Wainwright has also appeared in a number of films, including small parts in "The Aviator", "Big Fish", "Elizabethtown", "The 40-Year-Old Virgin", 28 Days (film), and "Knocked Up", and the television series "Undeclared" and "Parks and Recreation". In the UK he recorded sessions for John Peel from 1971 onwards and appeared on a simultaneous broadcast on BBC TV and on Radio 1 in February 1978 (known as Sight and Sound in Concert). However, it was in the late 1980s that he gained much wider popularity in Britain when he appeared as the resident singer with comedian Jasper Carrott in his UK show, "Carrott Confidential", and has remained popular in the UK ever since.