Captivated by the classic form of Japanese comedy known as manzai, Stephen, an American, sets out to break into Japan's entertainment world.
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The people behind it
Stephen Tetsu
Himself
Ryō Hashimoto
Masashi Kumada
Shun Tawarayama
The popular comedy duo "Tarinai Futari" draws the curtains on their legacy in their final "manzai" performance.
Up-and-coming manzai stand-up comedy duo Emi-Abi has lost consummate funny man Unno (a surprisingly touching Tomoya Maeno) to an accident, leaving conceited straight man Jitsudo (Ryu Morioka) to contend with his diminished career prospects as a bland, pretty face entertainer. Guided by his manager Natsumi (Haru Kuroki), who demonstrates stronger comedy chops than her own star, Jitsudo comes to learn the circumstances of his friend's passing, as well as the life-and-death stakes of a career in comedy. Demonstrating a careful balance of tone across tragedy and deadpan and gross-out humor, writer/director Kensaku Watanabe expands "Emi-Abi"'s hilarious premise into a strikingly assured meditation on artistic rivalry and self-actualization.
Tatsuo and Ikuo have been raised by hard-working parents who run a funeral home. For relief, they practice games of manzai, a Japanese comic vaudeville. Tatsuo grows up to be a handsome chick magnet, while Ikuo is nerdy and unappealing. He spies on his brother to get material for their reality porn show. The show is bleeped heavily, and their bleep language becomes trendy and makes them stars.
This is a story about a son who pursue his career as a comedian by forming a comedy duo with his demented father. "Kazuki, are you still doing comedy?" "Yes, I am. Right now!" The Abe family is a rice farmer in Nishikan Ward, Niigata. The first son, Kazuki is unemployed, living at his parents' house, and writing comedy plot everyday. One day, his father Yoji fell down from a stroke while he was practicing for the local comedy competition. While facing the severe reality of becoming a home helper to his demented father, his companion, Masakazu told him he is giving up on comedy. Struggling between his dream and the reality, childhood and adulthood, he decides to enter the competition as a comedy duo with his demented father. Can miracle happen on stage for the father who lost his memory and the son who finally made up his mind?
Tsukaguchi, a comedian, is disliked by the public for his bad behavior and vile style, and shows no signs of selling at all. He and his partner, Kunimatsu, spend their days doing MANZAI (comedy dialogue) at a small theater. One day, the two receive an offer to appear on TV. However, Tsukaguchi has a big problem with his girlfriend, and in the midst of the mixture of reality and delusion, he soon finds himself involved in an irreversible situation as a comedian.
Tobio Kurosawa (Ryuta Sato), who has been part of a manzai (stand up comedy) duo for ten years, finds himself in trouble after his partner Tamotsu Ishii (Yuji Ayabe) quits due to their declining popularity and mounting debts. Tobio then attempts to drink his problems away, but the next morning finds himself locked up in a detention center. At the detention center Tobio meets tough dreadlocked Ryuhei Onizuka (Yusuke Kamiji) who has an uncanny knack for comedy. Tobio attempts to recruit Ryuhei to become a partner in a new comedy duo. Once on the outside, they start practicing ...
Before he hit it big, Takeshi Kitano got his start apprenticing with comedy legend Fukami of Asakusa. But as his star rises, his mentor's declines.
In the Pacific Northwest, a crew investigates the mysterious legend of a deep lake where the cold and stillness claim lives and keep secrets. But as they delve deeper, they uncover a horrifying truth about the lake's dark past and the fate of those who enter its depths.
SOV feature by Bill Bordy, produced in French, and left deliberately untranslated into English as an American homage and pastiche of the "French farce" genre. [This film was completed in 1983 and seemingly shelved until Vinegar Syndrome's blu-ray release in 2024 without English subtitles added to the presentation.]
For a hundred years, the former fishing village of Campione d'Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland, has drawn enormous wealth from a monumental casino. There is hardly a resident who has not benefited economically or socially from it. But the bankruptcy of this colossus destroys all prospects and autonomy. The reopening gives the village one last chance.
Miranda Beckett is an asexual 20-year-old teacher who begins a loving relationship with Mark, the young and sexy school janitor who dreams of being a stand-up comedian and prioritizes sexual pleasure over anything else. One night, she is brutally murdered.
In the centre of the bilingual city of Biel, 5082 m² of asphalt are spread out. The rectangular, light grey surface is called Place de l'Esplanade. Between the Palais des Congrès, a representative modernist building, and the Coupole, the Autonomous Youth Centre founded in 1968, the square tells the story of a city between upheaval and recession and is still subject of constant change and controversial urban planning.
On July 25, 1985, Antonin's little brother Benjamin was born. He died three days later. His mother and him never saw him. No ritual, no support. How to mourn someone who barely existed?
A new day in the capital of Turkmenistan, newly built houses, a street of hotels, a new stadium, the President’s Palace. Rain comes.
Paean to Navotas and its “fisherfolk who celebrate life and death with small talk, music and rituals of burial in a cemetery by the sea.”
A unique visual journey through galaxies, deep into the subatomic world of elementary particles, and into the center of the sun. Witness the formation of the Earth and the beginning of life and the birth of thought. Shown exclusively at the Museu do Amanhã in Rio de Janeiro.
A visually compelling exposé of the hardships and tragedies of undocumented Latin American immigrants in a rural Mississippi poultry town.
Animated graphic symbols presented in a constant time frame are used to diagram and explain the laws of planetary motion devised by the Sixteenth-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. “Little Suite”, guitar and lute music composed by Galileo Galilei’s father Vincenzo, is performed by Laurindo Almeida
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Trevor Noah riffs on national anthems, derailing a German sightseeing tour and getting roasted in Paris in this comedy special about his world travels.
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.
Comedian Kevin Hart performs in front of a crowd of 50,000 people at Philadelphia's outdoor venue, Lincoln Financial Field.
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.
Kevin Smith interacts in Q&A sessions throughout various college stops in the USA.
A behind-the-scenes mockumentary of Tropic Thunder.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
Bruce Willis goes from "Die Hard" to dead on arrival as some of the biggest names in entertainment serve up punches of their own to Hollywood's go-to action star. And with Roast Master Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the helm, nobody is leaving the dais unscathed.
A man caught up in the glamor of being a Hollywood celebrity has no idea that the production he's in is a fake.
