You know what really fucked with my head? Seeing House.
Tell me about it. When they started doing promos for HOUSE, I knew HL looked familiar, but I didn't quite place him, so when they mentioned his name, my head exploded. If you had told me 5 years ago that Hugh Laurie was going to be a huge network star/sex symbol as an American misanthropic junkie doctor, I don't know which part of the equation would have made me laugh harder. Not that I didn't think he had the talent; I just never would have imagined it happening in a million years.
Several years ago (pre-House), a couple of years in a row, we did these seminars at work emphasizing customer service (particularly internal customer service). They showed one of the films from John Cleese's training film company, and this one had Hugh Laurie as an officious hotel manager. I think I was one of a handful of people here who recognized him. We wouldn't be able to show it now, because everybody would be so distracted by "Is that House? He's British?" to pay any attention.