Song of the Day: Nothing Ever Happens On Mars from Waiting For Guffman

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s song of the day could probably double for a scene that I love but that’s okay. I’ve always loved the Nothing Ever Happens On Mars song from Waiting to Guffman.

(Mars? “Where’s that!?”)

It’s such a marvelous scene. Yes, it captures the absurdity of regional theater but it also captures the underlying sweetness of it as well. We may laugh but it’s still hard not to be touched by how much the members of the audience love it.

And, in the contest of the show, it’s a nice reminder that we’re not that different. Martians get bored with their hometown as well!

Scenes That I Love: Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard in Waiting for Guffman

Posted on January 30, 2026 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I heard that the actress Catherine O’Hara had passed away, I immediately thought of Waiting For Guffman.

I know that a lot of people immediately thought of Schitt’s Creek. And I imagine that a lot of people thought of her as the desperate mother in Home Alone. And definitely, there are a lot of people on twitter who are posting clips of her work on SCTV right now. But I’m a theater nerd and, when you’re a theater nerd, Waiting for Guffman pretty much feels likes watching your life on film.

The entire cast of Waiting for Guffman is brilliant. It’s definitely the most emotionally satisfying of all of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries. But I’ll have a special place in my heart for Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard as the community theater superstars. Today’s scene that I love features O’Hara and Willard giving the audition of a lifetime in Waiting For Guffman.