Happy Birthday Shaquille O’Neal! The Diesel’s 5 Funniest Moments

Shaquille O’Neal‘s been killing the comedy routine for a minute, whether it was dancing with the Jabbawockeez, swearing on live TV or even dressing up on Halloween and singing like Beyonce.

O’Neal will always have a special spot in the Dime family, mostly because he was a part of one of our favorite covers ever, “The Godfather Issue.” When he retired this summer, we re-ran the interview, “A Sit-Down With The Last Don,” and artwork in its entirety.

He’s done hilarious commercials, movies that were supposed to be funny but weren’t and then inevitability became funny just for that reason, and now he’s trying to make the most comical NBA show even better. Here are five of his funniest moments yet…

5. Shaq One-Ups JaVale McGee
I feel bad for McGee. Everyone is out to get him. He can run the wrong way in a game, sprint down to the other end of the court like a frolicking camel while Shaq can do basically the same thing, and hardly anyone remembers it. Steve Nash with another great assist here. If it wasn’t for Nashty, O’Neal might’ve completed his trot back on defense and this video would be two or three spots higher.

4. Shaq Plays Scrabble
The Diesel, with his incredible vocabulary and voracious appetite for new words that include the name “Shaq,” was always a Scrabble natural. Me? Not so much. I tend to stick with words like “name” and “run” and “food.” I’m sure Stuart Scott and Mike Breen were feeling pretty good being swindled on their own bus as O’Neal pulled out Q after Q, running up the score like this was a Harvard grad going against Billy Madison. It would take a genius to be able to decipher some of the words O’Neal was putting down. My favorites were these two: “Shaqalici” and “Shaqzilsa.”

3. Shaq’s Kazaam Entrance
There are certain moments in life you’ll never forget. The first time you drove a car. Your first dunk. The day you graduated from school. Seeing Kazaam didn’t quite reach that level; I don’t remember where I was or why I watched it. But I know I saw it only once. I also don’t remember anything about the movie outside of that ridiculously annoying kid, and Shaq’s initial entrance.

It’s not every day you see a seven-foot genie that raps in a Jamaican accent and crushes Pepsi bottles on the regular.

2. Shaq in Scary Movie 4
The first time I saw this, I nearly died at the beginning when the voice came on through the darkness and Shaq goes, “Kobe?” This was a step up from Kazaam for Shaq. Much more drama and intrigue. The Scary Movies were serious business. They weren’t any kiddy games with genies and three wishes.

1. Shaq On TNT
People complain on Twitter every night about Shaq’s performance so far with the TNT gang. Most of them want him replaced. Why? He’s some of the best comedy on the show. From the time he claimed Ricky Rubio was the “Italian Magician” to “yak yak” to all the awkward moments when the guys expect him to go off and he instead comes back with a five-word cliche, Shaq is must-see entertainment. No one moment sticks out above the rest. The only way to give his short time as a talking head justice is to run a reel of his greatest hits.

My favorite has to be when he goes to take the last shot of 2011, and someone dressed up as Chris Bosh pushes over the Christmas tree behind the Diesel, knocking him on his ass.

What are your top five favorite Shaq moments?

Follow Sean on Twitter at @SEANesweeney.

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×