Misery Loves Comedy (15.)
Directed by Kevin Pollak.
Featuring Larry David, Jimmy Fallon, Jason Alexander, Matthew Perry, Amy Schumer and Kevin Smith. 94 mins
BBC4 has a little strand that started with Old Jewish Men Telling Jokes and grew into various groups of people Telling Jokes. Generally, it's not that funny. Now actor/ comic Pollak, the shortest one in The Usual Suspects line up, has come up with a variation on the theme, Professional Comedians Not Telling Jokes. It's not an improvement.
The format is simplicity itself. In interviews, Pollak works his way through a set of questions with a range of over fifty different stand -ups, comedy writers and directors (plus a what-are-they-doing-there selection of actors, such as Bobby Cannavale.) The aim is to delve into the dark side of comedy.
Sounds interesting, but the flaw reveals itself very quickly. Asking narcissists to discuss their pain is a recipe for the most exquisite form of tedium. And when it is a narcissist you've never heard of, that tedium is that bit more acute. The cast list here is almost exclusively North American, and once you dip beneath a few headline names, fearsomely obscure unless you watch Letterman regularly. (The only Brits here are Steve Coogan, Steve Merchant and Rob Brydon.) And boy, do they jump into the opportunity for a bit public therapy.
What do you learn about the nature of performing comedy? Just about everything you already knew or could've worked out for yourself after about five minutes of reflection: they started making people laugh to thwart bullies/ get girls; making people laugh is phenomenally addictive; the insecurities of the profession are enormous and almost all of them are miserable, almost all the time. The only revelation is that Christopher Guest of Spinal Tap, has an amazing gift for ventriloquism.
Misery Loves Comedy (15.)
Directed by Kevin Pollak.
Featuring Larry David, Jimmy Fallon, Jason Alexander, Matthew Perry, Amy Schumer and Kevin Smith. 94 mins
BBC4 has a little strand that started with Old Jewish Men Telling Jokes and grew into various groups of people Telling Jokes. Generally, it's not that funny. Now actor/ comic Pollak, the shortest one in The Usual Suspects line up, has come up with a variation on the theme, Professional Comedians Not Telling Jokes. It's not an improvement.
The format is simplicity itself. In interviews, Pollak works his way through a set of questions with a range of over fifty different stand -ups, comedy writers and directors (plus a what-are-they-doing-there selection of actors, such as Bobby Cannavale.) The aim is to delve into the dark side of comedy.
Sounds interesting, but the flaw reveals itself very quickly. Asking narcissists to discuss their pain is a recipe for the most exquisite form of tedium. And when it is a narcissist you've never heard of, that tedium is that bit more acute. The cast list here is almost exclusively North American, and once you dip beneath a few headline names, fearsomely obscure unless you watch Letterman regularly. (The only Brits here are Steve Coogan, Steve Merchant and Rob Brydon.) And boy, do they jump into the opportunity for a bit public therapy.
What do you learn about the nature of performing comedy? Just about everything you already knew or could've worked out for yourself after about five minutes of reflection: they started making people laugh to thwart bullies/ get girls; making people laugh is phenomenally addictive; the insecurities of the profession are enormous and almost all of them are miserable, almost all the time. The only revelation is that Christopher Guest of Spinal Tap, has an amazing gift for ventriloquism.
