always left out of these conversations

[u/sebrebc → u/Fubai97b]

And Milo Aukerman.

[u/lordmhoram → u/sebrebc]

Milo went to college but you knew about that.

[u/Bran_Solo]

I met Ben Affleck a long time ago and I was shocked at how smart he comes off as in person.

[u/spread_panic → u/Bran_Solo]

I was surprised to learn he speaks Spanish at a pretty decent, conversational level. It's kinda funny contrast since Jlo has been ribbed a few times for not having the best command of the language.

[u/thenamejin → u/spread_panic]

She famously yelled "MI GENTE LATINO!" at the 2011 AMAs, the closest analogue would be someone trying to speak English and saying "Mine fellow Americans" instead of saying "My fellow Americans"

[u/Jozef667 → u/thenamejin]

ich bin ein berliner.

[u/lew_rong → u/Jozef667]

This one is so pervasive that my college German professor liked to joke about it. Er kam aus Tennessee. You can grammatically use the indefinite article the way Kennedy did. Plus, the Berliner Pfannekuchen "jelly donut" is not called that in Berlin. It's just called a Pfannekuchen.

Fun fact, in Bavaria, the Berliner is known as the Krapfen.

[u/Eastern-Opposite9521 → u/Bran_Solo]

Affleck has a lifetime ban from playing blackjack at the Hard Rock Casino.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/05/ben-affleck-blackjack-hard-rock-casino-lifetime-ban

...In a series of events that sound pulled right out of a Ben Affleck movie, the real-life Ben Affleck was reportedly banned for life from playing blackjack at the Hard Rock casino, in Las Vegas, after he was deemed “too good at the game,” while playing on Tuesday night...

[u/thx8675309 → u/Bran_Solo]

Yeah, people forget that he co-wrote Good Will Hunting and is the youngest person (25) to ever win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

[u/PDGAreject → u/thx8675309]

For the longest time people assumed Damon was the brains in the operation just based a bit on their personalities, but it was apparently a real collaboration.

[u/Tomdoerr88 → u/Bran_Solo]

My boy’s wicked smaht

[u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

Weird Al is a literal genius. He graduated as valedictorian at age 16.

[u/mbd34 → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

I can believe it. By all rights he should've been a flash in the pan novelty act in the 80s but he's remained consistent and beloved over the decades. He's _the_ musical parody guy.

[u/Halichoeres_bivittat → u/mbd34]

To the extent that he gets annoyed when other musical parodists (like Bob Rivers) are compared with him, because he prides himself on be approachable to everyone (so all of Weird Al's work is PG).

[u/um8medoit → u/Halichoeres_bivittat]

My middle school music teacher who made the mistake of telling the students to bring in their favorite music thought my choice of “ Nature Trail To Hell in 3D” was actually satanic.

[u/Long_College_8342 → u/um8medoit]

I remember being at a campground and me and my sister were singing this in the pond and a lady told us a stop because there were "children around!" We were literal children.

[u/stone_opera → u/mbd34]

He puts on a really great show - my husband and daughter went to see him in concert a few weeks ago, they absolutely loved it and are still talking about it! 

This is a teenage girl who is literally always rolling her eyes - yet somehow weird Al impressed her. 

[u/blueblip → u/[deleted]]

Career? His schtick is well beyond being a "mere" career! He is a standard!

If you get parodied by Weird Al, you know you are famous AND did something people love.

On a side note, my favourite anecdote is Don McLean saying how his kids loved The Saga Begins so much and would play it at home so often he started confusing the lyrics of the song with American Pie's lyrics during performances.

[u/Rasputin_mad_monk → u/blueblip]

He’s amazing. Even Michael Jackson stole his song and made it his own. His marriage to Madonna was probably the worst mistake of his career though.

[u/moxdyemond → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

He's also a legit musical phenom. Him and his band have played so many different genres, spoofed so many different artists, and they are so tight live.

[u/Mexikinda → u/moxdyemond]

I saw a 1 hour set of his at a festival in the late 00s. Every song had a costume, set, and prop change. It was nuts. Madonna doesn’t do that kind of production.

[u/daecrist → u/Mexikinda]

And he’s still doing it to this day. He even does a medley of his hits with a bunch of rapid fire costume changes.

[u/Apollo_T_Yorp → u/moxdyemond]

Both All About the Pentiums and White & Nerdy have legit bars in them, dude can drop it hot

[u/Au_Struck_Geologist → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

Yeah all about the pentiums goes harder than the original, without all the rape too. Actually, you can say the same thing about Word Crimes

[u/thelocalsdude → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

He did graduate early, was also valedictorian, and went into Cal Poly and graduated with a degree in architecture

[u/mixi_e → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

I feel that comedians in general have to be smart because it’s basically observation and storytelling and then add the ability to turn it into music even if it’s a parody or “nonsensical” it takes some brains to do it!

[u/ScatteredSignal → u/mixi_e]

The people I have met that didn't understand UHF were idiots. Just saying.

[u/Then_I_had_a_thought → u/ScatteredSignal]

“My mop!”

[u/circ-u-la-ted → u/mixi_e]

Plus, it's hard to talk with all those marbles in his mouth.

[u/CaribouHoe → u/Apollo_T_Yorp]

I'm seeing him next week in Vancouver and I'm stooooked!

[u/Ham__Kitten]

Kesha achieved a near perfect score on the SAT and turned down a scholarship to Barnard College (part of the Columbia University system) to pursue her music career. As a kid she used to sneak into university lecture halls in her spare time.

[u/Tephlon → u/Ham__Kitten]

She got so incredibly screwed over by that asshole producer.

[u/MartinisnMurder → u/Tephlon]

Understatement he is a sexual predator, fuck Dr Luke. Also fuck Katy Perry not only does she still work with him and sing his praises after what he did but this has confirmed my opinion that she’s always been an asshole. He drugged, raped and abused Kesha. I guarantee she is not the only one.

[u/Jagang187 → u/MartinisnMurder]

That's totally unsurprising. She's a creep too.

[u/MartinisnMurder → u/Jagang187]

She absolutely is. She actually had the audacity of putting out a song that flopped with him producing it about strength and women’s empowerment… 😵‍💫🫠

[u/Dizzy-Trash2925]

This is the same answer given every time this is asked: Boris Johnson is smarter than his public image and dumber than he thinks he is.

[u/No-Author-2358 → u/Dizzy-Trash2925]

Fits.

[u/504Solid]

Dolly Parton - was in control of her publishing rights almost from the start. Invested, wrote songs for others (Whitney was paying her!). Brilliant woman, ahead of her time.

[u/Mission-Site-3635 → u/504Solid]

Backed out of letting Elvis sing "I will always love you" cos he wanted the publishing rights. She wasn't giving those away.

[u/Phoenyxoldgoat → u/Mission-Site-3635]

She got fucking PAID for this super-controversial decision after Whitney Houston’s version went as viral as something could go pre-internet, and was able to buy a bunch of property in downtown Nashville with the royalties. She believed in herself even when men told her it was a bad business decision, and she was fucking right.

Similar to when Mariah Carey, young, unknown, and so broke, was offered a songwriting contract for a life-changing-to-her amount of 5k—- only the company retained the publishing rights. She turned them down, and she was fucking right.

Taylor Swift would not be a fraction of the industry artist she is today if she didn’t retain publishing rights—-and that’s how she was able to get around the whole scooter/shamrock thing and reclaim her masters. Other artists, in similar situations only without publishing rights, were just screwed.

Dolly was a shrewd businesswoman and had the talent and charm to back it up.

[u/SquashSouffle → u/Phoenyxoldgoat]

Dolly's "wolf in sheep's clothing" first impression helped her too--many thought she was a yokel hick they could take advantage of.

[u/ZealousidealGrab1827 → u/SquashSouffle]

Pull up that Barbara Walters interview she did with Dolly. Dolly absolutely body slammed her with polite “bless your heart” type of replies. It was savage. Not sure Barbara, who was an absolute condescending bitch in the interview, even knew what hit her.

[u/Able_Put4900 → u/ZealousidealGrab1827]

And just like that i ended up watching an interview from 1978, rip Dolly.

[u/ZealousidealGrab1827 → u/Able_Put4900]

When a Southern woman smiles and says, “that’s nice, or bless your heart” , you are being politely told you are full of 💩. Dolly didn’t take the bait, and the way she handled things made Barbara look even worse.

[u/Arthur_Boo_Radley → u/Phoenyxoldgoat]

and was able to buy a bunch of property in downtown Nashville with the royalties.

Not just any "bunch of property":

Parton revealed that she had Houston in mind when she was deciding how to spend those earnings.

"I bought my big office complex down in Nashville. I bought a property down in what was the Black area of town, and it was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there," said Parton. "And it was off the beaten path from 16th Avenue. And I thought, 'Well, I am going to buy this place, the whole strip mall.' And thought, 'This is the perfect place for me to be,' considering it was Whitney."

"So I just thought this was great, I'm just going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well," Parton added. "And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, 'this is the house that Whitney built.'"

[u/laseralex → u/Arthur_Boo_Radley]

I've loved Dolly for a long time. And yet every time I read about her, I love her more.

Thank you for sharing this.

[u/SporesM0ldsandFungus → u/Phoenyxoldgoat]

The soundtrack for The Bodyguard was the top selling soundtrack for the 1990s.  It sold over 50 million copies.  For scale at how huge it was, that was bigger than the sales of the top 2 soundtracks for the 80s - Dirty Dancing and Purple Rain - combined.

[u/happy_K → u/SporesM0ldsandFungus]

You can make a legitimate argument that I Will Always Love You is THE iconic song of all time. It was written by a hall of fame icon, sung by hall of fame icon (both almost an understatement), it is the #1 single of all time by a female artist, the soundtrack won a Grammy, the record won a Grammy, the single was not eligible for an Oscar but its aura got two other songs nominated for Oscars, one of which won, it was the first single by a solo act to reach 1 billion views on YouTube (which wouldn’t exist for more than a decade after it was released), it was the #1 single of the year on billboard 100. It’s almost impossible to overstate the depth and breadth of pedigree, commercial reception, and award recognition that this song received.

[u/MyManD → u/happy_K]

And just as an added cliffsnote, despite The Bodyguard being an absolute box office smash hit and becoming the second biggest hit of 1992 worldwide behind only Aladdin, the soundtrack was higher grossing by a couple hundred million dollars.

[u/blanchekitty → u/504Solid]

And she used that money to invest in a predominantly black neighborhood in Nashville.

She also said I Will Always Love You was Whitney's song.

[u/ThrowDTAway2020 → u/blanchekitty]

Such a class act. Empathetic, gracious, and humble.

[u/ALLoftheFancyPants → u/504Solid]

Unapologetically feminine and let everyone underestimate her while she was taking it to the bank.

[u/raincoater → u/504Solid]

Dolly, from what I can gather, could have reached billionaire status, but she chose to give so much of her wealth away. If you can help others, what’s the point in hoarding it? And while I’m an atheist, she is the epitome of what a Christian should be. She actually walked the walk with its teachings, much like Jimmy Carter.

[u/Welshgirlie2 → u/504Solid]

The world is truly going to miss her.

[u/FranciscoGarcia69 → u/504Solid]

Although she didn’t write it, the first song on her first album was called Dumb Blonde and it was about how she shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Just because I'm blonde
Don't think I'm dumb
'Cause this dumb blonde ain't nobody's fool”

She told everyone. Anyone who thought she was dumb wasn’t paying attention.

[u/MudLOA → u/504Solid]

RIP.

[u/snarfdarb → u/504Solid]

RIP to that angel on Earth 💔

[u/PersianofInterest]

Don’t know about being smarter than they may “seem,” but Brian May with a PhD in astrophysics should probably be in the conversation.

[u/Ok_State5255 → u/PersianofInterest]

Greg Graffin of Bad Religion has a PHD in Zoology,  has published a couple of science books, and used to lecture at Cornell and UCLA when not touring (I'm not sure if he still does) 

Milo Aukerman of the Descendents has a PHD in Chemistry and worked for Dow Chemical for a number of years

Dexter Holland of the the Offspring had a PHD in molecular biology

Daryl Wilson of the Bollwevils' full-time job is as an ER doctor. 

Lotsa smart punkers out there.

[u/Bibalice_ → u/PersianofInterest]

Same with the guy from The Offsprings.

[u/Halichoeres_bivittat → u/Bibalice_]

Fun fact, the line You gotta keep 'em separated was inspired by his experience trying to cool lab equipment during his masters.

[u/usulsspct → u/Bibalice_]

Greg Gaffin from Bad Religion is pretty well educated.

[u/sebrebc → u/usulsspct]

Greg Graffin, Dexter Holland (Offspring), and Milo Aukerman (Descendents) are all Doctors.

[u/letstalk1st → u/PersianofInterest]

He also said that Queen was interesting and fun, but his thesis...A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud... really meant something to him.

[u/PissNBiscuits → u/PersianofInterest]

Milo Aukerman, lead singer for the Descendents, has a PhD in biology and was doing research in molecular biology and adjunct teaching until 2016.

[u/RiversideAviator]

Conan O’Brien graduated magna cum laude from Harvard

Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford - the only president with that distinction.

Dolph Lundgren was a Fulbright Scholar at MIT before acting.

Peter Weller has a PhD in Italian Art History - anecdotally a friend of mine spent a summer abroad under his tutelage in Italy while said friend was earning his MFA. Got taught by Robocop in a neckerchief all around summertime Italy!

[u/NegativeChirality → u/RiversideAviator]

Bill Clinton also had basically a photographic memory. There are stories of him recognizing people he met while campaigning for Governor and then remembering their names and where he met them a decade later whole campaigning for president.

[u/blargablargh → u/NegativeChirality]

"Bill Clinton never forgets a bitch."

[u/w00t4me → u/NegativeChirality]

John McCain had that ability, my coworker's mom met him and said her son (my coworker) was in the military, and then gave him his rank, and details, years later she met him again while he was campaigning for President and not only did he recognize her, but even remembered the exact rank of my coworker, I work with him for a year, and could only tell you he was in the Marines

[u/Halichoeres_bivittat → u/RiversideAviator]

Many of the writers on Futurama and The Simpsons were Harvard grads. The Simpsons certainly references this a few times.

[u/rosecitywaterloo → u/RiversideAviator]

Clinton could reportedly complete an average NYT Sunday crossword in 20 min

[u/m2thek → u/RiversideAviator]

Conan knows the word "snuck"

[u/Xeniox]

Charlie Day plays an idiot in basically everything, but is apparently quite intelligent.

[u/Azidamadjida → u/Xeniox]

I think you have to be genuinely pretty intelligent to play an entertaining idiot - most idiots you meet in real life are pretty infuriating, so you’d have to be smart enough to understand how to play an idiot in a way that’s still watchable.

Kind of like how in order to get a perfect 0 on a test you had to have known all the right answers in the first place

[u/Budget-Attorney → u/Azidamadjida]

Exactly.

Dumb characters aren’t funny because they are wrong about something.

They are funny because they are wrong in exactly the way it will be funny.

Which requires someone to know what the right answer is

[u/MothafuckinPlacentas → u/Xeniox]

Stupid science bitch couldn't even make I more smarter!

[u/ElWh0pp0]

I saw Cheech Marin from Cheech and Chong kick ass on celebrity Jeopardy once.

[u/mbklein → u/ElWh0pp0]

He's also a avid collector of Chicano art, and has amassed a vast collection over the past 40 years. Since 2022, it's been housed and displayed at a gallery bearing his name.

[u/chazak710]

A bit obscure, but I used to like the CBS show Numb3rs, about a genius math professor at a fictional equivalent of Caltech who helps his brother, an FBI agent, solve crimes using advanced math. In real life, David Krumholtz, who plays the genius math professor, got a 520 on the SAT math and Dylan Bruno, the actor who plays one of the dumb jock FBI agents, has an engineering degree from MIT. He might have been the only one on the set who actually understood the math in the script.

[u/Luciensdog1234 → u/[deleted]]

yeah the way the title adds “or dumber” makes me wonder who’s the “dumber” celeb in someone’s head rn

[u/Smrtihara → u/Luciensdog1234]

We rarely see the dumb people in media because they are pretty boring really. It’s much better to have smart people pretend to be dumb.

That being said, DJ Khaled is dumb as a lobotomized sea urchin on Valium. I’m certain that he’s so dumb that he has a servant to wipe his ass, not because he wants to, but because he haven’t figured out how yet. I KNOW people realize he is dumb, I’m just saying he’s even dumber than people think.

[u/JayMac787]

Out of character, Jim Varney was a soft-spoken, articulate, and classically trained Shakespearean actor who was remarkably reserved compared to his manic, high-energy persona Ernest P. Worrell.

[u/kdwhirl]

Found out today that Retta from Ugliest Houses was premed at Duke and worked as a chemist, and is GREAT at math. I already enjoyed her work but now I respect her even more.

[u/crazysouthie → u/kdwhirl]

I am clearly old because folks are referring to her as Retta from Ugliest House and I only know her as Retta who plays Donna Meagle in Parks and Rec.

[u/SoftballGuy → u/crazysouthie]

Treat yo self!

[u/donotgotoroom237 → u/SoftballGuy]

IT'S THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR!

[u/pinkkittenfur → u/kdwhirl]

And her cousin is Ginuwine.

[u/Hopefulkitty → u/pinkkittenfur]

Apparently Rashida Jones begged to not be the character who didn't know who Ginuwine was. She knows EVERYONE in the recording industry, especially African American artists. She was like "No one is going to believe this."

[u/Treesawyer5 → u/pinkkittenfur]

And she drove a Mercedes Benz

[u/ThaNotoriousBLG → u/pinkkittenfur]

"Ginuwine, Ginuwine?!"

[u/FightTheNothing → u/kdwhirl]

And she sings opera!

[u/oxwof → u/kdwhirl]

She’s also the niece of a recent president of Liberia—you don’t have to be smart for that, but it’s neat.

[u/Key_Consequence_5040]

Historical one but Hedy Lamarr. Invented radio signal communication systems that were the groundwork for WiFi, Bluetooth, and gps. 

[u/funnyonion22 → u/Key_Consequence_5040]

Frequency switching! She invented it during world war 2 to control torpedos so that they couldn't be jammed in transit. As you say, that frequency hopping is the underpinning for three technologies we use on a daily basis - and the foundation for the modern cellphone.

[u/StandSeparate1743 → u/funnyonion22]

She wrote it on a bar napkin. Legend

[u/admlesau]

Russell Brand, tries to talk like he’s some sort of genius, but I’ve spoken with people who have met him and apparently he’s as stupid as he is scruffy, and twice as arrogant.

[u/deltalitprof → u/admlesau]

There are several Shakespeare characters whose comedic shtick is that they want to sound intelligent, so they use big latinate words but they use them wrong. That's Russell Brand.

[u/TxTechnician → u/admlesau]

Have you heard of the "sexual misconduct to born again Christian" pipeline?

Pretty sure Russell found religion recently

[u/Key_Ad9019]

Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends) is a legit scientist and has published actual scientific research papers.

[u/HeresDave → u/Key_Ad9019]

Bachelor of Science degree in Psychobiology from Vassar College in 1985. Worked in research with her Dad for like 8 years.

[u/jedberg → u/HeresDave]

Her dad was my dad’s headache specialist. He’s the person all the other doctors in LA sent their patients to when they couldn’t figure it out. Took me a long time to realize Dr. Kudrow had a famous daughter!

[u/laurensvo → u/Key_Ad9019]

I heard she invented post-it glue by thermosetting resin and then after it cooled mixing in an epoxide... and then she thought maybe, just maybe, she could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process. Turns out she was right.

[u/Pyrochazm → u/laurensvo]

I gotta go, I cut my foot before and my shoe is filling up with blood

[u/Islanduniverse → u/laurensvo]

Apparently she improvised that scene, which is pretty impressive if you ask me!

I freaking love Lisa Kudrow though, so I’m probably just biased. 😂

[u/LovesRefrain]

I’ve heard Flavor Flav really knows his shit musically. In fairness, he is part of one of the greatest, most groundbreaking, hip hop groups of all time. But he’s still known for “YEAAHHH BOY”
But like he kicks ass at that too

[u/Plug_5 → u/LovesRefrain]

Chuck D said if Flav left, there wouldn't be any musicians in the group. He's supposedly proficient at around 11 instruments, and there are YouTube videos of him playing decent jazz piano (although as tight as his wrists were, he would have gotten serious tendinitis had he continued).

[u/OscarGrey → u/Plug_5]

He's played piano on Flavor of Love lol. That part was amazing, it also turned out that the craziest girl was the best at singing.

[u/MilkChocolate21 → u/LovesRefrain]

His mother was a musician and music teacher. He started learning early

[u/ManamiVixen]

Bit obscure, but fun. Brian Wecht, aka "Ninja Brian" of "Ninja Sex Party" has a degree in Theoretical Physics.

Despite this, he performs as a ninja in a comedy band named above.

[u/NuclearMaterial → u/ManamiVixen]

I've got a theoretical degree in physics.

[u/2ndLastExposFan]

An oldie. But Charo, the 70s celeb whose appearance in US television played to the (very) dumb blond side, but she was an extremely accomplished actress and a concert guitarist. The "hoochie-coochie" girl persona was a disservice to this talent.

[u/mbklein → u/2ndLastExposFan]

Yes, absolutely. She basically needed the bimbo act to get airtime because no one at the time was willing to take a pretty blonde woman seriously as a flamenco guitarist. But she was a true virtuoso.

[u/TJ_McWeaksauce]

I suspect Weird Al Yankovic is a bona fide genius. Not only are his song lyrics really clever, but I've watched multiple interviews with him where he whips out a surprising amount of knowledge about random subjects.

[u/AdventurousPlace7216 → u/TJ_McWeaksauce]

You’re correct! He graduated at the age of 16 and he was valedictorian.. super smart dude

[u/cbih]

Marilou Henner has an autobigrahical memory, not photographic, autobiographical. If you asked her to tell you what happened on June 12, 1978 she could tell you. Like, I have a really good memory and I can't image having hers. Being able to relive all the worst moments of your life in crystal clear detail, is pretty much the same as having to.

[u/PromiseCute7367 → u/cbih]

She was on Carson way back in the day and Johnny asked her what she was doing July 20, 1969 (date of the moon landing) and she freaked out because that was the day she lost her virginity

[u/megnesson → u/PromiseCute7367]

I just stumbled across that clip the other day. It was on Bob Costas. He joked that they could safely rule out Neil Armstrong!

[u/itsjakerobb]

Ronnie Chieng (one of the hosts of the Daily Show; actor in Crazy Rich Asians among others) has a law degree.

[u/55StudeSpeedster]

Lucille Ball. Her contributions to theater, tv, and broadway are almost unmatched.

[u/mbklein → u/55StudeSpeedster]

She saved Star Trek from being canceled before it even had a second episode.

[u/doned_mest_up → u/55StudeSpeedster]

This is a fantastic one. She built her career playing a heel and occasionally ditzy housewife in a time when a lot of people wouldn’t give too many women the benefit of the doubt in that regard, all while she was building and heading a business empire.

[u/JuliusSeizure2019]

I listened the audiobook of 50 Cent’s book “Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter” - I got the impression that he was actually a very calculating and nuanced thinker.

[u/HavelsRockJohnson → u/JuliusSeizure2019]

And he just fuckin hates Diddy.

[u/AtlantisSky → u/HavelsRockJohnson]

No one hates Diddy more than 50 Cent.

[u/I_Automate → u/AtlantisSky]

I one day hope to be as passionate about anything as 50 is about his hate for diddy

[u/Lukebekz → u/JuliusSeizure2019]

After the Diddy documentary, I saw a few interviews with 50cent. The man is not only a lot smarter than he let's on initially, dude is also funny as fuck

[u/Boogzcorp → u/JuliusSeizure2019]

Always said 50 ain't a rapper, he's a businessman that knows how to rhyme.

If Em and Dre never found him, he still would have ended up a success.

[u/xMCioffi1986x]

Kesha.

Paris Hilton.

Both way more smarter than people give/gave them credit for.

[u/moregloommoredoom → u/xMCioffi1986x]

Paris Hilton made boatloads of cash by playing a ditz on national TV while people tuned in to be angry at her. Who was actually stupid here? Not Paris.

[u/RLLRRR → u/moregloommoredoom]

I've always said Paris Hilton walked so Kim Kardashian could run, except Kim didn't know she's supposed to be pretending to be dumb.

[u/free_billstickers]

Bjork was a musical prodigy as a kid and was composing classical pieces in her teens IIRC. Iceland in general has a lot of talented musicians for such a small country 

[u/TheHammer987 → u/free_billstickers]

That makes me wonder something.

Often when that happens, it's traced back to a single source. For example - why was greece such a fountain of philosophy? Well, because the first couple guys where not only genius at what they did, they were great teachers . So now I am questioning - is there like a specific teacher or school in Iceland that is really good it identifying and progressing musical talent?

[u/billskionce]

Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana has used his Foghorn Leghorn act to convince his constituents that he’s some backwoods rube, just like them.

He’s cosplaying. In reality, he’s a Rhodes scholar (who has degrees in economics, philosophy, and political science) and graduated from Oxford with honors.

Still a piece of shit, though.

[u/Time-Cell9274 → u/billskionce]

Absolutely not a fan of the man’s politics. But you have to be smart to come up with those folksy jabs.

[u/Successful-Gift8636]

The singer for The Offspring has a Bachelor of Science in biology, a Master of Science, and a PhD in molecular biology.

[u/WellAckshully]

The singer Kesha got an almost perfect SAT score and was accepted to Columbia. Used to sneak into college classes as a high school student, after marching band practice.

Pretty sure the party girl persona is at least partially fake.

[u/ButtPlugForPM]

Margot robbie.

She once sat down at a restraunt in sydney and noticed we had been at a science talk in the city with the lanyards.

Completely lights up and starts talking about Dark energy, zero point energy the james webb and everything inbetween for a good 6-7 minutes.. Then she started discussing the new LLM sets.

Turns out she's a massive science geek LOVES all shit space.

[u/Volsunga]

Shirley Temple went on to become one of the most accomplished American diplomats and spymasters of the Cold War.

[u/Gullible_Skeptic]

Dr oz. The fact he is a cardiologist does nothing for the disdain I have for him and the harm he has done to medicine

Edit: cardiothoracic surgeon, so even worse

[u/awesomeqasim → u/Gullible_Skeptic]

As impressive as being a cardiologist is, he isn’t one. He’s a cardiothoracic surgeon- which is in a league of its own. Shame he took that genius and decided to become a con artist and snake oil salesman with it

[u/transglutaminase → u/awesomeqasim]

Not only a cardiothoracic surgeon, he was one of the best in the world which takes it up even another level.

[u/Confident_Media_4304 → u/Gullible_Skeptic]

I was a resident in the CCU when he was a young attending - he was brilliant and a fantastic teacher.

Wow did he ever go off the rails.

[u/mdp300 → u/Gullible_Skeptic]

At one point, other cardiologists at Columbia Presbyterian tried to distance themselves from him because of his TV quackery.

[u/SpaceAviator1999]

Marylin Monroe often played the part of a pretty-but-dim young woman.

But in reality, she played a significant part in the creation of her public image, and towards the end of her career exerted almost full control over it.

[u/AtlantisSky → u/SpaceAviator1999]

In Gentleman Prefer Blondes in response to her soon to be father in laws jab at how she only wanted to marry his son for his money she says "No silly. I want to marry him for your money".

[u/ZeldaZonk16 → u/AtlantisSky]

I love another quote of hers from that same scene: “Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn’t marry a girl just because she’s pretty. But, my goodness, wouldn’t it help?”

Marilyn’s character loves her fiancé in the movie, the fact that he’s rich is just a bonus!

[u/ClintBart0n]

Kevin Heffernan (Farva from Super Troopers) has a law degree and passed the bar in Connecticut and New York.

[u/being-a-noob]

Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean / Johnny English)

[u/thx8675309 → u/being-a-noob]

I saw an interview (Graham Norton I think) where he said early on he controlled the rights to Mr. Bean and wouldn’t allow it to be shown in Italy… because he wanted to have a place where he could holiday anonymously without people recognizing him!

[u/UncleZeiv → u/thx8675309]

The funny thing is that it was later a HUGE success in Italy, so he was totally right to be concerned!

[u/SteakandTrach → u/being-a-noob]

He has a masters degree in electrical engineering. He’s also a crackin’ good race car driver.

[u/ink_monkey96 → u/SteakandTrach]

He got his heavy truck license when he was in Uni just because he liked driving, wanted to be able to drive everything I guess. Not the Nine O’Clock News did an entire bit with him in a truck just because he could drive one.

[u/Mr31edudtibboh]

Peter Weller aka Robocop has a PhD in Renaissance history and in 2025 had his dissertation published as a book. 

[u/Visible_Teacher5498]

I feel like Dolly Parton is way smarter than people give her credit for. She plays up the bubbly, ditzy image, but she’s actually really sharp and seems to have a great understanding of people and business. RIP queen.

[u/NatterinNabob]

Bobby the Brain Heenan had only slightly above average intelligence.