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Comedian

  • 2002
  • R
  • 1h 22m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
7.4K
YOUR RATING
Jerry Seinfeld in Comedian (2002)
Trailer
Play trailer1:29
31
2 Videos
20 Photos
Stand-UpComedyDocumentary

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... Read allA 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.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.

  • Director
    • Christian Charles
  • Stars
    • Jerry Seinfeld
    • Chris Rock
    • Garry Shandling
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    7.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Christian Charles
    • Stars
      • Jerry Seinfeld
      • Chris Rock
      • Garry Shandling
    • 66User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations total

    Videos2

    Comedian
    Trailer 1:29
    Comedian
    31
    Comedian
    Trailer 1:29
    Comedian
    Comedian
    Trailer 1:29
    Comedian

    Photos19

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    Top cast58

    Edit
    Jerry Seinfeld
    Jerry Seinfeld
    • Self
    Chris Rock
    Chris Rock
    • Self
    Garry Shandling
    Garry Shandling
    • Self
    Greg Giraldo
    Greg Giraldo
    • Self
    • (as Greg Geraldo)
    Sherrod Small
    • Self
    Jim Norton
    Jim Norton
    • Self
    Allan Havey
    Allan Havey
    • Self
    Colin Quinn
    Colin Quinn
    • Self
    Cynthia Koury
    • Self
    Orny Adams
    Orny Adams
    • Self
    George Wallace
    George Wallace
    • Self
    Robert Klein
    Robert Klein
    • Self
    T. Sean Shannon
    T. Sean Shannon
    • Self
    • (as T Sean Shannon)
    Gary Greenberg
    • Self
    Shawn Seymour
    • Self
    Richard Spector
    • Self
    Michael Britt
    • Self
    Craig Figueiredo
    • Self
    • Director
      • Christian Charles
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews66

    6.97.3K
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    Featured reviews

    7Hey_Sweden

    Life after a hit series.

    Director Christian Charles and a camera crew followed the legendary stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld around and documented his return to his roots following the end of his sitcom. Here, Seinfeld finds it a struggle to build a new act from scratch after retiring the material with which he'd made his name. He is compared and contrasted with a determined up-and-comer named Orny Adams, who was, shall we say, obsessed with his career and set on becoming The Next Big Thing.

    "Comedian" is no great shakes, but it's still quite agreeable, and would certainly have more resonance for any person who's felt a compulsive need to entertain others. It's a loose, informal documentary that simply observes Seinfeld, Adams, and others as they work on their material. And therein lies the struggle of any comedian: carefully developing their material so it has the maximum impact. What's truly nice about "Comedian" is seeing Seinfeld discuss with a variety of peers - Garry Shandling, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Colin Quinn, Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, etc. - the nature of the business, and the art of making people laugh.

    We do get to see brief snippets of Seinfeld and other comics as they do their acts, but first and foremost "Comedian" is a portrayal of their artistic processes. On that level, it is pretty interesting. It's never really about inducing belly laughs, but it does offer some insight into a particular brand of entertainment.

    Seven out of 10.
    7JamesGriswold

    Seinfeld's's struggle

    I have watched this twice and it seems you have to personally want/need to entertain to appreciate it. The process of performing or a performance is both immensely nerve racking and ultimately very satisfying. Comedian will draw you in to that process as opposed to entertaining you as a viewer with stand-up comedy. The main quest is the pursuit of a lengthy comedy act. Seinfeld's personal struggle is not intensely dramatic or humorous but rather very compelling to you the performer; "how can I validate myself all over again when I don't need the money, what am I here for?" I would recommend this to anyone who wants to do stand-up or sketch comedy or theater, or any other live performance for that matter. If this is you then you will appreciate the process Seinfeld goes through because it is the journey back to his calling, what made Seinfeld matter to you and me.
    6ferbs54

    A Stand-Up Kind Of Guy

    After cocreating and starring for nine years in THE sitcom of the '90s, and rightfully earning hundreds of millions of dollars doing so, funnyman Jerry Seinfeld did not do what I would have done; namely, lay in a hammock by the ocean for the rest of his life. To his great credit, Seinfeld decided to go back to what he loves most: doing stand-up material in front of an audience. Director Christian Charles' 2002 documentary "Comedian," it must be stated, is not so much a performance film as it is a primer in how very difficult it is to put an hour's worth of "killer" material together. This is not a Jerry Seinfeld biography, but rather a collection of glimpses into the lives of working comics. During the course of the film, as Jerry painstakingly--and sometimes painfully--puts his new act together, he talks to such established names as Jay Leno, Gary Shandling, Bill Cosby (his childhood hero, apparently), Robert Klein (whose joke about Florida may be the film's funniest) and Ray Romano. For contrast, perhaps half the film is taken up by the travails of a talented and cocky aspiring comic named Orny Adams, whose various struggles really show us how difficult the comedy business can be. I mean, here it is, more than six years since Orny's Letterman debut, and he is still hardly a household name, right? The net result for most viewers will most likely be a realization of how hard it is to just get up there and tell jokes; forget about making it big in the business! On the down side, "Comedian" features excessively choppy editing, overlapped dialogue that is often hard to make out, and just not enough actual performance footage. The film does have a cumulative effect, however, and the sum does wind up equalling more than its many jagged parts. "Not that there's anything wrong with that."
    gotham23

    Stand-up documentary's a let-down

    What a disappointment.

    The problem here is not that I was expecting something like the show. I understood what this was about going into the theatre. It's not "Seinfeld" the TV show. The whole point of this documentary is that Jerry's hit the club circuit again, and that he's trying out a whole new style of comedy rather than the "Humorous observations about everyday life" that made him famous. The problem is that it's simply not a very good documentary. It's erratic and disjointed. It was marketed as a documentary about Jerry Seinfeld, but instead we're forced to spend half the movie listening to a nobody who fails to capture our attention or sympathy in any way. Towards the end, Jerry drops in on Bill Cosby and we don't really know why. Even worse, the conversation between the two is awkward, rambling, boring, and offers absolutely no new insights into either man.

    A documentary should teach you something. When you walk out of the theatre, you should have some new insights into the subject matter. By that standard, this film is a complete failure. In the end, all it really tells us is that being a stand up comedian on the club circuit isn't easy. But is there anybody who didn't already know that?
    Camera-Obscura

    Fine documentary about stand-up comedy

    This documentary follows Jerry Seinfeld during his efforts to become a working stand-up comedian again, after almost 15 years of absence from the stage. But even for a man his caliber, it's far from an easy job to come back on stage just like that. He's got the cheers upfront because he is a celebrity, but once the initial welcome applause is gone, it's the material that counts. But it seems behind every minute of stand-up comedy is a hundred hours of hard work, with weeks of brainstorming, writing, and trying out new material on hackling audiences. "Twenty minutes in three months", he states. Seinfeld also talks shop with a number of friends and colleagues in the business, including Robert Klein, Ray Romano, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Jay Leno and Bill Cosby.

    Don't expect this documentary to reveal much about the private life of Jerry Seinfeld. He is self-assured and confident - no surprises there - and is always in control. He is only followed when working at his act, but we do get an occasional peek at his wife and kid, for instance before his appearance on the Tonight Show. But this documentary also shows us the struggles of Orny Adams, a young, cocky and insecure comedian, who tries to make to make his mark in show business.

    Let me state this now. Orny Adams is not a funny comedian. He's not funny at all. Off-stage, he has a few funny observations, but his act is terrible. But he did invoke some sympathy with me, or empathy, so you will, with a fascinating portrait of his struggles. But I never really understood why they chose him. Obviously, the crew used him for a documentary about Seinfeld, but not on criteria based on comedic talent. To me, it was astonishing and very revealing that Seinfeld never even met Orny Adams before the filming of this project started. I think there is one scene where they meet in a club and have a short conversation. On the DVD Seinfeld casually reveals he never spoke to him again since! Not because they had an argument but probably because he is not in the least interested in Orny Adams. Jerry Seinfeld is well known for not having many friends and not mixing work and private life, but this?

    Back to Orny for some final thoughts. I always wondered whether Orny actually was a real guy and not some actor? I still do think he is an actual comedian, but with a name like that? In a restaurant in Montréal, the waitress asks for his name and doesn't believe him and proclaims: "Get out of town. No mother would name her kid Orny." He insists that it is in fact his real name. Well... perhaps one mother did, or it is his stage name. I don't know. Fact is, although he's not funny at all, I liked the portrait and I liked the whole film and found this a fascinating insight in the world of the stand-up comedian. Every Seinfeld-fan has probably seen this already, but I imagine this must be an enjoyable documentary for everyone.

    Camera Obscura --- 8/10

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Interestingly, the funny in-joke teaser trailer for the film has nothing to do with its subject, doesn't feature any scenes or characters from the documentary nor does it ever mention what the movie is even about. It instead follows a trailer narrator called Jack (played by the legendary movie trailer narrator Hal Douglas who along with Don LaFontaine and Nick Tate narrated the trailers for almost every single big Hollywood blockbuster during the 1990's), who's in a recording booth trying to record the opening narration for the trailer for the Comedian, but since the film is not a typical Hollywood blockbuster, Jack is simply unable to find the right non-epic wording that would properly describe such a normal non-blockbuster movie.
    • Quotes

      Robert Klein: My parents retired to South Florida. They're gone now, but I'll tell you the truth, I have a beef with South Florida. I'll tell you, I don't know what it is. I'm sick about it, bitter. I sent two healthy 65-year old parents to South Florida. 30 years later - dead! I mean what is it, the water, the air - it's a death camp!

    • Crazy credits
      After the credits end, there's a short scene in which Colin Quinn tells Seinfeld a very old joke.
    • Connections
      Edited from Late Show with David Letterman (1993)
    • Soundtracks
      Caravan
      Written by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol

      Published by Famous Music Corp. (ASCAP) and EMI Mills Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

      Performed by Medeski Martin & Wood

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 2003 (Norway)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Anatomy of a Joke
    • Filming locations
      • Carolines on Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • Barry Katz Entertainment
      • Bridgnorth Films
      • New Material
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,751,988
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $60,224
      • Oct 13, 2002
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,751,988
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 22 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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