W.C. FIELDS

The Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, says, "W.C. Fields is the Icon of American Culture and Humor."

Judd Apatow on "Make Em Laugh", PBS 2009, "W.C. Fields is the funniest guy of everybody, ever."

Conan O'Brien on "Inside Actors Studio" with James Lipton, 2009, – Who makes you Laugh?
“W.C. Fields I think is maybe the funniest man that ever lived.”

"If I can make them laugh and through that laughter make this old world seem just a little brighter, then I am satisfied.” W.C. Fields

John Cleese in introduction to Turner Classic Movies W.C. Fields star of the month, June 2001.

“I discovered W.C. Fields long after I was familiar with Chaplin, Keaton, and Laurel and Hardy and immediately liked him best….Fields had the courage to play the disreputable character and the brilliance to make riskier and more profound jokes than others.”

 

“Fields was doing Python-esq things long before Python.”

 

“At a time when political correctness often stifles honesty and impulse to laugh and genuine wit is in such short supply, I think nothing could be healthier than the re-discovery of this most original, perceptive and unrepentant of comedians.”

Others say he is the first example of American humor. W.C. Fields is not slapstick, his humor is cerebral. As in all works of art, every time we see or hear a Fields film, we see or hear some thing new. W.C. Fields studied us, the travelers in the daily journey of life and the human condition, and then served it back to us in his artistry through humor.