The King of Comedy

1982 Directed by Martin Scorsese

It's No Laughing Matter.

Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.

Robert De Niro Jerry Lewis Sandra Bernhard Diahnne Abbott Shelley Hack Frederick de Cordova Kim Chan Ed Herlihy Lou Brown Margo Winkler Ralph Monaco Catherine Scorsese Cathy Scorsese Loretta Tupper Peter Potulski Vinnie Gonzales Whitey Ryan Doc Lawless Marta Heflin Chuck Low Katherine Wallach Charles Kaleina Richard Baratz Liza Minnelli Leslie Levinson Alan Potashnick Michael Kolba Robert Colston Ramon Rodriguez Show All…

Alternative Titles

Re per una notte, O Rei da Comédia, Král komedie, 코미디의 왕, キング・オブ・コメディ, Король комедії, Король комедии, Ο Βασιλιάς της Κωμωδίας, 喜劇之王, El rey de la comedia

comedy drama

109 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Sean Baker 15

I realized this time around that there isn't a wasted scene in this film.
Review by Karsten Runquist ★★★★★ 46

This is a perfect movie!
Review by katie ★★★★½ 12

todd phillips is rupert pupkin
Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 10

Both deliciously funny and scary as hell; Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy is a work of ingenious, prophetic wisdom and focus. Both grounded and elevated by one of Robert De Niro's finest performances, the film slivers and slides through different forms of deconstruction and satire until the final irony hits like a ton of bricks.
Martin Scorsese's direction is magnificent here. While not as classical as Raging Bull or as lush as Taxi Driver, It feels just as pure, mainly when the camera decides to watch Rupert Pupkin in all his mesmerizing and terrifying glory. Both hilarious and creepy, De Niro embodies this complex character with glorious quirkiness and a sense of childish playfulness. In particular, the scenes involving…
Review by maria ★★★★½ 8

new joker movie lookin' good
Review by Matt Singer ★★★★½ 3

"Better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime."
Review by Maxx ★★★★ 4

"The King of Comedy" is an accurate description of how i feel whenever i post a Letterboxd review that gets more than 20 likes
Review by Mike Ginn ★★★★★ 5

I read the interview for this in ‘Scorsese on Scorsese’ and he claimed that to get in character Robert DeNiro started stalking and harassing his own stalkers. Showing up to their apartments, calling them in the middle of the night, etc. Thought it was worth posting here.
Review by davidehrlich ★★★½ 2

but seriously, how long has Jerry Langford been tied up in Jay Leno's basement? ...someone really ought to go check on him.
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 2

"i know, jerry, that you are as human as the rest of us, if not more so."
Review by Keith Phipps ★★★★★ 2

Kind of thought of this as second-tier Scorsese—second tier being a still pretty high perch—until this recent rewatch. When I got to the monologue I felt like I was watching pretty much a perfect movie.
Review by kayla ★★★★

I love Robert De Niro so much it’s disgusting

Recent reviews

Review by maxwelltheriver ★★★½

Robert de Niro doesn’t make the Robert de Niro face once during this movie so it loses a couple points on that
Review by WonderMan1984 ★★★★★

I wanted Sandra Bernhard to say “why so serious?”
Truthfully I hadn’t seen a non-mobster/military context, this one was his best. Both of them are just A+ comedy acting at every level. They could be on Stephen Colbert, I swear.
Review by Mateja ★★★★★

In 2021 Pupkin is aspirational
Review by diverpeach ★★★★★

Esta chido el formato de como se pasada al presente y pasado casi sin que te des cuenta al principio, te mantiene activo en la película aunque es un poco bizarro toda la mezcla la historia, los saltos randomde tiempo, las referencias a la sociedad 70tera.
Fue bastante bizarro como se trató del debut más bizarro de un comediante al tomarlo por la fuerza.
Review by maryam ★★★★★

this happened to my buddy Arthur.
Review by mauri <3 ★★★★½

omg the joker is such a bad movie all jokes aside i LOVED this, it’s probably my favorite scorsese by now
Review by andreahc ★★★½

actuó tan bien que me incomodo lo insoportable que era lo cual es el punto de su personaje así que hizo muy bien
Review by Salvador Ayala Barrón ★★★★★

Jododer es buenísima
Review by Jack Bartrum ★★★½

Made me uncomfortable.
Review by Figueroa ★★★★

Que buen tono tiene la comedia, absurdo, irónico, cringe y en eso forja empatia
Review by ASCIIHeart ★★★½

Needs more Sandra Bernhard
Review by saffron ★★★★½

wow this movie predicted stan twitter 40 years ago !!