Jun 01, 2015

Last week I attended a screening of Kevin Pollack's stand-up comedy documentary Misery Loves Comedy at The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO.

The movie attempted to make the connection between misery and (mostly) stand-up comedy (although some comic actors, writers and political ranters were also featured).

After watching the movie and the interviews, I am not convinced that the connection was made. However, I do agree with other premises of the movie which argued that some of the desire to perform stand-up comedy (and probably comedic acting too) stems from narcissism and insecurity. At least that's somewhat true in my experience.

Following the film a few stand-up comics did short sets and audience members asked them questions regarding both the film and the world of stand-up comedy.

One audience member brought up the point that it would have been nice to show small clips of the interviewees stand-up, as many people in the movie audience were outside of the comedy scene and were unfamiliar with many of the comedians. I agree that that would have been helpful to the audience.

The movie was dedicated to Robin Williams who I'd never met. I wonder if he was driven by misery, but the words "depression", "narcissism" and "insecurity" would not have worked in the title.

Recommended, especially if you're a comedian or have one in your life.

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