Film #079 - Comedian (2002)
Viewed March 20, 2006
Comedian answers the question “What do you do when your sitcom (one of the most successful in history) goes off the air?” For Jerry Seinfeld, the answer was to go back on the road. Seinfeld toured his classic act with the intention of retiring his well tailored jokes at the end of the tour. This culminated in the 1998 HBO Special I’m Telling You for the Last Time that documented the final performance.
After this, Seinfeld began the long, often difficult task of creating an entirely new act from scratch. It is this that is documented in Comedian. But in order to give audiences extra insight into the particular problems of stand-up comedians, the film also follows the progress of an up-and-coming comedian, Orny Adams, as he struggles to take his act, carefully honed over nine years, to the next level.
And it is here that the heart of Comedian is found. We see Seinfeld, a massively successful veteran, facing many of the same issues as Adams including insecurity, unreceptive audiences and just plain bombing on stage. We also see each of them preparing for appearances on Late Show with David Letterman, Adams making his first national appearance, Seinfeld, his first without his old material.
But we also see their very different approaches to their problems. Seinfeld is highly critical of himself, while Adams is very prickly, even when criticism is constructive and comes from people Adams respects. Seinfeld gets nervous, but is very relaxed about the whole thing (no doubt due to his much more stable situation), while Adams is obsessed with his act, giving it attention above everything else in his life.
Mostly on Seinfeld’s side of the story, we also hear from a wide variety of other comedians. Seasoned veterans like Bill Cosby, Robert Klein and Garry Shandling weigh in along with performers more contemporary with Seinfeld like Chris Rock, Allan Havey and Colin Quinn. They all bring their own point of view and their insight to the table.
On top of all this meaningful exposition, there are also a heck of a lot of good jokes. Both Seinfeld and Adams have their fair share of solid material on display, but we also get good stuff from the others, both on stage and in casual conversation.
Comedian is an excellent film that succeeds on many levels. It gives the audience a strong sense of what life in the world of stand-up is like as well as being entertaining in and of itself. This film will appeal to a wide range of audiences: fans of stand-up in general or Seinfeld in particular, documentary fans, or people who like to understand other ways of life can all get something out of it.