iTunes Exclusive Episode The Comedian

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I think it's a little bit. Greetings. My name is Rob. I'm the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast.
And I enjoy the work of the stand-up comedy. By the way, this is iTunes exclusive number 257.
Still climbing that mountain. But I'm not alone for this particular episode.
Joining me across the desk as he tends to do is the official fact checker of this show.
And a man that fances himself a little funny. And we're okay with that. You may know him as Fondongo,
but his mom and even Don Ford, I'm going to call him Don Ford a welcome sir.
Funny, looking funny, smelling and funny acting. Where is uh, where is our co-host?
Did you let him in? Yeah, he's in. All right. Get in here!
We actually were going to start this. We were actually going to do this ourselves because we were waiting
for Chad to get to the studio. And then he got to the studio as we were firing up the podcast.
So we might as well put him on it. He is my co-host. He is a man whose strangely button jacket is
kind of disturbing. He is Chad. Welcome sir. Good to see you gentlemen. Good to see you sir.
Whenever we do one of these things, it is to review something and this particular episode is no different.
Taylor Hackford is one of the craziest, most awesome directors in Hollywood. And his latest
opus is all up in your area. It is called the comedian before we start this. Yes,
all the things we have to think. Get the jingle ready. All I need a great marketing.
We have like Josh, everybody. We love those people. Such a fan of those guys and I
let us can see movies and then tell you about them. They're best friends for a reason.
Here's what you need to know about this film. Robert De Niro. Oh, you know, I'm sorry. There's more.
Robert De Niro plays Jackie Burke. He is an insult comic. Allah Don Rickles.
But he is also the star of a very popular sitcom from the 80s. So as the movie opens, he is
attending a stand-up show with former TV actors. And there's a lot of comics in this that play
themselves. For instance, the first comic you see is Brett Butler playing herself.
Jimmy J. J. Walker playing himself. They're also part of this deal. That's like Chris Rockinous
thing. I mean, there's a whole list of people. I thought it was correct. Yeah, right. To
see that the the the the roast. He was at the very very. Oh, what's he? I didn't see him. Yes.
Didn't see anything. But there's a lot. I mean, there's some heavy hitters. Yes, especially if
you're somebody like me who's really in the stand-up comedy. I mean, people like Hannibal Burrish,
people like Nick DePollo, people like a guy that Chad knows fairly well Jim Norton.
Is he? Yes, sir. Some great comics in this film. And he's a guy who's kind of fitted into
obscurity a little bit. But as he's at this benefit ends up punching a guy that they get on video.
He ends up going to go into the big house for a little while. And as he gets out,
he wants to resurrect his career because he's gone viral. His agent is played by the great
ED Falco. It's a brand-news. He said his brothers Danny DeVito, his sister-in-law is a patty
Lupone. Clarissa Leachman's in this Harvey Kai Tellis in this Leslie Man Billy Christoll,
Charles Groden. I mean, the list goes on and on. It really does a people with this film.
Let me preface this by saying as I stated earlier on my restate,
I am a student of stand-up comedy. As a kid, I was kind of the runt.
You wouldn't believe it by seeing me now. But I was a small kid.
Wasn't particularly good looking. Didn't have any game as the kids like me. Of course. Yeah.
So comedy was my defense mechanism. All right. It's also making people laugh was what kind of got me through that.
I discovered it at a very young age. And so I really became a student, especially if stand-up comedy,
because people don't understand what it takes to really do stand-up. You don't just get there and tell jokes.
There's an art to it. And it takes a special kind of crazy to pull it off.
So going into this, I knew I was going to be very critical. Because there have been stand-up movies
over the years. Of course, 1988's punchline probably one of the most famous in this category,
which for its time was okay. But I'm afraid to watch it again because I don't think it's going to hold up.
This film, to me, gets it right. Because comics are a fraternity of people.
Yeah. Because they've kind of been through the thing together. And seeing comics identify with Jackie
Hey Jackie, you know, we're here for you. You're a little crazy, but we're cool with that.
But also he's dealing with his age. He's dealing with the fickle beast that is fame.
Yeah, but you've been in the spotlight now, not in the spotlight. Being a guy that had a catchphrase
on a sitcom. He's trying to get past it. He's trying to get away from that, but you don't.
You can't. You can't. It's not possible. It's actually reckless. It's always going to be Harry Potter.
Campbell's going to be, you know, Luke Skywalker. It's just part of the deal. Now while he's doing his
community service, he meets a young lady named Harmony, played by the great Leslie Man,
and for those of you that don't know Leslie Man is Mrs. Judd Appetal. And things kind of develop from
there. And also remember Chad, who was Taylor Hackford married to. That would be the great
hell and merit. That is correct, sir. So I'm sure that she's had involvement. She's not in the film,
but I'm sure she's involved in some way because she's hell and merit. Watch what, watch her read the
phone book. I was very, very impressed with this film. This film made me happy. It's a solid two hours.
I mean, it's literally an hour and 59 minutes long. Yes. I truly, really, really, really, really enjoyed this film.
As I said on my common card in the beginning, big fan of this film. A lot of people have talked
about De Niro, and have said, you know, maybe he's kind of in the twilight of his career,
where he's doing movies like Grudge Match. Or the meet the parent series. I mean, I could see
him in that. But the thing about De Niro, which I put my rate review at www.Compassparkast.com,
that's how it is. I put on there that usually he's not known for being the comedian.
And I'm most of his roles. You look at the whole lesson. His career. How many were the
common in he's the comedian in it? Not very many. Not usually the heavy leg breaker. Hard
nose, hardboiled. You look at, not bet, not bet, not bet. From sleepers to where he plays the
priest to the list goes on and on. Very fair. Godfather. Yeah. I mean, in this, this role, he actually
makes it work as a comedian. I think he really does. He brings a real gravity to the role because
one of my favorite scenes in the film. First of all, let's just put it out there. Don't bring
the kids. Oh, no. And he's an old school comic. So he has those old school sensibilities. So
there are, sort of, there, there, there, there. Certain things that he says. That certain people
will find offensive. But there's a scene where he attends his niece's wedding. Yeah. And that's
all. That's the only thing I'm going to because I don't want to ruin anything. Yeah. But when you
find how this thing works, put your seat belt on. The comedic side came out so I'm going to say.
Yeah. And it's, it's really well done. And I'll tell you who really, I thought he had the best chemistry
with was divito. That doesn't shock me. Not too much, but still, I could see it. Now, I'm
saying the chemistry between it was was the best of anybody. Not to say that he didn't have
bad chemistry with man because he did or Kytel, he did. But that, you know, the hero, and you
know, playing brothers, 10, 15 minutes total where they're on the street together. I can't believe
what had been done. And it's, it's, they've never worked together before. And it's, when you,
when you picture them in your head, you can, there's kind of like a similar, they have a similar
look about them. They have great timing. They have great chemistry. Leslie, man, who I think is
incredibly underrated. There are certain people in, in our circle of friends that aren't big fans
of her. I think she's great. She's goofy. She's quirky. She's funny. And it works in this.
Kytel gets a little creepy in this because he plays her father. Leslie, man's father? Yes.
He's a big fan of that his old character, but he doesn't want to be his old character.
Give me an alley. Give me an alley. He's like, oh, no, no, no. So please don't make me do this.
Please don't make me do this. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I, I just say, the acting was great. The look of
the film was fine. The plot was, I could see it. But for me, and I understand, you have that comedy
thing with you. And, and understand that brotherhood, like forever friend of the show, the late
gay or Murray did stand up comedy. Yes, he did. You know, and he heard him talk about that. It's
a group and brothering. Same thing with us in the media. You take the relationships we have with
some people like Marcus and. Yeah. And it was goes on and on and on. It's a brotherhood where
we help each other out. But I just thought that this film seemed long. It, it felt like it was two hours.
And it was two hours. I, but it had that feel this is two hours. I thought it, it, it was a good
plot. It kept me interested. I know what they're trying to do. But it, it dragged. I thought it
just had that's the, the car going 40 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour as soon as what I
fell about the pacing of the film. I disagree. I thought this was, this was past really, really well.
I, I just, I just, I just had the feeling it felt long. I really, that's my, my one complaint.
There were a couple of points. I mean, you probably could have trimmed a little bit out of this,
by 15 minutes. But it wouldn't, I mean, I was okay with everything that was there. I thought the
story was told. There's a couple of nice little twists and turns to it. And De Nero really shows
a fearlessness as Jackie when he's on stage. I mean, acting's great. I mean, he pulled it off
as a comedian. And I, and I said this and my written review conveniently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com,
which is our website. This generation, this generation, these kids with the clothes and the hair.
Yeah, a lot of them don't know Jake Lamada. They don't know Travis Bickle. They don't know
Don Corley on. But I will tell you what, this generation, this will be the role they remember him for.
This to me is on that level. He commits that deeply to this role and it fits him like a glove,
because he's getting older as we all do. And for him to play that aging comedian, it just works.
Kind of acknowledging where he is in life at this point. How many people could really pull
it off? Well, this isn't the first time he's played a standout comic in my character.
There was a movie called The King of Crite. Yeah, that's what I was almost thought that maybe
this was a sequel to that one. Yeah, just because of the title.
I want to say, wouldn't, wouldn't that a scorsese film? I believe you're correct.
I mean, he worked with him. He could see 19 age or several times.
Yeah, not got this on my screen. Martin Scorsese, yes. De Nero played Rupert, Pupkin.
But it's a big difference. It's an aspiring comic. This is an aging, because it was kind of,
you could, well, yeah, it's kind of a book ended. Yeah, it's like the better part of 40 years
of down the road. You take good fellas and compare that to what he doesn't this. He's totally
opposite, but he's incredible. Well, De Nero's a chameleon. De Nero can play pretty much anything.
He can do whatever. He's one of the most versatile actors if we will ever. And he's so relaxed
in this role. And he does carry the film. He really does, but he's got a great supporting cast too.
Again, if you're somebody like me who's really deeply rooting to stand up comedy and you watch
just, you know, like, oh, there's another, look at that, well, that person's there.
You know, he goes to the comedy seller more than once, which is very heavily featured in Louis
from Louis CK show. Indeed. My director is from, or my manager is from New York City.
And I told him, you go see the film, you're going to be homesick. Because New York City itself is
basically a character in the crowd. Yeah. The crowds are a character. I mean, it really talks about
comedy. I mean, what's the biggest complaint that comics have? That glars. Well, there's actually one
worse. And it happens at the very beginning of the film. Most comedians can deal with hecklers.
The one thing that will destroy a comics set is a bachelor at party. And they address that right
off the bat. Yeah, they did. Because, you know, again, I'm a big Bob and Tom fan and they have
a lot of comedians that come through and they talk about it all the time. If there's a bachelor at
party, you're not a shot. Yeah. Oh, Ron White had a whole bit on that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No,
but he didn't listen to me anymore. Yes. And they right off the bat. There's a bachelor party right
right next to the stage. And, of course, didn't arrow just, again, don't take the kids. So I'm saying,
I just, I love this film. And it makes me sad that this was a January or early February release
where most films go to die. I wouldn't say go to die. This has been kind of a strong Q1,
but I really hope that people get out and see this film. Well, I'll think about it. I mean,
this Q1 has kind of, it looks like they've been trying to get away from that. I mean,
think about it around this time last year. A little film called Deadpool ring a bell
and Zootopia. Uh-huh. You're before that patting tense. So I think, I think Holly, which
tried it. We've got the next week. We've got the Lego Batman movie. Yeah. So I really hope that this
film gets the love and the respect it deserves, because it's a great film. It's got a great heart
to it. If you've ever performed in front of people in any way, shape or form, you will identify
with this film. And especially those of us that are maybe not as young as we used to be.
As we like to say, we got maybe less years ahead of us than we got behind. Uh-huh. It's
you. That will resonate with you, too. Don't anything else you want to ask for?
Get the final analysis. Everything worked out. I just thought the pace. It's fair enough.
Yeah. The way we do the final analysis on the shows. We're not going to give you a thumbs-up
thumbs-down. We're not going to give you little comedy faces. We're not going to give you anything
like that. emojis. Nothing like that. What we're going to do is we're going to ask two questions.
Question number one is would you see this film again if the answer is no, we're done here.
But if the answer is yes, the follow-up question states, how far are you going to go to see it?
And the spectrum runs from top to bottom. First run at the theater, twilight,
matinee, early morning, second run at the dollar theater, red box Netflix cable.
Do you see this one again? Yeah. Well, how far are you willing to go to do it? Well, I
guess it. It really, really works for me on most levels except just the pacing. So I'm going to have to
say I just drag for me. I'm going to say Netflix. I would see this again and it would not hurt
me to pay full price to do it. Oh, you're going to covet it. Absolutely. That's how much I enjoyed this
film. Wow. Because it works on multiple levels. It gives you the realism of what it's like to
be someone who's trying to keep a career together in the entertainment industry. It talks it addresses
age itself. How old school undefeated. Old school versus absolute. Because in the 1980s there
were no hits on YouTube. Right. Yeah. And how he has to deal with even pitching to networks.
There's some uncomfortableness, but it's good uncomfortableness. What was the, this sounds very similar
to a film that Petino did a couple years ago. He played like an aging lounge singer that was at
a similar crossroads in his life. And whenever you talked about the setup of him,
knocking somebody's lights out and it got went viral. Sounds like how chef started. So it sounds like
a mishmash of a couple of ideas of films that they're really kind of struck a chord with me.
I've got to tell you. But I can't think of it. Like it was like the name of his character. Yeah,
I know how to talk to him. Danny Collins. Yes. Yeah. That's not necessarily because that's Danny
Collins is a little bit different. Well, yeah. I'm just saying this for the premise goes maybe not the
delivery, but the premise sounds similar. But you know what? Help him. More my greatest.
Wow. It is the comedian directed by the great Taylor Hackford.
Before you have this thing. I'm sorry. We have to thank you.
You're singing ready. All right. In a great marketing. Got to take them all. Josh, thank you guys so much
for such interesting guys. Let's do the plugs.
Visit our websites. Be duly mentioned. WWW dot the clubhouse podcast.com.
Find that everything you need to know is including our written reviews. We kind of hold
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I think the jewels will. I'm going to enjoy this as well. I will. I think she probably would.
You've got me sold. I'm sure she probably like it too. Our normal show every
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for dawn, for Chad, for the Empire, I'm Rob. Clubhouse is closed and as of the recording of this,
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