Christopher Guest is a genius. Fact.
The man single-handedly invented the mocumentary style of comedy.
He takes months to shoot his scriptless films, lets the actors improvise on a theme and then spends up to a year editing the results. He manages to consistently deliver the kind of brutally realistic scenes populated by ass-clenchingly familiar characters that Rickey Gervais is now known for.
Guest has been in the game since the early Seventies, Rickey Gervais owes a lot to the man and his work. Comedy as a whole would be a very different landscape without him.
My favorite of Guests films is 'Best In Show' which 'documents' the Krufts dog show in NY by following fictional contestants in their quest for the prized blue ribbon.
I cannot recommend this film highly enough. Here is my favorite scene:
Parker Posey is so fuckin hot.