Robert DeNiro wants to be "The King of Comedy" in this 1982 film directed by Martin Scorcese and also starring Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard.
DeNiro plays Rupert Popkin, an aspiring, delusional comic whose idol is Jerry Langford, a Johnny Carson/Jay Leno comedian and host of a late-night talk show. DeNiro saves Jerry from a stalker, Masha (Bernhard) and gets into the car with him and tries to get on Jerry's talk show. Jerry tells him to call the office, talk to his secretary, and he will hear his material. Of course, a) Rupert doesn't do that - he continually goes to the office and insists on speaking with Jerry; and b) Jerry didn't mean it. Rupert is so delusional that he actually goes to Jerry's weekend home for a house party with no invitation and no house party.
Rupert gets sick of the brush-off from Jerry's assistant (Shelley Hack) and being removed by security, so he and Masha kidnap Jerry and take him to Masha's place. Rupert then holds Jerry hostage until he can do his material before Jerry's audience on national television.
There are many hilarious things about this film, not the least of which is that Rupert practices "The Secret" or the metaphysical "as if" - he has life-size cutouts of Jerry and Liza Minnelli sitting on Jerry's cut out talk show set, with a real chair in the middle where Rupert can sit and chat. He has a cardboard audience that he performs before. And, as one is promised in these metaphysical arts, Rupert's dreams come true.
The other thing I love is how nothing has changed in nearly thirty years - in fact, the celebrity cult has gotten worse. Today Rupert would have a reality show featuring himself, Masha, and his mother, not to mention the product endorsements and a chance to win the disco ball on Dancing with the Stars.
DeNiro is brilliant as Rupert, a loser who still lives with his mother but courts the big time at any cost; Jerry Lewis is sheer perfection as the serious-minded Jerry, a quiet man who likes to play golf and turns on the comedy for the cameras; and Bernhard is hilarious as Jerry's stalker, who, as he's duct-taped to a chair, sits across from him in a slinky gown and rhapsodizes about making love to him.
Having been in show business myself, I know only too well the frustration of getting seen by the right person and circumventing all the people in the front office. "The King of Comedy" speaks to the anger and frustration in everyone -- salesmen, performers, inventors, artists, reporters, anyone who is looking for access to the great and powerful. Rupert took it a little too far. But hey, he did what he had to do.
DeNiro plays Rupert Popkin, an aspiring, delusional comic whose idol is Jerry Langford, a Johnny Carson/Jay Leno comedian and host of a late-night talk show. DeNiro saves Jerry from a stalker, Masha (Bernhard) and gets into the car with him and tries to get on Jerry's talk show. Jerry tells him to call the office, talk to his secretary, and he will hear his material. Of course, a) Rupert doesn't do that - he continually goes to the office and insists on speaking with Jerry; and b) Jerry didn't mean it. Rupert is so delusional that he actually goes to Jerry's weekend home for a house party with no invitation and no house party.
Rupert gets sick of the brush-off from Jerry's assistant (Shelley Hack) and being removed by security, so he and Masha kidnap Jerry and take him to Masha's place. Rupert then holds Jerry hostage until he can do his material before Jerry's audience on national television.
There are many hilarious things about this film, not the least of which is that Rupert practices "The Secret" or the metaphysical "as if" - he has life-size cutouts of Jerry and Liza Minnelli sitting on Jerry's cut out talk show set, with a real chair in the middle where Rupert can sit and chat. He has a cardboard audience that he performs before. And, as one is promised in these metaphysical arts, Rupert's dreams come true.
The other thing I love is how nothing has changed in nearly thirty years - in fact, the celebrity cult has gotten worse. Today Rupert would have a reality show featuring himself, Masha, and his mother, not to mention the product endorsements and a chance to win the disco ball on Dancing with the Stars.
DeNiro is brilliant as Rupert, a loser who still lives with his mother but courts the big time at any cost; Jerry Lewis is sheer perfection as the serious-minded Jerry, a quiet man who likes to play golf and turns on the comedy for the cameras; and Bernhard is hilarious as Jerry's stalker, who, as he's duct-taped to a chair, sits across from him in a slinky gown and rhapsodizes about making love to him.
Having been in show business myself, I know only too well the frustration of getting seen by the right person and circumventing all the people in the front office. "The King of Comedy" speaks to the anger and frustration in everyone -- salesmen, performers, inventors, artists, reporters, anyone who is looking for access to the great and powerful. Rupert took it a little too far. But hey, he did what he had to do.