It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
Right now would seem like an ideal time to release The Arrested Development Documentary Project. In the midst of an almost dizzying amount of excitement about the fourth season of Arrested Development, premiering May 26 on Netflix, the show has gotten more press and [...]
It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
“I’m making a movie to raise money to make a movie about going on tour to raise money to make a movie about the tour,” Doug Benson says on stage at beginning of his new documentary, The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled. He then admits [...]
Here's the trailer for The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled, a new documentary from stoner comedian Doug Benson that will be available streaming online starting next month. The video site Chill.com, which released Maria Bamford's new special last year, will be putting the movie out March 11, but you can preorder it now. The movie follows Benson, who was also the subject of documentaries Super High Me and The High Road and hosts the popular podcast/LA live show Doug Loves Movies, and comedian friend Graham Elwood, documenting their lives on tour. Like Super High Me, which was a play on documentarian Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, the title [...]
It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
It feels appropriate to be wrapping up nearly a year’s worth of comedy documentaries with a look at one of the greatest comedians ever, and one of the first comedy documentaries I ever saw. When Richard Pryor: I Ain't Dead Yet Mother@!#%$!! first aired [...]
It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
“I only hired crazy people,” says the owner of Brooklyn's Crazy Country Club at the beginning of the new documentary Warm Beer Lousy Food (the title of the film comes from the club’s tagline.) With that anarchic mentality, the Crazy Country Club inadvertently became [...]
There's a new documentary about Richard Pryor coming to TV next month. Deadline reports that Showtime will be debuting Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic on Friday, May 31st, a month after the movie premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival. From director Marina Zenovich and writer P.G. Morgan, who made Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired together, the Pryor doc follows the iconic comedian's life from his rough childhood in Illinois to his ascendance to one of the country's most revered stand-ups and comedic actors in the 1970s. The comedian's widow, Jennifer Pryor, executive produced Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic, which features interviews with Mel Brooks, Lily Tomlin, Robin Williams, [...]
The Bitter Buddha, the documentary centered on comedian Eddie Pepitone (Conan, WTF with Marc Maron), kicks off a week-long run at NYC's Cinema Village tomorrow. Julie Klausner (How Was Your Week?) is hosting a live Q&A with Pepitone himself after the 7pm screening tomorrow. Get your tickets here if you want to experience Eddie Pepitone's oddly sweet and poetic rage in person.
Last year, comedian Eddie Pepitone (WTF with Marc Maron, Conan) was the subject of a really funny and sweet documentary called The Bitter Buddha. Starting this month, the movie will get a limited theatrical run in big cities across the country. Directed by Steven Feinartz, The Bitter Buddha features cameos from Pepitone's comedian friends like Marc Maron, Scott Aukerman, Sarah Silverman, and tons more, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of the funniest comedians going. Click on over to the movie's Facebook page for a list of screenings if you're interested in watching a movie that captures Eddie Pepitone getting a parking ticket, feeding squirrels [...]
It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
Monty Python's work has inspired countless comedians and writers around the world, but their work could never be accused of being simple to describe. And so it’s appropriate that a tribute to and documentary about Graham Chapman, the only deceased member of the group, [...]
It’s no secret that sometimes comedy is taken a bit too seriously. Comedy obsessives love not just the jokes, but the mechanics and emotions of the comedy world. There are a raft of comedy documentaries exploring comedy and comedians, but do they really have anything significant to add to the discussion? This series looks at comedy documentaries and whether they’re interesting, insightful, and possibly even…funny?
“I got into comedy for one reason and one reason only,” Steve Mazan explains at the beginning of Dying to do Letterman. “To live a dream I’ve had since I was 12 years old: to perform stand-up comedy on David Letterman’s show.”
The late great Nora Ephron is the subject of a new documentary for HBO. THR reports that Ephron's son, journalist Jacob Bernstein, is developing the project. Called Everything Is Copy, it's being billed as an intimate look at her life. The title comes from Ephron's mother's maxim, "Everything is copy," meaning everything in her life can be used for comedic material. Nick Hooker will co-direct the documentary with Bernstein. Ephron, best known for writing and/or directing When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail, passed away last June from pneumonia after fighting leukemia. There's no word on when HBO plans to debut Everything Is [...]
Ashton Kutcher's YouTube channel Thrash Lab made this short documentary following Patton Oswalt playing a gig in the sterile, lifeless city of Irvine in Orange County, California. The documentary was directed by Julien Nitzberg, who made The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, and this is pretty much like that movie but boiled down to 11 minutes and about a comedian.
The appeal of comedy documentaries, for me, has always been the opportunity to see a subject I love addressed seriously. I find it valuable to get an outsider's perspective on comedy, an industry that loves to look at itself but can be resistant to external scrutiny. And no matter how much comedy I see, I never tire of watching the change between a comedian on stage and off, to see what elements of themselves each performer brings onstage. Because humor requires the element of surprise, comedy is constantly evolving and changing.
There's so much to learn, and documentaries are a fantastic resource. Though great documentaries vary in style and [...]
Mel Brooks was the subject of this wildly funny BBC documentary, I Thought I Was Taller, that originally aired in 1981 and has now surfaced on the shores of YouTube. The doc was released to coincide with the premiere of The History of the World, Part I. Finally, we get to see what it's like when Mel Brooks watches one of his own movies. Check out the rest of the hour-long special, embedded after the jump:
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