Last night I watched American film actor Richard Dreyfuss on the Frank Skinner show, doing the one part above all parts he for which is most completely unsuited and most grievously miscast, himself.

I guess a lot of actors get their start desperately trying, and failing, to play themselves. There they are, aged, I don't what, four? – and they look in a mirror or something one day and say oh god, how am I supposed to do that? They work and work at the role, trying out different versions until the audience likes it.

Many of them get themselves down pat very quickly, and then go on to further triumphs in other roles, doing other people. Almost all of them arrive at a passable version of themselves eventually. But I reckon Dreyfuss has never mastered himself. As soon as he starts in doing himself, you (and by that I mean I) want to curl up in a foetal ball and jam blotting paper in your (my) ears. All those ludicrously over-pronounced syllables, and studied juvenile-isms, which get ever more embarrassing as he gets older.

When he's in movies there are directors around to say, Richard, it's too Dreyfussy, please do it again. Try to act normal. Plus, he does other people in order to find temporary escape from being himself. That's how it looks to me. (Dreyfussy. New word to describe a particular sort of bad acting.)

There are other actors like this, I think. In the past, when faced with such people, I just switched off. Now, I can talk back, by blogging.