My latest Humor In Hindsight column for Decider looks back at the start of Trevor Noah’s rapid rise through the stand-up comedy ranks, which began in his native South Africa. You Laugh But It’s True followed Noah at 25, directed and produced by David Paul Meyer (now a producer for Noah’s version of The Daily […]
Continue ReadingGarry Shandling died a year ago today at the age of 66. A consummate comic’s comic and a television pioneer not once but twice, Shandling left a permanent legacy for us to behold and celebrate. Tonight, SiriusXM will pay tribute to the late great comedian with an audio documentary, “Garry Shandling — A Life in […]
Continue ReadingIf you think it’s still tough out there in the comedy trenches for a woman wanting to make it as a stand-up, then just imagine what it must be like for a black women. Heck, don’t imagine it. Go out and talk to some black women in comedy. That’s what the new short documentary, All […]
Continue ReadingIf you think it’s still tough out there in the comedy trenches for a woman wanting to make it as a stand-up, then just imagine what it must be like for a black women. Heck, don’t imagine it. Go out and talk to some black women in comedy. That’s what the new short documentary, All […]
Continue Reading“We’re the last philosophers. Everybody now that talks is reading from a pre-approved script. Even our alleged smart people are corporately controlled. So there’s only one group of people that can kinda say what they want to say: Stand-ups.” So says Chris Rock, in the opening moments of the new documentary Dying Laughing, which premiered in […]
Continue ReadingThe Last Laugh opens with a quote onscreen from the noted non-comedian, German novelist Heinrich Mann, who wrote: “Whoever has cried enough, laughs.” Mann fled Nazi Germany while Hitler’s soldiers burned his books in public. The documentary then cuts to a Nazi-uniformed figure skater, then to present day. Yes, this is going to be about Jews […]
Continue ReadingBaron Vaughn, the comedian and actor you’ve seen on Grace and Frankie and soon will hear on the reboot of MST3K (and heard on Episode #81 of Last Things First), grew up without a father. In the new documentary, Fatherless, Vaughn decided to find out more about his father. And even perhaps find his father to […]
Continue ReadingNow that Nazis are in the White House and our new president has been compared to Hitler on multiple occasions, it seems like a very useful time to check out a new documentary called The Last Laugh that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and hits theaters in New York and LA next […]
Continue ReadingIf you’re an aspiring comedian who is scared of bombing in front of an audience, this sneak peek from a new standup documentary is a helpful reminder that, whenever you bomb, you’re in great company. Directed by Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood, Dying Laughing attempts to uncover the “emotional and psychological highs and lows of […]
Continue ReadingAlmost a year after his death, Garry Shandling is getting the documentary treatment from one of his biggest fans. On Twitter yesterday, Judd Apatow revealed that he’s making a documentary about Shandling, who died last March at age 66. While Apatow is still in the early stages of the project, he already has access to […]
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