Native New Yorker Michael McKean is so identified with his ensemble work in Christopher Guest’s films – This is Spinal Tap, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration – that it’s easy to forget that he created the iconic Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski in Laverne & Shirley some 32 years ago. What a long, strange career it’s been, with parts in almost-entirely forgotten films like Steven Spielberg’s 1941, hits like Clue and, in......

Gothamist is so excited about the Museum of Modern Art's Christopher Guest tribute. Starting tonight, his films, including the ones he directed and co-wrote (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman), and The Big Picture), one he co-wrote (This is Spinal Tap), and one he starred in (The Princess Bride), and TV work (SNL skits and more). Tomorrow night, Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are going to give some sort of......

Macy's in New York has welcomed "big-bottomed mannequins" to show off fashions, and this warrants a Reuters story. In the photograph above, Ecko Red jeans are one of quite a few brands that are part of this "serious sociological trend that is positive for retailers and customers in that the tyranny of the undernourished perfect model is over" (quote from Rich Rollison, whose company Lifestyle Forms and Display created the mannequins). Of course, there......

Tonight, Gothamist strongly recommends you to watch The Office Christmas Special on BBC America. A kind of "where are they now" for The Office characters, it reminds you why The Office is so good and manages to answer a couple questions - like "Does Keith get ladies?" Gothamist was able to see the special at the Museum of Television & Radio screening that co-creator and star Ricky Gervais also spoke at, thanks to reader......

When Gothamist caught wind of the new Metallica "rockumentary" it took us about 4 seconds to sink into the nostalgia of early high school and dust off our patched up acid washed jean jacket. Posters of this foursome stuck to our walls for at least a year before being replaced with more age appropriate things. Metallica as a band remained, but personal musical tastes on our side expanded, and faster than you could say "Napster"......

Gothamist has been considering Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time for a while, given that the list could have been even more weighed towards recent films, it's pretty good. Premiere ignores films about living people, instead preferring to give "priority to people who never were—but who are always with us movie lovers." Of course, we have a few quibbles (how can Ethan Edwards rank lowered than Gollum, how is......

The Indepedent gets Jeremy Drysdale, screenwriter of Grand Theft Parsons, to give his top ten films about music, including 24 Hour Party People (number 1), This is Spinal Tap, High Fidelity, Backbeat, Cabaret, The Blues Brothers and Moulin Rouge. Gothamist agrees with many (but not Moulin Rouge - meh), but would have to consider many others, like Almost Famous, A Star is Born, Amadeus, Hard Day's Night, A Mighty Wind, The School of Rock, plus......

The news that Larry Wachowski left his wife for a dominatrix gives The Matrix trilogy a new subtext: The S&M reading of the film. Of course, people speculated that angle when the first film was released in 1999, but now it's more unavoidable than ever. Example: When Neo and Trinity share an intense, intimate moment, he's not holding her hand, he's holding her latex-gloved hand. Latex has always been hot: There are latex fetishists and......

These go to eleven. - Nigel Tufnel in This is Spinal Tap Gothamist enjoyed Elvis Mitchell's piece about Christopher Guest in yesterday's Times because if there's one that we all need more of, it's generous-hearted satire. Guest was one of the masterminds behind This is Spinal Tap (besides playing Nigel Tufnel), and he wrote and directed Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Jen was once in an elevator with Christopher Guest; he asked what......