Editing Waiting for Guffman (section)

==Plot==
In the small city of Blaine, [[Missouri]], a few residents prepare to put on a community theater production led by eccentric director Corky St. Clair. The show, a musical chronicling the town's history titled ''Red, White and Blaine'', is to be performed as part of the town's 150th-anniversary celebration.

Cast in the leads are Ron and Sheila Albertson, married travel agents who are also regular amateur performers; Libby Mae Brown, a perky [[Dairy Queen]] employee; Clifford Wooley, a "long time Blaineian" and retired taxidermist, who is ''Red, White and Blaine''{{'}}s narrator; Johnny Savage, a handsome and oblivious mechanic, whom Corky goes out of his way to get into the play; and Dr. Allan Pearl, a tragically square dentist determined to discover his inner entertainer. High-school teacher Lloyd Miller is the show's increasingly frustrated musical director.

Corky has used connections from his "[[Off-Off-Broadway|off-off-off-off-Broadway]]" past to invite Mort Guffman, a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] producer, to critique ''Red, White and Blaine''. Corky leads the cast to believe that a positive review from Guffman could mean their show might go all the way to Broadway.

The program itself is designed to musically retell the history of Blaine, whose founding father was a buffoon incapable of distinguishing the geography of middle [[Missouri]] from the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] coastline. The viewer also learns why the town obtusely refers to itself as "the stool capital of the United States." The music is a series of poorly performed songs such as "Nothing Ever Happens on Mars", a reference to the town's supposed visit by an [[unidentified flying object]], and "Stool Boom".

Central to the film are Corky's [[stereotype|stereotypically]] [[gay]] mannerisms. He supposedly has a wife called Bonnie, whom no one in Blaine has ever met or seen. He uses her to explain his habit of shopping for women's clothing and shoes.

When Johnny is forced by his suspicious father to quit the show, Corky takes over his roles, which were clearly intended for a young, masculine actor, playing a lusty young frontiersman, a heartbroken soldier, and a little boy wearing a beanie and shorts. Corky never sheds his dainty demeanor, bowl haircut, lisp, or earring in spite of his historical roles, and his face is pasted with an overkill of [[Theatrical makeup|stage rouge and eyeliner]].

Corky is also faced with creating his magic on a shoestring budget, at one point quitting the show after storming out of a meeting with the city council, which turns down his request for $100,000 to finance the production, but the distraught cast and persuasive city fathers convince Corky to return. At the show's performance, Guffman's seat is seen to be empty, much to the dismay of the cast. Corky reassures them that Broadway producers always arrive a bit late for the show, and sure enough, a man soon takes Guffman's reserved seat. The show is well received by the audience, whereupon Corky invites the assumed Guffman backstage to talk to the actors.

The man is actually Roy Loomis, who has come to Blaine to witness the birth of his niece's baby, but he did enjoy the show. Corky then reads a telegram stating that Guffman's plane was grounded by snowstorms in New York City, meaning that, like the "Godot" being spoofed, the real Guffman never arrives.

An epilogue shows the fates of the cast: Libby Mae is now living in Sipes, Alabama, where she moved after her father was paroled, and working at the Dairy Queen. Allan and the Albertsons have pursued their dreams of being entertainers, Ron and Sheila traveling to [[Los Angeles]], [[California]], to work as extras, and Allan now performing for elderly [[Jew]]s in [[Miami, Florida]] retirement communities. Corky has returned to New York City, where he has opened a Hollywood-themed novelty shop, which includes such items as [[Brat Pack (actors)|Brat Pack]] [[bobblehead]] [[doll]]s, ''[[My Dinner with Andre]]'' [[action figures]], and ''[[The Remains of the Day (film)|The Remains of the Day]]'' lunch boxes.