Editing Christopher Guest (section)

== Career ==

=== 1970s ===
Guest began his career in theatre during the early 1970s with one of his earliest professional performances being the role of Norman in [[Michael Weller]]'s ''[[Moonchildren]]'' for the play's American premiere at the [[Arena Stage]] in Washington, DC, in November 1971. Guest continued with the production when it moved to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1972. The following year, he began making contributions to ''[[The National Lampoon Radio Hour]]'' for a variety of National Lampoon audio recordings. He both performed comic characters (Flash Bazbo—Space Explorer, Mr. Rogers, music critic Roger de Swans, and sleazy record company rep Ron Fields) and wrote, arranged, and performed numerous musical parodies (of Bob Dylan, James Taylor, and others). He was featured alongside [[Chevy Chase]] and [[John Belushi]] in the [[off-Broadway]] revue ''[[National Lampoon's Lemmings]]''. Two of his earliest film roles were small parts as uniformed police officers in the 1972 film ''[[The Hot Rock (film)|The Hot Rock]]'' and 1974's ''[[Death Wish (1974 film)|Death Wish]]''.

Along with [[Bill Murray]], [[Brian Doyle-Murray]], and others Guest was one of the "Prime Time Players" on ''[[Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell]]''. This was the short-lived variety show that aired from September 20, 1975 to January 17, 1976, not to be confused with the long-running sketch show ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' that began airing a month later and lampooned the group by billing their own sketch comedy actors as "The Not Ready for Prime Time Players".

Guest played a small role in the 1977 ''[[All in the Family]]'' episode "[[List of All in the Family episodes#Season 8: 1977–1978|Mike and Gloria Meet]]", where in a [[flashback (narrative)|flashback]] sequence Mike and Gloria recall their first blind date, set up by Michael's college buddy Jim (Guest), who dated Gloria's girlfriend Debbie ([[Priscilla Lopez]]).

Guest also had a small but important role in ''[[It Happened One Christmas]]'', the 1977 gender-reversed TV remake of the Frank Capra classic ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]],'' starring [[Marlo Thomas]] as Mary Bailey (the Jimmy Stewart role), with [[Cloris Leachman]] as Mary's guardian angel and [[Orson Welles]] as the villainous Mr. Potter. Guest played Mary's brother Harry, who returned from the Army in the final scene, speaking one of the last lines of the film: "A toast! To my big sister Mary, the richest person in town!"

=== 1980s ===
Guest's biggest role of the first two decades of his career is likely that of [[Nigel Tufnel]] in the 1984 Rob Reiner film ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]''. Guest made his first appearance as Tufnel on the 1978 sketch comedy program ''The TV Show''.

Along with [[Martin Short]], [[Billy Crystal]], and [[Harry Shearer]], Guest was hired as a one-year-only cast member for the [[Saturday Night Live season 10|1984–1985 season]] on [[NBC]]'s ''Saturday Night Live''.<ref name=nytimes2019-12-14/> Recurring characters on ''SNL'' played by Guest include Frankie, of Willie and Frankie (coworkers who recount in detail physically painful situations in which they have found themselves, remarking laconically "I hate when that happens"); Herb Minkman, a novelty toymaker with his brother Al (played by Crystal); Rajeev Vindaloo, an eccentric foreign man in the same vein as [[Andy Kaufman]]'s [[Latka Gravas|Latka]] character from ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]''; and Señor Cosa, a Spanish ventriloquist often seen on the recurring spoof of ''[[The Joe Franklin Show]]''. He also experimented behind the camera with pre-filmed sketches, notably directing a documentary-style short starring Shearer and Short as synchronized swimmers. In another short film from ''SNL'', Guest and Crystal appear in blackface as retired [[Negro league baseball]] players, "The Rooster and the King".

He appeared as Count Rugen (the "six-fingered man") in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''. He had a cameo role as the first customer, a pedestrian, in the 1986 musical [[Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)|remake]] of ''[[The Little Shop of Horrors]]''. As a co-writer and director, Guest made the Hollywood satire ''[[The Big Picture (1989 film)|The Big Picture]]''.

Upon his father succeeding to the family [[peerage]] in 1987, he was known as "the Hon. Christopher Haden-Guest". This was his official [[Style (manner of address)|style]] and name until he inherited the barony in 1996.

=== 1990–present ===
The experience of making ''This is Spinal Tap'' directly informed the second phase of his career. Starting in 1996, Guest began writing, directing, and acting in his own series of substantially [[Improvisational comedy|improvised]] films. Many of them are considered definitive examples of what came to be known as "mockumentaries"—not a term Guest appreciates.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hogan |first=Michael |date=2023-03-05 |title=Eugene Levy: 'The eyebrows didn't hinder or help my career, I don't think' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/mar/05/eugene-levy-reluctant-traveler-schitts-creek-interview |access-date=2024-06-10 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Together, Guest, his frequent writing partner [[Eugene Levy]], and a small band of actors have formed a loose [[repertory]] group, which appears in several films. These include [[Catherine O'Hara]], [[Michael McKean]], [[Parker Posey]], [[Bob Balaban]], [[Jane Lynch]], [[John Michael Higgins]], [[Harry Shearer]], [[Jennifer Coolidge]], [[Ed Begley Jr.]], [[Jim Piddock]] and [[Fred Willard]]. Guest and Levy write backgrounds for each of the characters and notecards for each specific scene, outlining the plot, and then leave it up to the actors to improvise the dialogue, which is supposed to result in a much more natural conversation than scripted dialogue would. Typically, everyone who appears in these movies receives the same fee and the same portion of profits.<ref name="crose03">{{cite web|url=http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2003/05/12/1/a-conversation-with-director-christopher-guest|last=Rose|first=Charlie|title=A conversation with director Christopher Guest|publisher=Charlie Rose LLC|date=May 12, 2003|access-date=August 6, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201094915/http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2003/05/12/1/a-conversation-with-director-christopher-guest|archive-date=December 1, 2008}}</ref> Among the films performed in this manner, which have been written and directed by Guest, include ''[[Waiting for Guffman]]'' (1996), about a [[community theatre]] group, ''[[Best in Show (film)|Best in Show]]'' (2000), about the [[dog show]] circuit, ''[[A Mighty Wind]]'' (2003), about [[folk music|folk singers]], ''[[For Your Consideration (film)|For Your Consideration]]'' (2006), about the hype surrounding [[Oscar season]], and ''[[Mascots (2016 film)|Mascots]]'' (2016), about a sports team [[mascot]] competition.

Guest had a guest voice-over role in the animated comedy series ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' as SpongeBob's cousin, Stanley.

Guest again collaborated with Reiner in ''[[A Few Good Men]]'' (1992), appearing as Dr. Stone. In the 2000s, Guest appeared in the 2005 biographical musical ''[[Mrs Henderson Presents]]'' and in the 2009 comedy ''[[The Invention of Lying]]''.

He is also currently a member of the musical group [[The Beyman Bros]], which he formed with childhood friend [[David Nichtern]] and Spinal Tap's current keyboardist [[C. J. Vanston]]. Their debut album ''Memories of Summer as a Child'' was released on January 20, 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100007776|title=Beyman Bros: The Thinking Person's Americana|last=Moon|first=Tom|date=February 2, 2009|publisher=[[NPR]]|work=All Things Considered|access-date=August 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423113404/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100007776|archive-date=April 23, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2010, the [[United States Census Bureau]] paid $2.5&nbsp;million to have a television commercial<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-02-07 |title=U.S. Census Bureau - Preproduction Location Video from Ad Age |url=https://adage.com/videos/us-census-bureau-preproduction-location/436 |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=Ad Age |language=en}}</ref> directed by Guest shown during television coverage of [[Super Bowl XLIV]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/taxpayers-to-fork-out-2-5-million-for-single-census-ad-during-super-bowl|title=Taxpayers to Fork Out $2.5 Million for Single Census Ad During Super Bowl|date=February 3, 2010|publisher=Fox News|access-date=August 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005153828/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/03/taxpayers-fork-million-single-census-ad-super-bowl/|archive-date=October 5, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref>

Guest holds an honorary doctorate from and is a member of the board of trustees for [[Berklee College of Music]] in Boston.<ref>{{cite news|last=Shanahan|first=Mark|title=Christopher Guest parties for Berklee|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2011/10/18/christopher_guest_parties_for_berklee/|access-date=March 6, 2012|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=October 18, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728120346/http://articles.boston.com/2011-10-18/ae/30293257_1_christopher-guest-honorary-doctorate-big-talents|archive-date=July 28, 2012}}</ref>

In 2013, Guest was the co-writer and producer of the [[HBO]] series ''[[Family Tree (TV series)|Family Tree]],'' in collaboration with [[Jim Piddock]], a lighthearted story in the style he made famous in ''This is Spinal Tap'', in which the main character, Tom Chadwick, inherits a box of curios from his great aunt, spurring interest in his ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/christopher-guest-from-spinal-tap-to-family-tree-8695950.html|title=Christopher Guest: From Spinal Tap to Family Tree|date=July 9, 2013|last=Rampton|first=James|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=September 18, 2019}}</ref>

On August 11, 2015, [[Netflix]] announced that ''[[Mascots (2016 film)|Mascots]]'', a film directed by Guest and co-written with Jim Piddock, about the competition for the World Mascot Association championship's Gold Fluffy Award, would debut in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McNary|first1=Dave|title=Netflix Acquires Christopher Guest's ''Mascots'' Mockumentary|url=https://variety.com/2015/digital/news/christopher-guest-netflix-movie-mascots-1201567417/|website=Variety|date=August 11, 2015|access-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906022120/http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/christopher-guest-netflix-movie-mascots-1201567417/|archive-date=September 6, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Guest reprised his role as Count Tyrone Rugen in the [[Princess Bride Reunion|''Princess Bride'' Reunion]] on September 13, 2020.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Ehrlich |first=Brenna |date=2020-09-14 |title='The Princess Bride' Cast Reunite for Hilarious Table Read |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/princess-bride-reunion-table-read-1058955/ |access-date=2022-03-01 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref>