The guest star is always a fun part to the television sitcom episode. It's even better if they are “special.” However, sometimes they are “special” for other reasons such as if a great guest star can turn a one-time performance into something memorable. Seinfeld perfected this practice to the point that it brought back all its memorable one-time performances in its series finale. On a personal level, my favorite of those performances was Phillip Baker Hall's brilliant turn as Mr. Bookman in "The Library."
While Seinfeld made it a practice, there are few other shows that have had great one-time appearances. However, the best one-time appearance to me on a television show was a character named Wendell Hyde on The Adventures of Pete and Pete.
If you've gotten to know me well, then you know that I rave about The Adventures of Pete and Pete. While it may have appeared on Nickelodeon, I think that it is legitimately one of the greatest television shows of all-time, and convinced it played an integral role in forming my comedic mind at a young age. But, it's likely a show that is only known to a specific age group.
In arguably one of the best Pete and Pete episodes, “Yellow Fever,” Wendell Hyde makes his only appearance. The episode revolves around a field trip aboard the school bus that goes haywire due to a number of different personal issues between the characters from Driver Stu Benedict's recent break-up to the potential breakdown of the friendship of Big Pete and Ellen. It is a hilarious episode that relies on a number of its absurd supporting characters aboard the bus including Wendell, a young man whose dream is to be a singer at weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Though this video can't do justice entirely as it is best to watch the episode in its entirety, a beautiful person on YouTube put together Wendell's finest moments from the episode. It may not come off as well in this edited clip, but the moment of chaos on the bus is one of the funniest scenes in television in general and consistently makes me laugh non-stop whenever I watch it. Enjoy this video. It deserves at least a million rather than the 3,000 or so that it is currently at.
As for Wendell, he was played by actor Rick Faugno, who originated the role of Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys in Las Vegas and continues to act in a one-man show at the Las Vegas Hilton.
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