Some movies you want to work on because they become a part of cinema history, and some you want to work on because they look like they’d be a fun way to spend your days. With Waiting for Guffman (1996) filmmaker Christopher Guest hit upon a formula where a particular cast of gifted improvisers could spin comic gold with an outline for a story and a documentary style of filmmaking to give them the necessary space to work. Shot on cheaper Super16 film, Guest collected 60 hours of footage which was edited down by Robert Leighton, frequent editor for Rob Reiner. Eight months later he had a final film that runs under 90-minutes and is one of the funniest films ever made.
In one of the best examples of keeping energy and momentum up, the characters get to the dog show about halfway into the film and that’s when Guest introduces the two announcers, Fred Willard and Jim Piddock. Piddock was given the book The American Kennel Club to study, he had to sound knowledgeable about all breeds. Meanwhile, Willard was ordered to learn nothing and take inspiration from baseball announcer Joe Garagiola. They reviewed four hours of the dog show footage and then came back the next day to film their entire contribution in one long marathon session where they are reacting to the footage on a large monitor just off camera.
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