The film's ensemble cast includes Guest, Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey.

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.

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.

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 coastline.

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".

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 stage rouge and eyeliner.

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.

Corky has returned to New York City, where he has opened a Hollywood-themed novelty shop, which includes such items as Brat Pack bobblehead dolls, My Dinner with Andre action figures, and The Remains of the Day lunch boxes.

After being shown at the Toronto and Boston film festivals in late 1996, it received a US theatrical release, playing in roughly 50 theaters beginning on January 31, 1997.

The site's critical consensus reads, "This riotously deadpan mockumentary about aspiring community theater performers never stoops to ridicule oft-ridiculous characters.

[10] In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote: "Attention is paid not simply to funny characters and punch lines, but to small nudges at human nature.

In December 2022, Variety listed Waiting for Guffman as one of "The 100 Best Movies of All Time", saying it was "a comedy as touching as it is hilarious" and "one for the ages" that became "the ultimate cult film for a newly liberated generation".