A Little Short In The Clue Department

For nearly fifty years, Fred Willard was "that guy." On TV. In films. He was the guy who showed up and made you cringe. Not because he was overly loud or excessive, unless he was excessively clueless. When casting directors wanted someone like that, they didn't scream at their underlings to "get me a Fred Willard type." They did the rational thing. They screamed "get me Fred Willard."
This is to say that Fred was one of a kind.
Like so many pop culture phenomena, I was alerted to Fred Willard's presence by my mother. She let me stay up late to watch this show called Fernwood 2 Night. It was a spin-off from another late night comedy, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. My mother and I had also tried out Mary Hartman, but it was just a little too arch for us. Martin Mull and Fred Willard as Barth Gimble and Jerry Hubbard were just the right bit of silly to take the edge off the social commentary found in Fernwood. Making Barth Gimble appear clever by comparison was Fred's job as second banana Jerry. This was not everyone's cup of tea, however, and the show only lasted a few months. A year later, Barth and Jerry got another few months, under the title America 2 Night. But it wasn't a lasting presence.
Fred was, however. He was around back in mid-sixties Chicago as part of Second City. He later moved on to become a founding member of the improv group Ace Trucking Company. All of which set him up to strike out on his own in the seventies. Maybe you missed Fernwood. You must have seen one of the Christopher Guest mockumentaries. Spinal Tap. Best In Show. A Mighty Wind. Waiting For Guffman.
Okay. So maybe mockumentaries aren't your thing. Fred also portrayed Buy 'n' Large CEO Shelby Forthright in Pixar's WALL-E.
No?
Well maybe you've watched television in the past four decades and maybe you've had a chance to take in one of hundreds of guest and recurring appearances he has made on sitcoms, variety shows and soap operas.
Yes. He was a on The Bold and the Beautiful for seven episodes. He won an Emmy for that. Okay, a Daytime Emmy, but still.
And if this whole bit feels a little like something you might hear Fred say about himself, then you've experienced some of that magic. Fred Willard didn't so much stomp on the Terra as stumble across it, much to our collective amusement. He will be missed. Aloha.