R.I.P. Fred Willard: Top 10 Of His Funniest Roles

Greetings, reader!

I was originally going to release my ranking of the Star Wars movies today, as I mentioned in last week's blog, but then a more urgent topic came up - legendary comedy actor Fred Willard passed away last week, at the age of 86 years. Willard was not only among Hollywood's funniest actors, but his specific style of comedy was one worth celebrating, and one that the world needs more of: he nearly always played extremely likable roles, with heartfelt performances that never fail to make you smile. The genuine feel-good energy and innocence that he brought to so many characters is very much worth commemorating, so here is my list of the top 10 Fred Willard role performances.

The honorable mentions: Dave Campbell in Family Guy (1999-present), Dr. Willoughby in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004), Mission Commander in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Mr. Lipson in Friends (1994-2004)

10. Beezus in New Girl (2011-2018)

In the season 6 finale of New Girl, Willard only appears on screen for a minute or so, but absolutely steals the show. He plays an eccentric Uber driver called Beezus, the namesake of the episode (Five Stars For Beezus). His spontaneous bursting into song while driving Nick (Jake Johnson) home is pretty hilarious, as is his cheerful interaction with Nick at the end of the ride ("Don't forget to give me five stars!" - "Three and a half! Thanks, Beezus!").

9. Aslo in Epic Movie (2007)

Epic Movie is one of those movies that are best described as "not exactly Citizen Kane" - but as is the case with most films in the "genre-parodying films with 'movie' in the end of the title" -franchise, there are quite a few laughs to go with all the groans, and one of them is definitely Fred Willard's role as the lion-man Aslo. While the idea for the character is an admittedly lazy rip-off of the lion Aslan from the Narnia franchise, the film goes with the laziness and makes it a part of the joke, with the hilariously low-effort lion costume that the character dons. And Willard really sells the role, with his hysterical roar and ludicrous fight scene.

8. Wally Kogen in The Simpsons (1989-present)

In the Simpsons season 10 episode Sunday, Cruddy Sunday, Willard played a role very typical to him - just as a voice actor this time. His character, travel agent Wally Kogen, talks Homer (Dan Castellaneta) and the gang into going to see the Super Bowl together, which makes for some memorable hijinks. Willard is hilarious as Kogen, the typical one-episode character who is a relatively normal and amiable person, and who then gets sucked into the usual slapstick shenanigans of the series and reacts to the less normal antics of Homer and his friends. His pun about travel agents and their ability to "really go places" at the end of the episode is especially humorous, and classic Willard.

7. Harold Flaherty in American Wedding (2003)

Jesus, I didn't ever imagine that I'd do a blog post where Epic Movie and an American Pie sequel make it to the top 10 - goes to show than even in B-class comedy, a great supporting castmember can pull off very memorable roles and provide lots of laughs. That's certainly the case with the third film in the American Pie franchise, where Willard plays the father of major character Michelle (Alyson Hannigan), and brings his trademark charm and likability to the movie's wedding setting. The sheer normality and calmness of the character (as well as his wife, played by Deborah Rush) makes for a hilarious contrast to the absolutely chaotic nature of the franchise's main characters. The scene where Jim (Jason Biggs) tries to hide the elements of a crazy bachelor party from Willard's character as the two have increasingly tense interactions is probably the film's funniest moment.

6. Charlie in That 70's Show (1998-2006)

Mr. Willard really had a knack for making a guest appearance on just one episode of a sitcom but really making an impression with a hilarious role. One of the many examples can be found in the That 70's Show season 5 episode The Battle Of Evermore, where Willard and fellow guest star Seth Green absolutely nail it as an over-enthusiastic and over-competitive father-and-son duo. They come up against the show's regulars Eric (Topher Grace) and Red (Kurtwood Smith) in a fathers-and-sons lumberjack contrast, where their tight teamwork and chummy dialogue holds a comedic mirror to the dysfunctional relationship between Eric and Red. By the end of the episode it becomes clear that a bunch of the perfect family dynamic between the two has been just for show, thus giving Willard an opportunity to step out of his usual lovable character work into some equally funny dark comedy.

5. Air Base Colonel in This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Much like in the sitcom world, Willard has also been known to create very funny and memorable character with very little screen time on the big screen as well. In one of the best sequences of the classic 80's mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, the titular band arrives to play a gig at an air force base. Willard plays the colonel who greets them, armed with his classic wit and wordplay. One of his strengths as a comedy actor is playing supporting characters who are very different from the main characters in an amusing way (as you may have noticed from many of the list's entries), and that element is very present here, with his military precision making for a sharp contrast to the slow-witted band members.

4. Ed Harken in Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Fred Willard always was a subtle comedian, who created laughs with casual wordplay and a cheerful attitude. And the value of subtle comedy is quite clear in Anchorman, where virtually every other character is loud, obnoxious and over-the-top. While Will Ferrell is being his slapstick self and Steve Carell is testing the limits of how funny the "dumb guy" trope can be, Willard plays it cool as their boss, Ed Harken.

His character is there to move the plot forward more than to make the audience laugh, yet he often ends up stealing the show from the background as his own brand of humor feels very refreshing in Anchorman's environment. Thus, he ends up providing some of the film's funniest moments - especially the wonderfully context-free phone call scenes with an upset nun and later with his problematic son - while not relying on catchphrases and physical comedy like the rest of the cast. Willard was a genuinely and effortlessly funny person, and thus caused many a laugh even when playing someone who'd seem to be the film's most boring character on paper.

3. Alter-Pierce in Community (2009-2015)

In the season 4 premiere of my all-time favorite sitcom Community, Abed (Danny Pudi) copes with the prospects of his final school year by going to a "happy place" in his mind where all is well, and thus we get to see a very different version of Greendale Community College: the color scheme is brighter, there's a laugh track, and major character Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase) is played by Fred Willard. In the most meta role I've seen him in, Willard played Fred Willard playing Pierce Hawthorne within Abed's own imagination - and what a perfect idea this was.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a huge fan of how Pierce's character is handled in the show's writing, and the series seems to reference the character's controversial nature with this idea of Pierce being more likable - and who better to make him likable than the guy who made a career out of playing likable comedy characters? It's a shame that we never got to see more of Willard's take on Pierce, but what we got in this episode was comedy gold.

2. Buck Laughlin in Best In Show (2000)

Between This Is Spinal Tap and Modern Family, Willard was certainly no stranger to the mockumentary format - and this Christopher Guest mockumentary provides one of his absolutely most lovable and hilarious roles. Best In Show is a light-hearted film about a dog show, where Willard plays Buck Laughlin, one of the two commentators of the event. With a slick bow-tie look and his signature comedic style, he plays a memorable role as a character clearly more suited to be a commentator in a major league sports game than a dog show. Laughlin's total lack of dog-related knowledge is a running joke throughout the movie, as his co-commentator Trevor (Jim Piddock) is clearly an expert on the subject while Laughlin is ridiculously out of his depth. This makes for a multitude of laughs, as the banter between the commentators consists mostly of Willard's character asking dumb questions and stating falsehoods with a confident smile, and his counterpart calmly correcting him. You can't help but the love the character and his totally oblivious comments throughout the film.

Oh, and a majority of his dialogue is improvised - Guest made a script where ad-libbing was encouraged, and Willard was used to improv-style acting, so many of his lines in the film came off the cuff. That makes the sheer comedic value of the character a lot more impressive.

1. Frank Dunphy in Modern Family (2009-2020)

Unless I've missed something even better, this is Fred Willard's definitive role. When I heard that he had passed away, my mind immediately went to Phil Dunphy's (Ty Burrell) dad from Modern Family, and only a while later I remembered all the other things that he'd been in. Appearing in 14 episodes across the show's 11 seasons in a beloved recurring role, Frank Dunphy embodies everything about what kind of an actor Willard was and what roles he was good at. While the character is absolutely hilarious in his endearing dorkiness and his hijinks with his equally dorky son, it's not all in the humor - for every laugh he causes, there's also a genuine smile. His character brings about some of the show's most heartfelt moments, as he's such a kind person - even many of the jokes in his appearances revolve around him being ridiculously and unrealistically kind and selfless.

The success of Phil Dunphy as a character (something I'm very serious and defensive about) is largely due to him being painted as the perfect father character for a comedy series - there's an infinite amount of "dorky dad" humor but also the genuine care and love he shows for his wife and children. And Fred Willard's character is equally funny and equally touching as the perfect dad of the perfect dad, showing the audience where Phil got those traits from. It takes some skill to play a character who will make you laugh but also warm your heart with every scene he's in.

You will be missed, Fred. Thank you for the laughs.


Thank you for reading! I'll be sharing my ranking of the Star Wars movies next week - see you then!