Uncle Fester is an apparition that incites, entertains, but also creates tension – you know for sure that something out of the ordinary will follow. Wednesday’s most beloved family member, he seems like an analog soul living in a digital world. Every laugh, every light bulb in the mouth, every cactus eaten becomes an affirmation that the grotesque can be joyful, that the strange can light up the whole world – with or without direct current.
Fester, the most beloved member of the Addams family. PHOTO: Netflix
A bald, pale head that shines under the lights of the set, bulging eyes and a smile that is rebellious and gentle at the same time. Uncle Fester from the series “Wednesday” (already in its second season, available on the online streaming platform Netflix) is both a legacy and an invention – a character born from the morbid cartoons of Charles Addams, passed through the irony of black-and-white television, through the colorful strangeness of Hollywood and now arrived in a modern and dynamic spin-off.
An outcast “always on the run”
In the hands of actor Fred Armisen, Fester reappears as a carnival of contradictions: a petty criminal with a conspiratorial twinkle, a master of ceremonies of family weirdness, and a faithful keeper of the Addams brand’s most tender and strange secrets. With such a legacy behind him, but also with the challenge of coming up with something new, the comedian Fred Armisen (58 years old) says in an exclusive interview for “Weekend Adevărul” that, when he was offered the role, he did a lot of research and wanted to stay true to the already famous portrait for so many decades: “I mostly tried to play Fester as I’ve seen him in other shows and movies, to keep the character the same because people already know him. I assumed that once I started talking, my natural gestures would come out anyway. But I tried to stick to what I knew, what I’d seen before.”
Fred Armisen, the comedian who took over the role of Fester under Tim Burton’s baton. PHOTO: Netflix
This balance between reverence for old cinematography and reinterpretation defines his new version. Armisen’s Fester retains the memory of what came before: Jackie Coogan’s grotesque, Christopher Lloyd’s chaotic exuberance. However, the actor’s sensitivity, a sense of the absurd well sketched, but also an empathy that seems to contradict his appearance give the role a new aura.
Watching him on screen is like watching the costume and acting craft metamorphose. Armisen shaved his head, endured hours of make-up and prosthetics, allowed himself to be transformed into a powdered, caricature figure, as if torn from a gothic circus panel. But these were not a challenge, but the fact that “I had to keep reminding myself that he’s on the run”says the actor. “Every time I got comfortable, I had to remind myself that he’s always moving. And even if he’s doing stupid things, he has to feel like he’s having fun. He laughs a lot, he giggles — so I had to keep him happy, not forget to make him laugh.”
Eccentric Uncle Fester. PHOTO: Netflix
This perpetual motion, a kind of fugitive humor, fuels the performance. “Wednesday” repositions Fester not just as the family jester, but as a wanderer between worlds: outcast, uncle, and, in a special way, wise. “I mean, he’s almost like Robin Hood,” Armisen jokes. “Not that Fester’s a hero, but he’s operating in that gray area. We all do it — you know you’re supposed to come to a complete stop at a STOP sign, but you just slow down. I think it’s something like that.” The result is a character with a nuanced morality: unyielding, but guided by affection – especially for his niece Wednesday, for whom he becomes a mirror – the outcast who turns eccentricity into an ethical code.
“If Tim Burton’s happy, I’m happy too”
In the scenes between Armisen and Jenna Ortega, we easily notice a complicity between two characters who are not ashamed of their strangeness, masterfully penciled by the director Tim Burton. “I didn’t improvise at all. There was nothing I could have added by improvisation. Otherwise it would have just become an exercise in vanity”he admits. “There is a place for improvisation, but here everything was already there. The humor was written. If I had added anything, it would have been just an indulgent gesture”. His respect for Tim Burton is sincere and disarming: “I’m such a big Tim Burton fan that all I wanted was for him to be happy. If Tim Burton’s happy, I’m happy. I didn’t want to overdo it or try all kinds of things. He knows a lot better than I do. And I tried not to tell him all the time what a fan I am.”
Uncle and niece Addams. PHOTO: Netflix
This collaboration gave birth to a Fester perfectly integrated into the Burtonian Gothic aesthetic – an electrifying buffoon who combines the morbid with the tender. The members of the Addams Family have remained the same since their debut – in 1938, in the form of comics, published in “The New Yorker” – with small imprints of the directors who brought the story to life. Asked how he would see Fester if he were created now, Armisen answers without hesitation: “Fester is so classic. It feels timeless to me because it’s changed so little. Maybe if it was created now, the way it uses electricity would be different, maybe it would have AI versions of things that come out of its hands. I don’t know exactly what it would look like, but it would be something in that area.” The thought of electricity kept him and when asked what supernatural power from the show he would keep, the American comedian replied with a laugh: “Obviously the electricity part. I don’t want to worry about electrocuting myself when I try to reset an outlet. It would be great not having to think about it at all.”
From death metal to dolce far niente
Beyond the joke, the series proposes something deeper: a celebration of being different. In an age where eccentricity is both commoditized and feared, Fester’s joy becomes a statement. Armisen says it directly: “I’d say it’s about embracing the fact that you don’t fit in, that you’re not like everyone else. It’s great to be a weirdo. Like Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ – the way they celebrated that feeling was brilliant, they said it right.”. Continuing on the musical branch, Armisen imagines the character would like rock music – “Norwegian death metal. Something even harder than Ozzy”.
Industry rumors are already talking about a possible spin-off. Armisen does not deny the temptation: “I think there’s quite a lot to say about his character – both before and after. So there are many possibilities”. And if he had to choose only one of his multiple personalities – because the series fully presents us with Fester’s appetite to wear thousands of masks, to put himself in the shoes of other people -, he would go for the Italian one. “I remember looking at his passports on set and I think one was Italian. I thought it was really cool, to get to Italy, eat well and then come back. I think it would be a perfect dinner for him – somewhere up in a little town that looks like a castle, that’s the place.”
