2015 Directed by Kevin Pollak
Do you have to be miserable to be funny? More than sixty comedians—including stand-ups, writers, actors, and directors from the US, Canada, and abroad—take on this question, sharing anecdotes and insights with lively enthusiasm.
Jon Favreau Kevin Smith Bobby Cannavale Freddie Prinze Jr. Matthew Perry Whoopi Goldberg Martin Short Jimmy Fallon Christopher Guest Janeane Garofalo Judd Apatow Stephen Merchant Kevin Pollak Matt Walsh Jason Alexander Joe Lo Truglio Jason Reitman Chris Hardwick Samm Levine David Koechner Nick Swardson Andy Richter Bob Saget Richard Kind Amy Schumer Kevin Nealon Paul Feig Laraine Newman Jim Gaffigan Show All…
USA
Sundance Film Festival
UK
Edinburgh International Film Festival
USA
UK
USA
Kevin Pollak, a recognizable actor who flirted with star status years ago but may forever best be known as the shortest of the five Usual Suspects, deserves credit as the director of the 2015 documentary Misery Loves Comedy for two reasons.
First, he attracts an extremely impressive collection of talents here, from successful modern stand-up comics like Jim Gaffigan and Mike Birgibilia to legends like Martin Short and Christopher Guest to iconic actors like Tom Hanks and Sam Rockwell. There are so many actor Letterboxd pages that I've encountered this on that I finally broke down and watched it on Peacock (free and uninterrupted after two and a half minutes of muted ads).
Secondly, Pollak gets the accomplished subjects to…
This isn't so much a documentary, but instead pieces of interviews from every single celebrity Kevin Pollak knows. I've never seen anything with so many familiar faces. We get it, Kevin. You know a bunch of famous people and you like stand up comedy. Next time, try to make an actual movie.
Not particularly funny nor insightful. A more biographical approach rather than philosophical (emphasis on "why do you do comedy?" rather than "do you do comedy because you're sad?") might have yielded better results.
The editing also crushes the movie's insights, trying so hard for connections between what two or three people said that it ruins the audience's ability to connect to that person.
Fun hearing all these famous comedians talk about comedy, influences and tragedies, but considering so many was giving an input here there wasn't really anything more then a light comedy tribute without anything truly insightful.
Solid doc about what drives people to perform. Cannot believe they got Freddie Prinz Jr. to discuss his father's suicide so candidly. Worth the price of admission alone. Lots of other great interview subjects as well.
This is just a bunch of interviews pieced together. I will continue to watch and research stand-up until I grow a pair and do it myself.
Posits a surface-level thesis that comedy is derived from difficult life experiences, as if everyone doesn't have difficult life experiences. Other than that is just a supercut of comedians talking, similar to a podcast, but hey- that's not a terrible way to spend 90 minutes.
Kevin Pollak reels in a lot of comedians (feels like everyone except for Louis C.K. and Seinfeld) in his search to get to the bottom of why they all share such a dark side. There's a lot of fun stuff here, but Pollak never lets the film breathe. I wish he narrated or even put himself in front of the camera, because there's something he's trying to say here that would have hit home more effectively if he had just come out and said it. Instead, this feels like a very casual affair, which is kind of odd considering the attempt to dig deeper. Having said that, there are still some poignant moments scattered throughout.
I love stand-up comedy. I love comedians. I love just about everyone who appeared on MISERY LOVES COMEDY.
What I don't understand is how Kevin Pollak, himself a funny guy who hosts a great talk show, managed to make a documentary about comedians not funny. I know it wasn't intended to be a laugh riot but even as an attempt to dig into the minds of great comedians, it failed to enlighten. I was rather bored watching a series of great talents sharing anecdotes without any kind of structure. I feel like Pollak was searching for deeper meaning, but never found it.
Disappointing.
