I mentioned the Christoper Guest mockumentaries yesterday so I decided I’d include my favorite one in this theme month. Most people I know would pick Spinal Tap or Waiting For Guffman as their favorite, but for me it’s always been Best in Show. There’s a sense of calm that comes over me from watching it. It’s just a fake documentary about several individual dog owners who converge upon the Mayflower Dog Show. We see them each traveling to the show, with both interviews and glimpses into their lives. It’s the usual cast of actors, including Michael McKean, Parker Posey, Catherine O’Hara, and Eugene Levy. Also, one of the judges in the movie was both Major Briggs in Twin Peaks, and Scully’s dad on X-Files.

Because of Best in Show my husband and I often remind each other that “if you get tired, pull over; if you get hungry, eat something.” I actually watched a whole Lifetime movie yesterday starring Will Sasso as Santa Claus because he said that line about eating something if you get hungry in Best in Show. The most enduring quote to my life, though, is the name of Parker Posey’s dog’s toy, “Busy Bee,” because we bought our dog a bee and named it Busy Bee and it is EVERYTHING to him. Whenever anyone comes in the house he shows off his bee, and we have to say how much we like it every time or he will get his feelings hurt. I mean, I tell visitors, “he is trying to show you his bee, would you please tell him how nice it is?” I am that dog owner now.

I even watch real dog shows because of this movie, and I get the same sense of calm. I think all the stuff about carefully examining the dogs’ performances and gaits sets off my ASMR, if I’m being honest. People think ASMR is some kind of weird fetish where women breathe in your ear while eating candy, but it can also be watching someone do something carefully. And the judges in Best in Show, as well as the real dog shows, do their work carefully.

I didn’t sing a song today, but here’s Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara singing about their terrier in the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8rZq3oKuI

P.S. I worked in a video store in the 1990s and Waiting For Guffman was rented out every single day. It flew off the shelf.