Evil Is Hammy

Emperor Palpatine demonstrates this trope at its UNLIMITED POWAH!

Megamind: Oh, you're a villain alright. Just not a super one. Titan: Oh yeah? What's the difference? Megamind: PRESENTATION! —Megamind

In many conflicts between good and evil, who is going to be doing the lion's share of Chewing the Scenery? The villain(s) more likely than not. It's one way they are Obviously Evil and Drunk on the Dark Side.

As for why, it's not known for sure. Maybe it's a reflection of their total lack of inhibitions. Maybe they've decided that since they've already punted a few puppies, called down the lightning, and donned the Spikes of Villainy, they may as well have fun with it. And maybe the moral depravity of their act is balanced by how much fun they are to watch. Or this is used to indicate how Power and Evil feel Good. Whatever the reason, scenery is an important part of every villain's daily balanced breakfast.

That isn't to say the heroes never get to have such moments, but the villains will get the clear majority of them. Of course, when they both do, the awesomeness factor increases tenfold. A Genre Savvy Villain Protagonist will act hammy just because it's expected.

Also, when the villains are pretending to be good guys in some stories, they don't really act hammy, but when they show who they really are, they let loose, almost as if being a Large Ham is their true nature.

Often overlaps with Ham and Cheese and Laughably Evil.

Contrast Soft Spoken Sadist (the villain is the calmest one in the room).

But if a hero is a Large Ham, or there is a World of Ham, it's not this Trope (unless the villain manages to still out-ham everyone).

Examples of Evil Is Hammy include:

Anime & Manga

• Many villains from 1970s and 80s Super Robot series. Examples worthy of mention are:
  • Mazinger Z: Dr. Hell and Baron Ashura.
  • Great Mazinger: Great General of Darkness.
  • UFO Robo Grendizer: Gandal.
  • Kotetsu Jeeg: Queen Himika.
  • Combattler V: Prince Garuda.
  • Voltes V: Prince Heinel.
  • Daimos: Richter.
• Just about every named Mooks in Fist of the North Star, with the main villains slightly less so.
• In Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny the only truly hammy characters are Rau Le Creuset and Lord Djibril. Neither is particularly over the top by anime standards, but they both chew far more scenery than the rest of the cast put together.
  • Other hammy Gundam villains are Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Ali Al-Saachez, Turn a Gundams Gym Ghingnham, and G Gundams Master Asia who is the biggest ham in a world full of them.
• In general, every villain voiced by Norio Wakamoto except for Vicious from Cowboy Bebop.
• Inverted AND played straight in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The heroes are the largest hams, but the Anti-Spiral King STILL manage to out-ham them in the final battle. Lordgenome in his Disc One Final Boss Anti-Villain part is no slouch in hamming up either.
• The evil Pope in Saint Seiya has some of the most hammy evil laughs ever in anime. For more contrast, his true personality is Gemini Saga, a quite more stoic Tragic Hero.
• Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce a fellow from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS by the name of Jail Scaglietti. ESPECIALLY when he actually gets to be in front of a camera.
• In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, after a relatively understated introduction (at least as far as the anime goes), Beatrice becomes the queen of this Trope. Subverted. She's not the evil one. Bern is. And she's actually an Emotionless Girl. Although, after The Reveal, she does get a lot more very expressive faces.
• In Code Geass, the 98th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, Charles, could count as this. Then again, in the Japanese version he's voiced by Norio Wakamoto, so it's to be expected.
• You have to give it to Dynamis of Mahou Sensei Negima, it takes a damn good villain to keep up the trolling even after being cut in half.
• This was mostly averted in Puella Magi Madoka Magica since the closest to a Big Bad, Kyuubey was more The Stoic... but then Walpurgisnacht came in and single-handedly engulfed the scenery in thick, high-pitched, crazy ham.
• In Princess Tutu, Mytho acts like a very hammy villain after he has been poisoned by the Raven's blood.

"Why won't you love me?!"

• General rule in One Piece: The hammier the villain, the more likely they are to be curb-stomped by the Straw Hats. More difficult opponents aren't as hammy. Crocodile wasn't hammy at all (Evil Laugh aside), and was one of Luffy's hardest enemies. Subverted with Oars. Since, well, he was Luffy.
• The Espada from Bleach were a mixed bag since some (Barragan, Grimmjow, Yammy, Nnoitra, Szayel, Drunk with Power!Aizen) were very hammy and others (Ulquiorra, Halibel, Stark) were much calmer. But once the Vandereich appeared, they started to put on the pork with total and unapologetic gusto.
• Piedmon, in the dub of Digimon Adventure/

Comic Books

• Many Silver Age villains.
• The Joker in every possible incarnation of Batman.
  • Many other Batman villains fall into this as well, especially in the campy 60's series and some of the movies (in Batman Forever, the Riddler, played by Jim Carrey, even asks: "Was that over the top? I can never tell").
• Silence, You Fool! Nobody possesses more ham than DOOM
• The League of Evil Exes from Scott Pilgrim, especially the ones who are particularly evil. The film just makes it more obvious in most cases.
• The first Robotnik from Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog series showed a bit of this, Eggman does as well, especially once his sanity starts slipping.

Fan Fiction

• Daemon from the Tamers Forever Series comes of as this.

Film

• Profion in Dungeons and Dragons.
• M. Bison in Street Fighter, OF COURSE!!!. Raul Julia certainly gave himself a DELICIOUS send-off. (Sagat is also a ham, he just pales in comparison to Bison.)
• Palpatine in Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, once it's known he is a Sith Lord. When he had his good guy facade on, he acted normally. When his evil side showed up, he started acting hammier. When he finally dropped the act altogether, he went to town (in Return of the Jedi), embracing his UNNNLIMITED POWWWWWEERRRRR!. When he Came Back Strong in The Rise of Skywalker, he turned this trope Up to Eleven.
  • In Dark Empire, Palpatine actually says "I AM the Dark Side!"
  • This is actually something of an occupational hazard for Sith, since they draw their power from raw passion and self restraint is, consequently, not exactly on the agenda. Notice that Palpatine is always at his hammiest when using or about to use The Dark Side. And this is what ultimately kills him in Episode IX. He was on such a Dark Side power high that he couldn't stop channelling his Force Lightning, allowing Rey to turn it back on him.
• The Chronicles of Riddick: Colm Feore (The Lord Marshal), Karl Urban (Vaako), and Thandie Newton (Dame Vaako). Note that all three characters mentioned are Necromongers.
• Almost every villain in Tron: Legacy is a Large Ham (with the exception of Rinzler), but especially the Big Bad. Clu uses his hamminess to make our world open and available to all of his programs. Yes! TO ALL OF THEM!!! And that's before you get to his agent Zuse, who chews the scenery with his Bowie-esque nature. A ying and yang of hams, if you think about it.
• Lex Luthor in Superman wasn't really hammy, just full of himself, but General Zod is a true ham. Kneel Before Zod's ham. Although his first instance was justified in that he was desperately pleading to avoid A Fate Worse Than Death.
  • Luthor wasn't much hammier in Superman Returns, was h-WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!

Lois Lane: But millions of people will die! Lex Luthor: BILLIONS! Once again, the press underestimates me.

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show: "I'm just a Sweet Transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvaniaaaaaaa..."
  • Come to think of it, 90% of Tim Curry's roles fall under this. If he's playing a villain, it's a good chance it'll be a an awesomely hammy performance. Tim Curry does not know any other way to act other than completely over the top, chewing every piece of scenery in sight. And we love him for it.

"Excuse me, sir!! Do you have Prince Albert in a can?? YOU DO?? Well, ya better let the poor guy out!"

• • Tim Curry outshines every Muppet as a Genre Savvy Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island.
• Freddy Krueger in the later A Nightmare on Elm Street films.
• As said above, a requirement for any Batman movie villain. Possible aversions are from The Dark Knight Saga: Ra's al Ghul is notably suave and subdued, and Two-Face is dead serious, particularly compared to The Joker.
• Christopher Lee occasionally indulges in this. Although fully capable of being subtle and understated, he knows what's expected of him. His performance in The Return of Captain Invincible especially showcases this.
• Al Pacino as the devil in The Devil's Advocate. Hell, Pacino in any role that's even remotely villainous, but here...wow.

God... is an absentee landlord!

• Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter films. The same goes for Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange (with the latter's scenery eating making her all the more scary).
• Just about every Malcolm McDowell villain role.
  • Alex from A Clockwork Orange.
  • As the title character of Caligula.
  • The CEO of Water and Power in Tank Girl.
  • Cochrane in Blue Thunder.
• Galaxy Quest: Oh, Sarris...

"You Fool!! You fail to realize that, with your armor gone, my ship will tear through yours like tissue papaer." "Prepare a tear-harness! For the Female."

• Orlando Bloom as the Duke of Buckingham in The Three Musketeers 2011.
• This trope is seen in a nutshell in the famous "I am the law!" scene in Judge Dredd. The good guy spits out the ultra-hammy "You betrayed the law!" and just to show that evil go one step further, the bad guy responds with "LAAAWW!!!!" taken Up to Eleven.
• Magneto from the X-Men movies, played by Ian McKellen, has a few moments of this, but he's calm the rest of the time.
• Many James Bond villains, such as Jonathan Pryce's Corrupt Corporate Executive media mogul Elliot Carver, from Tomorrow Never Dies.
• Inglourious Basterds. Adolf Hitler, natch.
• Whenever someone gets possessed in the Night of the Demons series, you can bet they'll start chewing scenery as well as faces.
• In the live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender, Commander Zhao, played by Aasif Mandvi. Averted with Fire Lord Ozai, who is somewhat of a Large Ham in the original cartoon, but is soft-spoken and contemplative in the film.
• Megamind It's all in the PRESENTATION!.
• Andy Robinson is decidedly... unsubtle as the Scorpio Killer in Dirty Harry.
• Blue Velvet is a movie where most of the characters are pretty low key but the villain, Frank, yells nearly every line..
• Loki in Thor and The Avengers tends to alternate between being frighteningly intense and unsettlingly collected. Although that one "mewling quim" line does establish him pretty solidly as a Large Ham.
• In the 1980's film He-Man, Frank Langella made Skeletor a Shakespearean villain with relish. He ultimately made him a force to be feared of with his performance from that of a campy villain in the cartoons.

Literature

• Visser Three in Animorphs. While thought-speak can be directed at one, several, or even everyone in range, the Visser is CONSTANTLY BROADCASTING HIS PRESENCE to all, including his enemies. In fact, in the whole series (when in an Andalite body), he speaks to one person at a time a grand total of ONCE.
• Averted by Lily Weatherwax in Witches Abroad; she's actually somewhat menacingly toned down. What makes this instance notable, though, is the way her sister, Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax, reacts; the very fact that Lily isn't Chewing the Scenery enrages her as much as all the damage she's done to innocent lives over the years. Lily went off to be the bad sister, leaving Esme to be the good one, but Lily spent the whole time deluding herself that she was the good one, so even though there was no doubt which sister she was, she never took the opportunity to enjoy it. To Granny this is almost as bad as denying Esme the choice in the first place.
• Venandakatra the Vile in the Belisarius Series. He is a devotee of every vice known to man, and some that haven't been discovered to this day. He loves hurting people, except when they fight back. He wages war by pitching an array of tents that are more ostentatious and less tasteful then the palaces of more Modest Royalty and then makes guarding his comfort a primary objective of his campaigns. He has the most expensive feasts constantly dumped into his mouth and he treats slave girls much like food, to be consumed and the husks discarded; and sex to him is no fun unless combined with torture. The book also makes a point of mentioning that he is called The Vile and not The Cruel because the latter might imply respect. In general, the chief pleasure a reader takes in his character is that it is almost impossible to imagine someone so extravagantly and flamboyantly evil - even if we know such people exist in Real Life.
• Kerrigor in The Old Kingdom. "Blood for the breaking!"
• Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune.
  • Ian McNeice definitely shows it in his portrayal of the baron in the miniseries.
• Invoked in The Tamuli when the normally restrained Sir Bevier goes undercover at the villain's camp as a mercenary. He attempts to appear "dangerously competent" but his stage training takes over, and as a result he ends up looking like a homicidal maniac and leaves the entire camp terrified of him.

Live-Action TV

• Although William Shatner usually negates this trope since he's the hero, when Captain Kirk was split into good and evil selves in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Enemy Within", the evil side was much hammier.

"I'm Captain Kirk! I'm Captain Kirk! IIIIII'M CAPTAIN KIRK!"

• • He does it again when we briefly see the evil Mirror Universe Kirk in "Mirror, Mirror".
  • Same goes for every character in the mirror universe episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Most of the actors were at near-Shatner levels of hamminess even during the normal episodes, but their evil counterparts take things Up to Eleven.
  • Mirror Universe episodes of Deep Space Nine were the same, and "Our Man Bashir", had Avery (Sisko) Brooks making a meal of the holographic scenery as a James Bond-style Super Villain.
• Any Doctor Who villain worth his or her salt. But DAAALEKS ARE-SUPERIOR-HAMS-TO-THEM-AAALL!.
  • NO ONE! OUT HAMS! DAVROS!!!
  • The Eighth Doctor, in the Big Finish audios, functions as almost a controlled experiment in this trope. When he's himself, he's quite soft-spoken (so you turn up the volume). Then if he gets turned evil, he has No Indoor Voice (and you scream and fling your mp3 player of choice as he assaults your ear drums when he turns up the volume too).

I AM BECOME ZAGREUS!

• Most incarnations of The Master serve up large slices of ham, notably John Simm, Anthony Ainley, and (in spoof "The Curse of Fatal Death") Jonathan Pryce.
  • • Although he only plays The Master for a few minutes, Derek Jacobi manages to be pretty hammy himself. Quite the change from the mild mannered Professor Yana.
  • The Racnoss Empress in "The Runaway Bride" is truly one of the largest hams the series has ever seen. Catherine Tate, in her first appearance as companion Donna Noble, counters with Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  • The Beast, when he possessed human form in particular, was hammy beyond belief.
  • A villain called Androvax from a species whose hat is Grand Theft Me pays our heroes a visit on The Sarah Jane Adventures. Elisabeth Sladen was clearly having a lot of fun as a possessed Sarah Jane.
  • She's always been brassy, sassy, and flirty, but Brainwashed and Crazy River Song from "Let's Kill Hitler" could stock a deli counter all by her lonesome.
  • Soldeed from The Horn's of Nimon is infamously campy. So much so that his confrontation with Romana has a dance remix. "MY DREAMS OF CON-QUEST!"
  • BY ALL THE MOONS OF CALLUFRAX, YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR FAILURE TO NOT MENTION THE PIRATE CAPTAIN FROM THE CLASSIC SERIES SERIAL THE PIRATE PLANET! MR. FIBULI! MR. FIBULI! WHERE IS THAT NINCOMPOOP, MR. FIBULI?!?
• The Goa'uld of Stargate SG-1 pretty much had hammy-ness as a species trait. This was justified because all the Goa'uld were egotistical, bought into their own act of playing gods, and based their entire civilization on ruling through fear. Their Cool but Impractical technology, their outfits, and their behavior all went along with this trope. Nothing like a booming "KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD!" accompanied with some Glowing Eyes of Doom to get the peasants in line.
  • A Goa'uld could tone it down if it ever needed to pretend to be human, but the hammy-ness returned the instant its true nature got discovered.
  • Case in point:

Anubis: I am Anubis. Humans of the Tau'ri! Your End Of Days finally approaches! There will be no mercy! Jack O'Neill: Aw, c'mon. Who talks like that?!

• • The Priors could also ham it up occasionally, especially when quoting the Book of Origin.
• Invoked in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Duet". A Cardassian assumed the identity of another Cardassian who ran a death camp to make Cardassia admit to the crime. He acted hammy when pretending to be that man, but acted normally when the ruse was revealed.
  • Also, an early episode where Dr. Bashir came down with a bad case of Grand Theft Me thanks to a dying evil space criminal gave Alexander Siddig the chance to let his ham flag fly.
  • And let's not even get started on the holodeck Bond villain played by Captain Sisko, which allowed Avery Brooks to chew up every bit of scenery around him in ways taken Up to Eleven (and obviously had the time of his life doing it.)
• Invoked in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, where Kimberly is kidnapped, by Zed's minions. They try a failed Hypnotize the Princess spell on her, but she fakes it working by acting like Rita, in all her scenery chewing glory.
  • And let's not forget Rita herself, as her line in the opening of the show proves it:

Rita Repulsa: AAAAHHH!! After 10,000 years, I'm FREE! It's time to CONQUER EARTH!

• • • It's basically required for any Power Rangers villain to be hammy enough to reach Camp status.
  • In addition, Tokusatsu villains in general tend to be like this.
• Nevel on ICarly.
• In the 2006 BBC production of Robin Hood, NO ONE chews more scenery than the Sheriff of Nottingham. NO ONE.
• In Red Dwarf, any of the characters from WaxWorld's "Villain World" qualify. Among the villains are the particularly hammy Caligula and Napoleon.
• Russell Edgington, Vampire King of Louisiana, in the third season of True Blood. *rips news anchor's spinal cord out, waves it around* "We! Will EAT YOU. AFTER we eat your children! [[[Beat]]] And now for the weather. Tiffany?"
• In the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer The Master had moments of incredible ham.

Yes, shake, Earth! This is a sign! We are in the final days! My time is come! Glory! GLORY! *pause* What do you think? 5.1?"

• • And Glory was just made of ham. Seriously, she might not have had a single scene that wasn't gloriously hammy. Overcompensating for your lost hell-empire will do that to you.
• Babylon 5 invokes this in the Season 4 finale. A future propagandist is using holographic versions of several main characters to engage in some historical revisionism. When Evil Capitan Sheridan is making a speech in front of a group of about-to-be-executed prisoners, Bruce Boxleitner hams it up for all he's worth.
• In CSI, Nate Haskell hams it up no end at his trial for stabbing Langston. It's clearly the character being hammy, as the actor can do a very good subtly creepy when he wants to.
• In Kamen Rider OOO, Kougami (an extremely Large Ham as is) makes a Kamen Rider movie in-universe. Everyone playing a villain in the film suddenly becomes a gigantic ham, especially Ankh as the Big Bad, who gives Kougami a run for his money. Of course this might be because he's still kind of a villain anyway.
• In Smallville Clark would become far hammier whenever he was under the influence of Red K, or switched out for an evil doppelganger. And that's without getting into the series' villains. Between John Glover as Lionel Luthor, James Marsters' terrifyingly cold performance as Brainiac, Michael Rosenbaum's Lex Luthor, Steve Byers' as the ungodly slimy Desaad, and Callum Blue's scenery chewing as the horrifically unstable Major Zod, the show had this trope covered.

"Unlike you I will lead from a throne, not from the shadows. Everyone on Earth, including the woman you love, will Kneel Before Zod!"

• Dexter seems to be rather fond of this one for the seasonal Big Bad. Season 3 had Jimmy Smits, season 4 had John Lithgow, and season 6 has Edward James Olmos AND Colin Hanks.
• Sherlock‍'‍s Moriarty, to a certain extent. He's very hammy when he feels like it, but is just as good at being calm and creepy when that suits him better.
• Mister Hyde in Jekyll.

Theater

• Any Pantomime villain worth his salt.
• The Wolf from The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf requires a Large Ham, to contrast with his lethargic attorney.
• Cora in Anyone Can Whistle is a first-class scene stealer.

Video Games

• Pick the Big Bad of a Kingdom Hearts game. Any one of 'em. They're this trope. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness/Xehanort's Heartless gets an extra special mention here. Also, see the Disney Villains list below.
  • Xemnas is an exceptional example. It's in his character to be as hammy as possible. Having no emotions, he makes up for it with exaggerated hand gestures and stretches out a lot of his lines to seem more emotional.
• Wesker in the Resident Evil series.
  • Chief Irons in Resident Evil 2
  • Alfred and Alexia Ashford in Resident Evil Code Veronica.
  • Ramon Salazar in Resident Evil 4. Isn't that right, MEEESTEEER Kennedy?!
• The Dark Savant in Wizardry 8.
• In Dissidia Final Fantasy, the entire Chaos faction exemplifies this trope with all of the hammiest villains of the series. The only exceptions are Golbez ( but he isn't really part of the Chaos faction...), Sephiroth and Ultimecia, who are fairly restrained. Odd because Ultimecia was quite hammy in her respective game. ("KURSE YOU SEEDS!")
• Kane in Command and Conquer becomes ever increasingly hammy as time goes on.
  • The Red Alert series gives us a parade of Russian nutjobs, culminating (so far) with Tim Curry's Cherdenko. (Because it's Tim Curry.)
• Dawn of War, since it takes place in Warhammer 40,000, everyone is evil, and hence everyone is hammy, even if they are a Magnificent Bastard.
  • Special mention must go to the Chaos Space Marines, however. Especially Crull, the Chaos Lord from the Winter Assault extension. Oh dear Emperor, Lord Crull...
  • In Retribution Kyras make them all look sane and stable.

Kyras: BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THROWN...LET THE GALAXY...BUUUUURRRRRRNNNNN!!!

• Arius from Devil May Cry. "OH! NO! I was going to be KING of this world!"
  • Arkham and his devil trigger Jester also is a rich source of Ham. With the latter it's intentional, as he tried to act like a fool in order to effectively play the sons of Sparda and Lady against each other. And it could also be a way of unleashing his inner goofball beneath that serious facade.
• Flemeth in Dragon Age is very hammy when she isn't pretending to be simply a batty old lady, and gets much more so in Dragon Age 2. Being voiced by Captain Janeway really helps.
  • Loghain becomes much hammier after his Face Heel Turn.
  • Though averted for the most part in the first game, since the Darkspawn can't, you know, talk. Until Awakening, when they can talk and get their full opportunity to be hammy.
    • Special mention goes to the ham-tastic Mother.
  • Knight-Commander Meredith in Dragon Age 2 is one of the best examples in the entire series.
    • Not to mention Well-Intentioned Extremist teammate Anders; while he's only hammy in combat (actually, he's usually soft-spoken otherwise), his combat taunts (and screaming) are a bountiful platter of ham.
• Liquid Snake manages to do this every chance he gets in Metal Gear Solid.
• Xenosaga gives us Albedo Piazzolla, an incurable muncher, complete with rampant evil laughs at any given opportunity.
• Vice President RIICHAAARD!! Hawk in Metal Wolf Chaos opened his every appearance with an Evil Laugh and gleefully delivered lines such as...

RICHARD: "This wild dog of war is on the move, Michael! It'll bite you if you don't move it! It's time for my afternoon tea. There's nothing like sipping some delicious Darjeeling tea...and watching you getting your clock cleaned!"

• Blaz Blue: Hazama/Yuuki Terumi. Part of the reason he's so Laughably Evil is because his voice actors are clearly having a hell of a time.
• Sir Richard Hawksmoor in Ghost Hunter. Sir Michael Gambon practically introduces himself with "I want FLESH." An incredible contrast with his role of Dumbledore in the movies.
• Nergal from the 2003 game Fire Emblem Elibe wasn't THAT hammy until we got to see his disfiguring scar by the end of the game. Then, he unleashed his inner ham and let it run wild.
• In Starcraft, the Zerg Overmind's first line is: "Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright." Every one of its subsequent lines is equally epic and pompous.
  • "Know that I am the Overmind, the eternal will of the Swarm, and that you have been created to serve me..."
• Dan Green as Mephiles the Dark is one of the very few good points of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 for precisely this reason.
  • Eggman has always showed spades of this, but in more recent games (especially in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations) he's been invoking this full-on.
• In Portal, once you escape the fire pit, GLaDOS starts along this path. She really goes to town once you you incinerate her morality core.
  • In Portal 2 Wheatley gains several levels in ham when you yank G La DOS out and plug him in. Apparently, a certain amount of hamminess is literally hardwired into the system.
• The Sengoku Basara versions of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Ishida Mitsunari. The first is absolutely, baby-eatingly, skull-cup-usingly Obviously Evil, and even has ominous background music and Dramatic Thunder to back him up. And he's voiced by Norio Wakamoto. Hideyoshi is the type to surround three armies at war, and demand ALL of their surrenders at once in a loud voice and with an even louder fist. He then goes ahead and obliges some hotblooded heroes. He also parts the seas. Mitsunari really likes shouting about what he is going to do to his enemies, specifically those who side with Ieyasu. Mitsunari does not say "Ieyasu!" He says, "IEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASU!!!!!!!!"
• The X-Men arcade game introduces us to MAGNETO, MASTER OF MAGNET! Who wants those X-CHICKEN to know that THEY ARE NOTHING and would like to welcome them TO DIE!!
• Assassin's Creed Brotherhood: If Cesare wants to live, he lives. If he wants to take, he takes. If he wants you to die, you die, and if he wants to ham, he HAAAAAAAAAMS!
• The cruelest and evilest of all Suikoden villains, Luca Blight, is also the hammiest, with lots of exclamation marks, distinctive Evil Laugh of "HOO HOO HOO HA HA HA HA HA!!!" and of course his famous last words "It took hundreds to kill me, but I KILLED BY THOUSANDS! LOOK AT ME!!! I AM SUBLIME!!! I AM THE TRUE FACE OF EVIL!!!!! *Evil Laughs to death*"
• Jegran in Crystal Bearers, after he drops pretending to be good.
• Barlowe in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia normally speaks with a very neutral and verbose tone. However, once his true colours are revealed, he goes nuts with wild abandon, laughing manically the whole time.
  • And Dracula. In pretty much every game with voice acting.
  • Death from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow simply never shuts up in his 5 minutes hammy speech even though he has been quite normal when he stayed as Zobek, your ally.
• Lord Ghirahim in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, aka Mr. Furious! OUTRAGED! SICK WITH ANGER!! Zant from The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is similarly hammy, especially during his Villainous Breakdown. Ganon is also somewhat hammy (literally, in certain situations), but he's rather restrained compared to the other two.
• Geldoblame, of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, is far and away the hammiest character in the game, and (unintentionally) probably the best-voiced character, just because it's so amusing.
• The Professor Layton series isn't exactly a World of Ham, often going with one hammed line per game, but it is ALWAYS said by a villain.

Don Paolo: Heeere I come.... READY OR NOT! Anton: LAAAYTOOOON!! Clive: This isn't happening... It can't end this way... IT WON'T END THIS WAAAY!!

• You can summon a prime example of this in The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim by using a "Conjure Dremora Lord" spell.

I HONOR my LORD! By DESTROYING YOU! Impales helpless bandit* THERE CAN BE NO OTHER END!

• The Galactic Emperor from Gotcha Force is this trope, pure and simple. Let's look at his nice little pre-final battle speech...

Galactic Emperor: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! PUNY HUMANS, JUDGMENT TIME HAS ARRIVED! I'LL FINISH YOU ALL HERE! FIRST THIS PLANET, THEN THE WHOLE GALAXY! YOU AND YOUR SILLY GOTCHA BORGS WILL BE EXTERMINATED!! MWAHAHAHAHA!!

Web Comics

• The vast majority of the villains in The Order of the Stick. Though Xykon and Tarquin are the most prominent.

Web Original

• Dr. Insano from The Spoony Experiment and Atop the Fourth Wall, and also his Alternate Universe counterparts, including Linksano.
• Doctor Steel loves Chewing the Scenery.
• Agamemnon Tiberius Vacuum, the Inarguable Eternal Leader of the glorious and superior Planet 3. "THE VACUUM CONSORTIUM: SUBMIT WILLINGLY!"
• As if their film versions weren't hammy enough, Team StarKid's versions of Snape, Voldemort, Bellatrix, Lucius, and Umbridge take this trope Up to Eleven.
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Doctor Horrible gets some rather hammy moments.
  • His Anti-Hero counterpart Captain Hammer on the other hand is a full on Large Ham throughout the show.
• The AI O'Malley from Red vs. Blue. Just one example, after he's been asked to examine one of the Blue Team:

O'Malley: We want something from you, but we're not going to tell you what it is, until we need it! Huhuhuhuahahahaha! Church: No way! I'm not agreeing to something without knowing what it is! O'Malley: Huhuhuhuhuhuh Oh yes you will. You will or your little friend Tucker will die, die a most horrible death. And you know his blood will be on your hands. Years from now, you'll drive yourself mad wondering if there was anything you could have done to save him, so you will agree to what I want. You will agree even though what I want is something mysterious, what I want is something frightening, what I want is something PUUUUUUUUUURE EEEEEEEEEEVIL, AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!

• Every vilain in Stupid Mario Brothers is this especially The Darkness.
• Dark Chaos in Chaos Storm displays this on a regular basis. Being Stupid Evil, his hammy lines aren't taken too seriously.

Dark Chaos: Dark Chaos? My power has become far greater than you can imagine. I am Dark Mayhem now! Chris: A nut by any other name is just as lame.

• Pathetic from the french Kingdom Heart saga mp3 parody Kingdom Paf is basically the incarnation of this trope. She acts hammy even when washing her hands, preparing her lunch or playing video games.

Western Animation

• Most Disney TV animated villians.
  • Magica DeSpell in DuckTales. She gets so carried away.
  • Prof. Norton Nimnul in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers.
  • Don Karnage in Tale Spin
  • Darkwing Duck's Evil Twin Negaduck.
  • Zurg, the Card Carrying Evil Emperor from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
  • Pretty much every Kim Possible villain except for Shego (the Deadpan Snarker and Only Sane Woman).
  • Dark Lord Chuckles the Silly Piggy from Dave the Barbarian, literally and figuratively.
  • Dr. Doofenshmirtz of Phineas and Ferb.
  • Bill Cipher of Gravity Falls introduces himself when Gideon summons him via evil cackling, presenting his summoner with a deer's teeth, and proudly agreeing when the young "psychic" declares him to be insane. And that's only the beginning. Probably his weirdest entrance was when he played the piano...
• The Disney Animated Canon villains are even hammier.
  • The Evil Queen from Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs, especially after magically disguising herself as an elderly woman.
  • Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, a name that just screams "ham".
  • The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. Off with their heads!
  • Captain Hook from Peter Pan.
  • Cruella de Vil in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, who also got a live-action version, with Glenn Close clearly enjoying herself.
  • Shere Khan from The Jungle Book.
  • Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective.
  • Ursula from The Little Mermaid.
  • Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. Forte (voiced by Tim Curry) in the sequel as well.
    • No one hams like Gaston, no one jams like Gaston, no one kicks it at poetry slams like Gaston! ("I'm especially good at ges-TIC-u-LATING!") Man, what a ham, that Gaston!
  • Jafar from Aladdin.
  • Scar from The Lion King. Zira in the sequel, too.
  • Hades, the car salesman from Hell, from Hercules.
  • Clayton from Tarzan, voiced by the one and only Brian Blessed!
  • Yzma from The Emperors New Groove.
  • The EEVIL GEN-EE-OUS Jumba from Lilo and Stitch.
  • Doctor Facilier from The Princess and the Frog. ARE YOU READY?!
• Aku from Samurai Jack.
• Plankton from SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Megatron of Beast Wars. His suave megalomania and much-loved Verbal Tic made him very popular among the fans, yeeeessssss...
  • For that matter, all the other Megatrons in the various Transformers series, as well as the various incarnations of Starscream. Not usually as distinctive due to a lack of verbal tics, but nevertheless tending towards dramatic speeches, bombastic tones, and a flair for impressive presentation.
  • Transformers Animated Starscream is the best at it. "YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"
• Admiral Zhao and Fire Lord Ozai of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azula too sometimes.
• Resident Villain Tobe on Pucca. Taken to insanely OTT levels in the Spanish dub.
• Dr. Ivo Robotnik from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. "Moments from now, I will wreak a terrible vengence on this town! NO ONE WILL BE SPARED! NO ONE!
  • To say nothing of Sideshow Bob.
• From Teen Titans, Brother Blood, Trigon and a lot of the minor villains (notably Mumbo, Mad Mod, Killer Moth, and Dr. Light) are all rather hammy. Averted with the show's main Big Bad, Slade, however, who almost never varies his voice from a very Creepy Monotone, and the Brain, season five's Big Bad, who speaks through a voice synthesizer and really can't ham.
  • While The Brain can't ham, Monsieur Mallah, his talking gorilla assistant does a pretty good job of it.
• Gargoyles covers the whole spectrum:
  • Xanatos and his wife Fox are always very calm and poised, and their Battle Butler Owen is absolutely (and deliberately) wooden.
  • Demona can range from dangerously understated to completely hammy depending on her mood, as can Thailog. Sevarius loves to ham it up when he's got an audience, but is calmer and more businesslike otherwise.
  • On the far end of the spectrum you've got the Archmage, Oberon, and most of the Pack, who are absolutely and continually hammy.
• Done intentionally in the Dreamworks animated film Megamind. The title character even believes that supervillainy isn't just about villainy, it's about PRESENTATION!!!!
• When he gets on a roll, The Monarch from The Venture Brothers is the pinnacle of this trope.
• El Supremo from obscure British animated film Freddie as FRO 7 takes this Up to Eleven. Being voiced by Brian Blessed doesn't hurt either. Check it out starting at 6:15.
• Zim from Invader Zim.
• Father from Codename: Kids Next Door. What scenery he does not burn, he chews with abandon.
• Crocker from The Fairly OddParents is one of the best examples of this trope. The fact that he spasms every time he says "FAIRY GODPARENTS!" means that being hammy is a part of his nature.
• Most Care Bears villains.
• A number of villains in The Spectacular Spider-Man
  • Especially in the appearances after his first, Doctor Octopus becomes a cunning Card-Carrying Villain down to having an Evil Genius coffee mug, and accordingly, becomes immensely hammy ("TREACHERY!!!" anyone?).
  • Electro has a Hair-Trigger Temper on account of his Power Incontinence and can instantly be prompted into a violent rampage by anyone calling him Max (his name before transformation). On some level, he's kind of amusing, but it's also pretty distrubing given his clear Sanity Slippage.
  • Green Goblin is a highly amusing Faux Affably Evil ham who seems to be Steve Blum's homage to the Joker from Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Mysterio seems to have walked out of the Silver Age, having an immensely hammy Evil Sorceror persona, talking in a Fake Brit accent and throwing around Gratuitious Latin. As with the Goblin, Mysterio interestingly isn't all that hammy in his civilian identity. In Mysterio's case, he's partly Doing It for the Art, and for both, it's a combination of a supervillain perk and to hide how dangerous and cunning they actually are.
• On G.I. Joe we have Cobra Commander, coupled with his having No Indoor Voice. Then there's also Destro, The Baroness, Tomax and Xamot... Why don't we save time and say that being a Large Ham is pretty much a requirement in order to move up in the ranks of COBRA.
• Nightmare Moon, Discord and Queen Chrysalis, all three from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
  • While more jerkish than evil, the Great and Powerful Trixie is also a very Large Ham.
  • Hammy Pony Villains go back to the original G1 pilot with Tirek. "Behold the Rainbow of DARKNESS!! Bring forth The Night That Never Ends!!!"
• Mumm-ra the EEEEVEEEERRR-LIIIIVVVIIIING! of Thundercats and ThunderCats (2011)
• Mojo Jojo of The Powerpuff Girls.
• Lots of Danny Phantom villains are hammy: Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, Undergrowth, and even Vlad Plasmius all have their moments. But the prize for largest ham goes to Technus, self-proclaimed "Master of Long-Winded Introductions."
• Maximus I.Q. from Atomic Betty.

Other/Real Life

• Many modern day depictions of Adolf Hitler. It helps that any film of his speeches shows he was quite hammy in public appearances.
• Many a tinpot dictator. It's almost like it's a job requirement. (Well, if you're megalomaniacal enough to take over.) Examples include:
  • Depictions of Saddam Hussein: Animaniacs, South Park and maybe Deadliest Warrior.
  • Idi Amin, whose full title is "His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda".
  • Muammar Gaddafi, especially during the Libyan uprising/civil war, and during his last days.
• "Evil" is probably going too far, but it's worth noting that test audiences for Good Night and Good Luck complained that the actor playing Senator Joe McCarthy of the House Un-American Activities was really overdoing it. It was, of course, archive footage of the man himself.