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 Review: Comedian by mike spiegelman In my nine years of scraping the bottom of stand-up comedy's barrel, I've never met any bone fine me-so-horny comedy groupies. Usually, the comedy hangers-on I've encountered are a bunch of civilians (that's what we call you non-comics) hanging around the green room and thinking, "Man, this would make a great documentary." So far, I've appeared in four student documentaries (one, the less said, the better). I also got to do time before the SF premiere of "Living the Funny", an excellent look at Bay Area comedian Tom Rhodes' adventures in sit-com land (And don't fret, "Mr. Rhodes" fans, Tom now hosts late night TV in Amsterdam). But generally, comedians don't make good documentaries. Comedians are a bunch of self-hating yet narcissistic sad sacks who like to curl up on the sidewalk and whine, "I'm so miserable...boo hoo...look at me." And who wants to watch that? People want to watch Jerry Seinfeld, and will walk into "Comedian" (2002's third big-screen comedian movie, following Margaret Cho's and Martin Lawrence's concert films) thinking they'll see a documentary of Jer returning to his stand-up roots. It does start with Jerry performing in NYC spots like Gotham and Comedy Cellar, getting standing O's, but has nothing really to say. He hones his new act, takes it on the road, performs a very funny set on "Letterman" (take that, Domino's Stuffed Crust Pizza!), books a big venue, and the end. Along the way we get to meet his close personal friends like Kevin Neilson, Ray Romano, Gary Shandling, Chris Rock, Robert Klein, an insecure Jay Leno, and the two show stealers, Mr. Colin Quinn and Mr. Bill Cosby. But watching a rich celebrity hop onto his private jet to play Governor's in Long Island isn't that fascinating and the filmmakers know this. The documentary "Comedian" is a Trojan horse. Seeing Jerry gets the crowds in, but wait until you watch the opener. Another comic, who shares the same manager as Mr. Seinfeld, gets plenty of camera time, and he's a doozy. Onstage, he's a funny guy, but once off, he's a neurotic mess who catalogues his jokes and videotapes, uses a typed set list (everyone else, like Seinfeld or Neilson, handwrites theirs), and basically frets and obsesses about him and him only. Yes, he even curls up on the sidewalk and talks about how miserable he is. He never laughs or smiles (if the comic won't smile, then why should the audience), even when Jerry talks to him. But he is driven and we get to see him at the Montreal fest and his first time on "Letterman" (which will only interest the comedians in the audience, since the comic had to alter his opening joke, then unconfidently speeds through it on-air). Jerry worries about making the crowds laugh, but this comic's angry that he has to do an audition showcase, because he knows he's too talented for that. He's not portrayed in a positive light (wait until manager Barry Katz tears him apart), but who cares, right, as long as they mention your name. Publicity is publicity. The worst thing that could happen is that a reviewer purposely doesn't mention your name in a review. Go see "Comedian". But do yourself a favor, and see a live comedy show first. And stay away from the green room. |
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