R.I.P.

RIP

Well, damn. I first took note of him as Jerry Hubbard on Fernwood 2-Night Later America 2-Night), and enjoyed his work ever since. One of those people who always seemed to be there, brightening any show he was on, and one that I expected to always be there, too. Not realistic of me, of course, but still he always struck me as that sort of performer. He will be missed.

I always enjoyed his work starting with when I watched him on Fernwood 2 Night reruns. RIP

He was also great doing bits on The Tonight Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxrStMcQYQ

RIP

A tribute to Fred Willard on the late Roger Ebert's continuing movie review site: https://www.rogerebert.com/tributes/fred-willard-1933-2020

If you and I were to make individual lists of our favorite example of comedic entertainment from the last half-century or so—television, film, stage, whatever— ...I predict that each of those lists would probably contain at least a couple of things featuring the great Fred Willard.

...[He] got his first big break in 1977 when he was cast in “Fernwood 2 Night,” a parody of low-rent talk shows... He played Jerry Hubbard, the cheerfully buffoonish sidekick to pseudo-suave host Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) and it would prove to be the first of his classic characters...

...he turned up in “Waiting for Guffman,” the first of a series of projects that he did with Christopher Guest that made beautiful use of his improv comedy skills that would include “Best in Show” (2000), “A Mighty Wind” (2003), “For Your Consideration” (2006), “Family Tree” (2013) and “Mascots” (2016). In all of these projects, he scored huge laughs but in the best of them—“Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show”—he got those laughs while quietly and effectively suggesting the essential humanity of characters as well.

...in “Best in Show,” he plays a dopey commentator at a dog show—someone who is clearly not meant to suggest Joe Garagiola in any way—and his stabs at bantering with his co-commentator, who is a dog expert, are absolutely hysterical in their cluelessness. (“And to think that in some countries, these dogs are eaten”). At one point, however, one of his comments turns out, much to his colleague’s shock, to be perfectly sensible and it slowly begins to dawn on you that maybe his character is not as dumb as he seems and is keenly aware of what goes over better.

Posthumously, he will be seen in the eagerly awaited Netflix comedy series “Space Force” as Steve Carell’s father...