Friday, 11 August 2023 12:25

Comedian, The

comedian

THE COMEDIAN

 

US, 2016, 120 minutes, Colour.

Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Harvey Keitel, Edie Falco, Danny DeVito, Patti LuPone, Charles Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Lucy DeVito, Veronica Ferres, Lois Smith, Happy Anderson, Billy Crystal, Bobby Rydell.

Directed by Taylor Hackford.

 

When The Comedian was released in 2016, everybody commented on the link with Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy, with Robert De Niro as Rupert Pupkin, wanting to be a stand-up comedian but failing. This time, a personal project for Robert De Niro, he is a successful stand-up comedian, but better known and appreciated by audiences for his young role in a television series of the past. He is continually trying to assert himself as his real name, Jackie, rather than Eddie in the sitcom. (In 2019, De Niro was again a stand-up comic against Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker in Joker.)

While audiences will be interested to see how Robert De Niro handles the character, there is the issue of jokes and issues in stand-up comedy itself, the subjects in more recent decades focusing on sexual issues, sexual behaviour, explicit in the expression, the focus on bodies and bodily functions. The Comedian is full of these jokes, sometimes verging on the extreme, no holds barred, and delivered by De Niro. Which means that the humour may be offputting to audiences of more sensitive sensibilities.

And, De Niro’s character is egotistical, failures in life and marriages, a long alienation from his brother, Danny DeVito, with his angry and aggressive wife, Patti LuPone, and their daughter, marrying, a lesbian marriage, and played by Lucy DeVito, Danny DeVito’s daughter. Jackie also has a long-suffering agent played by Edie Falco.

At the opening of the film, Jackie is hostile towards a heckler, confronts him, is taken to the court, gives a grudging response, insults the judge and is sentenced to community service – where he entertains the homeless people he is serving. He encounters a young woman, Harmony, played by Leslie Mann (who knows comedy well because of the long time she has been the wife of director, Jud Apatow). There is a pleasant relationship which later becomes demanding, especially with the pregnancy and her future. And her protective father is played by Harvey Keitel, strong scenes with De Niro, 40 years and more after Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.

There are a great number of comedians playing themselves in guest roles throughout the film. Most notable is that of an elevator sequence with Billy Crystal (with whom De Niro played in the Analyse comedies). Charles Grodin, looking quite old, had played with De Niro in Midnight Run. Here he is a compere for the roasting for the 95-year-old stand-up comic an actress played by Cloris Leachman.

Direction is by Taylor Hackford, a director of varied themes including White Nights, Officer and a Gentleman, Dolores Claiborne, Devil’s Advocate, Ray.

1.     The title? Expectations? Audiences enjoying comedy? Stand-up comedy? Jokes, themes?

2.     Clubs, comedy clubs, venues, audiences? Television studios? Courts? Restaurants? The wedding? Contrast with Florida in the aged care home? Musical score?

3.     Stand-up comedy, the themes, raunchy, emphasis on sex and sexual behaviour, bodies, bodily functions? Themes for comedy? Issues of sensitivity? Taste?

4.     Robert De Niro, The King of Comedy, his role in Joker? Talent as a stand-up comedian in films? His career, screen presence? His reputation on television when young, audiences calling him Eddie, his real name, Jackie? Age, performances, cantankerous, ego, aggressive, the heckler, his confronting him, in court, the nature of the apology, behaviour towards the judge, the sentence, community service, with the street people, serving, entertaining? The encounter with harmony, attraction? His visit to James, absentee, Florey and her hostility? Borrowing money? The issue of the wedding, Brittany wanting him to be there? Working, with Harmony, the bond between them, sexual? The outings? His taking her to the wedding, his repartee at the wedding, Brittany enjoying it, the innuendo and bluntness in the humour? Florey and her anger, ousting him? Harmony enjoying the wedding, the dancing, the guests, the confrontation with Florey?

5.     Harmony, her relationship with his father, a Harvey Keitel character, possessive, cantankerous, his demands on his daughter, the birthday party, encountering Jackie, memories of the television, the imitations, his anger at Harmony being with Jackie, the threats, demanding that she returned to Florida?

6.     Jackie, his relationship with Miller, her father being his agent, her attempts to get him jobs, present in the court, exasperated, patient, a character, getting in various options, the gig in Florida, the television show, Jackie agreeing, “Cry Uncle”, the producers, his television manner, with the audiences, the man in the tub, the scorpions, crying Uncle, his walking off the show? His visit to Florida, with Harmony, with her father, with the aged care residents, singing, Making Poopie…? The man filming it, its going viral on social media, his behaviour on the television show successful on social media?

7.     Mac, a Harvey Keitel character, standover tactics, love for his daughter, demands on them, hostility to Jackie, the visit to Florida, his hosting the show, the prospect of a grandchild?

8.     The sketch of the aged care of people at the centre, the repartee, the interviews, the comments, laughing at the human, sexual, bodily functions, joining in the chorus?

9.     Jackie and his return to James, the discussions, the money, James as a loving brother? And yet the jokes at the wedding, about their father and his attentions to each?

10.  Harmony, a character, erratic, a service of the shelter, the encounters with Jackie, the sexual encounter, going to Florida, walking out on him, not answering his calls, his going to Florida, pregnancy? The clash between them, his walking out? Jackie returning with the box of photos?

11.  Eight years later, the children, the performance, the granddaughter, imitating his jokes, Harmony cautious, her partner enjoying it, Jackie and his delight in the grandchild?

12.  Portrait of an egotistical comedian, failures in his life, wanting to perform, relying on the response of his audience, bitterness, wanting some happiness?