Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a couple of films that are making their way into art houses around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…
JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK
I realized as I was watching this fascinating and starkly honest documentary about comic and actress Joan Rivers that Joan has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. From guest hosting "The Tonight Show" and red carpet reports on E! to countless appearances on The Howard Stern Radio Show to selling jewelry on QVC to winning "Celebrity Apprentice," Joan Rivers is a force of nature who refuses to fade into obscurity no matter how low she has to grovel to get work, get paid and stay relevant. Directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK, THE TRAILS OF DARRYL HUNT) selected a particularly transitional time in Rivers' life to follow her (she was 76 at the time), when she went from a largely empty appointment book to filling up every single day of every single month with appearances, gigs, interviews and probably a surgery or two.
The directors also piece together an impressive collection of archival material that forms the basis of Rivers' professional backstory. Interestingly enough, there isn't much here about Joan growing up (just a quick photo or story); her life apparently didn't begin until her first "Tonight Show" appearance with Johnny Carson, and that is our first clue that Joan has been and forever will be a working entertainer. But the strange irony of Rivers' life is that as badly as she wanted to be a huge success and have enough money to take care of her family (and assorted other friends she apparently takes care of as well), she went about it in such an edgy way as to almost guarantee that she would always be looked at as a fringe player. In a televised bit from the 1970s about contraception, she mentions a woman she knows getting 17 "appendectomies," making Rivers likely the first woman to ever to clandestinely talk (or, more specifically, joke) about abortion on national television.
A PIECE OF WORK covers highlights of Rivers' career to be sure, but tragedy seems to underscore her personal and professional life far more. Her botched relationship with Johnny Carson, who had her banned from NBC; her husband's suicide; her wrecked finances; and, more recently, a failed attempt at bringing an autobiographical play to Broadway via London. Rivers comes across as a person who is well aware of the doors she opened for other female comics, but she couldn't care less (except when she does). She would much rather be knows as an active, working performer than a legend. She's her own worse critic, but she's also her most ardent and passionate defender.
The film includes several close-ups of Joan's face without makeup, and I won't lie: it's a bizarre thing to behold. But that's the nature of this movie and what makes it work top to bottom. Rivers had no editorial control or final cut approval, and the results are a surgery-scars-and-all portrait of a person who would rather be dead if she couldn't perform. It's a tough frame of mind to understand, but A PIECE OF WORK manages to explain it better than I've ever seen it explained. There have been other films--including the below-reviewed I AM COMIC--that have attempted to get to the heart of several dozen comics to answer some of these same mysteries, but watching Joan Rivers tear apart a heckler or stress about a 4pm booking in Brooklyn or meticulously prepare for a tribute to George Carlin explains all you need to know about the life and what drives people into it and rarely lets them go. Oh, and the movie is uproariously funny--I should mention that. You kind of need to see this immediately.
I AM COMIC
This somewhat uneven documentary airing this weekend on Showtime (it may have premiered last weekend, actually) about what it takes to make it as a stand-up comedian has some truly insightful moments about the inspiration, motivation, and driving forces behind the angry, self-loathing men and women who choose this lifestyle. For the most part, director and former comic Jordan Brady is dealing with comics who never rose above the level of headliner at a big comedy club in New York or LA, which makes the movie more fascinating by my estimation. Jerry Seinfeld's documentary Comedian more or less covered the level of comics who've had successful TV series or do massive shows at large theaters. I AM COMIC has a smaller, sometimes seedier level of success and living in mind.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film aren't the interviews with 85 comics that include everyone from Phyllis Diller to Andy Kindler to Sarah Silverman to Carrot Top, but instead it is following retired comedian Ritch Shyndner, who left the biz and by being a part of the documentary has gotten back his itch to perform. Shyndner knows hundreds of funny men and women and helps Brady get many of his interviews, but being a follower of comedy myself, I noticed enormous holes in the talent pool. I realize there's no way he could get everyone, but there are massive groups of alt comics who simply aren't here and are barely mentioned. I did find it really strange that joke thief Carlos Mencia is in this movie a lot, and he jokingly fesses up to his crimes.
The filmmaker walks us through every level of stand-up, from the five to 10 minutes an emcee might get to intro other comics, to the one-hour full show, to talk show appearances and Comedy Central or HBO/Showtime specials, to a standing gig in Vegas. It's an interesting education, but it's nothing compared to the case study playing out before the cameras as 13-years-off-the-circuit Shyndner plays some of the shittiest places in America, often to little or no response. Some of the interviewees have been telling these horror stories of the road for so long that the stories themselves sound like packaged bits, while others are much more open and honest about putting the need for laughter and applause before relationships, kids and their own well-being (drugs are a huge part the scene). I AM COMIC is eye-opening in places, predictable in others, but it offers more laughs per minute than most comedies I've seen this year and it's never dull.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcool.com
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