The world feels a little emptier since last week when it was announced that Fred Willard had passed away at the age of 86. Whether or not you realized it, he was everywhere throughout the past 40 years, servicing as one of the greatest comedic character actors of his generation. To see him show up in a scene is to witness someone who can pop up for a few minutes at a time and make things even crazier.
He had this gift of deadpan humor where his confidence was only outdone by the fact that he maybe wasn’t the genius that he thought that he was. Willard was capable of improvising with the best of them, managing to find the humanity in every archetype imaginable. That may be why he was willing to star in just about anything, leaving behind a warmth that briefly made bad movies tolerable and good movies great. Even if you didn’t know his name, you recognized his name and voice.
That is why I decided to dedicate this week’s Top 5 to exploring his rich filmography. While it was difficult to not just make this a bunch of Christopher Guest movies, it’s telling that he was the director who brought out the best in him throughout collaborations lasting over 20 years. Then again, he was one of the few who allowed him to be equal part ridiculous and deeply rooted in a vulnerable emotional state. He understood how to use Willard better than just about anyone.
I’ll admit that this is a tough order and one that comes with few right answers. Everyone’s taste in film is different, and the fact that most of his highlighted work here came from the early 2000s should speak to where my taste in comedy came from. Even then, he never was a disappointment, and I was always happy to see him show up. It felt like he would always be there, and to know that comedy has to continue without him is tough to grasp.
1. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
If you talk to anyone from my generation, they’re likely to talk about how inescapable Anchorman was. The film was a quote-machine, coming at the peak of Will Ferrell’s hold on Hollywood comedy. Every now and then you can still see Ron Burgundy somewhere in media, bringing the news anchor to life with his wacky and eccentric personality (he even has a podcast now). It’s a showcase for almost every great comedic actor that will dominate the next 15 years. It’s a film so ripe with memorable moments and dialogue that you’d be forgiven for breaking out into a line unprovoked nowadays. You stay classy, San Diego.
The film is a masterpiece in mixing scripted comedy with improvisation, and a lot of the credit can be given to Willard’s performance as Ron’s boss. As the figure who’s supposed to be in control of the entire news organization, he barely seems like he has his life in control. Every time that he walks into a frame, he’s got some other mishap going on that will raise eyebrows. His son is a madman, but he needs to hang up that call from the school to deal with Ron’s spiraling out of control. He needs to convince Ron that diversity isn’t “an old wooden ship.”
This can qualify as the perfect showcase for just about every actor in the cast. However, it perfectly embodied what made Willard an essential voice in comedy. He was the right level of seriousness, managing to have authority even as you questioned his judgment on every decision. You wondered how San Diego’s news resources didn’t just blow up from a minor act of incompetence. It may not be his most dynamic character, but it’s difficult to think of a performance that feels as hilarious and in tune with the film as this one. It’s almost impossible.
2. A Mighty Wind (2000)
This Christopher Guest movie is secretly his most depressing, reflecting the life of folk artists as their personal lives are spiraling out of control. Eugene Levy’s character especially suffers from depression and anxiety, having trouble wanting to perform. Everyone is damaged, and it rarely is played for cruel comedy. Any joke about a character’s ego comes from a delusion that they’re past their prime, no longer capable of being the exciting center of attention that they so sorely want to be.
It’s also arguably the moment where Willard gave his single most memorable line of dialogue: “Wha happun?” Much like the supporting cast, he is a character who is past his prime and is eagerly trying to find ways to regain some glory. During one painful scene, he recalls his time on a sitcom where crazy situations would happen and his whole shtick was to say “Wha happun?” It’s a moment so memorable that it’s equal part sad that this is what his career is reduced to, but also gave him a catchphrase that has withstood the rest of Willard’s career. No matter how much funnier he would be, that line became his calling card.
This isn’t to say that the rest of the performance lacked any substance. It’s one of his most painstaking and honest, managing to capture someone trying to live a late-career dream and finding the roadblocks to be daunting. His ego won’t let him admit defeat, and it comes in equal stretches of funny and sad. He may never be more than a catchphrase, but we can’t help but love watching him try to reach that point.
3. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
If you ever had to only see one Christopher Guest movie (as director), then this would be your perfect spot. It’s one of those films that helped to make him the master of the mockumentary genre, allowing his actors to improvise through every scene while using these elements to shape characters and make them more compelling. It’s best remembered as the film that gave the world Corky St. Claire, but the rest of it is deserving of some deeper recognition, finding a comedic troupe capable of finding a grounded sensibility to the absurd sensibility.
It’s a story about a local theater troupe trying to put on a show, and it gets into a clashing of egos as everyone tries to dominate the production. Everyone in the ensemble is worthy of recognition here, though it’s interesting to see Willard in the mix. His ability to keep the cast on their toes, making everything less convenient in the process, he has established himself as a force that can enter a scene and make it better. Few people understood this better than Guest, and this is where everything about the cult of Willard began to make perfect sense.
4. Best in Show (2000)
Upon his passing, the film mentioned most in the headline was this film that satirized the behavior of people who entered dog competitions. If you’ve ever left the TV on during Thanksgiving Day after the parade is over, you’re likely familiar with this kennel tradition. Guest clearly had an affection for the ego of these people, managing to make everyone’s personalities shining through their well-groomed dogs.
Say what you will about these sequences where people have feuds while preparing their dogs for competition, but audiences will likely remember the choice to have Willard as an announcer. A fan favorite for Guest, the decision to let him play a dimwit who barely understood what he was announcing presented a lot of his funniest moments, creating the color commentary on dogs into an art form. It’s the deadpan approach that made you second guess why anyone would hire him for this seemingly pointless endeavor. The more that you think about it, the funnier it becomes.
5. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
One of the issues with picking best Willard performances is that they’re often in roles that amount to a fraction of the overall running time. He is by nature a supporting character, and one who is more of a minor detour than the big picture. This is a primary example of that trend, as the stoner comedy classic features him in an opening scene that is both crucial to the plot, but has Willard in an otherwise filler role as an uptight university head who is wanting to accept Kal Penn’s Kumar based on his academics, but finds more than a few things blocking him.
It’s a masterpiece of his cameo work, whether it be how he reacts to Kumar’s cluelessness and desire to answer calls about getting high during an interview (let alone with a ringtone reflective of a bong hit). Kumar’s part is so profane that on its own you’d be laughing at how he just blew a shot at a better life for this profane phone call.
However, the best part is how memorable this minutes-long performance is. Willard is a nerd, inherently white in how he sees the world as this wonderful and optimistic place. He even has a basketball team that, since they’re full of science majors, is called the “Hemoglobin Trotters” (get it?). Something about the way he seems proud of this detail is infectious and evidence of how he straddled the line between dumb ideas and this earnestness that made it all better. By the time Kumar breaks Willard of his optimism, he is so flummoxed that he's cursing. The best part was how it felt natural, making a tired joke feel new and inspired.
Bonus: This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
On the one hand, this role is so minor that you don’t really need to care about the outcome of his character. Even then, this was one of his early breaks from the world of sketch comedy into film, managing to serve as someone leading the titular rock band onto an army base. His joy in having them perform for them is made funnier by the fact that he doesn’t seem to fully understand what their sound is. The joke is on Spinal Tap’s growing irrelevancy, and his ability to make jokes about having long hair and being mistaken for the band are simple, but reflect a humbleness that he will hone in the decades ahead.
This is arguably his first major cameo performance that left a lasting impact. In a film full of incredible cameos, this is another fun one that shows Spinal Tap on the road to trying to break even in terms of popularity. Willard doesn’t care who they are. He’s just doing their job, wanting them to be this nice little band performing for people. When he gives them a PG-Rated agenda, they agree to it only to have one of the best edits in film history. As Willard leaves, the band breaks out into “Sex Farm,” which is the perfect example of comedy one-upping itself.
I’ll admit that this list could’ve gone further and included various cameos that Willard made in TV series. I’ll always remember his memorable turns on King of the Hill, where he became one of those essential supporting actors in the later seasons. He was someone who was always there to make you laugh, and I admire that about him. Sure, sometimes you had to deal with dreck like Epic Movie (2007), but the sincerity and effort that he put into those roles deserve some credit. He never was beneath the work, always above.
Do you agree with this list? What was your favorite Fred Willard performance?
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