Fred Willard Quotes

Author Image

Fred Willard

Profession : Comedian

Birth : September 18, 1939

It scared me to death to think about improv, but I got hired for a year at Second City in Chicago, which made me nervous, but I found I could improvise. Then I was in a group called the Ace Trucking Company, which we'd do, like, a half hour set of material, then open up for improvisation.

Fred Willard

There's different kinds of improv. There's Second City improv where you try to slowly build a nice sketch. There's stuff you do in college coffee houses where you just go joke, joke, joke. Bring another funny character with a funny hat on his head. Christopher Guest is more the line of trying to get a story out.

Fred Willard

Christopher Guest, he'll call and say, 'We're doing this movie, and I'd like you to play _' and he gives you the character, then I always like to enlarge on the character.

Fred Willard

That's always a funny thing, when people think they're known for every little thing they ever did, and they're really not.

Fred Willard

If I have to play an obnoxious character, try to find a redeeming feature of him. The most obnoxious people in the world were people, and they had had a reason for doing what they did. So you try to find that and let the obnoxiousness come out.

Fred Willard

I never got any advice in acting.

Fred Willard

Let me say this: I have said, any time, if it's Martin Mull, I will say yes. If it's Christopher Guest, I will say yes.

Fred Willard

If you're a cheerleader, people see you. If you're a mascot, you're just helping out.

Fred Willard

I guess if you're a professional mascot, you're doing it for the money, but a college mascot just wants to be out there.

Fred Willard

Bob Balaban is so perfect that the first movie I did with him, I couldn't talk to him because I was so intimidated by him.

Fred Willard

All America is familiar with the Yankee-Dodger-Giant trivia, but so many other teams had great moments.

Fred Willard

I first became interested in 'great moments' when I read about the famous Feller-to-Boudreau pickoff play in the 1948 World series.

Fred Willard

One of the first shows I ever did was 'Laverne & Shirley.' I played this sleazy guy that came into town with a friend and was going to date Laverne and Shirley, but we really wanted to get into the bowling alley because it was next to the bank we wanted to rob.

Fred Willard

Some of the Christopher Guest movies, when I'm not really like myself, when I have my hair dyed blonde or had a faux-hawk haircut. Those I like to watch because it takes you away from your real self.

Fred Willard

I think if you have a funny thought, and you want to get off a funny point, try to do it as realistically as you can. If you try to act it funny and accent the funny points, or do it in a funny style, you kind of lose it.

Fred Willard

I love sketch; it's my favorite form. But if it's all improv, they're either very good, and it's annoying how good they are, and it makes you feel bad, or they're not too good; then you're sweating for them.

Fred Willard

I'll go in a minute to see a sketch show.

Fred Willard

It's not a bad typecast: the goofy guy.

Fred Willard

I had just done a movie called 'How to Beat the High Cost of Living,' and it didn't get a good review. And the same people sent me the script for 'Airplane!' for the Robert Hays part. I read it, and there were a lot of plays on words, and I said, 'I don't like this kind of comedy.'

Fred Willard

I just look back, and I say, you know, Christopher Guest just raised my whole career to another level.

Fred Willard