Eugene Levy: TV Shows ‘Destroyed’ the Mockumentary Genre, So a New Christopher Guest Fake Doc Is Unlikely

Bad news for any comedy fan hoping Christopher Guest might get his troupe back together for another mockumentary movie. Guest and actors such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch and more popularized the fake documentary format with comedy classics such as “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “Waiting for Guffman.” Guest even co-wrote and acted in perhaps the most famous mockumentary of all time, 1984’s “This Is Spinal Tap.” Yet Levy recently told The Guardian that another mockumentary from the Guest troupe is unlikely.

“No, I don’t think it will happen,” Levy said. “Our last one was ‘For Your Consideration’ back in 2006. Our fake documentaries — Chris always hated the term ‘mockumentary’ because we’re not mocking, it’s more affectionate than that — but they were getting a little cookie-cutter in terms of story. Everything was kind of the same, except we just changed the subject. At a certain point, that becomes predictable. In the interim, so many television shows have picked up that form and just destroyed it.”

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Levy did not name any television shows by name, but the fake documentary format has been widely used on sitcoms such as “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation” and “Modern Family.”

Though Just because the Guest troupe won’t make another mockumentary together does not mean they don’t stay in touch regularly.

“Funnily enough, a lot of the cast just got together in San Francisco for a reunion event, marking the 20th anniversary of ‘A Mighty Wind,'” Levy revealed. “There was music, laughter, a lot of fun.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Levy said that “Schitt’s Creek” has replaced “American Pie” as the role fans always bring up when they spot him in public.

“The ‘American Pie’ thing got a bit tedious,” Levy said. “People would bring me apple pie every time I went into a restaurant or to a wedding. Which is kind of funny, but it did happen a lot.”

Levy is currently the star of Apple TV+’s “The Reluctant Traveler,” a documentary series in which he travels to hotels and vistas in Costa Rica, Finland, Italy, Japan, Maldives, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.

“I had to be out there as myself, which is the first time I have ever done that on a job,” Levy recently told Variety about filming the series. “Coming from character comedy — as long as I’m in a character that is so far removed from who I am — that’s when I’m most comfortable. When it gets too close to me, I start to shy away.”

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