@ Cineworld, Edinburgh, Thu 25 Jun & Sat 27 Jun 2015
Kevin Pollak / USA / 2015 / 94 min
Kevin Pollak’s directorial debut is a documentary that toys with the old “tears of a clown” stereotype. Does a comedian have to be miserable to be funny? Pollak, himself a former stand-up, grills a huge number of stars, from Tom Hanks to Larry David to Whoopi Goldberg, on the subject. Almost without exception, responses are thoughtful and eloquent, and, for the most part, serious.
Not all of the talking heads are familiar to British audiences, although Brydon, Coogan and Stephen Merchant all do a turn. Not all of them are stand-ups either; comic actors, including Friends Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow are given considerable airtime. William H Macy even appears to say he wouldn’t perform stand-up with a gun at his head.
What shines through everyone’s testimony is the universality of comedic experience. Performers of all styles talk of the art of making people laugh as a drug. Hanks likens it to crystal meth. Some have even replaced illegal drug habits with onstage adrenaline.
There’s also solidarity in the comedic fraternity/sorority. That’s why even at the largest parties comedians are found in a corner together, Jimmy Fallon tells us. Greg Proops will gun for an audience that has just disrespected a colleague.
As to the central premise? Some (Freddie Prinze Jr., talking for the first time here about his father’s suicide) have lost family to depression. Penn Jilette (Penn & Teller) is less sure that comedians are any different to the general populous in that respect, but ‘this is showbusiness, so you show it’.
These insights, and others like them, all come from the comedians themselves rather than the way the documentary is put together. If your favourite comedian is among them, you’d probably be as happy watching them wax lyrical for an hour on their own. But if only for the volume of people interviewed and the opportunity to hear them analyse their art, Misery Loves Comedy is a profitable enterprise.
Showing as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2015