When it comes to deadpan humor, no one is quite the same as Christopher Guest.

You may need a sense of humor drier than a desert to appreciate the humor of the documentary. Guest has a keen eye for seeing where the everyday begins to border on the ridiculous, and exploits it to the fullest extent.

Guest's early work in obscure films and made-for-TV movies did little to showcase his talent or bring him fame. His first appearance was in a 1970 revival of "Room Service" on Broadway, and he starred in "Moonchildren" two years later. He didn't get a break into bigger show business until 1982, when he worked with Rob Reiner on the made-for-TV movie "Million Dollar Infield."

The year after working with Reiner for the first time, Guest began work on the mock-documentary "This is Spinal Tap." Guest co-authored the script and starred in the movie as Spinal Tap founder and lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel. The script, written to imitate a documentary, followed the course of a formerly popular sensationalist hair band into their later years when wearing spandex doesn't seem quite as cool and the Prince-of-Darkness image doesn't quite fly. The character of Nigel Tufnel, who doesn't seem to have quite recovered from the drug phase of his first tours, remains one of Guest's more famous performances.

Guest also met his future wife Jamie Lee Curtis through the film. The star first gave her number to Guest's agent after seeing a publicity photo of the cast in Rolling Stone Magazine.

During the next decade Guest took on a few high profile entertainment projects, appearing regularly on Saturday Night Live in 1984 and 1985 and acting in "The Princess Bride" in 1986. Guest made in directorial debut in 1989 with "The Big Picture," a Tinseltown satire.

Satire proved to be Guest's genre of choice with his critically acclaimed comedy "Waiting for Guffman" in 1996. The movie portrayed the production of a musical honoring the history of Blaine, Mich., a small town proudly boasting to the distinction of "stool capital of the world." The movie featured Eugene Levy, later to appear in "American Pie" and "Serendipity," as a humor-impaired dentist. Guest once again appeared as Corky St. Claire, a self-important New York director of dubious talent.

Guest's 2000 production "Best in Show," another successful satire, features the problems, quirks and extreme pride of the owners of five prize-winning dogs through the course of the prestigious Mayflower dog show. As always, Guest's characters are ridiculous precisely because they take themselves so seriously.

His next film, "A Mighty Wind," will be released on April 16 this year. This latest effort follows the reunion of three folk bands.

Guest often works with the same actors, recruiting many of the stars from "Waiting for Guffman" for "Best in Show." The movie also starred Eugene Levy, as well as Jennifer Coolidge, more famously known as Stifler's mom from "American Pie."

While Guest's films have a large following much in the tradition of Monty Python, none of the films were extremely successful box office hits. The humor is arguably too offbeat for everyone to enjoy.

"Some recently asked me, `Why is "Best in Show" funny?'" said Guest in an interview with Jessica Hudley of salon.com. "That's a strange question. First of all, is it funny? Is it funny to you?"

Guest recognized that the origins of humor are always obscure.

"Eugene Levy makes me laugh," said Guest. "Why? Here we are again: I don't know."

Other examples of mockumentaries, such as the 1999 hit "The Blair Witch Project," have been more financially successful than Guest's work. However, Guests's particular style of humor remains unique in mockumentaries and in the film world in general.

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