Getting those parts in the Christopher Guest movies was the second biggest helper to my career after 'Fernwood.'
— Fred Willard
I just look back, and I say, you know, Christopher Guest just raised my whole career to another level.
I'll go in a minute to see a sketch show.
Some of the Christopher Guest movies, when I'm not really like myself, when I have my hair dyed blonde or had a faux-hawk haircut. Those I like to watch because it takes you away from your real self.
I first became interested in 'great moments' when I read about the famous Feller-to-Boudreau pickoff play in the 1948 World series.
When you think about accountants, who would want to be an accountant? But, what would we do without accountants? Whether it's soldiers or garbage men or doctors, everyone has the thing that they love.
Let me say this: I have said, any time, if it's Martin Mull, I will say yes. If it's Christopher Guest, I will say yes.
Tobe Hooper - he did my favorite horror movie, 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre.' It's still one of my favorite horror films.
The 'Tim And Eric' experience was very strange.
My first improv was Second City in Chicago. Before that, I worked at - with a partner, doing comedy sketches.
I did a show called 'Lois & Clark' - it was about Superman - years ago. They wanted someone to play the president of the United States. The plot was the president got kidnapped by a group, and they made a clone of him, who was very irresponsible and silly.
I don't know why my lines that were cut from the film didn't make it onto the DVD. I have offered to go into the editing room with Christopher and work shoulder to shoulder with him to fit all my lines in. I think he thinks I'm kidding. I'm only trying to help.
Someone I've always admired is Catherine O'Hara... I think she's one of the best actresses in the country, not only comedy. I just think she's just a step aside from everybody, she's just wonderful.
Suddenly you're like a pirate, you're 65 years old and you've got an earring.
I've been in a lot of shows, I will say that. Every once in a while, I'll look at a tape of something I've done, and I won't even remember having done it.
I had just done a movie called 'How to Beat the High Cost of Living,' and it didn't get a good review. And the same people sent me the script for 'Airplane!' for the Robert Hays part. I read it, and there were a lot of plays on words, and I said, 'I don't like this kind of comedy.'
I love sketch; it's my favorite form. But if it's all improv, they're either very good, and it's annoying how good they are, and it makes you feel bad, or they're not too good; then you're sweating for them.
One of the first shows I ever did was 'Laverne & Shirley.' I played this sleazy guy that came into town with a friend and was going to date Laverne and Shirley, but we really wanted to get into the bowling alley because it was next to the bank we wanted to rob.
All America is familiar with the Yankee-Dodger-Giant trivia, but so many other teams had great moments.
I guess if you're a professional mascot, you're doing it for the money, but a college mascot just wants to be out there.
I never got any advice in acting.
That's always a funny thing, when people think they're known for every little thing they ever did, and they're really not.
There's different kinds of improv. There's Second City improv where you try to slowly build a nice sketch. There's stuff you do in college coffee houses where you just go joke, joke, joke. Bring another funny character with a funny hat on his head. Christopher Guest is more the line of trying to get a story out.
I guess it's from going to Virginia Military Institute. I'm a good person to follow orders.
I never think I'm old enough to play someone's dad, even though I have a daughter of my own and a grandson.
Cleveland is my hometown, and the Indians have a narrow but rich history.
It's such a pleasure to work in these movies, it's almost like it's not really happening.
I think my wife saw a picture of the rock group Journey, and they're kind of aging, and the one guy had dyed blonde hair with black roots, and... my idea was to get a little earring, I wanted to have a dangling earring.
People still quote my lines from 'Best in Show.'
It's not a bad typecast: the goofy guy.
I think if you have a funny thought, and you want to get off a funny point, try to do it as realistically as you can. If you try to act it funny and accent the funny points, or do it in a funny style, you kind of lose it.
I still think 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' was what they call one of those watershed movies. That and 'The Exorcist' and 'Psycho' were just landmarks for those horror films.
Bob Balaban is so perfect that the first movie I did with him, I couldn't talk to him because I was so intimidated by him.
If you're a cheerleader, people see you. If you're a mascot, you're just helping out.
If I have to play an obnoxious character, try to find a redeeming feature of him. The most obnoxious people in the world were people, and they had had a reason for doing what they did. So you try to find that and let the obnoxiousness come out.
Christopher Guest, he'll call and say, 'We're doing this movie, and I'd like you to play _' and he gives you the character, then I always like to enlarge on the character.
It scared me to death to think about improv, but I got hired for a year at Second City in Chicago, which made me nervous, but I found I could improvise. Then I was in a group called the Ace Trucking Company, which we'd do, like, a half hour set of material, then open up for improvisation.
God bless Chris Guest... and I mean it sincerely.
I once was in a project. They were going to do a remake. Somebody started a rumor I wanted more money. I said, 'This is ridiculous. I'd kill for this project!'
I just admire everybody and sit in awe and watch them.
It's more fun in a way to do ensemble scenes, where you know your background, you know the scene, but you can't prepare because someone else is going to say something that is going to lead you off.
I've found over the years that for some reason, people either are big fans and have to use me, or they don't quite understand what I'm doing.
