source: Misery Loves Comedy

Misery Loves Comedy (2015) *** (out of 4) Director Kevin Pollak, also a comedian, directs this documentary that gathers a large number of comedians and asks them various questions about the profession. This includes what their parents thought of their career choice, the "hey look at me disease," the drug of being on stage and if one needs to be mentally messed up in order to be good at their job. Jason Alexander, Amy Schumer, Sam Rockwell, Jon Favreau, Preddie Prinze, Jr., Kevin Smith, Matthew Perry, Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon, Lewis Black, Martin Short, David Koechner, Bob Saget, Larry David, Kevin Nealon, Richard Lewis, Andy Richter and Jim Norton are just a few of the comedians who are interviewed here. For the most part this is an entertaining documentary and especially when you consider they've got so many well-known comics including many in the current mainstream. Even Tom Hanks is interviewed here and shares a couple funny stories. The highlights of the film are actually the moments with Freddie Prinze, Jr. who talks about following in the footsteps of a very famous father who was also notorious on how his life ended. You really get to see a different side to Prinze and someone those familiar with his movie roles won't recognize.

Nice insight into the minds of comedians. The good: it seems to be a fact: comedians are feeling miserable most of the time and they draw from that pool of misery to make jokes. Lots of comedians (talking heads) in this documentary, a lot of them I have never heard of, but some famous people as well. The bad: it lasts too long. They should have edited this documentary shorter.

I'm sorry but where was Eddie Murphy in this. He did 2 of the greatest stand up videos of the 80s if not of all time that I show to my kids as a rite of passage when they hit puberty and like Pryor he broke racial and PC boundaries and not even mentioned in this show! Travesty! Seeing a different side of comedians was truly interesting and hearing about the narcissism aspect from Amy Schumer was one of the only resonating factors to show true insight and as per usual female comedians as with other minorities totally underrepresented (Joan Rivers dead but could have been mentioned) and just to confirm I am a WASP. And where was Louis CK. Maybe he asked for too much money. Not sure how all these comedians were procured but some of the greats not evident which was a disappointment but on a positive note they did show some Poms and Aussies.

I'm glad previous reviewers have seen fit to mention the comedians who were unjustly missing from this film. To that, I'll just add: Only about 10% of the subjects in the film are women. Did the producers even try to interview more female comedians? Surely (Shirley?) there is a female perspective on the main focus of this film that is almost entirely missing. Where are: Tig Notaro? Lilly Tomlin? Jane Curtin? Carol Burnett? Just to name a few ...

Was pleasantly surprised with this. It's a simple one-on-one Q&A format, but cleverly cutting out the questions and the person asking them. You get to hear what comedians were like as kids, if people in their family were funny or if they were considered funny, how they first got into comedy, how their first gigs were, what their worst moments on stage were, and more; culminating in the eponymous question. I started to list who I could remember being interviewed then realised it's a ridiculous number so please see the "cast" list for details. Needless to say it's a huge and varied list, and I think that's what makes this so good - so many soundbites from so many great comedians. And I wonder if anyone but Kevin Pollak with his connections could've pulled that off? A couple of clips were taken from the Kevin Pollak Chatshow - e.g. Tom Hanks, Larry David - but that's just fine as they were talking about the same subject so it fits in perfectly well. I truly think anyone who considers themselves a fan of comedy should watch this - it really offers some unique and intriguing insights into the minds behind the voices behind the mic stands.

Indeed, this was a poor display of good comedians with the exception of Whoopi, Tom, Larry, and one or two others. I find this docu-mockery an exclusion of great comedians and shameful. I didn't care for it. The late great Richard Pryor was mentioned in a story about assault/womanizing in a flippant way. I still don't know why freddie prinze jr (why was he even in the damn thing?) told the story about Pryor -- it only felt like he wanted to uplift his father's memory and downgrade Pryor's as the comedian who got his ass kicked. It just wasn't funny! I agree with other disappointed commenters that the lack of diversity/minority is apparent and terrible. And, to add insult to injury, Amy Schumer who I think is the least funny person was included to tell a story about her narcissism. News flash Amy! We already knew that most actors/comedians are narcissistic -- otherwise they wouldn't have made it on their mediocre talents like you and that Jennifer law-whats her face. I love a good laugh but this docu-mockery of comedians was more misery with less comedy. You were warned.

Trailer—Misery Loves Comedy

Misery Loves Comedy