If
you’ve never seen Waiting for Guffman, you owe it to yourself to grab
this wonderful motion picture (now available as a Warner Archive Blu-ray
release) or find it streaming somewhere, for it is such a laugh-a-minute
extravaganza that truly set in motion the so-called “mockumentaries†made by
Christopher Guest and his revolving stock company of comic actors.
It
all started, of course, with This is Spinal Tap (1984), in which Guest,
Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer (among others) presented a pseudo-documentary
about a wacky rock band. This picture was directed by Rob Reiner. It was so
well done that some people wondered why Reiner had chosen a band “no one had
heard of†to make a documentary about. The film skewered the rock world, band
politics and antics, and gave us highly quotable lines of dialogue and
memorable sequences, as well as actual songs ultimately released as a real
album.
A
decade later, Guest took the mockumentary concept and made it his own beginning
with Waiting for Guffman, which premiered at the Boston Film Festival in
1996 and was released to U.S. cinemas in early 1997. His stock company in this
case included Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Parker Posey, Bob
Balaban, Michael Hitchcock, Larry Miller, and others. Even Michael McKean and
Harry Shearer show up in the credits—as co-composers with Guest of the original
songs performed in the picture (so, in effect, one could say that Spinal Tap
wrote the score for Waiting for Guffman).
Guffman
uses
the documentary approach to what it’s like to be in a small-town community
theatre. The 150th-anniversary celebration of Blaine, Missouri is approaching,
and Corky St. Clair (Guest) is in charge of putting on the live show that will
tell the story of the town’s history. Corky used to work in New York theatre
(so he says), so the townspeople consider him to be an “expert†(his previous
production of Barefoot in the Park was apparently a smash). Ron and
Sheila Albertson (Willard and O’Hara) are travel agents who believe they have
talent and have experience acting in the community productions, so they’re a
shoo-in to be cast. Town dentist Dr. Allan Pearl (Levy) has never acted but has
the bug, so he auditions. Libby Mae Brown (Posey) works at the Dairy Queen and
aspires to make it big. Corky brings in music teacher Lloyd Miller (Balaban) to
handle the musical direction. Unfortunately, Corky has no budget to speak of
and must make lemonade out of, well, a lot of bad lemons. The town council,
after first refusing Corky’s request for $100,000 (!) to do the show, they
encourage him to “make magic†the way he’s done before. Indeed, Corky’s magic
ultimately gets the show up and running.
The
humor comes in the improvised characterizations the brilliant cast brings to
the table. For example, Guest plays Corky as a closeted gay man with every
stereotypical mannerism in the book, even down to speaking of a wife that no
one ever sees. Anyone who has worked in community theatre (or high school or
college theatre, for that matter) must know someone exactly like Corky
St. Clair. The late Fred Willard is hilarious as the wannabe movie star, and
O’Hara is a perfect foil for him. Posey is very winning; the actress was just
beginning her career when the picture was made, and she almost steals the
movie. Balaban plays his part as a frustrated perfectionist who would rather be
the boss of the production instead of following Corky’s orders.
Guest
would go on to make other classic mockumentaries (Best in Show, A
Mighty Wind), but they don’t get much better than Waiting for Guffman,
the title of which refers to the famous Samuel Beckett play, Waiting for
Godot. In this case, Guffman is the New York critic who Corky promises will
come to see the show and possibly take the company to Broadway.
Warner
Archive’s Blu-ray (produced on demand) looks sharp and colorful, and it is a
high definition transfer of the previously released DVD from years ago. It
comes with an audio commentary by Guest and Levy that is as entertaining as the
film itself. For supplements, there are many deleted/additional scenes that are
just as fun, including two musical numbers from the “show†that were cut for the
theatrical release. These scenes also come with optional commentary by Guest
and Levy. The theatrical trailer rounds out the package.
Waiting
for Guffman stands
as one of the great comedies of the last 25 years, and it’s a testament to the
tremendous talent of many alumni of National Lampoon’s Radio Hour, Second
City, SCTV, Saturday Night Live, and other breeding grounds
of some of our most treasured funny people. Highly recommended.
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