Fred Willard is an improvisational genius. But you already knew that.
His announcing of the dog show in BEST OF SHOW included one of my all-time favorite lines. When the “miniatures” came out, Willard turned to his dog expert partner and asked, “How do they get them so small? Do they…miniaturize them?” As though there’s some sort of miniaturizing machine you put dogs into….
Fred was a guest at one of our Radio Creative/Production Summits several years ago, as part of a panel. We were seated on stools onstage. I told Fred I’d never seen him portray an authority figure and wondered how he would handle such a role. “Like the boss,” I said.
“Well, let’s say I’m the boss and you’re applying for a job,” Fred said. How cool is this? Improvising on stage with Fred Willard.
Okay, well….My part of the improvisation was trying not to fall off the stool, helpless with laughter from Fred’s first words as that authority figure.
I believe he deliberately was extra funny, just to humiliate me.
This isn’t the scene I mentioned from BEST OF SHOW, but it does feature the delightfully deadpan Bob Balaban.
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Fred Willard is a national treasure! He’s also an outstanding comedy writer — I’m honored to perform with him as part of his sketch comedy group The MoHos. We do a live show at Bang Theater in Los Angeles the 2nd Thursday of each month.