"Would you play a couple of slow numbers so I can dance?"
May 16, 2020 3:32 PM Subscribe
Actor Fred Willard has died of natural causes at the age of 86. His lengthy career included an extensive mockumentary run through roles such as the base colonel in This Is Spinal Tap, Buck Laughlin in Best in Show, Mike LaFontaine in A Mighty Wind, Chuck Porter in For Your Consideration, Ron Albertson in Waiting for Guffman. But he also occupied a whole host of other film and TV roles over the years. Willard on "Real People" from his three-and-a-half hour Television Academy Foundation archive interview.
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posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 3:35 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Old Kentucky Shark at 3:35 PM on May 16, 2020
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posted by Bob Regular at 3:40 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Bob Regular at 3:40 PM on May 16, 2020
And, tying in with another post on the Blue, Fred Willard introduced DEVO on SNL back in 1978
posted by SansPoint at 3:53 PM on May 16, 2020 [20 favorites]
posted by SansPoint at 3:53 PM on May 16, 2020 [20 favorites]
Oh, man. One of the most affably funny guys in the business.
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posted by Thorzdad at 3:58 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Thorzdad at 3:58 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Token Meme at 3:58 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Token Meme at 3:58 PM on May 16, 2020
Wha’ happened??
posted by skewed at 3:59 PM on May 16, 2020 [35 favorites]
posted by skewed at 3:59 PM on May 16, 2020 [35 favorites]
Oh, to be clear, that’s a line of his in A Mighty Wind, not an actual inquiry. Super funny guy.
posted by skewed at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by skewed at 4:01 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
He was born in 19 mubletysomething, and died at humdidymumble years old
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posted by not_on_display at 4:08 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by not_on_display at 4:08 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
In maybe the only really bad timing of his entire career, he is in the upcoming Netflix series Space Force, having starred in a pilot of the same name back in 1978. He was just one of these guys who's been around forever as kind of a perennial utility player in comedy (although not exclusively; he was in the Salem's Lot miniseries); the last thing that I saw him in was as (I think) the only live-action character in WALL-E.
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posted by Halloween Jack at 4:15 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by Halloween Jack at 4:15 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
311 roles since 1966. Just imagine having something you’re in come out every two months on average for 54 years.
posted by Etrigan at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [18 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [18 favorites]
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I loved all his performances, but the first time I watched Waiting for Guffman was the hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life. The little snap snap hand gesture he and Catherine O’Hara do before “Midnight at the Oasis”...I always rewind and watch it twice.
posted by sallybrown at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [6 favorites]
I loved all his performances, but the first time I watched Waiting for Guffman was the hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life. The little snap snap hand gesture he and Catherine O’Hara do before “Midnight at the Oasis”...I always rewind and watch it twice.
posted by sallybrown at 4:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [6 favorites]
A really nice interview on WTF podcast.
I loved how he often portrayed a comically easy going and sincere square. Always a delight to see him, the kind of character who can cause me to chuckle just by seeing him pop up on the large or small screen, even before any dialog, with that kind of oblivious, yet earnest, get-down-to-business smile.
RIP
posted by 2N2222 at 4:31 PM on May 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
I loved how he often portrayed a comically easy going and sincere square. Always a delight to see him, the kind of character who can cause me to chuckle just by seeing him pop up on the large or small screen, even before any dialog, with that kind of oblivious, yet earnest, get-down-to-business smile.
RIP
posted by 2N2222 at 4:31 PM on May 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
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posted by dragstroke at 4:38 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by dragstroke at 4:38 PM on May 16, 2020
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I thought it was impossible for anybody to play 'sidekick' to Martin Mull... I was wrong.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:45 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
I thought it was impossible for anybody to play 'sidekick' to Martin Mull... I was wrong.
posted by oneswellfoop at 4:45 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
EIGHTY-SIX?!?!?
I vaguely remember him firstly from Fernwood 2Night. I would've been 8 or so. I don't even remember what he said or did to make me laugh the first time, but ever since, if he popped up onscreen, I knew I was going to laugh.
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posted by droplet at 4:54 PM on May 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
I vaguely remember him firstly from Fernwood 2Night. I would've been 8 or so. I don't even remember what he said or did to make me laugh the first time, but ever since, if he popped up onscreen, I knew I was going to laugh.
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posted by droplet at 4:54 PM on May 16, 2020 [8 favorites]
We were just talking this week about the mayonnaise in History of White People in America.
I think I first saw him in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
posted by MtDewd at 5:04 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
I think I first saw him in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
posted by MtDewd at 5:04 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by Frayed Knot at 5:23 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Frayed Knot at 5:23 PM on May 16, 2020
He's just always been there. I don't know what to make of a world without Fred Willard.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:32 PM on May 16, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:32 PM on May 16, 2020 [12 favorites]
And I considered his casting in Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert's Father In Law (along with Georgia Engel as the Mother In Law) was potentially a game-changer, turning it from "everybody argues with everybody" to "just weird family", and I wish the intended Robert-based spin-off had become a reality.
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:35 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:35 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
The first role I thought of when I heard was Andy Daly's estranged father-in-law in Review. In a bid to get his wife to take him back, Andy goes into debt to give Fred his life-long dream: a private space flight. But Fred dies on the trip and his corpse floats around the cabin ceiling the whole time. Funnier as a floating corpse than most actors are alive.
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posted by Beardman at 5:36 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by Beardman at 5:36 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:51 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:51 PM on May 16, 2020
Alway liked his persona. Disappointed by his Peewee Herman arrest, but OK. 86? Holy shit, I'm getting old. Can't think of a role he wasn't perfect in...
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posted by Windopaene at 6:03 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Windopaene at 6:03 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Always such a straight man, I don't remember him breaking on screen. That suspiciously wide smile was backed up with those great eyes...
Thanks for the laughs, sir.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:06 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
Thanks for the laughs, sir.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:06 PM on May 16, 2020 [1 favorite]
So odd but also appropriate. We were watching a fairly heavy Herzog film this afternoon and afterwards we decided we needed a bit of a palate cleanser, so I threw on Best in Show. And then an hour later, this news flew by my timeline. Kind of wonderful way to remember him and his lovely good natured humour.
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posted by Fizz at 7:08 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by Fizz at 7:08 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
I always suspected that to play the “square” role so effectively, he must have been cool AF.
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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:16 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:16 PM on May 16, 2020 [5 favorites]
Always a highlight in anything he appeared in, outrageously funny mofo.
RIP
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posted by dbiedny at 7:23 PM on May 16, 2020
RIP
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posted by dbiedny at 7:23 PM on May 16, 2020
This segment if Fernwood 2 Night with Tom Waits is just so perfect.
posted by octothorpe at 7:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 7:27 PM on May 16, 2020 [7 favorites]
I'd like to know more about why he went to military school (both high school and college) and how it influenced him, especially in his portrayal of earnest but clueless squares. He was born to play newscasters.
posted by carmicha at 8:07 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by carmicha at 8:07 PM on May 16, 2020 [3 favorites]
He improved everything he was in.
I remember when he was the first host/colour commentator for Market Warriors, a reality teevee show about competitive antiquing (shut up, it was great). It was a pretty straightforward show, and he added this deeply subversive, mocking tone to the whole thing, which was actually a bit jarring, but it's Fred Willard, so OK. Anyway, at one point, he said something which jolted me, I forget what. "Whoa, Fred!" Even for Fred, it was pretty biting. And that was the last of Fred on Market Warriors.
It all just fed the idea that he was unstoppable. He was a machine that couldn't be turned off.
Godspeed, Fred.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:13 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
I remember when he was the first host/colour commentator for Market Warriors, a reality teevee show about competitive antiquing (shut up, it was great). It was a pretty straightforward show, and he added this deeply subversive, mocking tone to the whole thing, which was actually a bit jarring, but it's Fred Willard, so OK. Anyway, at one point, he said something which jolted me, I forget what. "Whoa, Fred!" Even for Fred, it was pretty biting. And that was the last of Fred on Market Warriors.
It all just fed the idea that he was unstoppable. He was a machine that couldn't be turned off.
Godspeed, Fred.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:13 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by j_curiouser at 8:32 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by j_curiouser at 8:32 PM on May 16, 2020
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posted by Going To Maine at 8:55 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Going To Maine at 8:55 PM on May 16, 2020
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posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:31 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:31 PM on May 16, 2020
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posted by Knowyournuts at 9:33 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by Knowyournuts at 9:33 PM on May 16, 2020
Capt. Renault. His lewd conduct arrest came right before PBS fired him. Probably why, more than what he said on the show.
posted by Windopaene at 9:36 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Windopaene at 9:36 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
Now tell me, which one of these dogs would you want to have as your wide receiver on your football team?
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posted by Chrysostom at 9:40 PM on May 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
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posted by Chrysostom at 9:40 PM on May 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
🐩
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:50 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:50 PM on May 16, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by JoeXIII007 at 10:39 PM on May 16, 2020
posted by JoeXIII007 at 10:39 PM on May 16, 2020
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Fred participated in this classic prop gag on Fernwood 2 Night that I've never forgotten. They were way ahead of the curve in 1977 with this demonstration of a "Battery Powered Car" [3:36-7:45].
posted by fairmettle at 11:57 PM on May 16, 2020
Fred participated in this classic prop gag on Fernwood 2 Night that I've never forgotten. They were way ahead of the curve in 1977 with this demonstration of a "Battery Powered Car" [3:36-7:45].
posted by fairmettle at 11:57 PM on May 16, 2020
Fernwood 2 Night 4 Ever!
Jerry Hubbard is one of television's ten or twenty greatest characters.
posted by philip-random at 12:29 AM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I know you might not be able to get to Kansas City right now, but in honour of Fred, if you want to hear some good music, you might want to drop by Four Jacks and a Jill.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:37 AM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:37 AM on May 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by haiku warrior at 4:16 AM on May 17, 2020
posted by haiku warrior at 4:16 AM on May 17, 2020
I haven't watch subsequent episodes (I see they're up to 4) but he did a great turn in the inaugural episode of the Second City's The Last Show Left on Earth.
posted by emelenjr at 4:33 AM on May 17, 2020
posted by emelenjr at 4:33 AM on May 17, 2020
I always figured his lines in Best in Show couldn't really have been scripted -- I imagined the director just saying, Fred, be hilariously disgusting, and he'd take it from there.
posted by JanetLand at 6:22 AM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 6:22 AM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
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He was fairly recently in a I Think you should leave sketch and as usual he was perfect.
posted by SageLeVoid at 6:53 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
He was fairly recently in a I Think you should leave sketch and as usual he was perfect.
posted by SageLeVoid at 6:53 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
His interview with Fernwood's own Happy Kyne of the Mirth Makers, in fact Frank Devol, a serious musician in his own right. Good stuff.
posted by BWA at 7:44 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by BWA at 7:44 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
"We are such fans of your music and all of your records... I'm not speaking of yours personally, but the whole genre of rock and roll..."
RIP
posted by Ber at 7:48 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
RIP
posted by Ber at 7:48 AM on May 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was lucky enough to work with him on a radio ad about a decade ago, and he was just the sweetest, kindest man. I had written the spot with a character like him in mind, and when we started to do casting, I made a huge play to the client about how maybe we could even get Willard himself. It was a crazy long shot because they weren't big spenders, so I suspect we were able to get him for at or just above scale. It was over a remote session, so I didn't get the chance to meet him in person, but I still managed to fangirl uncomfortably at least twice at the start and end of the session.
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posted by Mchelly at 8:25 AM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
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posted by Mchelly at 8:25 AM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
Lt and not Col in Spinal tap.
posted by davebarnes at 9:17 AM on May 17, 2020
posted by davebarnes at 9:17 AM on May 17, 2020
I used to love Real People when I was 9 or 10 and that was my first exposure to Willard. The show looks really corny now, but at the time it was so revolutionary and really changed television. Up 'til then, TV was so scripted and so invested in maintaining the Hollywood illusion. Real People was the first show I can remember that broke through that and portrayed, without distortion or mockery or editorializing, the characters I recognized from my own real life, in all their absurdity but also honoring their stories and perspectives. I can't imagine a Garrison Keillor or a Walter Cronkite or a Bill Cosby pulling that kind of thing off the way Fred Willard did. He was your silly but generally stable and smart uncle giving a voice to a lot of the weirdos that make up America but you never see (certainly back in 1979) in popular media. It's like he'd point the microphone at someone because they seemed offbeat enough to be interesting and as they talked, despite making you cringe, they were interesting. In so doing, he declared his affiliation and said, you know what, we are all interesting weirdos and not what social norms want us to be; we all deserve empathy. And that is funny.
I think this attitude informed every character of his that we love. His comedy was definitely cringe comedy, but it was never mean spirited. As the colonel on the military base, he's funny because he didn't book Spinal Tap and knows nothing about heavy metal but he's good natured trying to manage the morale of his base and going out of his way to be congenial and make the band feel welcome despite the fact that the clash of worlds would make this impossible. In WALL*E, the world is literally ending and he is trying to calm the Axiom with the best plan possible which is literally no plan because what else are you going to do?
He was so productive and ubiquitous he clearly found something he loved doing and made his permanent mark doing it.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:29 AM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
I think this attitude informed every character of his that we love. His comedy was definitely cringe comedy, but it was never mean spirited. As the colonel on the military base, he's funny because he didn't book Spinal Tap and knows nothing about heavy metal but he's good natured trying to manage the morale of his base and going out of his way to be congenial and make the band feel welcome despite the fact that the clash of worlds would make this impossible. In WALL*E, the world is literally ending and he is trying to calm the Axiom with the best plan possible which is literally no plan because what else are you going to do?
He was so productive and ubiquitous he clearly found something he loved doing and made his permanent mark doing it.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:29 AM on May 17, 2020 [11 favorites]
We were just talking this week about the mayonnaise in History of White People in America
The History of White People in America II (1986) Martin Mull Fred Willard
posted by philip-random at 10:32 AM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
The History of White People in America II (1986) Martin Mull Fred Willard
posted by philip-random at 10:32 AM on May 17, 2020 [4 favorites]
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Was just listening to him on an old Wits Radio Hour- I’ll miss him.
posted by actionpact at 12:09 PM on May 17, 2020
Was just listening to him on an old Wits Radio Hour- I’ll miss him.
posted by actionpact at 12:09 PM on May 17, 2020
I always figured his lines in Best in Show couldn't really have been scripted -- I imagined the director just saying, Fred, be hilariously disgusting, and he'd take it from there.
That's how Christopher Guest works, yeah. He tells the actors what the scene needs to accomplish story-wise, but they improv the dialogue.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:17 PM on May 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
That's how Christopher Guest works, yeah. He tells the actors what the scene needs to accomplish story-wise, but they improv the dialogue.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:17 PM on May 17, 2020 [3 favorites]
It's awesome that although one might not immediately think of Fred Willard as a guy who appeared in a Tobe Hooper-directed horror film, there he was in Salem's Lot.
(If memory serves me correctly, he's killed by a vampire while wearing a pair of red briefs.)
posted by Gelatin at 8:55 AM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
(If memory serves me correctly, he's killed by a vampire while wearing a pair of red briefs.)
posted by Gelatin at 8:55 AM on May 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 5:29 PM on May 18, 2020
posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 5:29 PM on May 18, 2020
New Yorker: No One Had Instincts Like Fred Willard
posted by Chrysostom at 11:20 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 11:20 PM on May 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
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posted by Don.Kinsayder at 3:34 PM on May 16, 2020