Celebrity Tributes
The Librarian of Congress, Dr. James Billington, says, “W.C. Fields is the Icon of American Culture and Humor.”
Adam McKay, Director of Arnchorman 2, December 2013: “You’re literally naming one of my all-time favourites. W.C. Fields I think is one of the funniest comics of all time. In fact, of all the old style comics, he’s the one that to this day, I will still laugh at his stuff. We’re talking about 80 years ago and his stuff is still funny. It’s amazing.”
Zach Galifianakis, star of The Hangover and rising comedian, credits W.C. Fields as his influence, May 29, 2010, on MySpace: “Influences – my family, my friends and wc fields...”
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.”
W.C. Fields Exhibit, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, May—August 2010.
[Click on the image to enlarge.]
John Cleese, English actor and comedian, says in the 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.”
“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.