Saturday Six – Funny Fat Guys

Fat guy in a little coat. . .

Welcome to the Saturday Six, where each week I let you get to know me a bit better with the help of a list. Any idiot can do a Top 5 list, which is why I kicked it up a notch to a Top 6. This week’s topic: Funny Fat Guys

So this weekend Gabriel Iglesias’ new movie, The Fluffy Movie, hits theaters. That’s a good enough excuse as any other to run down my favorite Funny Fat Guys. And I don’t mean like Seth Rogan chunky, I mean big fat dudes, like E Honda in Street Fighter.

The Funny Fat Guy has it roots going back to the early days of Hollywood and into Vaudeville. Early comedy duos were almost always one tall thin dude and one short fat guy. There was Fat Guy Hardy to Laurel just as there was Costello to Abbott. None of The Three Stooges were particularly svelte, but Curly stood out for his bigness. This trend continues all the way up to the modern era. Just look at Superbad (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera). Or Sesame Street (Ernie and Bert).

1. Chris Farley – Saturday Night Live has pretty much always had a Funny Fat Guy in the cast, be it John Belushi, Horatio Sanz, or Bobby Moynihan. But I think the best absolutely has to be Chris Farley. That may just be because of my age, as I never really got John Belushi. Sure, Tommy Boy and Black Sheep are pretty much the exact same film, but that doesn’t stop them from both being hilarious. And come on, how funny is Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker? That sketch is over 20 years old now, and it’s still probably the funniest sketch they’ve ever done and people still talk about to this day.

 

2. Artie Lange – Since MAD TV was pretty much an attempt to clone SNL, they too always had a fat guy in the cast, like Will Sasso, Frank Caliendo, or Paul Vogt. My favorite was always Artie though, and I loved “That’s my White Momma”. Frankly, I always thought the show went downhill after he left and I stopped watching it.

 

3. John Candy – There wasn’t a single movie in the 80’s or early 90’s that wasn’t made better by an appearance from John Candy. Sure, Rookie of the Year was a good film, but John Candy as the Cubs announcer just put it over the top.

 

4. Jonathan Winters – This may be an older pick, but if you’re not familiar with him, you should be. His work on the later years of Mork and Mindy was great. He’s pretty much a real life Mermaid Man.

 

5. John Pinette – You may not recognize the name, but you surely recognize the face. He was the fat guy in the Seinfeld finale who gets held up while the gang watches. He didn’t do much TV or movies, but his stand up was hilarious.

 

6. Louie Anderson – Sure, he was the weakest Family Feud host, but I loved Life With Louie. While it wasn’t meant to be funny, but watching him do the high dive on Splash was one the most amazing things ever.

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook