September 11, 2025 • 52 mins
He was the king of clueless confidence, the man who could steal a scene with just a raised eyebrow. Fred Willard built a decades-long career out of playing the guy who had no idea what was going on — and making sure everyone was crying laughing while he did it. From his improv roots and his unforgettable mockumentary turns in Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, and A Mighty Wind to late-career gems on Modern Family and Anchorman, Willard never stopped delivering.
But behind the laughs was a performer who hustled for decades, weathered personal scandals, and kept working until the very end.
This episode dives into the triumphs, stumbles, and lasting brilliance of Fred Willard — a man who proved that being totally clueless could be an art form.
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(00:10):
Live from Los Angeles 911 What is your emergency here in
Hollywood now? Two counts of murder.
Injury and death. Oh.
My God. Shocking new.
Details. That has stunned the
entertainment world. This makes me a little nervous.
The hair stood up on my arms just like in the movies.
What do? You call this thing anyway.
Death. In entertainment.
(00:34):
Greetings, Dedo Universe. How the heck are you?
My name is Kyle Plouffe. And I'm Jerry Aquino.
And I am Ben Kissel and today's episode, we are so thrilled to
bring you the information you need to hear about one of the
greatest comedic actors of all time, the one, the only, Fred
Willard. Oh my goodness, we are going to
(00:54):
say yes and get to the episode. Let's go a little improv, A
little improv joke. Fred Willard came into this
(01:28):
world on September 18th, 1933 inCleveland, OH, OH.
Oh, he's in Cleveland. He's Ohioan.
Yikes. Like every Ohio person trying to
get the hell out of there. Yeah.
He was born Frederick Charles Willard and he grew up during
the final years of the Great Depression and in the shadow of
World War 2. That took actually a great time
to be born. Can't get worse, yeah?
(01:50):
Yeah, can't get worse. Kind of really on the uptick.
Right, WWE twos done Great Depression over with.
Everyone's like trying to be like we're America.
We're doing fantastic. Let's invest in America.
It's perfect. Yeah, Cleveland back then was a
blue collar city through and through.
Steel mills belching smoke, crowded neighborhoods of
immigrant families and a culturethat revolved around hard work
(02:11):
during the week at baseball on Sundays.
Well, I like the term belching smoke.
Belching smoke. Very good descriptor, yeah.
Fred's father, Frederick Senior,worked in finance.
His mother, Ruth, kept the household together.
Life was steady, until it wasn't.
When Fred was just 12 years old,tragedy struck.
His father died of a sudden heart attack.
(02:31):
Oh. Yeah, don't like it, it sounds.
Like he was young. Very young, Yeah.
Must have been. I don't know.
Are there slow heart attacks? How could?
You slow? I mean, yeah, are they always
could be slow build up to it, Yeah, I guess so yeah.
Your arteries hardened first andthen.
Right. Wow, blood flow changes and
that's. Terrifying.
Your heart becomes a piece of cheese.
(02:51):
Hmm. Yeah, Does.
Yeah, kind of. It solidifies like that inside
of you. That's what my brother told me.
Ohh. He's like, every time you eat
cheese, remember that that's exactly what ends up in your
artery. Is that hardened cheese?
Oh my God, I just had a cheese snack.
I know, yeah. I just ate a bunch of cheese
myself, yeah. It's very comforting.
It is. It's the best love.
Cheese. Losing a parent that young can
change you, and for Fred, it became a turning point.
(03:13):
He learned to lean on humor, notjust to entertain others, but to
protect himself. Oh, I guess we can relate to
that. Yeah, we all.
Yeah, I guess we. Can.
Yeah, we all completely do that.No, I just don't think so.
I don't think so. I didn't laugh at my best
friend's funeral. No, I don't think so.
Coping with comedy doesn't soundanything like me.
(03:33):
Friends would later recall that even as a boy, Fred was the one
who cracked a joke, even when the room got too heavy.
Growing up, Fred was obsessed with baseball.
The Cleveland Indians, now knownas the Guardians, that's that
was his team. He memorized stats, followed the
players religiously and dreamed of being on the diamond himself.
Have you seen my baseball? Later in life, Fred would say
(03:57):
that if show business hadn't worked out, he probably would
have chased a career as a sportsannouncer, which would have been
incredible. Well, it's a bit of a foreshadow
into one of his fantastic roles.Exactly.
That's why The irony, of course,is that decades later, he became
one of the most iconic, if completely fake, sports
announcers. Sports announcers in movie
history. But before Hollywood, there was
discipline. After high school, Fred did
(04:20):
something unexpected for a future comedy legend.
He enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, the BMI.
Military. Yeah, it was a it was a time of
peace, right? Yeah, like nothing bad could
possibly happen. Yeah, the biggest World War is
just over, so you know, you didn't get back in anything for
a while. Vietnam's earshot away, you
(04:41):
know. If you picture Fred in his later
years, smiling a little offbeat like he'd wandered into the
wrong room, imagine him marchingin formation at a Military
Academy. It feels surreal.
That's why I don't mess with these old timers.
You know Bob Ross, the guy who paints little cute trees and
rivers? Yeah, he was a drill Sergeant.
Oh my God, was he? Yes, he was a drill Sergeant and
(05:02):
that's why he said he doesn't speak above a certain decimal
because he felt so bad for screaming so long at these poor
children. Wow, that that's why he kept
everything so peaceful. Did not know that.
Yeah, all these old timers have experience in the military.
Oh my God, yeah. I remember the watching the the
fur the pilot of Bob Ross when he was painting and he had like
a little pet squirrel. He did.
(05:23):
Yeah, I forget now. I gotta look up what the name
is. I didn't know that she could get
any better pet. Squirrel.
Everyone was in the military, down to the comedians, down to
down to the mimes. It's literally.
His little cute squirrel was named Peapod.
Unbelievable. Well, this right here.
Peapod that yeah, that's his coping mechanism for shouting at
(05:44):
people, I guess. Beautiful wispy trees.
What do you think people hunt? What was it?
Peapod. Peapod.
Peapod. Peapod that squirrel.
God, it's adorable. Fred graduated in 1955, gaining
structure and discipline that would quietly underpin his
comedy. Later at VMI, classmates
remembered him as the guy who could break tension with a well
timed wisecrack. Even in uniform, he found little
(06:05):
cracks to slip. Slip a joke through at pep
rallies, dorm Hangouts, and cadet assemblies.
See. That's the military I want.
Pep rallies, Dorm Hangouts, right?
Stripes. Exactly, that was what I was
thinking when I went to go interview to be a Marine, which
Can you imagine? That's hilarious, but it's not
like that. A seaman.
A seaman, yes, Oh my God, me on a naval vessel.
(06:27):
You guys are. Is there a line for the bathroom
or? He wasn't planning a comedy
career just yet, but his instincts were already there.
After graduation, Fred served inthe US Army, stationed in post
war Germany. Oh oh wow, where the Kissels are
from? Where the kid?
Maybe he entertained my OPA or my Oma.
Maybe. Yes.
They weren't hiding in Uruguay. Yeah.
(06:49):
Right. These were the years when
America maintained a huge presence overseas, which I guess
is still kind of happening. Yeah, and life for soldiers
could be monotonous. Fred quickly became the
unofficial morale officer of hisunit.
He performed skits, did impressions of officers and hold
fun at military food. I love it.
What? A fun Sergeant.
(07:10):
Can you imagine though? He's like one of the other
officers comes in while you're making fun of him and people are
just not laughing anymore. He's like, what's wrong fellas?
Yeah, I don't sound like Sergeant Dickerson anymore.
What happened, Willard? Fellow soldiers later remembered
him as the guy who could make the chow line funny.
This is making me this I I do fantasize from a very male male
(07:35):
perspective of having these bonding moments with other
hardcore straight men. Yeah, it was in Germany that
Fred realized something important.
Making people laugh gave him energy.
He could be exhausted, homesick,even bored.
But once he had an audience, even if even if it was just a
handful of soldiers waiting for roll call, he lit up.
(07:56):
I'm also happy now that I'm I'm also happy, now that I think
about it, that he's a good old American boy, not a Canadian.
Right. Because so many of the people
that he worked with were Canadian.
Specifically an improv. It's insane.
SCTV just like dominated the entire space and even still to
this day a lot of comedic actorsand improvisers are all
Canadian. Absolutely, 'cause they're a
(08:17):
bunch of silly geese out there. They are, yeah.
They still got Mounties and stuff.
That's kind of. Funny.
Yeah, they're cute. A bunch of whimsical fucks.
Yeah. Oh, don't catch me, Mounty.
And then you you go to a place that's too narrow for a horse to
get in. Yeah, you're lucky this time of.
Course. So at this point, this wasn't
just a coping mechanism anymore,it was the beginning of a
(08:39):
career. By the time he returned to the
States, Fred had lived through the loss of a father, survived
the grind of a Military Academy,and entertained troops overseas.
He was disciplined, he was resilient, and he had the
beginnings of his comic identity.
So, like countless dreamers before him, he packed his bags
and headed to the place where the lights were the brightest.
(08:59):
Back to Cleveland, yeah. No, no, it's sunny in Cleveland.
Oh, Yeah. Or Hot in Cleveland?
It's something in Cleveland. Yeah, it's sunny in
Philadelphia. Yeah, it's always sunny in
Philadelphia. But the lights are the brightest
in New York City, NY City. Very happy he chose New York
first. You got to, you got to cut your
(09:20):
teeth. As they say in New York.
You can't just hop right to the nice weather of Los Angeles.
No, you can't. No, no, no.
You got to struggle for a littlebit.
Earn that shit. You do.
When Fred Willard landed in New York City in the late 1950s, he
was one of thousands of young hopefuls with the same idea.
Act perform, then you make it. Yeah, just that easy.
Ohh. God, there it is.
Straight line stitch. Exactly, there it is.
(09:44):
I can see a Direct Line from me to the screen.
Ohh have you thought about beingin movies yet Kyle?
Oh my God, don't even. Get right God.
Why don't you just try commercials?
Why don't you come home anymore?You.
Know they have stand up comedians on Leno.
Have you thought about doing Leno?
I saw there was a contact e-mailon the Ellen DeGeneres website
and I sent them an e-mail talking about you.
That was your aunt, who was super nice, Kyle.
(10:05):
It's very nice. Kyle's aunt did that for him and
thank God you didn't go get a yelled at by that woman.
But Fred was not chasing glamour.
He started small, studying at the Daryl Hickman Film Actors
Workshop, focusing on drama. I will say the name Daryl
Hickman doesn't sound like the next big actor, no.
(10:27):
Yeah, it really doesn't. Sounds like he's gonna go show
you how to, like, do stuff with particle board, yeah.
This well in the Daryl Hickman Sawmill Institute of Acting.
There it is. So when acting fails, you know
what the you have a fucking career path.
Yeah, we focus on Plan B here. Yep.
He thought maybe he'd, you know,just be a straight actor
(10:47):
delivering lines with gravitas. But anyone who met him realized
he had the gift for something else.
He couldn't deliver a line without making it funny.
I love it. So even when he's trying to be
dramatic, people are still laughing.
Oh God. Relatable, yeah.
I'm serious. Oh my God, she's getting mad.
This is really. Funny.
I'm actually being serious. Can't tell if you're mad at me
or not because it just is so funny how you're delivering it.
(11:09):
Yeah, piss, piss Cherry off again.
I'm seriously upset here. Single tear.
She's like turning red. New York at that time was Ground
Zero for the comedy renaissance.Improv was Catching Fire with
groups like the Compass Players and later Second City rewriting
the rules of performance. Comedy was shifting away from 1
liners and the Poconos. Kind of like Try the Veal into
(11:33):
something much looser, stranger and more character driven for
Fred. Perfect fit, right place, right
time. OK.
In 1967, Fred Co founded the sketch troupe Ace Trucking
Company alongside Michael Mislov, George Mamoli, Bill
Seluga and Patty Deutsch. I like the name, very funny.
Yeah, the name was intentionallyabsurd.
(11:54):
They weren't hauling freight, they were hauling punch lines.
Baby, let's. Go got it, Got.
It their sketches were fast, surreal and often semi
improvised. My back hurts from hauling all
these jokes. Here's what set that group
apart. They weren't doing safe,
polished vaudeville. Their material was loose and
they trusted each other to keep the energy alive no matter what.
(12:15):
That's so exciting. Yeah, the old yes and really
working out. Yeah, if someone forgot a line,
they improvised. You got to trust your partners.
It's kind of scary. It's exciting.
Yeah, if a bit was bombing, theypivoted mid performance.
It felt spontaneous and the audience is aided up.
Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun, yeah.
Their big break came courtesy ofJohnny Carson.
(12:37):
The Tonight Show was the Holy Grail for comedians in the 60s
and 70s. And this is back in the day that
was all you had. If you got on it once.
You know, instantly famous. Yeah, you actually there was
like celebrity, like machines where you can go become famous
like that. Carson loved fresh voices and
the Ace Trucking company became semi regulars.
(12:58):
I got a clip here. This is of Fred Willard.
He was receiving an award and they did like a major like hour
long interview with him. But this is like one minute on
the Ace Trucking Company gettingin with Carson. 50-60 tonight
shows and we were just on just about everything, so that was a
(13:19):
very successful act. Why do you think Johnny had you
back so much? We were just kind of wild.
We did funny stuff. I I think the, the guy that did
the Raymond J Johnson bit lookeda lot like Doc Severinsen.
So there's an inside joke there.We just sketch about 55
motorcycle bikers who came into a store and they wanted to buy.
(13:41):
They got kind of sucked into buying very fancy like men
purses and shoes and talking about shoes.
I need some shoes when I sketches over Johnny Carson
saying shoes. We never came over to sit on the
panel because there were five ofus, but he just liked, I think,
the the, the anarchy and the funwe had.
(14:03):
He is so funny. It's ridiculous.
And keep in mind, Johnny Carson in The Tonight Show, obviously,
that that's a place for like interviewing the stars and, you
know, seeing what their private life is like or what the next
thing they're working on or comedians coming up and doing a
set. There's really never been sketch
groups that have been on those type of platforms.
And multiple times at that. Between 50 and 60 times.
(14:24):
I don't even know so if any do that currently.
Right, I can't think of 1. I know that Johnny did do a lot
of sketches though. He was a sketch fan.
He was a funny guy. So they also landed on the Ed
Sullivan Show and toured nationally.
In a pre SNL world, Ace Truckingwas the only sketch troupe doing
recurring national TV. Fred, with his natural mix of
(14:45):
confidence and confusion, stood out even in the group.
Viewers didn't know his name yet, but they remembered his
face. Hmm.
Karnak the Magnificent. Yeah, that's who it was.
That was Johnny Karnak the Magnificent, one of his great.
Sketches, Yes. By the early 70s, Fred was
branching out into solo work. He popped up in sitcoms like Get
Smart and Love American Style. What's that all about?
(15:08):
You have to pay for it You. Too you haven't seen any of.
Those. Very capitalist.
Yeah, He even landed a role in Robert Redford's political drama
The Candidate. Oh.
Really, it's a great movie. 1972.
Robert Redford, a real hunk? Yeah, yeah.
Ladies thought he was the sexiest man alive.
He may have actually been. Some guys even think that.
Ohh, I do, yeah. Really.
Ohh for sure he's a hunk. Yeah, for a moment it looked
(15:31):
like he might pivot towards straight character acting, but
comedy kept pulling him back. Yeah, I can't really see him
just staying on a just a completely straight like drama.
Kind of a path, yeah. It's also not, I'm not demeaning
any actors, but it's easier to just do drama.
Comedy is technically more difficult.
You need timing, you need inflections.
It's it's a whole thing. You made the word shoes very
(15:53):
funny Shoes. It's going to be stuck in my
head all day. Shoes.
Shoes. And then came Norman Lear.
Lear was the king of socially conscious sitcoms, and in 1976
he launched Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman It was unlike
anything on TVA parody of soap operas that was so dry, so
surreal, some viewers weren't even sure if it was supposed to
be funny. Interesting, I've never heard of
(16:16):
that. Fred was cast as Thom Hartman,
the baffled husband of Luis Lasser's Mary.
It was a huge leap forward. Fred played Tom with just the
right mix of frustration and cluelessness, and suddenly he
wasn't just that guy from sketches anymore.
He was part of a cultural experiment, but the real gem was
still to come. In 1977, Lear spun off Fernwood
(16:38):
Tonight, a fake local talk show hosted by Martin Mall as Barth
Gimbel. Yo, this one's amazing.
Fred played Jerry Hubbard, the world's most clueless sidekick.
Always smiling, always polite, always saying the wrong thing
and. That that character for him
would go on throughout his entire career.
The clueless, lovable guy. He definitely is really solid at
(16:58):
delivery. So funny.
Yeah. Audiences were floored.
Jerry was so convincing that some viewers thought they were
watching a real low budget talk show based out of Ohio.
Fred improvised pretty much all of his dialogue, delivering
lines with such earnestness thatthe that the absurdity doubled
in impact. Oh my gosh.
I think that special needs man is really he's doing pretty
(17:20):
good. Keep going.
Keep. On trying look at.
Him. Go and here's a fun twist.
Working with Martin Mull on Fernwood would pay off again two
decades later when he when the two reunited on Roseanne, this
time playing one of the first openly gay couples regularly
featured on a network sitcom. Wow.
Oh. My God, that's right.
And I would like to say this about Roseanne.
(17:40):
Obviously in the most recent years, social media age,
whatever it might be, but she was actually a pioneer for a lot
of civil rights things. Yeah, that have sort of been
lost over these past couple years.
But Roseanne was. I loved Roseanne.
Roseanne was amazing. And no one showed the American
family the way that she did. Yeah.
It was trashy. It was ugly.
It's like, you know, yeah. Crazy.
I think the best sitcoms are theblue collar ones.
(18:01):
Oh for sure, it's so good. I mean, I do like Frazier 'cause
he does a little radio show and his dad is like, you're gay.
Right. Well, yeah, he was one of the
first ones that are like audience has no big words.
Yeah, I'll prove it. Yeah, but I'm like, no, we
don't. By the end of the 1970s, Fred
Willard had carved out a niche. He wasn't just the star of a
(18:23):
show yet, but he was that guy. The man who could walk into a
scene, say something ridiculous with total confidence, and steal
the spotlight without even trying.
That is a fact. In the early 80s, Fred Willard
had already done it all. He did live improv, sketch
troupe sitcoms, even a politicaldrama.
It seems like he got success fairly quickly then.
Yeah, he didn't really. I mean, I'm sure obviously he
(18:45):
grinded it out, yeah, 'cause. But it seems like he kind of had
a path forward fairly fast. Yeah, so he was doing all
everything, but he hadn't cracked the movies yet.
That changed in 1984, when he landed a small but unforgettable
part in This Is Spinal Tap. Fred played Lieutenant Bob Hook
Stratton, the Air Force public affairs officer assigned to
chaperone the fading British rockers around a military base
(19:07):
and. We'll play.
Oh, I want a. Clip here and this is an example
of that for everyone out there. No role is too small, no.
Visit to a military facility? Fine.
May I start by saying how thrilled we are to have you
here? We are such fans of your music
and all of your records. I'm not Speaking of yours
personally, but the whole genre of the rock'n'roll, of the
(19:28):
exciting things that are happening in music today.
And let me explain a bit about what's going on.
This is our monthly At Ease weekend.
At Ease is a chance to kind of let down our hair, although I
see you all have a head start. These haircuts wouldn't pass
military muster, believe me. Although I shouldn't talk, I My
hair is getting a little shaggy too.
But I'm not. They're too close to you.
They'll think I'm part of the band.
Shall we go in and I'll show youaround?
(19:51):
Walk this way, please. Right through here.
Did you ever run into a musical group?
Works out of Kansas City. Calls himself 4 Jacks and a
Jill. They're going to.
Be Ramada in there for about 18 months.
If you're ever in Kansas City and you'll want to hear some
good music, you might want to drop by.
I would like to get the plane onabout 1900 hours of that
satisfactory. I make it now, it's about 18130
(20:14):
hours. So that's what, 50 hours?
Well, actually. Funny hours.
That's actually. About 30 minutes.
About 1/2. Hour, give or take just a few
minutes. I don't want to rush you.
The idea is if we can get it on and we get it over with and I
have just one request which you play a couple of slow numbers so
I can dance. Oh my God, I love it.
Working on a sex follow that's so good. 11 people are like, oh,
(20:38):
you're a musician. You know who's a really good
musician is this other band, right?
You should hear them. They really know what they're
doing. Check them out.
Go see a show In a movie full ofchaos, Hook Stratton is
hilariously calm, delivering military jargon about security
protocols while the band membersbicker about tiny sandwiches.
Fred improvised most of his lines, and critics singled out
(20:58):
his appearance as one of the funniest cameos in the film.
Oh wow, no, he did great. I mean, yeah, it just rolled off
the tongue because he literally was in the military.
Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah.
He had history. He.
Had the he had the language already.
It was a turning point. Improvised comedy was about to
become the dominant style of thenew generation, and Fred's
ability to stay perfectly in character while being completely
(21:19):
absurd made him a natural. And I'm going to say this also.
I've been saying I've been saying that a lot.
I'm going to say this, say it. He didn't break a lot of
comedians SNL and and then people think it's cute when they
break and it is kind of cute, but not if you do it every time,
right? He kept everything very
straight. He.
Was very good. He was very earnest.
I believe Kyle has said that word already.
In the mid 1990s, director Christopher Guest began making a
(21:42):
series of legendary mockumentaries, and Fred became
part of the inner circle. These films were almost entirely
improvised, which is insane because they're so good, and it
actually follows a story. Guest gave actors character BIOS
and story beats, but no scripteddialogue.
It was comedy without a net, andFred thrived on it.
(22:02):
So in 1996, he played Ron Albertson in Christopher Guest's
first movie, Waiting for Guffman, and he plays a travel
agent who dreams of small town theatre stardom.
It's him and Catherine O'Hara. It's like a couple in there
going in and auditioning. Oh, that's amazing.
So funny because they do like a one-on-one interview with them
and he's like, yeah, you know, it's just not lines are just not
(22:25):
for us. But you know, he's like, so
we're going to be in the movies.It's like he has no idea that
you need to actually right say lines in the movies.
Very funny. Waiting for Guffman.
Ground breaking. Yes, ground breaking film.
Saw it. You never saw that.
Oh my God, you would love it as a theater, a nerd.
You would love it. Oh my God, it's so good.
(22:45):
Oh, it's phenomenal. Speaking of ground breaking,
like I said before, from 1995 to1997 he played Scott, the
boyfriend and later husband of Martin Mulls character Leon Karp
on Roseanne. At a time when most network
sitcoms shield away from, you know, gay storylines, Leon and
Scott became one of the first openly gay couples to appear
regularly on prime time network television.
(23:05):
Amazing. And it was the 90s, right?
This is the exact time when Ellen was getting cancelled for
coming out of the closet. Wow.
So it's, you know, it's. A real statement.
It is absolutely. Thanks for being an ally.
That's right. And then came Christopher
Guest's next movie in 2000, Bestin Show.
Oh my God. It's so maybe this is a desert
(23:27):
island movie for me. Yo, for sure.
It's got dogs, it's got humor, it's got everything you want.
Walnuts, pecan nut, pistachio nut.
My mom would freak when I said pistachio nut.
This became Fred's signature role.
Buck Laughlin, the clueless color commentator at a national
dog show. This became my entire
(23:48):
personality. Yeah, I, I, I am just this guy.
At one point so. What do they weigh there now?
Is that soaking wet or dry? Every line he says is wrong, but
he says it with the conviction of a sports legend.
And this is a fantastic. I think we're gonna play a clip.
The person that he's speaking with is an actual announcer for
(24:09):
dog shows. Oh, the one.
Hilarious. Oh, really?
He plays so perfectly with Fred because he's just playing it
totally straight, and it's just a great dynamic.
Yeah. So that guy deserves some credit
for this role, too. I've been a great straight man
for Fred Willard. Yeah.
Yes. At one point he wonders aloud if
you could quote get a terrier asa service dog or as dinner.
(24:31):
What? All of it was improvised.
Guess later said Fred came to set with no notes, just
instincts, and every take was gold.
Oh my God. Here's a clip of him best in
show. She is really giving him a
thorough going over. Are all judges that thorough?
I mean, she looks at the teeth. It's very important that all the
attributes are examined. Teeth, eyes, ears, gums.
(24:54):
Am I seeing right? Where's she putting her hands
now? Just checking out the dog's
testicular area to make sure to make sure that that everything
is intact. Hate to go out on a date with
Judge Edie Franklin. Have her judge me.
That would be no fun. So good.
(25:15):
Oh my God, everyone in that movie is fucking incredible.
So good Catherine O'Hara is in that as well, His frequent
costar said. Fred had a unique superpower
quote. He could say the dumbest thing
imaginable and make it sound like the smartest thing you've
ever heard. He.
Says it all with such a straightface.
Perfect. Oh man.
So just as his work with Guest was peeking, Fred joined another
(25:39):
rising comedy crew, The Anchorman Legend of Ron Ron
Burgundy Gang in 2004. In 2004, he played Ed Harkin,
the long-suffering news directorat Channel 4.
Surrounded by lunatics like WillFerrell, Steve Carell and Paul
Rudd, Red became the eye of the storm.
This. Is definitely one of my top
(26:00):
five. Oh yeah, Anchorman's amazing.
Anchorman is my shoot. Yeah, it's so good.
He was in his 70s at that point,which I didn't realize.
Oh my God. In his 70s, in this movie,
hanging with all those guys and somehow getting funnier, he was
still sharp. Yeah, 'cause you have to be.
That's the thing I don't think alot of people realize.
You have to be very smart to play that dumb.
Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.
(26:21):
By the early 2000s, Fred Willardhad pulled off something rare.
He bridged 3 separate comedy generations.
He'd conquered the sketch scene in the 60s, reinvented himself
in Norman Lear's experimental 70s sitcoms, became the king of
mockumentaries in the 90s, and was now anchoring Hollywood
comedies alongside the biggest names of the 2000s.
That's incredible. Yeah.
Incredible Feel beautiful. Long lasting career.
(26:43):
Yeah, In 2003, Fred landed a recurring role on Everybody
Loves Raymond, playing Hank McDougal, the father-in-law of
Brad Garrett's character, Robert.
See, now this is a role I did not know.
Yeah. There's so many there.
I was going through his IMDBI was like, he was in that.
He was in the bold and the beautiful, like a whole bunch of
stuff. And that's funny because he was
making fun of soap operas. Then he became a part of 1.
(27:05):
That is, he plays it that serious.
Yeah. Hank was rigid, judgmental and
constantly bewildered by the chaos of the Barone family.
Every line was delivered like hewas trying to win a debate no
one else was having. Hey, that ain't easy to do,
trust me. I know the role earned him 3
consecutive Emmy nominations, yo.
Everybody loved Rick. That show was so fucking famous
(27:28):
it. Was crazy.
It was good. Did you watch it quite often?
I did not when it was first out of.
It Yeah, you watched it in rerun.
Yeah, we got like DVD's in college.
Oh oh wow, yeah ohh. Like when you had to buy the
seasons? I just think Brad Garrett, he
kind of, I don't know if he set the tall actor back or if he
moved his forward, but he was a little bit of a dullard and he
(27:51):
was big. And then all the jokes were
like, he's huge. Yeah.
That's why it's very difficult to be a 6 fifths of an actor.
Where is my sympathy? Well, you wanted any?
You want a donut. Doughnut.
Yeah, right. Yeah, but I don't know about
that Brad Garrett character. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Wow. They made fun of him a lot on
it. Yeah, they made him all like,
(28:12):
derpy. Yeah, 'cause he's big, old and
they're like everyone's taller is derpy even though our heads
are bigger, so our brains are bigger.
Yeah. Ben's like they're making fun of
me now. We're making fun of me.
Same. Same with that fucking Lenny
from Of Mice and Men. Oh yeah.
Trash. Hug the rabbit to death.
Yeah, exactly that. Because trash.
Whoever wrote that book is trash.
(28:33):
So the three consecutive Emmy nods, 2304 and 05, for
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
So decades into his career, Fredwas suddenly back on the red
carpet, nominated alongside actor's half his age.
I mean, honestly, he deserves a lifetime achievement award.
Yeah, and he did. Oh spoiler.
But before, in 2009, Fred joinedanother juggernaut, Modern
(28:56):
Family, he played. He did.
Oh yeah, he played Frank, the endlessly cheerful, slightly out
of touch father of Ty Burrell's Phil.
Yeah, and there are such a good pair.
Phil is hilarious. He's probably my favorite part
in the whole show. I didn't realize the the heavy
set guy, he's not gay. No.
(29:17):
Right, Yes, apparently he's a big gun nut.
Yeah, he's like Super Nugget. He plays.
He plays it so well. Yeah, and he lives in Ohio.
I know a lot of information about him.
Wow. Yeah, my friends close with a
friend of his. Oh, cool.
But I thought for sure he was gay.
But he's not. No, he's not.
Isn't that something? No.
No, you. Gotta kiss a guy though.
He wasn't in many episodes, but every time he appeared,
(29:38):
audiences lit up. I mean, that's the perfect job
right there. Yes.
Just a guest appearance. Ohh, yeah, I'll take my guest
appearance. Emmy, really quick.
Thank you for the two days of work back to vacation in Cancun.
I know. Oh yeah, you guessed he's.
Kind of living it. Up.
That's the dream. Show up for a couple scenes and
then he even earned another Emmynomination from overall.
And then as soon as you're there, you're like, there is
(29:59):
some drama behind the scenes that I'm not aware of.
So I'm just going to ignore the fact there are certain tensions
between hair and makeup, right? You don't have to have any drama
with the show. They treat you like you're a
guest, so everyone's super nice to you.
Yeah, you don't get all tied up.You don't get all tied up, you
don't care. Politics.
Exactly. Fred's Modern Family character
became a touchstone for younger viewers who had no idea about
(30:20):
his improv roots or mockumentaryfame.
To them, he was just Phil's funny dad.
And that was enough. That's so funny and.
Then you go down the Willard rabbit hole and you're like,
this guy is fucking amazing. Yeah.
Not the Rat King though. Not the Rat King, No Willard the
Rat King. You ever seen that one?
I did, yeah. That was a creative.
It's a good movie. No.
Meanwhile, Fred had quietly become a mainstay on Jimmy
(30:41):
Kimmel Live, appearing in over 80 comedy sketches between the
show's 2003 premiere in the late2000 Tens from.
Carson From Carson to Kimmel holy.
Kimmel Yeah, that old pipeline. Wow, yeah, that old, that old
Carson to Kimmel pipeline. Kimmel, Adore.
Yeah. Fred played everything from fake
newscasters to bumbling correspondents, even making fun
(31:04):
of his own deadpan TV style. He became kind of an unofficial
mascot for the show, a secret weapon producers could deploy
when they needed something weirddelivered completely straight.
Kimmel later said Fred would walk into the studio, sit down
and be instantly hilarious without trying.
He made everything feel like a real show, which made it 10
times funnier. And not to mention his voice.
Fred's voice was just as distinctive as his face.
(31:25):
Oh. Absolutely.
I think that his that is definitely added a whole other
dynamic to just how he deliveredeverything.
Yeah, it's warm, slightly nasally, and always confident
even when he had no clue. Exactly.
It made him a natural for animation.
Over the years, he became a prolific voice actor, starring
in The Boondocks, which is one of my favorite shows of all
(31:46):
time. Yeah.
You remember the teacher that got in trouble and he went on
the news for calling one of his students the N word.
Yeah. And he even drew both words that
with the ER and the A. And he's like, this is the one I
was using. They made an episode about that.
And he played the teacher of. Course he didn't.
It is so goddamn funny. He says the N word way more
times than any white man shut into a microphone or anywhere
(32:11):
else. That's.
Insane. I didn't know.
That and he also voiced Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld in several episodes. Yikes.
It just shows you how trusted and loved he was because, you
know, it's touchy territory. Yeah, big.
And they're like, I will can handle this.
He's got a good heart and he'll understand that.
He'll get the humor. Yeah, he was also in King of the
(32:33):
Hill, Family Guy, American Dad, even in Wally as wow, he was the
only live action performer in Wally.
Oh my God, what you're talking about?
What was he in Wally? He was.
He appeared on the video screensas the by and large CEO Shelby
Forthright. Wow, the names that they have
given him are so perfect. I know.
I mean, he just was in everything.
(32:54):
He was also Wally. My I got to rewatch it.
I just the last time I watched it I was like, this is the
future. This is happening now, and I'm
sure it's more accurate now thanit was before.
A lot more accurate now. So even if you didn't see him,
you knew it was Fred the second he opened his mouth.
Yeah, that's what they say aboutme.
Yeah. Don't meet me in a dark alley.
(33:15):
I'm. Going to get this mouth.
Oh God. Then I'm going to suck their
Dicks. Yeah, right.
Yeah, in July 2012 came one of the most bizarre headlines in an
otherwise spotless career. Oh, this is my boy.
Oh, this is where I am. So Team Willard, let's go.
Let's talk about it. Oh.
So story goes like. This, so story goes, the man
(33:39):
does what the man's supposed to do in a place where he's
supposed to do it. That's a story, correct?
Thank you. But the actual story that we
need to get into some details here is Fred was briefly
detained by the LAPD during a routine, what they're calling a
routine inspection at the Tiki Theater, which is just an adult
smut. It's a Diddy theater.
Wow, the floors are going to be sticky.
(33:59):
Yeah. And how do you think they got
that way? Come.
Yes. Yeah, and popcorn.
Oh my God. Butter.
So much butter. Spilled soda.
Spilled soda come yes. Popcorn officers claimed they
observed him engaging in a lewd act.
Shut up. So yeah, I mean, he was jerking
(34:20):
off in a friggin. Jerk off Point Theater.
Yeah, you. He wasn't watching Toy Story.
Yeah, seriously. In New York City, they actually
have booths that you can go to and sit down.
Those creep me out more than thetheaters so.
There's a There was an old a DVDsalesman that had the porno
booths in the back before he ended up getting shut down by
the city. Oh wow.
And I went into one for the dollar and it is just a series
(34:42):
of old stills and then a little bit of video pornography.
With stills in there. Yes, it was.
Well, that was. Completely Times Square back in
the day, it was just all that. It was a lot, just though I
thought it would be video. No, there was, there was stills
and a little video, Yeah. Plus the little boots.
Plus the and then the boot and it smelled.
It smelled like bleach as a. Matter of well, that's actually
(35:02):
good because I used to see homeless people going in there
all the time. Yeah, yeah, I had a house
that'd. Be a nice little refuge.
Yeah. Are you renting this spank
booth? Yeah, it's pretty cheap
actually, Yeah. Although he was detained,
questioned and, you know, shamed.
Basically this point of that. Fuck Hollywood and fuck anyone
(35:23):
who laughed at him. Fuck anyone who said he did
anything wrong. Yeah, he was not charged with
any crime and denied wrongdoing.I think the people who didn't
jerk off in the jerk off theatershould be charged with a crime.
Those are serial killers. What are you doing?
Snitched on him, sucks. Well, yeah, they go there in the
back. The same thing happened to Paul
Rubens. They would they?
Yeah. And an undercover person to
observe you jerking off. Yes, also Paul Reubens jerk off
(35:45):
theater. Leave the guy alone, guy.
Alone, maybe. Rest in peace.
Yeah, we have to do Paul Reubensat some point too.
We will. Yeah.
But you know, you're not allowedto go to a restaurant and not
eat. You know, you gotta, you're
gonna order something or you're gonna get out of here.
You've had 7 waters. You we're we're not you know,
this isn't a library. Get the fuck out of.
Here. Wouldn't the eating part be
buying the ticket to see the movie though?
(36:07):
No, you're. Well, to some degree, but I also
think it's just rude to the actors who are in there gaping
and stretching for you not to jerk.
Off and you're just sitting there like staring no the.
Ticket would be the reservation.Got.
It then you're in there, then you gotta eat.
Yeah, then you have to eat the. Ticket's the reservation.
Just I'm just gonna watch you make the food.
(36:28):
I don't wanna eat. It yeah, it's ridiculous how
offensive to the chef. I know I don't want to offend
nobody. I'm gonna pull my Dick out
these. Are good points.
Thank you. The incident made national news,
mostly because nobody could picture Fred Willard in a place
like that, which I can't either.I can.
I really cannot imagine him sexually at all.
(36:48):
I mean, I yeah, exactly. It's all.
Come on. He doesn't even exist in that
realm. He really doesn't.
White socks, black shoes. Oh God.
Black socks, white shoes. Yeah, could be khakis.
Yeah, not good for him. Little back and forth there.
Yeah, oh boy. I bet you he was a good lover.
(37:09):
Probably. I could see it.
Well, he's an improviser. He's an improv.
He's gonna go with the. Flow.
He's just handed all his way to an orgasm.
Yeah, yeah. He was swiftly fired from the
PBS show Market Warriors. Oh.
Fuck off. I love you PBS, but fuck off.
Yeah, you had to get dropped. He was like narrating
documentaries and stuff they had.
To no one. Kids aren't gonna be like if
(37:30):
they have the guy that jerked off at the theater, they don't
know. Come on, PBS.
ABC also dropped him from Trust Us With Your Life.
A few days later, he appeared onJimmy Kimmel Live and joked
about the ordeal, saying quote, it's all being handled legally.
And by the way, I was just looking for the Pixar's Shorts
Festival. Hey, there we go.
(37:51):
Got a little bit of humor there out of it, yeah.
The story did fade quickly. Because I remember you telling
me that, and I didn't. I was like, I've never heard of
that. That Fred Wheeler got caught in
a smut theater. Yeah.
I have never heard of that before right now.
Yeah. Oh, really?
Yeah, shit. He's a man.
He's a human being, he is. Honestly, what surprises me more
about those stories is that thatthose places actually exist.
(38:13):
In 2012, like relatively recently.
The Tiki Theater, it's still open to this day.
And it's a jerk off theater. It still is a jerk off theater,
no? Shit.
So don't go there when they're doing their LAPD sweeps.
Yeah, fuck you. And on that front, Oh.
Just leave them alone. There's so much crime in the
city. I know.
What are we doing? Dude, yeah, literally somebody
moved into Kyle's van. Yeah.
(38:34):
They're like, no, don't we got to get these celebrities jerking
off here? Yeah.
I can't get over there. We're over at the Tiki Theater.
Oh God. The story faded quickly and by
the following year Fred was backin demand.
If anything, the public treated it like a weird footnote in a
long and otherwise controversy free career.
Yeah, exactly. A footnote.
Less than a footnote. Yeah, that's like the one time
(38:55):
you got caught running in the hallways.
Like oh, running in the high is a good.
Kid just like that, Yeah. Yeah, also again, I can see all
of the characters he played justlike oh porno but.
Didn't know he could do this. Oh, look at that.
I'm just gonna wander in here. Well, look at that.
It's a boner. I guess I'll jerk off.
I don't know. This is what people do.
Oh my God. By the mid twenty 10s, Fred
(39:18):
Wheeler had done something almost no one in comedy pulled
off. He reinvented himself now for
five straight decades. It's amazing.
Yeah, Fred was well into his 80swhen most actors his age were
collecting lifetime achievement awards and quietly stepping off
stage. Fred, he was still showing up to
work like a kid with something to prove.
And we've seen him play the clueless husband on screen.
(39:40):
His marriage was actually, in real life, rock solid.
Oh, good. I need.
Yeah, I didn't think about that.I was going to ask about his
love life. He married Mary Lovell Willard
in 1968 and they stayed togetheruntil her death in July 2018,
just shy of 50 years. Which that must suck to find out
that you were detained by the LAPD or your husband was
detained. For being in a smut theater.
(40:02):
Wow. Who beaten his meat?
No, it's it's so much better than a brothel or getting caught
like Eddie Murphy picking up a chick on Sunset.
Great point. You think that?
Look at their age. She's like giggling about it.
Yeah, doesn't give a fuck. Doing Fred, OH.
Fred. Fred, I told you, don't get
caught doing that. Well.
He was just at the theater beinga silly goose.
(40:22):
Yeah, Fred, I told you I packed a sandwich for you.
Did you not eat it? Did you not eat it?
We have Lube at home. Mary was a playwright and a
writer and she was like the calming energy to friend Fred's
just fucking more manic. Behavior, yes.
Thank you. So she balanced him.
Ying and Yang knows this. I love that.
(40:44):
Friend said Mary had the rare ability to tell Fred when
something wasn't funny. Whoa, it's not funny.
He's like, yeah, well, I'm gonnago jerk off now.
And one more jerk off theatre for me.
But he actually valued and listened to her notes.
Yeah. They had one daughter, Hope, who
grew up watching her dad play everything from the bubbling
husband to a talk show host. And when Mary passed away, Fred
(41:07):
was devastated. But he didn't retreat.
Instead, he threw himself back into work, which has always been
his coping mechanism. Sounds right.
And in his later years, his he was just starring in everything
in cameos. He popped up in shows like Hot
in Cleveland, Community, The Bold and the Beautiful.
That's so funny. So many shows.
(41:28):
Oh, my God. I got a picture here of her, of
Mary, and she's got her short hair.
She seems like they're always smiling together.
Yeah, look at them. He's dressed as Santa Claus.
Oh my God, what an adorable. Oh, they look so happy together.
They look like a cute couple forsure.
Yeah, and he didn't stop with live action.
(41:49):
He kept doing voice over work. He returned for guest spots on
Family Guy and American Dad wellinto the 20 tens, and his voice
had become kind of shorthand forThis Is Gonna Be Funny.
Absolutely. In 2019, Fred was cast on Space
Force, the Netflix comedy created by Steve Carell and Greg
Daniels. Oh, Space Force was funny.
Yeah, and he played the father of Steve Carell's character.
(42:13):
It is a testament to him. All of the greatest stars in
comedy were like, be my dad. Yeah.
It's like what Jerry Stiller didwith whichever show that King of
Queens, I believe. Oh, yeah.
Oh, and Sein and Seinfeld. Yep, it's a high compliment.
Very much so. Corella had grown up watching
Fred, and now he's getting to work opposite one of his idols.
Fred filmed his scenes in late 2019, just months before his
(42:36):
death, but was still razor sharp.
That's. Insane.
Yeah, I know. I never thought of him as aged,
right? I never.
Because he was just always. So he didn't go out like Jerry
Jones with the Dallas Cowboys. Hello.
I mean, he wasn't like he didn'tshow anything of like to like, I
hate to say the word decaying, but yeah, you know, just like
like you can tell when people's times are running out and like
(42:59):
they're reaching the end. But like, he was just just
working nonstop sharp witted theentire time until he just
stopped. I see he and Betty White.
Amazing, right? I think it's incredible.
Yeah, I get a headache. I'm out for the.
Week. Don't talk to me.
Yeah, don't. Don't talk to me.
You can find me in the jerk off theater.
Thank you. Even though his screen time in
(43:20):
this show was brief, critics singled him out.
Variety called him, quote, a secret weapon, noting that even
in his mid 80s, Fred could stillsteal a scene with just one
confused glance. Fred's last years were also
filled with tributes. He received lifetime achievement
awards from several improv and comedy festivals, and in
interviews, he seemed genuinely humbled by the attention.
(43:42):
He never stopped cracking jokes in those interviews, either.
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, Fred said.
Quote. As someone who showed up on time
and didn't bump into the furniture, I can.
Definitely tell his whole work ethic definitely screams.
I was there 15 minutes early to every single thing.
Yeah, it's. Funny.
By 2020, Fred had been in the business for over 6 decades.
(44:04):
He outlasted entire comedy trends, whole eras of
television, and generations of costars.
That's so crazy. But on the night of May 15th,
2020, Fred Willard quietly passed away in his home at in
Los Angeles at the age of 86. The official cause was cardiac
arrest, with reports noting thathe had remained active and
mentally sharp right until the end.
There had been no long decline, no public illness.
(44:26):
One day Fred was showing up on TV and stealing scenes, the next
he was gone. Exactly.
I think that's insane. Yeah.
The timing made the loss even stranger because, as we all
remember, the world was in the early months of the COVID-19
pandemic. Hollywood was locked down,
productions were paused, people were isolated in their homes
drinking their friggin faces off.
(44:48):
Fred's death landed like a quietshockwave across social media, a
sudden loss in an already surreal time.
That has anything to do with thefact that they kind because
COVID-19 stopped everyone from working.
Like the second he stopped working he literally dropped
dead. Oh my God.
He's been working his entire life, that's what he liked to
fucking do, but then like something forced him to stop
(45:11):
working and then to then life. You know I died of a broken
heart. I kind of, I feel like at a
certain point, you have like onemore.
He's already lived such a long life.
He's like, oh, a pandemic's coming, check.
Please. See, I can't deal with all this.
I'm done another one like this. I've got three years to waste.
I'm. Going to go to the big tiki
theater in the sky. That's right, he and my boy
(45:33):
Puffin. Think of me when it rains.
Hi, Fred. And Pee Wee Herman.
I got a seat next to you and I oh, Paul Reubens, Pee Wee
Herman. Oh my God.
That's all. Jerk off to the Jerk off
Theater. Oh wow, why is Charlie Kirk?
Here. You know what?
Hey, why not? All is forgiven in death, Yeah.
The response from fellow comedians was overwhelming.
(45:54):
Steve Carell tweeted Fred Willard was the funniest person
that ever lived. He was so gracious and sweet and
so incredibly funny. He will be missed.
Jimmy Kimmel Kimmel also called him the funniest man in the
world and aired a long tribute segment on his show showing
decades of Fred's sketches and cameos.
Wow. Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy
is old Christopher. Guest Ensemble castmates shared
(46:17):
stories about Fred and how he could derail an entire set with
one perfectly wrong line delivered with a straight face
and. Eugene Levy is another guy man
he and Fred and and Catherine, they are just the.
Fucking brick and genius. Even NASA got in on the
tributes, tweeting a photo of Fred on Space Force with the
caption. A legend on Earth, a star in our
(46:37):
hearts. Thank you NASA, never a straight
answer. Yeah.
That's what they say. Everyone, everyone loved him.
Everybody loved him. Yeah.
Do we know what movie he was watching?
He was jerking off, so I kind ofwant to watch.
It and look it up I. Don't want to watch it and jerk
off. Just like in solidarity.
Solidarity to Mr. Willard. Yes, exactly.
(47:01):
Let me see here. I'm not sure if they're going to
have that evidence. If it's a good one, that'll be.
We could look up. Let's see.
Oh, here we go. Let's see.
He paid $13 to watch the adult films.
Follow me to The Client List, Parody and stepdad.
(47:22):
No, no, that sounds bad. Well.
His stepdad is stepdad. No is great. 13 bucks for a
triple feature though? It's not.
Come on. In a city that's ever inflating,
this is what is. Incredible.
What was it? An anthology series?
Was it a Film Festival? Yeah, yeah, wow.
And follow me to Nacho ravages 5of the loveliest ladies in the
(47:46):
hardcore biz, showing them the pleasure of animal animalistic
coupling in his vigorous. Hell yeah, right.
Fred got that dog in him. Wow.
Yeah. I wonder what stepdad knows.
Well, let me check that out for you.
Fred got that. Stepdad no Bow Wow porno Stepdad
(48:07):
no. Oh, you can watch it on Pornhub.
OK, Yeah. We'll bookmark that.
Yeah, bookmark that. Yeah, it does seem to bring up
some more controversial images, though.
Yeah. And the second one.
The second one was The Client List parody, which is good for
him. It's a comedy.
Yeah, client list parody. He's like, you know, this is
(48:31):
just what it's all about, makingpeople laugh and hard.
Exactly. I'm proud of him.
Gets better than that. Fred Willard never headlined A
blockbuster. He was never the marquee name on
a movie poster. But yet he shaped modern comedy
than most people realize. And seriously, I mean, he was
just everywhere. Yeah, the The Client List
(48:53):
parodies starring Danny Wilde and Chrissy Lynn.
Oh nice, look at that. Good for him.
He became the template for the mockumentary idiot expert
archetype, the character who speaks with authority and is
always wrong. He helped pioneer long form
improv before SNL even existed. He normalized gay couples on
primetime sitcoms through Roseanne, and he remained
(49:17):
relevant for over 60 years. Almost impossible.
Literally almost impossible. Also, the fact that he wanted to
is a testament to his love of all of us for sharing.
His love of the game. Love of the game, let's go.
Yeah. So that brings us to.
Final thoughts. I'm just going to say my final
(49:38):
thought is thank you, because wehave to remember.
That's why I try to think my icons in their DMS.
Yeah, before they die, because Fred is an icon.
He was so funny. And again, as I said earlier in
the show, no role is too small. Whatever they give you, just do
it. It reminds me of Chris Farley in
Wayne's World when he plays the security guard.
Like, whatever role you get, just crush it and you'll you're
(50:01):
going to be remembered forever. It also reminds me of Big
Lebowski with the Dude, who plays Jesus.
Oh, yeah. He's only in the movie.
Yeah, he's in the movie for like14 seconds.
And he's did Jesus. Yeah, he's he's, he's quoted
forever. Is he was like the star of the
movie? He really is.
Yeah. The Jesus is like just.
Everyone knows that. 8 year olds, dude, yeah, he's licking
(50:24):
the ball. He's like, it's a fucking child
molester. Well, they made they made a
sequel and they tried to like revision that be like he was
framed or something. Oh man, it's.
The Jesus. We know what he's done again.
He's in a bowling league with the Belt with the Big Lebowski.
With fingerless gloves on. So yes, thank you, Fred.
Let's remember our icons are notgoing to be here forever, so
(50:44):
tell him you love them when they're alive.
Yeah, and I think we could learnfrom thread.
Dude, a lot of people say like an older, an old dog can't learn
new tricks. This guy kept reinventing
himself until literally the day he died.
So you're never too old I. I know.
I guess my final thought is being, like, incredibly inspired
by that and just inspired for, like, his love of the game, how
(51:06):
much he was, like, his little workhorse ethicness.
Yeah, all that, actually. Like, I don't know, work begets
work. And, like, it paid off.
And then to a certain point, like you said, he never starred
in anything, but something wasn't considered successful if
you didn't have Fred Willard, like, jump in on it at some
point. Yeah.
So I love that. Very absolutely best in show
isn't one of my favorite movies of all time without him.
(51:27):
Yeah, he was like, what I let's it's like a little, it's like
what I say with about dogs. Every dog needs a little
peppering of Chihuahua, and every movie needs a little
peppering of Fred Willard. Oh, we got that in spades OK
with his IMDb list. So RIP Fred Willard and thank
you to everybody listening. Absolutely.
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening to this
(51:48):
show. You can write and review, listen
to all the programs that Jerry, Kyle and I do and love yourself.
Be yourself. Hail yourself.
And until next week. Don't go dying on us.
Oh, you have just heard. A true Hollywood shocker.
I have never seen anything like this before.
The movies, Broadway, music, television, all of it.
(52:10):
The place that manufacturers nightmares.
OK, everybody, that's a wrap. Good night, please drive home
carefully and come back again soon.
Live from Los Angeles 911 What is your emergency here in
Hollywood now? Two counts of murder.
Injury and death. Oh.
My God. Shocking new.
Details. That has stunned the
entertainment world. This makes me a little nervous.
The hair stood up on my arms just like in the movies.
What do? You call this thing anyway.
Death. In entertainment.
(00:34):
Greetings, Dedo Universe. How the heck are you?
My name is Kyle Plouffe. And I'm Jerry Aquino.
And I am Ben Kissel and today's episode, we are so thrilled to
bring you the information you need to hear about one of the
greatest comedic actors of all time, the one, the only, Fred
Willard. Oh my goodness, we are going to
(00:54):
say yes and get to the episode. Let's go a little improv, A
little improv joke. Fred Willard came into this
(01:28):
world on September 18th, 1933 inCleveland, OH, OH.
Oh, he's in Cleveland. He's Ohioan.
Yikes. Like every Ohio person trying to
get the hell out of there. Yeah.
He was born Frederick Charles Willard and he grew up during
the final years of the Great Depression and in the shadow of
World War 2. That took actually a great time
to be born. Can't get worse, yeah?
(01:50):
Yeah, can't get worse. Kind of really on the uptick.
Right, WWE twos done Great Depression over with.
Everyone's like trying to be like we're America.
We're doing fantastic. Let's invest in America.
It's perfect. Yeah, Cleveland back then was a
blue collar city through and through.
Steel mills belching smoke, crowded neighborhoods of
immigrant families and a culturethat revolved around hard work
(02:11):
during the week at baseball on Sundays.
Well, I like the term belching smoke.
Belching smoke. Very good descriptor, yeah.
Fred's father, Frederick Senior,worked in finance.
His mother, Ruth, kept the household together.
Life was steady, until it wasn't.
When Fred was just 12 years old,tragedy struck.
His father died of a sudden heart attack.
(02:31):
Oh. Yeah, don't like it, it sounds.
Like he was young. Very young, Yeah.
Must have been. I don't know.
Are there slow heart attacks? How could?
You slow? I mean, yeah, are they always
could be slow build up to it, Yeah, I guess so yeah.
Your arteries hardened first andthen.
Right. Wow, blood flow changes and
that's. Terrifying.
Your heart becomes a piece of cheese.
(02:51):
Hmm. Yeah, Does.
Yeah, kind of. It solidifies like that inside
of you. That's what my brother told me.
Ohh. He's like, every time you eat
cheese, remember that that's exactly what ends up in your
artery. Is that hardened cheese?
Oh my God, I just had a cheese snack.
I know, yeah. I just ate a bunch of cheese
myself, yeah. It's very comforting.
It is. It's the best love.
Cheese. Losing a parent that young can
change you, and for Fred, it became a turning point.
(03:13):
He learned to lean on humor, notjust to entertain others, but to
protect himself. Oh, I guess we can relate to
that. Yeah, we all.
Yeah, I guess we. Can.
Yeah, we all completely do that.No, I just don't think so.
I don't think so. I didn't laugh at my best
friend's funeral. No, I don't think so.
Coping with comedy doesn't soundanything like me.
(03:33):
Friends would later recall that even as a boy, Fred was the one
who cracked a joke, even when the room got too heavy.
Growing up, Fred was obsessed with baseball.
The Cleveland Indians, now knownas the Guardians, that's that
was his team. He memorized stats, followed the
players religiously and dreamed of being on the diamond himself.
Have you seen my baseball? Later in life, Fred would say
(03:57):
that if show business hadn't worked out, he probably would
have chased a career as a sportsannouncer, which would have been
incredible. Well, it's a bit of a foreshadow
into one of his fantastic roles.Exactly.
That's why The irony, of course,is that decades later, he became
one of the most iconic, if completely fake, sports
announcers. Sports announcers in movie
history. But before Hollywood, there was
discipline. After high school, Fred did
(04:20):
something unexpected for a future comedy legend.
He enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute, the BMI.
Military. Yeah, it was a it was a time of
peace, right? Yeah, like nothing bad could
possibly happen. Yeah, the biggest World War is
just over, so you know, you didn't get back in anything for
a while. Vietnam's earshot away, you
(04:41):
know. If you picture Fred in his later
years, smiling a little offbeat like he'd wandered into the
wrong room, imagine him marchingin formation at a Military
Academy. It feels surreal.
That's why I don't mess with these old timers.
You know Bob Ross, the guy who paints little cute trees and
rivers? Yeah, he was a drill Sergeant.
Oh my God, was he? Yes, he was a drill Sergeant and
(05:02):
that's why he said he doesn't speak above a certain decimal
because he felt so bad for screaming so long at these poor
children. Wow, that that's why he kept
everything so peaceful. Did not know that.
Yeah, all these old timers have experience in the military.
Oh my God, yeah. I remember the watching the the
fur the pilot of Bob Ross when he was painting and he had like
a little pet squirrel. He did.
(05:23):
Yeah, I forget now. I gotta look up what the name
is. I didn't know that she could get
any better pet. Squirrel.
Everyone was in the military, down to the comedians, down to
down to the mimes. It's literally.
His little cute squirrel was named Peapod.
Unbelievable. Well, this right here.
Peapod that yeah, that's his coping mechanism for shouting at
(05:44):
people, I guess. Beautiful wispy trees.
What do you think people hunt? What was it?
Peapod. Peapod.
Peapod. Peapod that squirrel.
God, it's adorable. Fred graduated in 1955, gaining
structure and discipline that would quietly underpin his
comedy. Later at VMI, classmates
remembered him as the guy who could break tension with a well
timed wisecrack. Even in uniform, he found little
(06:05):
cracks to slip. Slip a joke through at pep
rallies, dorm Hangouts, and cadet assemblies.
See. That's the military I want.
Pep rallies, Dorm Hangouts, right?
Stripes. Exactly, that was what I was
thinking when I went to go interview to be a Marine, which
Can you imagine? That's hilarious, but it's not
like that. A seaman.
A seaman, yes, Oh my God, me on a naval vessel.
(06:27):
You guys are. Is there a line for the bathroom
or? He wasn't planning a comedy
career just yet, but his instincts were already there.
After graduation, Fred served inthe US Army, stationed in post
war Germany. Oh oh wow, where the Kissels are
from? Where the kid?
Maybe he entertained my OPA or my Oma.
Maybe. Yes.
They weren't hiding in Uruguay. Yeah.
(06:49):
Right. These were the years when
America maintained a huge presence overseas, which I guess
is still kind of happening. Yeah, and life for soldiers
could be monotonous. Fred quickly became the
unofficial morale officer of hisunit.
He performed skits, did impressions of officers and hold
fun at military food. I love it.
What? A fun Sergeant.
(07:10):
Can you imagine though? He's like one of the other
officers comes in while you're making fun of him and people are
just not laughing anymore. He's like, what's wrong fellas?
Yeah, I don't sound like Sergeant Dickerson anymore.
What happened, Willard? Fellow soldiers later remembered
him as the guy who could make the chow line funny.
This is making me this I I do fantasize from a very male male
(07:35):
perspective of having these bonding moments with other
hardcore straight men. Yeah, it was in Germany that
Fred realized something important.
Making people laugh gave him energy.
He could be exhausted, homesick,even bored.
But once he had an audience, even if even if it was just a
handful of soldiers waiting for roll call, he lit up.
(07:56):
I'm also happy now that I'm I'm also happy, now that I think
about it, that he's a good old American boy, not a Canadian.
Right. Because so many of the people
that he worked with were Canadian.
Specifically an improv. It's insane.
SCTV just like dominated the entire space and even still to
this day a lot of comedic actorsand improvisers are all
Canadian. Absolutely, 'cause they're a
(08:17):
bunch of silly geese out there. They are, yeah.
They still got Mounties and stuff.
That's kind of. Funny.
Yeah, they're cute. A bunch of whimsical fucks.
Yeah. Oh, don't catch me, Mounty.
And then you you go to a place that's too narrow for a horse to
get in. Yeah, you're lucky this time of.
Course. So at this point, this wasn't
just a coping mechanism anymore,it was the beginning of a
(08:39):
career. By the time he returned to the
States, Fred had lived through the loss of a father, survived
the grind of a Military Academy,and entertained troops overseas.
He was disciplined, he was resilient, and he had the
beginnings of his comic identity.
So, like countless dreamers before him, he packed his bags
and headed to the place where the lights were the brightest.
(08:59):
Back to Cleveland, yeah. No, no, it's sunny in Cleveland.
Oh, Yeah. Or Hot in Cleveland?
It's something in Cleveland. Yeah, it's sunny in
Philadelphia. Yeah, it's always sunny in
Philadelphia. But the lights are the brightest
in New York City, NY City. Very happy he chose New York
first. You got to, you got to cut your
(09:20):
teeth. As they say in New York.
You can't just hop right to the nice weather of Los Angeles.
No, you can't. No, no, no.
You got to struggle for a littlebit.
Earn that shit. You do.
When Fred Willard landed in New York City in the late 1950s, he
was one of thousands of young hopefuls with the same idea.
Act perform, then you make it. Yeah, just that easy.
Ohh. God, there it is.
Straight line stitch. Exactly, there it is.
(09:44):
I can see a Direct Line from me to the screen.
Ohh have you thought about beingin movies yet Kyle?
Oh my God, don't even. Get right God.
Why don't you just try commercials?
Why don't you come home anymore?You.
Know they have stand up comedians on Leno.
Have you thought about doing Leno?
I saw there was a contact e-mailon the Ellen DeGeneres website
and I sent them an e-mail talking about you.
That was your aunt, who was super nice, Kyle.
(10:05):
It's very nice. Kyle's aunt did that for him and
thank God you didn't go get a yelled at by that woman.
But Fred was not chasing glamour.
He started small, studying at the Daryl Hickman Film Actors
Workshop, focusing on drama. I will say the name Daryl
Hickman doesn't sound like the next big actor, no.
(10:27):
Yeah, it really doesn't. Sounds like he's gonna go show
you how to, like, do stuff with particle board, yeah.
This well in the Daryl Hickman Sawmill Institute of Acting.
There it is. So when acting fails, you know
what the you have a fucking career path.
Yeah, we focus on Plan B here. Yep.
He thought maybe he'd, you know,just be a straight actor
(10:47):
delivering lines with gravitas. But anyone who met him realized
he had the gift for something else.
He couldn't deliver a line without making it funny.
I love it. So even when he's trying to be
dramatic, people are still laughing.
Oh God. Relatable, yeah.
I'm serious. Oh my God, she's getting mad.
This is really. Funny.
I'm actually being serious. Can't tell if you're mad at me
or not because it just is so funny how you're delivering it.
(11:09):
Yeah, piss, piss Cherry off again.
I'm seriously upset here. Single tear.
She's like turning red. New York at that time was Ground
Zero for the comedy renaissance.Improv was Catching Fire with
groups like the Compass Players and later Second City rewriting
the rules of performance. Comedy was shifting away from 1
liners and the Poconos. Kind of like Try the Veal into
(11:33):
something much looser, stranger and more character driven for
Fred. Perfect fit, right place, right
time. OK.
In 1967, Fred Co founded the sketch troupe Ace Trucking
Company alongside Michael Mislov, George Mamoli, Bill
Seluga and Patty Deutsch. I like the name, very funny.
Yeah, the name was intentionallyabsurd.
(11:54):
They weren't hauling freight, they were hauling punch lines.
Baby, let's. Go got it, Got.
It their sketches were fast, surreal and often semi
improvised. My back hurts from hauling all
these jokes. Here's what set that group
apart. They weren't doing safe,
polished vaudeville. Their material was loose and
they trusted each other to keep the energy alive no matter what.
(12:15):
That's so exciting. Yeah, the old yes and really
working out. Yeah, if someone forgot a line,
they improvised. You got to trust your partners.
It's kind of scary. It's exciting.
Yeah, if a bit was bombing, theypivoted mid performance.
It felt spontaneous and the audience is aided up.
Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun, yeah.
Their big break came courtesy ofJohnny Carson.
(12:37):
The Tonight Show was the Holy Grail for comedians in the 60s
and 70s. And this is back in the day that
was all you had. If you got on it once.
You know, instantly famous. Yeah, you actually there was
like celebrity, like machines where you can go become famous
like that. Carson loved fresh voices and
the Ace Trucking company became semi regulars.
(12:58):
I got a clip here. This is of Fred Willard.
He was receiving an award and they did like a major like hour
long interview with him. But this is like one minute on
the Ace Trucking Company gettingin with Carson. 50-60 tonight
shows and we were just on just about everything, so that was a
(13:19):
very successful act. Why do you think Johnny had you
back so much? We were just kind of wild.
We did funny stuff. I I think the, the guy that did
the Raymond J Johnson bit lookeda lot like Doc Severinsen.
So there's an inside joke there.We just sketch about 55
motorcycle bikers who came into a store and they wanted to buy.
(13:41):
They got kind of sucked into buying very fancy like men
purses and shoes and talking about shoes.
I need some shoes when I sketches over Johnny Carson
saying shoes. We never came over to sit on the
panel because there were five ofus, but he just liked, I think,
the the, the anarchy and the funwe had.
(14:03):
He is so funny. It's ridiculous.
And keep in mind, Johnny Carson in The Tonight Show, obviously,
that that's a place for like interviewing the stars and, you
know, seeing what their private life is like or what the next
thing they're working on or comedians coming up and doing a
set. There's really never been sketch
groups that have been on those type of platforms.
And multiple times at that. Between 50 and 60 times.
(14:24):
I don't even know so if any do that currently.
Right, I can't think of 1. I know that Johnny did do a lot
of sketches though. He was a sketch fan.
He was a funny guy. So they also landed on the Ed
Sullivan Show and toured nationally.
In a pre SNL world, Ace Truckingwas the only sketch troupe doing
recurring national TV. Fred, with his natural mix of
(14:45):
confidence and confusion, stood out even in the group.
Viewers didn't know his name yet, but they remembered his
face. Hmm.
Karnak the Magnificent. Yeah, that's who it was.
That was Johnny Karnak the Magnificent, one of his great.
Sketches, Yes. By the early 70s, Fred was
branching out into solo work. He popped up in sitcoms like Get
Smart and Love American Style. What's that all about?
(15:08):
You have to pay for it You. Too you haven't seen any of.
Those. Very capitalist.
Yeah, He even landed a role in Robert Redford's political drama
The Candidate. Oh.
Really, it's a great movie. 1972.
Robert Redford, a real hunk? Yeah, yeah.
Ladies thought he was the sexiest man alive.
He may have actually been. Some guys even think that.
Ohh, I do, yeah. Really.
Ohh for sure he's a hunk. Yeah, for a moment it looked
(15:31):
like he might pivot towards straight character acting, but
comedy kept pulling him back. Yeah, I can't really see him
just staying on a just a completely straight like drama.
Kind of a path, yeah. It's also not, I'm not demeaning
any actors, but it's easier to just do drama.
Comedy is technically more difficult.
You need timing, you need inflections.
It's it's a whole thing. You made the word shoes very
(15:53):
funny Shoes. It's going to be stuck in my
head all day. Shoes.
Shoes. And then came Norman Lear.
Lear was the king of socially conscious sitcoms, and in 1976
he launched Mary Hartman. Mary Hartman It was unlike
anything on TVA parody of soap operas that was so dry, so
surreal, some viewers weren't even sure if it was supposed to
be funny. Interesting, I've never heard of
(16:16):
that. Fred was cast as Thom Hartman,
the baffled husband of Luis Lasser's Mary.
It was a huge leap forward. Fred played Tom with just the
right mix of frustration and cluelessness, and suddenly he
wasn't just that guy from sketches anymore.
He was part of a cultural experiment, but the real gem was
still to come. In 1977, Lear spun off Fernwood
(16:38):
Tonight, a fake local talk show hosted by Martin Mall as Barth
Gimbel. Yo, this one's amazing.
Fred played Jerry Hubbard, the world's most clueless sidekick.
Always smiling, always polite, always saying the wrong thing
and. That that character for him
would go on throughout his entire career.
The clueless, lovable guy. He definitely is really solid at
(16:58):
delivery. So funny.
Yeah. Audiences were floored.
Jerry was so convincing that some viewers thought they were
watching a real low budget talk show based out of Ohio.
Fred improvised pretty much all of his dialogue, delivering
lines with such earnestness thatthe that the absurdity doubled
in impact. Oh my gosh.
I think that special needs man is really he's doing pretty
(17:20):
good. Keep going.
Keep. On trying look at.
Him. Go and here's a fun twist.
Working with Martin Mull on Fernwood would pay off again two
decades later when he when the two reunited on Roseanne, this
time playing one of the first openly gay couples regularly
featured on a network sitcom. Wow.
Oh. My God, that's right.
And I would like to say this about Roseanne.
(17:40):
Obviously in the most recent years, social media age,
whatever it might be, but she was actually a pioneer for a lot
of civil rights things. Yeah, that have sort of been
lost over these past couple years.
But Roseanne was. I loved Roseanne.
Roseanne was amazing. And no one showed the American
family the way that she did. Yeah.
It was trashy. It was ugly.
It's like, you know, yeah. Crazy.
I think the best sitcoms are theblue collar ones.
(18:01):
Oh for sure, it's so good. I mean, I do like Frazier 'cause
he does a little radio show and his dad is like, you're gay.
Right. Well, yeah, he was one of the
first ones that are like audience has no big words.
Yeah, I'll prove it. Yeah, but I'm like, no, we
don't. By the end of the 1970s, Fred
Willard had carved out a niche. He wasn't just the star of a
(18:23):
show yet, but he was that guy. The man who could walk into a
scene, say something ridiculous with total confidence, and steal
the spotlight without even trying.
That is a fact. In the early 80s, Fred Willard
had already done it all. He did live improv, sketch
troupe sitcoms, even a politicaldrama.
It seems like he got success fairly quickly then.
Yeah, he didn't really. I mean, I'm sure obviously he
(18:45):
grinded it out, yeah, 'cause. But it seems like he kind of had
a path forward fairly fast. Yeah, so he was doing all
everything, but he hadn't cracked the movies yet.
That changed in 1984, when he landed a small but unforgettable
part in This Is Spinal Tap. Fred played Lieutenant Bob Hook
Stratton, the Air Force public affairs officer assigned to
chaperone the fading British rockers around a military base
(19:07):
and. We'll play.
Oh, I want a. Clip here and this is an example
of that for everyone out there. No role is too small, no.
Visit to a military facility? Fine.
May I start by saying how thrilled we are to have you
here? We are such fans of your music
and all of your records. I'm not Speaking of yours
personally, but the whole genre of the rock'n'roll, of the
(19:28):
exciting things that are happening in music today.
And let me explain a bit about what's going on.
This is our monthly At Ease weekend.
At Ease is a chance to kind of let down our hair, although I
see you all have a head start. These haircuts wouldn't pass
military muster, believe me. Although I shouldn't talk, I My
hair is getting a little shaggy too.
But I'm not. They're too close to you.
They'll think I'm part of the band.
Shall we go in and I'll show youaround?
(19:51):
Walk this way, please. Right through here.
Did you ever run into a musical group?
Works out of Kansas City. Calls himself 4 Jacks and a
Jill. They're going to.
Be Ramada in there for about 18 months.
If you're ever in Kansas City and you'll want to hear some
good music, you might want to drop by.
I would like to get the plane onabout 1900 hours of that
satisfactory. I make it now, it's about 18130
(20:14):
hours. So that's what, 50 hours?
Well, actually. Funny hours.
That's actually. About 30 minutes.
About 1/2. Hour, give or take just a few
minutes. I don't want to rush you.
The idea is if we can get it on and we get it over with and I
have just one request which you play a couple of slow numbers so
I can dance. Oh my God, I love it.
Working on a sex follow that's so good. 11 people are like, oh,
(20:38):
you're a musician. You know who's a really good
musician is this other band, right?
You should hear them. They really know what they're
doing. Check them out.
Go see a show In a movie full ofchaos, Hook Stratton is
hilariously calm, delivering military jargon about security
protocols while the band membersbicker about tiny sandwiches.
Fred improvised most of his lines, and critics singled out
(20:58):
his appearance as one of the funniest cameos in the film.
Oh wow, no, he did great. I mean, yeah, it just rolled off
the tongue because he literally was in the military.
Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah.
He had history. He.
Had the he had the language already.
It was a turning point. Improvised comedy was about to
become the dominant style of thenew generation, and Fred's
ability to stay perfectly in character while being completely
(21:19):
absurd made him a natural. And I'm going to say this also.
I've been saying I've been saying that a lot.
I'm going to say this, say it. He didn't break a lot of
comedians SNL and and then people think it's cute when they
break and it is kind of cute, but not if you do it every time,
right? He kept everything very
straight. He.
Was very good. He was very earnest.
I believe Kyle has said that word already.
In the mid 1990s, director Christopher Guest began making a
(21:42):
series of legendary mockumentaries, and Fred became
part of the inner circle. These films were almost entirely
improvised, which is insane because they're so good, and it
actually follows a story. Guest gave actors character BIOS
and story beats, but no scripteddialogue.
It was comedy without a net, andFred thrived on it.
(22:02):
So in 1996, he played Ron Albertson in Christopher Guest's
first movie, Waiting for Guffman, and he plays a travel
agent who dreams of small town theatre stardom.
It's him and Catherine O'Hara. It's like a couple in there
going in and auditioning. Oh, that's amazing.
So funny because they do like a one-on-one interview with them
and he's like, yeah, you know, it's just not lines are just not
(22:25):
for us. But you know, he's like, so
we're going to be in the movies.It's like he has no idea that
you need to actually right say lines in the movies.
Very funny. Waiting for Guffman.
Ground breaking. Yes, ground breaking film.
Saw it. You never saw that.
Oh my God, you would love it as a theater, a nerd.
You would love it. Oh my God, it's so good.
(22:45):
Oh, it's phenomenal. Speaking of ground breaking,
like I said before, from 1995 to1997 he played Scott, the
boyfriend and later husband of Martin Mulls character Leon Karp
on Roseanne. At a time when most network
sitcoms shield away from, you know, gay storylines, Leon and
Scott became one of the first openly gay couples to appear
regularly on prime time network television.
(23:05):
Amazing. And it was the 90s, right?
This is the exact time when Ellen was getting cancelled for
coming out of the closet. Wow.
So it's, you know, it's. A real statement.
It is absolutely. Thanks for being an ally.
That's right. And then came Christopher
Guest's next movie in 2000, Bestin Show.
Oh my God. It's so maybe this is a desert
(23:27):
island movie for me. Yo, for sure.
It's got dogs, it's got humor, it's got everything you want.
Walnuts, pecan nut, pistachio nut.
My mom would freak when I said pistachio nut.
This became Fred's signature role.
Buck Laughlin, the clueless color commentator at a national
dog show. This became my entire
(23:48):
personality. Yeah, I, I, I am just this guy.
At one point so. What do they weigh there now?
Is that soaking wet or dry? Every line he says is wrong, but
he says it with the conviction of a sports legend.
And this is a fantastic. I think we're gonna play a clip.
The person that he's speaking with is an actual announcer for
(24:09):
dog shows. Oh, the one.
Hilarious. Oh, really?
He plays so perfectly with Fred because he's just playing it
totally straight, and it's just a great dynamic.
Yeah. So that guy deserves some credit
for this role, too. I've been a great straight man
for Fred Willard. Yeah.
Yes. At one point he wonders aloud if
you could quote get a terrier asa service dog or as dinner.
(24:31):
What? All of it was improvised.
Guess later said Fred came to set with no notes, just
instincts, and every take was gold.
Oh my God. Here's a clip of him best in
show. She is really giving him a
thorough going over. Are all judges that thorough?
I mean, she looks at the teeth. It's very important that all the
attributes are examined. Teeth, eyes, ears, gums.
(24:54):
Am I seeing right? Where's she putting her hands
now? Just checking out the dog's
testicular area to make sure to make sure that that everything
is intact. Hate to go out on a date with
Judge Edie Franklin. Have her judge me.
That would be no fun. So good.
(25:15):
Oh my God, everyone in that movie is fucking incredible.
So good Catherine O'Hara is in that as well, His frequent
costar said. Fred had a unique superpower
quote. He could say the dumbest thing
imaginable and make it sound like the smartest thing you've
ever heard. He.
Says it all with such a straightface.
Perfect. Oh man.
So just as his work with Guest was peeking, Fred joined another
(25:39):
rising comedy crew, The Anchorman Legend of Ron Ron
Burgundy Gang in 2004. In 2004, he played Ed Harkin,
the long-suffering news directorat Channel 4.
Surrounded by lunatics like WillFerrell, Steve Carell and Paul
Rudd, Red became the eye of the storm.
This. Is definitely one of my top
(26:00):
five. Oh yeah, Anchorman's amazing.
Anchorman is my shoot. Yeah, it's so good.
He was in his 70s at that point,which I didn't realize.
Oh my God. In his 70s, in this movie,
hanging with all those guys and somehow getting funnier, he was
still sharp. Yeah, 'cause you have to be.
That's the thing I don't think alot of people realize.
You have to be very smart to play that dumb.
Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.
(26:21):
By the early 2000s, Fred Willardhad pulled off something rare.
He bridged 3 separate comedy generations.
He'd conquered the sketch scene in the 60s, reinvented himself
in Norman Lear's experimental 70s sitcoms, became the king of
mockumentaries in the 90s, and was now anchoring Hollywood
comedies alongside the biggest names of the 2000s.
That's incredible. Yeah.
Incredible Feel beautiful. Long lasting career.
(26:43):
Yeah, In 2003, Fred landed a recurring role on Everybody
Loves Raymond, playing Hank McDougal, the father-in-law of
Brad Garrett's character, Robert.
See, now this is a role I did not know.
Yeah. There's so many there.
I was going through his IMDBI was like, he was in that.
He was in the bold and the beautiful, like a whole bunch of
stuff. And that's funny because he was
making fun of soap operas. Then he became a part of 1.
(27:05):
That is, he plays it that serious.
Yeah. Hank was rigid, judgmental and
constantly bewildered by the chaos of the Barone family.
Every line was delivered like hewas trying to win a debate no
one else was having. Hey, that ain't easy to do,
trust me. I know the role earned him 3
consecutive Emmy nominations, yo.
Everybody loved Rick. That show was so fucking famous
(27:28):
it. Was crazy.
It was good. Did you watch it quite often?
I did not when it was first out of.
It Yeah, you watched it in rerun.
Yeah, we got like DVD's in college.
Oh oh wow, yeah ohh. Like when you had to buy the
seasons? I just think Brad Garrett, he
kind of, I don't know if he set the tall actor back or if he
moved his forward, but he was a little bit of a dullard and he
(27:51):
was big. And then all the jokes were
like, he's huge. Yeah.
That's why it's very difficult to be a 6 fifths of an actor.
Where is my sympathy? Well, you wanted any?
You want a donut. Doughnut.
Yeah, right. Yeah, but I don't know about
that Brad Garrett character. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Wow. They made fun of him a lot on
it. Yeah, they made him all like,
(28:12):
derpy. Yeah, 'cause he's big, old and
they're like everyone's taller is derpy even though our heads
are bigger, so our brains are bigger.
Yeah. Ben's like they're making fun of
me now. We're making fun of me.
Same. Same with that fucking Lenny
from Of Mice and Men. Oh yeah.
Trash. Hug the rabbit to death.
Yeah, exactly that. Because trash.
Whoever wrote that book is trash.
(28:33):
So the three consecutive Emmy nods, 2304 and 05, for
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
So decades into his career, Fredwas suddenly back on the red
carpet, nominated alongside actor's half his age.
I mean, honestly, he deserves a lifetime achievement award.
Yeah, and he did. Oh spoiler.
But before, in 2009, Fred joinedanother juggernaut, Modern
(28:56):
Family, he played. He did.
Oh yeah, he played Frank, the endlessly cheerful, slightly out
of touch father of Ty Burrell's Phil.
Yeah, and there are such a good pair.
Phil is hilarious. He's probably my favorite part
in the whole show. I didn't realize the the heavy
set guy, he's not gay. No.
(29:17):
Right, Yes, apparently he's a big gun nut.
Yeah, he's like Super Nugget. He plays.
He plays it so well. Yeah, and he lives in Ohio.
I know a lot of information about him.
Wow. Yeah, my friends close with a
friend of his. Oh, cool.
But I thought for sure he was gay.
But he's not. No, he's not.
Isn't that something? No.
No, you. Gotta kiss a guy though.
He wasn't in many episodes, but every time he appeared,
(29:38):
audiences lit up. I mean, that's the perfect job
right there. Yes.
Just a guest appearance. Ohh, yeah, I'll take my guest
appearance. Emmy, really quick.
Thank you for the two days of work back to vacation in Cancun.
I know. Oh yeah, you guessed he's.
Kind of living it. Up.
That's the dream. Show up for a couple scenes and
then he even earned another Emmynomination from overall.
And then as soon as you're there, you're like, there is
(29:59):
some drama behind the scenes that I'm not aware of.
So I'm just going to ignore the fact there are certain tensions
between hair and makeup, right? You don't have to have any drama
with the show. They treat you like you're a
guest, so everyone's super nice to you.
Yeah, you don't get all tied up.You don't get all tied up, you
don't care. Politics.
Exactly. Fred's Modern Family character
became a touchstone for younger viewers who had no idea about
(30:20):
his improv roots or mockumentaryfame.
To them, he was just Phil's funny dad.
And that was enough. That's so funny and.
Then you go down the Willard rabbit hole and you're like,
this guy is fucking amazing. Yeah.
Not the Rat King though. Not the Rat King, No Willard the
Rat King. You ever seen that one?
I did, yeah. That was a creative.
It's a good movie. No.
Meanwhile, Fred had quietly become a mainstay on Jimmy
(30:41):
Kimmel Live, appearing in over 80 comedy sketches between the
show's 2003 premiere in the late2000 Tens from.
Carson From Carson to Kimmel holy.
Kimmel Yeah, that old pipeline. Wow, yeah, that old, that old
Carson to Kimmel pipeline. Kimmel, Adore.
Yeah. Fred played everything from fake
newscasters to bumbling correspondents, even making fun
(31:04):
of his own deadpan TV style. He became kind of an unofficial
mascot for the show, a secret weapon producers could deploy
when they needed something weirddelivered completely straight.
Kimmel later said Fred would walk into the studio, sit down
and be instantly hilarious without trying.
He made everything feel like a real show, which made it 10
times funnier. And not to mention his voice.
Fred's voice was just as distinctive as his face.
(31:25):
Oh. Absolutely.
I think that his that is definitely added a whole other
dynamic to just how he deliveredeverything.
Yeah, it's warm, slightly nasally, and always confident
even when he had no clue. Exactly.
It made him a natural for animation.
Over the years, he became a prolific voice actor, starring
in The Boondocks, which is one of my favorite shows of all
(31:46):
time. Yeah.
You remember the teacher that got in trouble and he went on
the news for calling one of his students the N word.
Yeah. And he even drew both words that
with the ER and the A. And he's like, this is the one I
was using. They made an episode about that.
And he played the teacher of. Course he didn't.
It is so goddamn funny. He says the N word way more
times than any white man shut into a microphone or anywhere
(32:11):
else. That's.
Insane. I didn't know.
That and he also voiced Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld in several episodes. Yikes.
It just shows you how trusted and loved he was because, you
know, it's touchy territory. Yeah, big.
And they're like, I will can handle this.
He's got a good heart and he'll understand that.
He'll get the humor. Yeah, he was also in King of the
(32:33):
Hill, Family Guy, American Dad, even in Wally as wow, he was the
only live action performer in Wally.
Oh my God, what you're talking about?
What was he in Wally? He was.
He appeared on the video screensas the by and large CEO Shelby
Forthright. Wow, the names that they have
given him are so perfect. I know.
I mean, he just was in everything.
(32:54):
He was also Wally. My I got to rewatch it.
I just the last time I watched it I was like, this is the
future. This is happening now, and I'm
sure it's more accurate now thanit was before.
A lot more accurate now. So even if you didn't see him,
you knew it was Fred the second he opened his mouth.
Yeah, that's what they say aboutme.
Yeah. Don't meet me in a dark alley.
(33:15):
I'm. Going to get this mouth.
Oh God. Then I'm going to suck their
Dicks. Yeah, right.
Yeah, in July 2012 came one of the most bizarre headlines in an
otherwise spotless career. Oh, this is my boy.
Oh, this is where I am. So Team Willard, let's go.
Let's talk about it. Oh.
So story goes like. This, so story goes, the man
(33:39):
does what the man's supposed to do in a place where he's
supposed to do it. That's a story, correct?
Thank you. But the actual story that we
need to get into some details here is Fred was briefly
detained by the LAPD during a routine, what they're calling a
routine inspection at the Tiki Theater, which is just an adult
smut. It's a Diddy theater.
Wow, the floors are going to be sticky.
(33:59):
Yeah. And how do you think they got
that way? Come.
Yes. Yeah, and popcorn.
Oh my God. Butter.
So much butter. Spilled soda.
Spilled soda come yes. Popcorn officers claimed they
observed him engaging in a lewd act.
Shut up. So yeah, I mean, he was jerking
(34:20):
off in a friggin. Jerk off Point Theater.
Yeah, you. He wasn't watching Toy Story.
Yeah, seriously. In New York City, they actually
have booths that you can go to and sit down.
Those creep me out more than thetheaters so.
There's a There was an old a DVDsalesman that had the porno
booths in the back before he ended up getting shut down by
the city. Oh wow.
And I went into one for the dollar and it is just a series
(34:42):
of old stills and then a little bit of video pornography.
With stills in there. Yes, it was.
Well, that was. Completely Times Square back in
the day, it was just all that. It was a lot, just though I
thought it would be video. No, there was, there was stills
and a little video, Yeah. Plus the little boots.
Plus the and then the boot and it smelled.
It smelled like bleach as a. Matter of well, that's actually
(35:02):
good because I used to see homeless people going in there
all the time. Yeah, yeah, I had a house
that'd. Be a nice little refuge.
Yeah. Are you renting this spank
booth? Yeah, it's pretty cheap
actually, Yeah. Although he was detained,
questioned and, you know, shamed.
Basically this point of that. Fuck Hollywood and fuck anyone
(35:23):
who laughed at him. Fuck anyone who said he did
anything wrong. Yeah, he was not charged with
any crime and denied wrongdoing.I think the people who didn't
jerk off in the jerk off theatershould be charged with a crime.
Those are serial killers. What are you doing?
Snitched on him, sucks. Well, yeah, they go there in the
back. The same thing happened to Paul
Rubens. They would they?
Yeah. And an undercover person to
observe you jerking off. Yes, also Paul Reubens jerk off
(35:45):
theater. Leave the guy alone, guy.
Alone, maybe. Rest in peace.
Yeah, we have to do Paul Reubensat some point too.
We will. Yeah.
But you know, you're not allowedto go to a restaurant and not
eat. You know, you gotta, you're
gonna order something or you're gonna get out of here.
You've had 7 waters. You we're we're not you know,
this isn't a library. Get the fuck out of.
Here. Wouldn't the eating part be
buying the ticket to see the movie though?
(36:07):
No, you're. Well, to some degree, but I also
think it's just rude to the actors who are in there gaping
and stretching for you not to jerk.
Off and you're just sitting there like staring no the.
Ticket would be the reservation.Got.
It then you're in there, then you gotta eat.
Yeah, then you have to eat the. Ticket's the reservation.
Just I'm just gonna watch you make the food.
(36:28):
I don't wanna eat. It yeah, it's ridiculous how
offensive to the chef. I know I don't want to offend
nobody. I'm gonna pull my Dick out
these. Are good points.
Thank you. The incident made national news,
mostly because nobody could picture Fred Willard in a place
like that, which I can't either.I can.
I really cannot imagine him sexually at all.
(36:48):
I mean, I yeah, exactly. It's all.
Come on. He doesn't even exist in that
realm. He really doesn't.
White socks, black shoes. Oh God.
Black socks, white shoes. Yeah, could be khakis.
Yeah, not good for him. Little back and forth there.
Yeah, oh boy. I bet you he was a good lover.
(37:09):
Probably. I could see it.
Well, he's an improviser. He's an improv.
He's gonna go with the. Flow.
He's just handed all his way to an orgasm.
Yeah, yeah. He was swiftly fired from the
PBS show Market Warriors. Oh.
Fuck off. I love you PBS, but fuck off.
Yeah, you had to get dropped. He was like narrating
documentaries and stuff they had.
To no one. Kids aren't gonna be like if
(37:30):
they have the guy that jerked off at the theater, they don't
know. Come on, PBS.
ABC also dropped him from Trust Us With Your Life.
A few days later, he appeared onJimmy Kimmel Live and joked
about the ordeal, saying quote, it's all being handled legally.
And by the way, I was just looking for the Pixar's Shorts
Festival. Hey, there we go.
(37:51):
Got a little bit of humor there out of it, yeah.
The story did fade quickly. Because I remember you telling
me that, and I didn't. I was like, I've never heard of
that. That Fred Wheeler got caught in
a smut theater. Yeah.
I have never heard of that before right now.
Yeah. Oh, really?
Yeah, shit. He's a man.
He's a human being, he is. Honestly, what surprises me more
about those stories is that thatthose places actually exist.
(38:13):
In 2012, like relatively recently.
The Tiki Theater, it's still open to this day.
And it's a jerk off theater. It still is a jerk off theater,
no? Shit.
So don't go there when they're doing their LAPD sweeps.
Yeah, fuck you. And on that front, Oh.
Just leave them alone. There's so much crime in the
city. I know.
What are we doing? Dude, yeah, literally somebody
moved into Kyle's van. Yeah.
(38:34):
They're like, no, don't we got to get these celebrities jerking
off here? Yeah.
I can't get over there. We're over at the Tiki Theater.
Oh God. The story faded quickly and by
the following year Fred was backin demand.
If anything, the public treated it like a weird footnote in a
long and otherwise controversy free career.
Yeah, exactly. A footnote.
Less than a footnote. Yeah, that's like the one time
(38:55):
you got caught running in the hallways.
Like oh, running in the high is a good.
Kid just like that, Yeah. Yeah, also again, I can see all
of the characters he played justlike oh porno but.
Didn't know he could do this. Oh, look at that.
I'm just gonna wander in here. Well, look at that.
It's a boner. I guess I'll jerk off.
I don't know. This is what people do.
Oh my God. By the mid twenty 10s, Fred
(39:18):
Wheeler had done something almost no one in comedy pulled
off. He reinvented himself now for
five straight decades. It's amazing.
Yeah, Fred was well into his 80swhen most actors his age were
collecting lifetime achievement awards and quietly stepping off
stage. Fred, he was still showing up to
work like a kid with something to prove.
And we've seen him play the clueless husband on screen.
(39:40):
His marriage was actually, in real life, rock solid.
Oh, good. I need.
Yeah, I didn't think about that.I was going to ask about his
love life. He married Mary Lovell Willard
in 1968 and they stayed togetheruntil her death in July 2018,
just shy of 50 years. Which that must suck to find out
that you were detained by the LAPD or your husband was
detained. For being in a smut theater.
(40:02):
Wow. Who beaten his meat?
No, it's it's so much better than a brothel or getting caught
like Eddie Murphy picking up a chick on Sunset.
Great point. You think that?
Look at their age. She's like giggling about it.
Yeah, doesn't give a fuck. Doing Fred, OH.
Fred. Fred, I told you, don't get
caught doing that. Well.
He was just at the theater beinga silly goose.
(40:22):
Yeah, Fred, I told you I packed a sandwich for you.
Did you not eat it? Did you not eat it?
We have Lube at home. Mary was a playwright and a
writer and she was like the calming energy to friend Fred's
just fucking more manic. Behavior, yes.
Thank you. So she balanced him.
Ying and Yang knows this. I love that.
(40:44):
Friend said Mary had the rare ability to tell Fred when
something wasn't funny. Whoa, it's not funny.
He's like, yeah, well, I'm gonnago jerk off now.
And one more jerk off theatre for me.
But he actually valued and listened to her notes.
Yeah. They had one daughter, Hope, who
grew up watching her dad play everything from the bubbling
husband to a talk show host. And when Mary passed away, Fred
(41:07):
was devastated. But he didn't retreat.
Instead, he threw himself back into work, which has always been
his coping mechanism. Sounds right.
And in his later years, his he was just starring in everything
in cameos. He popped up in shows like Hot
in Cleveland, Community, The Bold and the Beautiful.
That's so funny. So many shows.
(41:28):
Oh, my God. I got a picture here of her, of
Mary, and she's got her short hair.
She seems like they're always smiling together.
Yeah, look at them. He's dressed as Santa Claus.
Oh my God, what an adorable. Oh, they look so happy together.
They look like a cute couple forsure.
Yeah, and he didn't stop with live action.
(41:49):
He kept doing voice over work. He returned for guest spots on
Family Guy and American Dad wellinto the 20 tens, and his voice
had become kind of shorthand forThis Is Gonna Be Funny.
Absolutely. In 2019, Fred was cast on Space
Force, the Netflix comedy created by Steve Carell and Greg
Daniels. Oh, Space Force was funny.
Yeah, and he played the father of Steve Carell's character.
(42:13):
It is a testament to him. All of the greatest stars in
comedy were like, be my dad. Yeah.
It's like what Jerry Stiller didwith whichever show that King of
Queens, I believe. Oh, yeah.
Oh, and Sein and Seinfeld. Yep, it's a high compliment.
Very much so. Corella had grown up watching
Fred, and now he's getting to work opposite one of his idols.
Fred filmed his scenes in late 2019, just months before his
(42:36):
death, but was still razor sharp.
That's. Insane.
Yeah, I know. I never thought of him as aged,
right? I never.
Because he was just always. So he didn't go out like Jerry
Jones with the Dallas Cowboys. Hello.
I mean, he wasn't like he didn'tshow anything of like to like, I
hate to say the word decaying, but yeah, you know, just like
like you can tell when people's times are running out and like
(42:59):
they're reaching the end. But like, he was just just
working nonstop sharp witted theentire time until he just
stopped. I see he and Betty White.
Amazing, right? I think it's incredible.
Yeah, I get a headache. I'm out for the.
Week. Don't talk to me.
Yeah, don't. Don't talk to me.
You can find me in the jerk off theater.
Thank you. Even though his screen time in
(43:20):
this show was brief, critics singled him out.
Variety called him, quote, a secret weapon, noting that even
in his mid 80s, Fred could stillsteal a scene with just one
confused glance. Fred's last years were also
filled with tributes. He received lifetime achievement
awards from several improv and comedy festivals, and in
interviews, he seemed genuinely humbled by the attention.
(43:42):
He never stopped cracking jokes in those interviews, either.
Asked how he wanted to be remembered, Fred said.
Quote. As someone who showed up on time
and didn't bump into the furniture, I can.
Definitely tell his whole work ethic definitely screams.
I was there 15 minutes early to every single thing.
Yeah, it's. Funny.
By 2020, Fred had been in the business for over 6 decades.
(44:04):
He outlasted entire comedy trends, whole eras of
television, and generations of costars.
That's so crazy. But on the night of May 15th,
2020, Fred Willard quietly passed away in his home at in
Los Angeles at the age of 86. The official cause was cardiac
arrest, with reports noting thathe had remained active and
mentally sharp right until the end.
There had been no long decline, no public illness.
(44:26):
One day Fred was showing up on TV and stealing scenes, the next
he was gone. Exactly.
I think that's insane. Yeah.
The timing made the loss even stranger because, as we all
remember, the world was in the early months of the COVID-19
pandemic. Hollywood was locked down,
productions were paused, people were isolated in their homes
drinking their friggin faces off.
(44:48):
Fred's death landed like a quietshockwave across social media, a
sudden loss in an already surreal time.
That has anything to do with thefact that they kind because
COVID-19 stopped everyone from working.
Like the second he stopped working he literally dropped
dead. Oh my God.
He's been working his entire life, that's what he liked to
fucking do, but then like something forced him to stop
(45:11):
working and then to then life. You know I died of a broken
heart. I kind of, I feel like at a
certain point, you have like onemore.
He's already lived such a long life.
He's like, oh, a pandemic's coming, check.
Please. See, I can't deal with all this.
I'm done another one like this. I've got three years to waste.
I'm. Going to go to the big tiki
theater in the sky. That's right, he and my boy
(45:33):
Puffin. Think of me when it rains.
Hi, Fred. And Pee Wee Herman.
I got a seat next to you and I oh, Paul Reubens, Pee Wee
Herman. Oh my God.
That's all. Jerk off to the Jerk off
Theater. Oh wow, why is Charlie Kirk?
Here. You know what?
Hey, why not? All is forgiven in death, Yeah.
The response from fellow comedians was overwhelming.
(45:54):
Steve Carell tweeted Fred Willard was the funniest person
that ever lived. He was so gracious and sweet and
so incredibly funny. He will be missed.
Jimmy Kimmel Kimmel also called him the funniest man in the
world and aired a long tribute segment on his show showing
decades of Fred's sketches and cameos.
Wow. Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy
is old Christopher. Guest Ensemble castmates shared
(46:17):
stories about Fred and how he could derail an entire set with
one perfectly wrong line delivered with a straight face
and. Eugene Levy is another guy man
he and Fred and and Catherine, they are just the.
Fucking brick and genius. Even NASA got in on the
tributes, tweeting a photo of Fred on Space Force with the
caption. A legend on Earth, a star in our
(46:37):
hearts. Thank you NASA, never a straight
answer. Yeah.
That's what they say. Everyone, everyone loved him.
Everybody loved him. Yeah.
Do we know what movie he was watching?
He was jerking off, so I kind ofwant to watch.
It and look it up I. Don't want to watch it and jerk
off. Just like in solidarity.
Solidarity to Mr. Willard. Yes, exactly.
(47:01):
Let me see here. I'm not sure if they're going to
have that evidence. If it's a good one, that'll be.
We could look up. Let's see.
Oh, here we go. Let's see.
He paid $13 to watch the adult films.
Follow me to The Client List, Parody and stepdad.
(47:22):
No, no, that sounds bad. Well.
His stepdad is stepdad. No is great. 13 bucks for a
triple feature though? It's not.
Come on. In a city that's ever inflating,
this is what is. Incredible.
What was it? An anthology series?
Was it a Film Festival? Yeah, yeah, wow.
And follow me to Nacho ravages 5of the loveliest ladies in the
(47:46):
hardcore biz, showing them the pleasure of animal animalistic
coupling in his vigorous. Hell yeah, right.
Fred got that dog in him. Wow.
Yeah. I wonder what stepdad knows.
Well, let me check that out for you.
Fred got that. Stepdad no Bow Wow porno Stepdad
(48:07):
no. Oh, you can watch it on Pornhub.
OK, Yeah. We'll bookmark that.
Yeah, bookmark that. Yeah, it does seem to bring up
some more controversial images, though.
Yeah. And the second one.
The second one was The Client List parody, which is good for
him. It's a comedy.
Yeah, client list parody. He's like, you know, this is
(48:31):
just what it's all about, makingpeople laugh and hard.
Exactly. I'm proud of him.
Gets better than that. Fred Willard never headlined A
blockbuster. He was never the marquee name on
a movie poster. But yet he shaped modern comedy
than most people realize. And seriously, I mean, he was
just everywhere. Yeah, the The Client List
(48:53):
parodies starring Danny Wilde and Chrissy Lynn.
Oh nice, look at that. Good for him.
He became the template for the mockumentary idiot expert
archetype, the character who speaks with authority and is
always wrong. He helped pioneer long form
improv before SNL even existed. He normalized gay couples on
primetime sitcoms through Roseanne, and he remained
(49:17):
relevant for over 60 years. Almost impossible.
Literally almost impossible. Also, the fact that he wanted to
is a testament to his love of all of us for sharing.
His love of the game. Love of the game, let's go.
Yeah. So that brings us to.
Final thoughts. I'm just going to say my final
(49:38):
thought is thank you, because wehave to remember.
That's why I try to think my icons in their DMS.
Yeah, before they die, because Fred is an icon.
He was so funny. And again, as I said earlier in
the show, no role is too small. Whatever they give you, just do
it. It reminds me of Chris Farley in
Wayne's World when he plays the security guard.
Like, whatever role you get, just crush it and you'll you're
(50:01):
going to be remembered forever. It also reminds me of Big
Lebowski with the Dude, who plays Jesus.
Oh, yeah. He's only in the movie.
Yeah, he's in the movie for like14 seconds.
And he's did Jesus. Yeah, he's he's, he's quoted
forever. Is he was like the star of the
movie? He really is.
Yeah. The Jesus is like just.
Everyone knows that. 8 year olds, dude, yeah, he's licking
(50:24):
the ball. He's like, it's a fucking child
molester. Well, they made they made a
sequel and they tried to like revision that be like he was
framed or something. Oh man, it's.
The Jesus. We know what he's done again.
He's in a bowling league with the Belt with the Big Lebowski.
With fingerless gloves on. So yes, thank you, Fred.
Let's remember our icons are notgoing to be here forever, so
(50:44):
tell him you love them when they're alive.
Yeah, and I think we could learnfrom thread.
Dude, a lot of people say like an older, an old dog can't learn
new tricks. This guy kept reinventing
himself until literally the day he died.
So you're never too old I. I know.
I guess my final thought is being, like, incredibly inspired
by that and just inspired for, like, his love of the game, how
(51:06):
much he was, like, his little workhorse ethicness.
Yeah, all that, actually. Like, I don't know, work begets
work. And, like, it paid off.
And then to a certain point, like you said, he never starred
in anything, but something wasn't considered successful if
you didn't have Fred Willard, like, jump in on it at some
point. Yeah.
So I love that. Very absolutely best in show
isn't one of my favorite movies of all time without him.
(51:27):
Yeah, he was like, what I let's it's like a little, it's like
what I say with about dogs. Every dog needs a little
peppering of Chihuahua, and every movie needs a little
peppering of Fred Willard. Oh, we got that in spades OK
with his IMDb list. So RIP Fred Willard and thank
you to everybody listening. Absolutely.
All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening to this
(51:48):
show. You can write and review, listen
to all the programs that Jerry, Kyle and I do and love yourself.
Be yourself. Hail yourself.
And until next week. Don't go dying on us.
Oh, you have just heard. A true Hollywood shocker.
I have never seen anything like this before.
The movies, Broadway, music, television, all of it.
(52:10):
The place that manufacturers nightmares.
OK, everybody, that's a wrap. Good night, please drive home
carefully and come back again soon.
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