Cause Mr. Candy is so good.

Fat people and funny go together like Oreo cookies and milk, kiddies.

I can’t explain it to you. I can’t offer up the rationale that makes it so, I just know what I know.

Maybe it’s their roundness. Maybe their extra pounds are really made up of jokes and quips. Or perhaps, when you are up there on the LBS., you just learn to make the best of your bigness and laugh with world…because it makes your belly jiggle and who doesn’t love that?

And sure, there have been comedic chubsters who have been big and made it to legendary status like Chris Farley…(Who is not going to be on this list, fyi.) But before all of the funny fatties, before all the huge ha-ha’sters there was one man, ONE MAN, who brought the large laughs so hard that he is, in my mind, one of the best of all time. If I could rose him from eternal slumber, I would, just so I could give him a hug. He is delicious. He is epic. He is #11 on our list…

#11: John Candy

BARF! One of my favorite John Candy characters ever from one of the greatest comedy epics of all time, Spaceballs.

As a kid, I watched John Candy’s movies and laughed my fucking ass off. Seriously. Even before I knew HOW funny he was. (As a small child, I am sure a lot of his jokes were over my head.) But funniness like his was undeniable. He had the type of delivery that was appealing to the everyday person. Who could deny the power of his role as Barf in one of the greatest comedies of all time, Spaceballs?

“I’m a mog: half man, half dog. I’m my own best friend!”

HAHAHAHAH! Classic.

In case you were living under a rock in the 80s and 90s, John Candy was excellent in Spaceballs, The Great Outdoors, The Blues Brothers, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Splash, Summer Rental and Uncle Buck….just to name a few of the hilarious gems he was in.

And speaking of Unle Buck…there is a scene in that movie where John Candy’s character tosses a quarter at his niece’s school principle and tells her to go downtown and have a rat gnaw the mole from her face and let me tell you…as a kid, I DREAMT that one day, one of my parents would give it to one of my teachers like that. It never happened, but goddamn it woulda been awesome. lol

Here are some random John Candy factoids for those of you that loved the big guy.

1) He was Canadian. (And we all know how much I love our cohorts to the North in CANADIA. I know it’s Canada, but doesn’t CANADIA have a nicer right to it?)

2) He was a co-owner to the Canadian Football team the Argonauts. (He bought the team with fellow Canadian, Wayne Gretzky.) In 1991, a few years before his death, Mr. Candy’s team took home the Canadian Grey Cup, beating Calgary.

3) He was SUPPOSED to play the roll of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters but didn’t take the roll because he didn’t know how to play the nerdy accountant. The role eventually went to Rick Moranis who owned the line, “I am The Keymaster!” in that movie. lol

The Blue Brothers. A great film about two guys on a mission from God.

4) His roll as dickheaded cop, Burton Mercer in the amazing film The Blues Brothers, was his first major film roll. Dan Akroyd and John Belushi in ONE movie?! Epic.

5) A lot of people were surprised at his dramatic roll as Dean Andrews in the Oliver Stone biopic JFK.

6) He died in his sleep of a massive coronary in 1994. He was only 43-years-old.

7) When he died, the world-famous Laugh Factory in California, one of the first places that he ever did stand-up in, honored him by giving him the Marquee and leaving the quote: Rest in Peace, Make God Laugh. in his memory.

8) Dan Akroyd, his longtime friend and partner delivered the Eulogy at his funeral.

Like I said…there have been many fatties out in the world who were funny, but none, at least to me, as funny and memorable as John Candy. He was one of the great ones.

-goobs