Backdrop fallback

Comedian

Comedian

Share

Comedian

"Where does comedy come from?"

2002

1h 22m

6.7(94 votes)

Comedy

Documentary

Overview

A look at the work of two stand-up comics, Jerry Seinfeld and a lesser-known newcomer, detailing the effort and frustration behind putting together a successful act and career while living a life on the road.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld

Self

Orny Adams

Orny Adams

Self

Greg Giraldo

Greg Giraldo

Self

Jim Norton

Jim Norton

Self

Sherrod Small

Self

Allan Havey

Self

Colin Quinn

Colin Quinn

Self

Cynthia Koury

Self

George Wallace

George Wallace

Self

Robert Klein

Robert Klein

Self

Creative team

Directed by: Christian Charles
Produced by: Gary Streiner

Similar Movies

Amy Schumer Presents: Parental Advisory

Amy Schumer Presents: Parental Advisory

Amy Schumer welcomes her favorite comedians to the stage in this special about family life, from the pressures of parenting to the joys of remarriage.

Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O'Donnell

The HBO Comedy Hour show, taped at The Comedy Connection in Boston, MA, was nominated for an Emmy (Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program - 1995)

Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me

Rodney Dangerfield: It's Not Easy Bein' Me

Rodney Dangerfield hosted this HBO special which includes fantastic performances by some of the best new talent of 1986. Comedians include Jeff Altman, Roseanne Barr, Sam Kinison, Bob Nelson, Jerry Seinfeld, Robert Townsend, and, of course, Rodney Dangerfield.

Funny Cow

Funny Cow

A comedian uses her troubled past as material for her stand-up routine, trying to rise up through the comedy circuit by playing Northern England's working men's clubs.

Ed Byrne: Different Class

Ed Byrne: Different Class

Half toff, half pikey, all comic! Ed Byrne is undoubtedly one of the funniest comics working today and his Different Class tour has been his most successful show ever. Lauded by critics and audiences alike, this blistering one man show takes in such diverse topics as WAGs, Goths, the class system and DVD piracy as well as frank and honest tales about Ed s upbringing, his parents and his recent nuptials. Filmed in Glasgow, the city where he started as a stand up 16 years ago, Different Class shows Byrne at the very top of his game and demonstrates why he really is in a class of his own.

Sean Lock: Keep It Light

Sean Lock: Keep It Light

Live stand-up performance by English comedian Sean Lock recorded in April 2017 at the Theatre Royal in Margate. The show includes the comic's mischievous views on parenting, old age and immigration.

Bob the Drag Queen: Suspiciously Large Woman

Bob the Drag Queen: Suspiciously Large Woman

Drag Superstar Bob the Drag Queen arrives purse first and ready to take prisoners in her debut comedy special, Suspiciously Large Woman, fresh off the world premiere at the 2017 Outfest in Los Angeles. No one is safe when the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race season 8 returns to her hometown of Atlanta after touring the world to hilariously tackle topics such as sex, white people, New York, and the one and only Beyoncé.

Belushi

Belushi

Using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi’s death, director R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature examines the too-short life of the once-in-a-generation talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!

Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!

Kenneth Williams was the star of the Carry Ons and Round the Horne. Despite his fame, he led a life full of mental torture as he tried to overcome his homosexuality in 1950s Britain. This film follows his life and eventual death based on the many diaries he kept

Comedian

Comedian

Roni Beck is a man whose only thought in life is to become a professional comedian, but who due to his lack of success must live hidden in his mother's appartment in an old people's home, continuing to believe firmly that his day in the limelight will come. One day Serge Grätzer, the director of the old people's home, discovers Roni, and makes him help out with the work. Serge then decides to take a hand in Roni's career, embezzling money to launch the budding comedian. Once again however success eludes Roni. In the end Serge decides to fulfil his own secret longings to be on the stage. This leads to a row between the two men. Despite a reconciliation, they never again appear together on the stage. And when Serge's embezzlement is discovered he has to flee with the police at his heels and the home has to be closes. In the end, Roni persuades Mr. Klein, an eccentric old man who likes to play the stock market, to save the home with the millions he has stashed away.

LMNOP

LMNOP

Tackles heavy subjects like the alphabet, Crazy Frog, Millennials vs Gen Z's, Living with Dudes, and Being a Bedwetter.

Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen

Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen

It's Charlie Sheen's turn to step in to the celebrity hot seat for the latest installment of The Comedy Central Roast.

Louis-José Houde : Tu n'es pas spécial

Louis-José Houde : Tu n'es pas spécial

It is a question here of deploying all the humor inherent in the act of having a first child at the age of forty-five... But it is also a question of civic-mindedness, respect for intelligence, weight words, the weight of the self, the triumph of the “I”, then a little bit of Henri Richard and people who say “knock on wood”. A vibrant soliloquy on life and the art of living it.

Jope – Just Think for Yourself

Jope – Just Think for Yourself

An overweight boy who was a bullied at school grew up to become a beloved comedian, folk artist Jope Ruonansuu. He was a versatile entertainer, but above all an impressionist, able to imitate more than 150 characters from the ruling class. Jope's journey was a natural extension of the post-war "Rillumarei" -culture. He broke through when the monoculturalism was at its most vibrant and grew in popularity as it began to crumble. With weight loss surgery, Jope sought a healthier life, but also to shed the extra pounds and childhood traumas. After the surgery, he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, but continued to fight, developing a number of different projects, including an anti-bullying campaign together with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. The project was to culminate in a joint visit to Syväkangas school, in Jope's home town of Kemi. Jope passed away before then, but Niinistö kept his promise.

Billy Connolly: Life, Death and Laughter

Billy Connolly: Life, Death and Laughter

Billy Connolly returns to Glasgow’s famous Kings Theatre, where his journey into comedy first began, to talk life, death and laughter, in a no holds barred encounter with Will Gompertz.

Sam Kinison: Breaking the Rules

Sam Kinison: Breaking the Rules

This is a great performance. Through yelling and energetic story-telling, he talks about marriage, drugs, being arrested (thanks to his ex-wife), pleasing women, religion, and much, much more.

Ringo Rocket Star and His Song for Yuri Gagarin

Ringo Rocket Star and His Song for Yuri Gagarin

A dry, tragicomic musical short about a gipsy who thinks he will become famous by writing a song for the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

The Little Comedian

The Little Comedian

Tock, heir to a long line of comedians has a problem. He is not funny. Constantly upstage by his younger sister, he falls in love with a dermatologist who incidentally is the only one who finds him funny.

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind

A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams, told largely through his own words. Celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014.

Lee Mack: Going Out Live

Lee Mack: Going Out Live

Critically acclaimed BAFTA-winning star of BBC Ones Not Going Out and Would I Lie To You? Returns to the live stage with a hotly anticipated new show. Lee brings his trademark brand of high energy banter, well crafted gags and sharp one-liners to venues across the country in his national sell-out live show, Going Out Live.

Recommended Movies

Talking Funny

Talking Funny

What does it mean to be a successful comedian? How far can the boundaries of taste be pushed to get a laugh? Four top comics, Ricky Gervais, Louis C.K., Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, discuss and debate their craft.

Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward

Anthony Jeselnik: Fire in the Maternity Ward

Forging his own comedic boundaries, Anthony Jeselnik revels in getting away with saying things others can't in this stand-up special shot in New York.

Jerry Before Seinfeld

Jerry Before Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld returns to the club that gave him his start in the 1970s, mixing iconic jokes with stories from his childhood and early days in comedy.

Kevin Hart: Irresponsible

Kevin Hart: Irresponsible

Stand-up comedian Kevin Hart talks about his family, travel and a year full of reckless behavior in front of a live sold-out crowd in London.

Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given

Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given

Kevin Hart serves up laughs and brick oven pizza from the comfort of his home, and dishes on male group chats, sex after 40 and life with COVID-19.

Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special

Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special

In his final comedy special, Norm Macdonald ponders casinos, cannibalism, living wills and why you have to be ready for whatever life throws your way.

Kevin Hart: What Now?

Kevin Hart: What Now?

Comedian Kevin Hart performs in front of a crowd of 50,000 people at Philadelphia's outdoor venue, Lincoln Financial Field.

John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid

John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid

Armed with boyish charm and a sharp wit, the former "SNL" writer offers sly takes on marriage, his beef with babies and the time he met Bill Clinton.

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation

Patton Oswalt: Annihilation

Patton Oswalt, despite a personal tragedy, produces his best standup yet. Focusing on the tribulations of the Trump era and life after the loss of a loved one, Oswalt continues his journey to contribute joy to the world.

Trevor Noah: Where Was I

Trevor Noah: Where Was I

Trevor Noah riffs on national anthems, derailing a German sightseeing tour and getting roasted in Paris in this comedy special about his world travels.

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor's stand-up act includes his frank discussion about his freebasing addiction, as well as the infamous night on June 9, 1980 that he caught on fire.

The Aristocrats

The Aristocrats

One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.

Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

HBO presents one of the most gifted and revered performers of our time, Academy-Award winning Robin Williams, starring in his fifth exclusive HBO special, taped before a live audience at Washington's Constitution Hall.

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa .5

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa .5

Bad Grandpa .5 gives you a whole new perspective on the world of Irving Zisman with bonus scenes and pranks also featuring Spike Jonze as "Gloria" and Catherine Keener as Irving's wife "Ellie", plus a look at the evolution of Johnny Knoxville's naughty alter-ego, the makeup effects, and a behind-the-scenes peek at the idiocy it takes to make a hidden camera movie in public.

George Carlin: Doin' It Again

George Carlin: Doin' It Again

George Carlin brings his comedy back to New Jersey and this time talks about Offensive Language, Euphemisms, They're Only Words, Dogs, Things you never hear, see or wanna hear, Some people are stupid, Cancer, Feminists, Good Ideas, Rape, Life's moments, and organ donors.

Jim Carrey: Unnatural Act

Jim Carrey: Unnatural Act

Jim explores multiple aspects of life including religion, marriage and his own sanity. This stand-up special was taped at Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, Canada, in front of a live audience.

Call Me Lucky

Call Me Lucky

An inspiring, triumphant and wickedly funny portrait of one of comedy’s most enigmatic and important figures, CALL ME LUCKY tells the story of Barry Crimmins, a beer-swilling, politically outspoken and whip-smart comic whose efforts in the 70s and 80s fostered the talents of the next generation of standup comedians. But beneath Crimmins’ gruff, hard-drinking, curmudgeonly persona lay an undercurrent of rage stemming from his long-suppressed and horrific abuse as a child – a rage that eventually found its way out of the comedy clubs and television shows and into the political arena.

Richard Pryor: Here and Now

Richard Pryor: Here and Now

One of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows. Filmed at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High

Filmmaker Adam Scorgie explores the illegal marijuana industry in British Columbia, revealing how the international business is most likely more profitable than it would be if it was lawful in this enlightening documentary. Marijuana growers, law enforcement officials, physicians, politicians, criminologists, economists and celebrities—including comedian Tommy Chong—shed light on this topical subject in a series of compelling interviews.

Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness

Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness

A behind-the-scenes mockumentary of Tropic Thunder.