A Mighty Wind

Turning over, I found the final act of A Mighty Wind in progress.

Herschel and I went to see this at the cinema back in '04, and its charming tale of folk-singers coming out of retirement for a special tribute concert is one that I realised I have acquired a soft spot for.

This is one of those mockumentaries that paints its characters with equal degrees of ridicule and sympathy, and the amount of time you get to spend with each of them probably contributes much to their appeal too.

My favourite character is, as usual, played by Fred Willard. His non-stop barrage of positive thinking and belief in himself is surely an example to us all. Here he plays Mike LaFontaine - the perpetually-wisecracking manager of The New Main Street Singers...

"And as you know, back in 1970... I starred on a series called, Wha' Happened?, and everytime something would go wrong, I'd look at the camera and say: 'Hey, wha' haaappened?' We had a lot of fun with that and a lot of other catch phrases: 'I got a real red wagon!', and uh, 'I can't do my work!', and I believe I was the first one to use the phrase, 'I don't think so!' But it only lasted a year. And that's good because that's how you establish a cult."

(upon meeting the deputy mayor)"Hey, where's the real mayor, wha' haaappened? Somebody shot the mayor, but they did not shoot the deputy!"

"To paraphrase an old joke... Knock, knock. Who's there? It's the New Main Street Singers!"