Fred Willard: Good comedy is all about timing

[Brian Damage]

Good comedy is all about timing. And Fred Willard knows a thing or two about comedy timing.

He first developed his flair for satire and kooky characters as a member of the Second City comedy gang in Chicago and, afterward, in an improvisational troupe called the Ace Trucking Company.

But it wasn't until his stint as Jerry Hubbard, the dense sidekick of talk-show host Barth Gimble (Martin Mull) on a 1970s cult hit called Fernwood 2 Night that Willard's offbeat comedic timing garnered widespread fame.

Since then, Willard has brought his talents to a lengthy list of movies and TV shows, including a recurring stint on Everybody Loves Raymond and a hilarious role as a dense dog-show commentator in a 2000 bigscreen comedy called Best In Show.

This season, Willard returns to the tube as one of the background players on Back To You, a rookie comedy series that stars Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as Chuck Darling and Kelly Carr, fellow news anchors for a fictional Pittsburgh TV station.

Willard takes on the role of Marsh McGinley, the station's veteran, off-the-wall sportscaster. Marsh is an old-school guy who hasn't quite kept up with the times.

"My character, he's an ex-jock, and he's trying to pull himself into the (21st) century," Willard explained to reporters in Los Angeles, at a pre-season news conference promoting the series. "He likes the fact that there's a female co-anchor, but he considers it sort of a novelty."

Willard's stint on Back To You is a satirical jab at the type of old-school sportscasters seen on local TV stations everywhere. But it's his unique delivery and comedic timing that make even the smallest scenes and storylines work for him on the show.

Tonight's rerun of Back To You illustrates that. It's an episode that first aired back in October and finds Chuck and Kelly challenging each other to change their self-centred ways when it comes to socializing at the station.

But it's the throwaway secondary storyline that conjures up extra laughs in the episode.

That storyline focuses on Marsh and the station's perpetually hapless news reporter, Gary Crezyzewski (Ty Burrell), who begin carpooling to work together.

The ride-share arrangement isn't exactly a relaxing one for Gary, especially since it turns out that Marsh is somewhat of a heavy-footed driver who has a knack for narrowly escaping horrific disasters at every turn.

It's the kind of goofy material that works for Willard and his penchant for playing dense characters -- all of which harken back to his Fernwood 2 Night days.

"Fernwood 2 Night was mocking the small-town, fly-by-night little cheap show," Willard notes. Back To You, on the other hand, "is kind of a look behind the scenes." And his comedic timing with that perspective, he figures, seems to work out well. It certainly does. Fox, Global

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[catlover79]

Fred Willard has obviously been doing something right all these years!! I love him as Marsh, as "Willard J. Fredericks" on Jay Leno, and he also did a very funny guest spot on the Bob Newhart Show. The episode, entitled "Tobin's Back In Town", is from BNS's third season and has a commentary track with Mr. Willard and Mr. Newhart. Terrific stuff!!