Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
We got some early word on this film that wasn’t very good, but the trailer for this film is one of the funniest trailers I’ve seen in a long, long time. I like documentaries about people working, too, and I’m not thinking of this as a comedy. I want to see Seinfeld with his guard down. I want to see if there’s anything behind the act. I want to see the world of stand up comedy, a world I have a lot of first-hand knowledge of, and I want to see it portrayed the way it really is for once. So is this that film?
Let’s see what our first spy thought of it...
Harry, just saw Seinfeld's movie THE COMEDIAN. I have to say that earlier reports of a complete disaster of a film are completely exaggerated. It's good, but with some flaws. It's not SEINFELD, it's not CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. It's not JERRY SEINFELD RAW. It's Jerry Seinfeld's raw footage.
I will point out that I am a professional comedian. You never heard of me, but no one's heard of 99% of the comics in this country. What THE COMEDIAN does best is show what it's really like to perform stand-up comedy. This isn't PUNCHLINE. The clubs are dark, the audiences heckle, the backstage area is, in many cases, nonexistent. It doesn't glamorize the profession nor attempt to make it self-important. The humor (and the film has many laughs) doesn't come from the comics on stage as much as it does from the struggle of the insecure performers dealing with their own expectations of success and, sometimes, failure.
The first 30 minutes of the documentary show Seinfeld performing at various NYC comedy clubs. These are basically "guest spots", unpaid and unannounced performances where the comics perform new and untested material. Seinfeld surprises the audiences and after the their initial, star-struck reactions to the funnyman, we see Jerry bomb. Now, the film would have you believe these are such disastrous performances that Jerry would run back to his mansion and never be seen again. Really, though, he does OK. If you want to see comedians eat it for real, go down to open mic night at your local comedy club. Seinfeld ain't stopping by for a spot. You'll see the worst attempts at humor in the history of man.
Whether you laugh at Jerry's onstage stuff depends on your tastes. I never laughed once at his routines in the film, though the other comics have some great stuff. Colin Quinn, in particular, is great onstage and off. Robert Klein gets some laughs and appearances by Jay Leno, Ray Romano, Garry Shandling and Chris Rock (all offstage) are welcomed. THE COMEDIAN's appeal comes from Jerry's interactions with these guys offstage. There's tons of funny anecdotes and comedy wisdom dispensed, and though I'm "inside", I think the audience seemed to get it as well. The film has a very brisk pace in the first half and nobody is really introduced, so you may want to know who guys like Mario Joyner, George Wallace and Nick Di Paolo are ahead of time.
The film also follows a "newbie", Orny Adams around the same circuit. Adams comes off as an arrogant prick who has some limited success despite himself. He's shown doing a few funny bits onstage, but offstage seems to think he's some genius who shoots himself in the foot at every turn. The film probably doesn't play fair with Adams' story. He constantly talks about how bad he does as he moves up the comedy ranks from NYC to the Montreal Comedy Festival to a shot on Letterman. He is portrayed as a villain, of sorts. His Letterman appearance is portrayed as a disaster, while Seinfeld's later Late Show spot is shown to be triumphant. He's the wise-ass jerk to Seinfeld's good-guy. His self-deprecating comments in his post-show interviews show Adams to be more neurotic and narcissistic than humble. In many ways, Adams is a more interesting story than Seinfeld. His "failures" are actually breaks that most comics work their whole careers for. And his failings at those big breaks lead to some real meltdowns - the funniest moments in the film. Imagine CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM for real. The shit hurts when it doesn't work, folks. It's compelling stuff and definitely makes THE COMEDIAN a better and more honest film.
While entertaining in a BROADWAY DANNY ROSE insider showbiz kind of way, the film doesn't have the dramatic arc that the best documentaries have. The drama hinges on whether Jerry can write a whole new act and return to the comedy stage. Well, with unlimited access to New York comedy stages (even getting on one of these stages is a bitch), private jets and limos to get you to gigs, several hundred million bucks and worldwide fame, what do you think? Of course he can. He's Seinfeld. He could wipe his ass onstage and get a standing O. Sure comedy is a very tough biz, but the hard work's been done, Jerry. For most working comics, the business involves crooked club owners, crappy hotels, and driving hundreds of miles in beat up cars for a few minutes stage time and couple of hundred bucks. Still, the film is more about the creative process than the business. It's about a guy with everything except an act. Most of us should be so lucky.
THE COMEDIAN would have been a better film about someone else. It's a great story with an ending that we all know. It's not a 90 minute "Seinfeld" episode (thank god), but a rare inside look at a misunderstood business. It's not a laugh riot, but the humor is there, and it's genuine. You won't look at stand up comedy the same way again. I guess, for me, that's a good thing. It's a hard job and aside from the reaction of the crowds, most of its rewards are small.
Thumbs up then, for the attempt. It's not Pryor at the Sunset Strip. It's an open mic show - with the worlds best comedians. And unlike most open mics, NO ONE WALKED OUT!
Call me GOOFY GOGGLES.
Thanks, man. Does this next guy agree?
Harry -
Time for a note from New York and a little quick-style review of "Comedian" - aka The Jerry Seinfeld Documentary.
Now, I read - as did many folks - that report on the site from a couple of months back which claimed that an entire test audience basically got up and left the theatre as one during one of the film's initial screenings. After seeing Comedian for my own-self very recently, I am only curious about one thing..."Who are these people?!"
Yeah, I know. Pretty lame.
Anyhow, if what was claimed back in the past is actually true, I can only surmise that the folks who pulled off the theater-exodus that night thought they were getting one thing when the film started and were totally disappointed when they got something else as it played on. If you think you're getting haw-haw Must See Seinfeld 2002 up on the big screen, you're better off staying home and watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on Tivo. (call me crazy, but to me that show is the real Seinfeld. god love Larry David and F the Soup Nazi.) If you go in fully informed that Comedian is a documentary about how a standup goes about honing his skill, forming his act and trying desperately to get his fix of being on stage and making people laugh - which also happens to feature Jerry Seinfeld as that particular comic - then you should, like I did, enjoy just about all 83 minutes.
See...Jerry Seinfeld struggle helplessly onstage like you've never seen him struggle before. More than once! (That's real flopsweat, folks!) See...unknown, yet supremely confident/cocky/annoying comic Olny Adams held up against The Mighty Jerry to show that all comedians are basically cut from the same insecure cloth. See...Colin Quinn eat french fry after french fry hanging out with Jerry between gigs. See...Papa Jerry sing the Cracker Jack song to his baby daughter backstage at Letterman.
And despite my lame descriptions, it's all kind of interesting. Granted, it's hard to have sympathy for a guy who's beating himself up about not being able to get his jokes the way he wants them while he's asking his pilot what the weather's going to be like in East Hampton before he boards the private jet after a gig in DC, but along the way you do get a sense that even the richest comic in the world has to work at it. To quote Jerry after facing a disrespectful Long Island audience ass whooping, "How big do you have to be to get people to shut the fuck up?"
My one beef? The jazz score and Steely Dan stuff that the director chose? Ooof. "Distracting" is not a big enough word.
In closing....please bear in mind, folks, this is not a comedy. This is a documentary. Don't go in confused. Some of Jerry's jokes work. Some do not. But that's the point. That what the movie is about. If you want a comedy, stay up late and watch the Honeymooners. If you want to see why people like Jerry Seinfeld and Olny Adams and whichever poor schmuck is bombing onstage right now at your local comedy club do what they do every damn night, see this film.
And, finally, to all the Newman-lookalike knuckleheads who left that theater back in August to go home and watch American Idol because Jerry wasn't getting loud with Kramer, George and Elaine like they see every night on their TV...you deserve all the Dunkleman you got that night.
By the way, Harry, the last time I wrote was way back in like '97 or something. I signed my "Playing God" review as "Bobo", but for whatever reason, you called me Melvin Frohike. Rereading this insightful, well-spelled review, I feel I deserve better.
All the best,
Bobo
Nice work on both counts. Thanks, guys.
"Moriarty" out.
