He played the clueless but confident character perfectly. On his IMDB page he has 312 credits. He didn’t get his first one until he was in his 30’s.
This. He was the totally clueless color commentator in Best in Show. His comments were ad libbed so the befuddlement of his long suffering co-comentator is not entirely acting.
The absolute best exchange was when Willard said he wanted to put a deerstalker hat and a pipe on a bloodhound, and the British commentator said “Yes … I remember when you said that last year.” I just freaking died. Those two were perfectly paired.
I first saw him on Fernwood 2nite, a mid 70’s talk show spoof. He co-hosted with Martin Mull. They were wonderfully funny together. And his clueless commentator in Best In Show was genius.
After edit: I just read all the previous comments. Great minds think alike.
We’ve been talking about Community a bit lately, so don’t forget Alter-Pierce.
Aww, I haz a very sad right now. He was satisfying in every Guest movie.
This was before my time, and I haven’t seen it. But, is that where Zach Galafinakis got the idea for the “Between 2 Ferns” show?
At least we stlll have John Michael Higgins (a.k.a John Smith from Pitch Perfect) to carry on Fred’s shtick.
Fred was awesome. He had the best line in Roxanne: “I would rather be with the people of this town than with the finest people in the world!”
My wife an I watched this Saturday night. I thought it was great as usual. My wife thought it was stupid. She has been watching too much Hallmark channel dreck.
Now he can’t do his work.
A lovely tribute via Jimmy Kimmel:
Turns out that Jimmy Kimmel has a few tributes out there for Mr. Willard. This one is more personal.
Kimmel’s entire show, Monday night, was devoted to Fred. The YouTube videos show parts of it. (Kimmel’s show is only 30 minutes, since the pandemic began.) The clips from Fred’s appearances on the show were about half of it, and the tributes from people who’d worked with him—from recent sit-com recurring roles, back to Fernwood 2Night, were the other half.
Ty Burrell seemed particularly broken up. They really were a good physical match (as father and son on Modern Family), as well as a great comedy team.
I think I last saw him in “Family Tree,” a TV comedy series on HBO starring Chris O’Dowd. It’s basically a Christopher Guest movie in series form. It’s freaking hilarious but I don’t know very many people who saw it. It includes Guest regulars Bob Balaban and Michael McKean.
I totally forgot that I watched “The History of White People in America” just a few weeks ago (apropos of the “Do white people love mayonnaise?” thread). Very funny stuff!
I watched that. The O’Dowd character’s sister was played by a ventriloquist who in real life works with the puppet she uses in the show. (I may not have explained that well.)
Impressive cast, and it was produced and written by Christopher Guest (along with Jim Piddock). Only 8 episodes. I was very disappointed when it wasn’t renewed. Family Tree (TV series) - Wikipedia
Of course Willard was great in it.
I still chuckle to myself when I recall O’Dowd’s reaction to his country relatives—“I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a farmer. They seem awfully posh.”
I had to look it up. The line is “I don’t think I want to be a farmer now actually. They seem to be either too posh or too angry.”
Yeah, the show was sharply written. (Dang HBO for not giving it more of a chance!)
NOTE: the Jimmy Kimmel show that was a tribute to Fred is being re-run tonight. Well worth the 30-minutes investment.
I’ve been a fan for many a year. RIP, Fred. 
I think they also cancelled “Hello Ladies” at the same time, also only after one season. I liked both those shows.