Life Lessons From the Movies: Waiting For Guffman

It’s always 67 degrees with a 40% chance of rain with these important life lessons.

Christopher Guest’s Best In Show has been widely discussed this year, the 20th anniversary of its release. Widely regarded as the best of Guest’s faux-documentaries, BiS is indeed a marvel, featuring some of the finest performances that manage to be both absolutely absurd and also completely grounded.

But if you’re looking for a movie that offers a ton of guidance for how to live your best life and interact with the world around you, Waiting For Guffman is the one to turn to. Released in 1996, this was Guest returning to the format he and Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer pioneered over a decade prior with This is Spinal Tap. Guffman also introduced us to the cast that would form a kind of troupe, various subsets of which would subsequently return for BiS, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration and most recently Mascots.

Here are just a few of the nuggets from the movie that will definitely help you navigate some of life’s more difficult moments.

For When Your Coworker Declines The Third Proposed Calendar Invite In A Row

And I’ll tell you why I can’t put up with you people, because you’re bastard people. That’s what you are, you’re just bastard people and I’m going home and I’m gonna… I’m gonna bite my pillow is what I’m gonna do!

For When You Finally Get Around to Stating Your Thesis In the Fifth Graf Of Your Post

I dream of Genie with the light brown hair. Floating like a vapor on the soft summer air. LOOK OUT!

For When You Tell Your Boss You Have Lots of Options and Don’t Need to Take This

I’ll always have a place at the Dairy Queen.

For When It’s Finally Time to Present That Big Proposal You’ve Been Working On

It’s opening night, y’all.

For That Moment When Things Are Just About to Get Out of Hand

We need to hitch up our panties and RUN.

For When You’re Filling Out That Self-Assessment

I do indeed have talent.

For When You Close Your Office Door and Crank Steely Dan

For When a Random Coworker Suddenly Sends You a Message on Snapchat