THE KING OF COMEDY
Your August 2006 RMC Results Are In!
Preshow Entertainment = The Tubes, Inside/Outside Tour
Tagline: It's No Laughing Matter.
Because we recently had a Tubes preshow, there's no need to elaborate on this one. I will say this, though- it was a lot better than the previously screened THE TUBES VIDEO. This was a live concert that was broadcast on early MTV (1983, I think). It was more exciting, and caught the band in its natural habitat- live. We only got to watch the first half of it (30 minutes), as Mamma Mia herself knocked on our door. The Tubes must have saved their hits for the latter half. They played a bunch of non-hits, yet live faves, some that to this day I believe remain unreleased on CD or record. I have one more Tubes video, so we'll watch that before the year's out.
When Cedric was Entertaining and Bernie was Macking, they were billed as "The Original Kings of Comedy." They had their title wrong. The original King of Comedy came 17 years earlier. It was a feller damned with the name Rupert Pupkin. You've probably heard of him. He had that legendary appearance on The Jerry Langford Show.
Martin Scorsese (score SEH zee, if you're pretentious), directed THE KING OF COMEDY in 1983, right between overrated RAGING BULL and underrated AFTER HOURS. Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Zimmerman (this was his first and his second to last movie) and actore Robert De Niro (THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, FRANKENSTEIN), created one of the most memorable characters in film- Rupert Pupkin. Is he smart or stupid? Does he know what he's doing, or is he so demented another area of his brain runs things?
When the movie came out, the only thing I didn't like was his name. Why did they have to give him a cartoon name? I thought it would be more real if he had a normal name, and that by calling him Rupert Pupkin (which gets mentioned a lot), they're calling attention to the fact that this story is an exaggeration. I had the very same problem with Travis Bickle. Maybe it's me. Anyway, 23 years have gone by, and I still think that. But if that's the worst you can say about a movie, that means you have a really great movie.
Pupkin is an aspiring comedian. He's collected autographs since he was young, has delusions of performing on The Jerry Langford Show (it's The Tonight Show, really) and as cliche as it sounds, lives in his mother's basement. So, you think you know Rupert? Well, people thought they knew Norman Bates too. Because as our story unfolds, we learn Rupert perhaps isn't the meeky-geeky man he appears to be. And when halfway through we see him practicing a talk show with cardboard cut-outs of real celebrities, it gets downright creepy.
Part of what drives Rupert is his friend Masha (played pitch perfectly by Sandra Bernhard, who broke out in this movie). She's a nut too, constantly badgering Rupert, taunting him about his failings, and propelling him in a (sort of) passive aggressive way. There's also bartender Rita (who was Mrs. De Niro in real life), who Rupert has crushed on for 15 years without telling her, until now.
Faced with these incentives, Rupert, a tenacious mofo, begins his quest for fame, which includes not taking no for an answer no matter what the consequences. This starts out in Langford's limo, then NYC apartment, then office, where Langford Show coordinator Cathy (Shelley Hack, a brave name for an actor) tries her best to let the (still, at this point) affable man down. These run-ins escalate to the point of no turning back. Rupert takes the train to Langford's house with Rita, and waltzes in as if he were invited. And after that turns out badly...Rupert and Masha kidnap Jerry. Having lived in "Hollywood" for 16 years now, I realize just how uncomfortable this movie is. This stuff happens all the time (not the kidnapping, the office intrusions), and people have to deal with it. He is part simmering Travis Bickle, part vengeful pitbull Max Cody (CAPE FEAR).
Jerry Lewis plays Jerry Langford, and he's pretty great. Langford has a really nice NYC apartment, as well as mansion in the 'burbs with a cook and a houseboy. But you never see Langford with anyone. Even when he comes back from the golf course, or walks the streets of Manhattan, he's alone. A sad testament of what it might be like to be famous, and maybe hard to work with. Think Dennis Miller.
THE KING OF COMEDY is a dark comedy that is actually a little difficult to watch at times. But don't let this deter you. It's gripping and fascinating. A lot of you younger folk missed this, so go watch it. If, like me, you saw it long ago, you need to see it again. Times have changed, and in many ways, the movie resonates better now. Especially the ending, which at the time was over the top, and now? Not so much.
As demented as Rupert Pupkin gets throughout the movie, he always seemed sane. And when he says, "Better to be king for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime," you may just agree with him.
Tags: random movie club, the king of comedy, the tubes, martin scorsese, robert deniro
