History Film / WaitingForGuffman

The title of the film is a reference to the Samuel Beckett play, ''Theatre/{{Waiting for Godot}}'' — [[spoiler: similarly, the titular character never appears.]] As in the other mockumentaries created by Guest, the majority of the dialogue is improvised. Because the film is about the production of a stage musical, it contains several original musical numbers.

* StylisticSuck: The musical itself. The script is hokey, the songs are corny, the props are cheap, and many of the characters feel miscast, with Corky in particular standing out in how he ended up filling in for more a younger, more masculine actor. Corky doesn't even attempt to affect a more masculine demeanor, with his usual persona utterly jarring with the roles he wound up playing.

* WhatTheHellHero: Corky gives a blistering TakeThat to the town council at his show being closed.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Corky St. Clair might be a closeted example. He often buys clothes for his wife Bonnie, a reclusive lady who nobody ever seems to have met.

* AllForNothing: All of the insanity and borderline self-humiliation that the cast does on stage for the sake of trying to entertain Mr. Mort Guffman and thus get hired for Broadway ends up being this [[spoiler:with the reveal Guffman never ever arrived. To make things worse, the man they assumed was Guffman [[MistakenForSpecialGuest was some random guy who sat on the reserved chair]].]]

* AllForNothing: All of the insanity that the cast does on stage for the sake of trying to entertain Mr. Mort Guffman and thus get hired for Broadway ends up being this [[spoiler:with the reveal Guffman never ever arrived. To make things worse, the man they assumed was Guffman [[MistakenForSpecialGuest was some random guy who sat on the reserved chair]].]]

* SeriousBusiness: Community theatre

* StylisticSuck: The musical itself. The script is hokey, the songs are corny, the props are cheap, and many of the characters feel miscast, with Corky in particular standing out in how he plays roles more suitable for a masculine young man while being his usual middle-aged and CampGay self.

* WhatTheHellHero: Corky gives a famous blistering TakeThat to the town council at his show being closed.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

* WhyAreWeWhispering: Corky St. Clair does this.

* HopelessAuditionees: The tryouts for ''Red, White & Blaine'' bring out a lot of local weirdos doing strange shtick, like a guy who reenacts a ClusterFBomb scene from ''Film/RagingBull'' without bothering to imitate Creator/RobertDeNiro or Creator/JoePesci, and a man who sings Lou Christie's falsetto pop classic "Lightning Strikes" in a flat voice. The ones who get chosen have audition pieces that are slightly more polished but just as absurd.

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: To ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot''
* LoveTriangle: Corky clearly has a huge unrequited crush on Johnny Savage, while Councilman Steve Stark is gradually revealed to have a huge crush on Corky. [[note]]in fact, in the early drafts of the script Corky and Steve end up living together[[/note]]

The title of the film is a reference to the Samuel Beckett play, ''Theatre/{{Waiting for Godot}}'' — similarly, the titular character [[spoiler: never appears.]] As in the other mockumentaries created by Guest, the majority of the dialogue is improvised. Because the film is about the production of a stage musical, it contains several original musical numbers.

* SecondaryCharacterTitle: The title character doesn't even makes an appearance.

* {{Mockumentary}}

* StylisticSuck: The musical itself.

* BadBadActing: All the actors in the musical, especially the Albertsons. "Hubbub hubbub hubbub..."

* HaveAGayOldTime: Corky tells off the town council by saying he's going to go home and bite his pillow, which to most gay ears is that he's going to drown his sorrows by getting fucked.

The title of the film is a reference to the Samuel Beckett play, ''Theatre/{{Waiting for Godot}}'' — similarly, the titular character never appears. As in the other mockumentaries created by Guest, the majority of the dialogue is improvised. Because the film is about the production of a stage musical, it contains several original musical numbers.

** The Albertsons, too. Despite easily being the worst actors in the cast, they carry themselves as though they're seasoned professionals and local celebrities. [[spoiler: During the epilogue they continue to act like such even as they play background extras in Hollywood.]]

* BiggusDickus: Ron is apparently quite large down there, turns out that he went Jefferson City for a reduction surgery at his wife's insistence. Apparently [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Bigger Is]] ''[[AvertedTrope Not]]'' [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Better In Bed]]. UnreliableNarrator in play, however.

* OnlySaneMan: Band leader Lloyd Miller seems to be the only person in town who doesn't reside entirely in [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Cloudcuckooland]], but his lack of assertiveness means that he doesn't get much traction when trying to deal with the others.

* BiggusDickus: Ron is apparently quite large down there, turns out that he went Jefferson City for a reduction surgery at his wife's insistence. Apparently [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Bigger Is]] ''[[AvertedTrope Not]]'' [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Better In Bed]]