The Comedic Genius of Fred Willard

I mentioned last week how my wife and I have been on a Christopher Guest kick for our quarantine date movies. We have watched three the last three weeks. We watched "This is Spinal Tap", "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show". They all still hold up, they are all still very funny and they all make me want to watch his other movies.

On these re-watches, I noticed that it is Fred Willard usually being, or having one of the best parts or moments in the movie. He is only in "Spinal Tap" for one scene, but it has still stuck with me. He is the naval base guy when they play a veterans show, and he greets them. He calls them Spinal Tarp, he throws in some solid dry dad jokes and I was sitting there watching it and just laughing and laughing. It is supposed to be a forgettable role, but Willard made it great. And then in "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show", he steals each movie, at least for me. He is absolutely wonderful in both of these movies. He is, by far, in a cast filled with great humorists and comedians and improv people, the very best. In "A Mighty Wind" he is the manager of the New Main Street Singers, the cheesy Branson esque folk band, with a past in TV. He appeared on a TV show called, "Wha Happened", which according to the newspaper in the movie was "canceled due to total lack of interest". But Willard's performance makes it seem like he was a star. He was so funny, doing the "wha happened" line over and over again. And when he is talking about doing stand up and bombing, but throwing in lines that he thought worked, it was tremendous. He was a sad sack of a comedian and actor, but he had this happiness that he let wash over him all the time. He also had bleached blonde hair that he gelled up for this role, adding even more humor. I don't know if Guest asked him to do this, but I like to think it was his idea, he told no one and showed up to set the first day and rolled with it. He is so good in that movie.

Fred Willard, and I am not kidding, is Oscar worthy great in "Best in Show". He is a bumbling broadcaster for the dog show, who knows nothing about dogs. He goes off on these tangents and soliloquies, that are total nonsense, but coming from Willard, they are delivered to perfection. He is so funny. He is so memorable. He is the best thing about what I consider to be the best Christopher Guest movie. When he is talking about the dogs, then goes into questioning the co broadcaster how much he thinks he could bench in his prime, that is classic. When he calls Jane Lynch "one happy fellow", and is told that she is, in fact, a woman, hilarious. When he tells the proctologist joke, and the other broadcaster calls him out for using that last year, and he just moves on, it is majestic. Every single thing Willard does in "Best in Show" not only works, it is perfect. His portrayal of this buffoon is just perfect.

This got me thinking about some other things I have seen Willard in, and how he is pretty damn good in everything he did in his lifetime. Most recently he was on "Modern Family", and even though we stopped watching that show, I did see Willard, as Phil's dad, and he was great. He was in a sketch in one of my favorite shows from last year, "I Think You Should Leave", as an organist at a funeral, and his performance is riotous. He's the TV show manager at the news station in "Anchorman", and his cut away lines, when he is talking to the school about his kid, or his one interaction with Christina Applegate, those are some of my favorite quotable lines from that gem of a movie. He was in three episodes of "Space Force" as Steve Carrell's father who is clearly suffering from dementia, and he makes that funny. I will never, ever forget him in "Review". He was amazing as Jessica St Clair's dad, who Forrest tries to reconcile with, takes him to space, and he meets a very unfortunate and untimely death, again, played to humongous laughs.

The list for Willard goes on and on and on. IMDB has him as a credited actor in over 300 things. That is astounding. The fact that he isn't more appreciated, he barely ever comes up when people talk about all time great comedic and improv actors, is criminal. Willard is one of, if not, the best. He is always reliable. He was always funny. He never really had any outside problems, minus the being caught in an adult movie theater, but he found a way to make a joke out of that because he is a master. Fred Willard was a tremendous talent, and rewatching some of his older stuff, I have found myself missing him, and wishing I could see him in more. Willard was great, and I suggest people go and check out his work. It is a plethora of comedy classics, and he usually steals the show.

The fact is that Fred Willard was one of the all time greats. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson"

I have always really liked the comedy of Tim Robinson. He is absurd and goofy and goes for it all the time. Some times his bits work, sometimes they don't, but he goes for it 100 percent regardless. I love that. I enjoyed him when he was on "SNL", he did a great Gary Busey. I also felt like he didn't get a fair shot on the show. He could have been great. I also really, really loved the show "Detroiters". I was on board with that show from episode one. I feel like that show didn't get a fair shot. Season 2 got so much better, and I felt like that could have been a major cult hit for Comedy Central. But, they bailed too early on it, and that was a mistake. I was hoping that Robinson and Sam Richardson, I'm pretty sure they are very good friends, would get another chance. Well, Richardson still has his role on "Veep", which he crushes, and he is in a ton of movies and TV shows. He works, and works frequently.

With Robinson, I was listening to "Comedy Bang! Bang!" this week, and found out that he has a new show on Netflix. Robinson was the guest of honor, and was there to promote the show, "I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson". After listening to the pod, I immediately went to Netflix to check the show out.

As I said, I love his sense of humor, so I had high expectations. I'm 4 episodes into the first season, which has 6 episodes, and I love love love this show. It is so weird and odd and absurd and goofy and ridiculous and hilarious. I have found myself belly laughing while I watch the show. Some shows make me chuckle, giggle and I can occasionally get a little loud with my laugh. This show makes me howl. I mean, in tears from laughing so hard at what I am seeing. It is a sketch show, but it is like all the odd sketches that get cut from "SNL", which are usually my favorite. I love the stuff Kyle Mooney does for "SNL" now, but it always gets cut. That is what this show is like. Robinson has such an odd sense of humor, but for me, it works.

The show is bizarre. The sketches are absolutely ridiculous, but they work. Robinson is tremendous. Richardson shows up from time to time, and the chemistry is up front and center. People still on "SNL", like Cecily Strong and Vanessa Bayer, especially Bayer, are so good in the sketches they are in. That Bayer sketch is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Fred Willard was in a sketch I saw yesterday, and my god it reminded me of how funny he is. It's a great performance. Conner O'Malley, who was tremendous on "Detroiters", is just as good, if not better on "ITYSL". The whole "honk if you're horny" bumper sticker sketch is amazing. Also, each episode is abut 16, 17 minutes long. It is the perfect amount of time for a sketch show like this. They jump from sketch to sketch with ease, and I laugh even harder at the next one. I love it. I am a big, big fan of this show. I also like that it is on Netflix because they will not really mess with Robinson and his crew. It really seems like he has carte blanche to do the show he wants to do.

I hope this show gets multiple seasons. It seems like it will, it has gotten a great social media response, and I will be there to watch every episode. Check this show out if you like absurdist humor. It is hilarious, short and executed to perfection. It is really, really good.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is in the weird inbetween of television fandom. He does not watch crap like “The Big Bang Theory”, yet he will not start petition drives to bring back his favorite shows. That is Ty’s tv fandom.

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The Greatest Television Ever: "Undeclared"

Getting back to our debate about great TV shows, TV moments and seasons of certain shows, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite shows that only got one short, 17 episode season, but it was a phenomenal season and very memorable. The show I'm going to talk about today is "Undeclared".

"Undeclared" is one of the best, most underrated shows of all time. It was so far ahead of it's time and anyone that watched the show, and spent at least one semester in college, could relate to it 100 percent. "Undeclared" is the best representation of everyone's freshman year in college. Every topic they covered in their lone season, every college student went through one way or another. It was that relatable.

Take their pilot episode. Steven(Jay Baruchel), meets his roommates, Ron(Seth Rogen), Lloyd(Charlie Hunnam) and Marshall(Tim Sharpp) and they are stand offish at first because that's how 18 year olds act when they first meet. It doesn't help that Steven's dad, played by Loudon Wainwright, won't leave his side because he's depressed about his divorce and the fact that his son his going away to college. Steven also meets Lizzie(Carla Gallo) and he's immediately smitten. He was a nerdy high school kid that never really had any girlfriends, so he figures college is the perfect chance to change his image. He wants to be a cool guy now and he tries this on Lizzie, and it works. She sleeps with him that night, but we come to find out later that she has an older boyfriend, played by Jason Segel, that lives back home. Lizzie only slept with Steven because she was fighting with her boyfriend, and she wanted to get revenge. Steven thinks that they are now a couple, but after many conversations with his roommates, he comes to realize that he was just a pawn and that Lizzie wasn't going to leave her boyfriend. This is a great representation of all the things that could go wrong on your first day of college. Crazy stuff can happen that will forever alter your life.

We also meet Lizzie's roommate in the pilot, Rachel(Monica Keena), and she's one of the first characters I'd ever seen on TV that showed the same type of anxiety that I had when I went away to college. She was frightened, lonely and missed her high school friends and her family. I personally related to all of that. Now, Monica found ways to deal with her anxiety and her character only grew from there. I wimped out and left college after one semester.

That first episode had it all. It one hundred percent got the first day of college correct. I was hooked. Look at some of those names I mentioned too. People like Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Charlie Hunnam and Jason Segel were all still relative unknowns while on this show. Now, most of them have had very successful careers, especially Rogen and Segel.

Back to some of the themes in the episodes that epitomize freshman year of college. There's an episode where Steven decides he wants to join a fraternity and he is put through hell, only to get his revenge on the president of the frat, played by Samm Levine. This episode was great. They made Steven do some stupid, childish things that no person should be made to so, but that's what dumbass fraternity guys do. Steven gets fed up, and with the constant urging from his roommates to not even join the frat, Steven and his roommates come up with a plan to make the president of the frat do the same stupid stuff. And, after they catch him and try to force him to eat an entire jar of pickles, he relents and says that all the frat stuff is stupid and lets Steven walk with no consequences. Or, there's the episode centered around Marshall's crush on Monica. Monica is so sweet and nice, but she is oblivious to Marshall's feelings and after she finally realizes this, it's too late to tell him she just wants to be friends, Marshall is in too deep and he will always love Monica. She doesn't reciprocate the feelings, but they stay friends throughout the show's run. We could talk about any episode with Lloyd and how he is a total ladies man and the envy of his roommates, but how not every girl is receptive to his moves. He has the smooth English accent, and while it works on most ladies, there is an episode where it totally backfires and he has to lick his wounds and realize that he may not be the ladies man he has made himself out to be. The character of Lloyd is a perfect portrayal of the student that comes from overseas and thinks they are the coolest guy, but they are just like every one else in college, just trying to find their way. They also have run ins with RA's, they go to a live Adam Sandler show and then get to hang out with him and his crew afterward, they have dorm parties and they talk and deal with the good and the bad like any real life college student would.

"Undeclared" is excellent. This show also had some huge guest stars. Some were recurring, others may have been on only once or twice. I just mentioned Adam Sandler, but some other guests were Jenna Fischer as a badass sorority girl, Amy Poehler as an over sexualized RA obsessed with Lloyd, Fred Willard as a professor that's lost his love for teaching, Will Ferrell as a Ritalin dealer that also has answer keys to finals and Martin Starr as Steven's super nerdy high school best friend. This was another Judd Apatow show that Fox gave up on way too early, much like "Freaks and Geeks". Apatow had a knack for grabbing these certain moments in young kids lives and portraying them perfectly for the TV viewing public. He hasn't made many great movies lately, but I will always be thankful to him for creating "Freaks and Geeks" and, more importantly for me, "Undeclared".

If you haven't watched "Undeclared", go back and check it out. I believe it may be streaming on Netflix (ed note: It unfortunately left Netflix late last year). and it is well worth your time. You'll thank me after you watch it, I promise you that, especially if you spent at least one semester in college. It is very, very relatable and extremely well made.

I will always have a spot in my heart for the great "Undeclared".

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He left college because they had no major for podcasting, since the term and technology was yet to be invented. You must absolutely follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.