The King of Comedy

Plot synopsis:
Robert De Niro plays the simplistic, driven, and uncool Rupert Pupkin. Jerry Lewis plays a quiet, tired Johnny Carson-like cardboard cut-out of himself Jerry Langford.From the moment we see Rupert, he's shoving himself through a large crowd of autograph seeking fans outside a TV studio, separating himself from the group to show that hes after something different. But all this breaks down the moment Jerry Langford exits the studio. The crowd turns crazed and climbs over each other to get close to Jerry. Rupert sees the possibility of a break and goes for it. Rupert pushes back the mob and tries to help Jerry get inside his waiting limousine. But waiting inside for him is the obsessed stalker Masha (Sandra Bernhard), who's hidden in Jerry's car. Rupert slams the door on her face.We're stopped with a flash-bulb freeze frame. From inside the world of Jerry's car, two hands press hard against the window looking out toward the crazed fans in a mob outside trying to fight their way in. Between the hands peering intensely inside is the illuminated face of our most confident and committed protagonist. Immediately we're faced with opposite sides of a looking glass.Masha is pulled out and Jerry is pushed in. Rupert takes advantage of his situation and jumps into the car with Jerry, again separating himself from the manic autograph hounds just outside the door. As he enters the car, he leaves behind the identity of just being a fan. He and Jerry now have a connection. He now has been given the green light, the blessing of being in the right place at the right time to get what he wants. By coming in contact with his dream nothing stands in his way of reaching out and taking it.Their conversation in the car lets us know Rupert is a comedian who deeply admires Jerry. Jerry is tired and politely hears him out. The rest of the film soars high into Rupert's imagination based on this simple exchange.Rupert is deceivingly simplistic. His will to succeed is never sidetracked or affected by outside realities. Rupert only wants one thing: to be a TV talk show host. Nothing will stand in his way. Without a moments hesitation we find him in ruthlessly embarrassing situations, worthless confrontations, simply for his insistence on turning aspiration into execution. As we follow him and Masha to the bitter end, we see there's no stopping Rupert in getting what he wants. He'll eventually succeed, but to a questionable cost. All he wants is Jerry to recognize his talent and put him on the show. He wants to be friends with Jerry. He wants to be better than Jerry. He wants to bury Jerry.He never stops to consider fantasy from reality.
The two realities that exist in this film are Rupert's committed fantasy and our outside, unattached, onlooker perception. We see Rupert resting his finger on the receiver of the pay phone waiting for the ultimate call from Jerry. The basement scene with him on set sitting between cardboard cut-outs of Liza Minnelli and Jerry facing Rupert as he mocks up conversation between them.
All the conversations Rupert and Jerry have: the office calls where Jerry begs Rupert to host the show, the restaurant meetings where Jerry opens up to Rupert, even to the point where Rupert is being asked for autographs instead of Jerry, or the other patrons in the restaurant are peering across the room at them and can't believe the celebrity sighting they've encountered.)
Being on TV with Jerry and the high school principal who marries him to his bartender crush then admits, on the air, that Rupert was right all these years and those who doubted him were wrong.The two most effective examples of these parallel realities are the pull back shot of the laughing audience wallpaper to which hes performing to. Digging further into the dream is the looping laugh track that plays behind his center staged creation.
Then finally, the pictures last two minutes, having been released from jail on good behavior the world is waiting on Rupert to return to their lives. He's on every magazine and TV channel, similar to Scorsese's earlier film Taxi Driver where the protagonist Travis Bickle becomes a hero for saving the young prostitute's life. Rupert Pupkin becomes a household name. We see bookstores carrying his autobiography, his manager is making him lots of money, he's introduced onto his new show again, again, and again. Let's hear it for Rupert Pupkin! Rupert Pupkin, ladies and gentlemen! Rupert Pupkin! He walks out into the spotlight and smiles into the excited warm welcoming audience. This will be the last we see of Ruperts self-promoting imagination before the final jump to black.Rupert Pupkin is in all of us. Hes the thing you think to say after the time has passed to say it.The question The King of Comedy leaves us with is: what does one do with a dream?

Tags: cult, humor, psychedelic, psychological

Review:
You can certainly relate to this man's motivations, his love for his work, but his resistance to allow it run his personal life.The only character I can't totally emphasize with is Sandra Bernhard's Masha (her actions aren't justified as well as De Niro's Rupert).
The scary thing is, I know that people like this exist, and I didn't for a second, question the feasibility of her performance.As usual, Scorsese shows brilliant control, despite this being one of his most modest works."The King of Comedy" should be looked upon, now more than ever, as a very important film, that has a lot to say about the world we live in and the obsessions that we consume.
From Jerry Lewis's subtle, deeply personal performance, to Robert DeNiro's amazing interpretation of a neurotic nerbish whose fantasy world collides with reality on late night talk TV, "The King of Comedy" is a true original that guts the glamour from showbiz and finds it cold and empty inside.
Despite the title, it is anything but a comedy, save for some amusing moments that could pass for dark comedy.The story involves a 34 year old nerd (Robert DeNiro) who wants badly to be a standup comedian, but his only method of trying to attain this goal is by essentially stalking a popular talk show host played by Jerry Lewis.
He is, without question the best actor to have graced our screens, and though I love the so many other varied genius performances he has become more famous for, I think this to be his finest work.The character he plays draws inevitable comparisons with Travis in 'Taxi Driver', as in both roles he plays individuals so detached from reality, they feel the need to commit criminal acts in order to expel the frustrations they have at their lowly position in society, and how little they can do about it.
He fantasises being a celebrated comic to such a degree he convinces himself of events that haven't actually happened (most notably when he starts believing his own lie, that he's been invited to Jerry Lewis' summerhouse, is actually true!) It is a magnificently subtle take on the insane and is the De Niro performance I enjoyed the most.I felt compelled to offer my opinion on De Niro's 10 best roles, so here they are: 10-The Untouchables, 9-Heat, 8-The Godfather Part 2, 7-Midnight Run, 6-Awakenings, 5-Taxi Driver, 4-The Deer Hunter, 3-Raging Bull, 2-Mean Streets, 1-The King Of Comedy.
It has stayed with me since the first time I saw it almost 20 years ago.In fact, I've never forgotten the name, "Rupert Pupkin," a strange name made famous by Robert De Niro as the leading actor in this unique drama/comedy/ crime film.
In this film, Robert De Niro creates one of his most fascinating characters with Rupert Pupkin, a obsessive fan of late night talkshow host Jerry Langford, a wickedly good Jerry Lewis.
De Niro makes Pupkin a likable character, even if it does appear that he must be mentally ill, and never plays him for broad or overt comedy, yet delivers what is at times a hilarious performance.
Jerry Lewis gives what has to be the best performance of his career as Langford, a character that I'm certain allowed him to tap into his personal experience with obsessive fans, balancing his need to be kind to his public while also protecting his own privacy.
Robert De Niro is all on one-note as repugnant Rupert Pupkin, Sandra Bernhard makes herself into a harpy as an early variant of the star-stalker, Jerry Lewis plays the Johnny Carson role in an effective low key; also, Shelley Hack is attractive as Jerry's secretary.
De Niro leaves an indelible impression as wanna be comedian/schmuck Rupert Pupkin (remember that name!) who has delusions of grandeur in believing he's the next big thing in the big world of comedy and his only chance is a shot on talk show king Jerry Langford's (Lewis in wonderful S.O.B. mode) program, even if he has to commit a crime to do it.
Also, the Casting and Performance from Jerry Lewis is Inspired and Genuinely Great.Recommended for Fans of the Avant-Garde, Scorsese, De Niro, and those Seeking Offbeat Social Commentary, and Cutting Edge Cinema.Note...For more unusual Martin Scorsese Movies, check out After Hours (1985) and Kundan (1997)..
This hugely underrated film is one of Martin Scorsese's best, and further proof that as a director he has much more range than many might give him credit for.Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis deliver pitch-perfect performances as a stand-up comic wannabe and a popular T.V. personality, respectively, when their worlds collide due to De Niro's (whose character's name, Rupert Pupkin, has to be one of the most perfect ever created for a movie role) fanatic devotion to his idol.
De Niro makes his character warm and endearing enough to keep you sympathetic with him, while making him menacing enough to take seriously, while Lewis for once shows himself adept at playing the straight guy, and gives a spectacular performance as a hang-dog celebrity whose quiet and sober personal demeanor is at odds with that of his on-screen personality.And praise also must go to Sandra Bernhard, who gives a delightfully wacky take on another aspiring star and accomplice to Rupert, whose plans go awry in hilarious and unpredictable ways.
Though comparing Rupert Pupkin with Jake La Motta and Travis Bickle is not entirely inappropriate, The King of Comedy was a decisive change of pace for both De Niro and Scorsese.
Reviewing it today, it seems like 'The King of Comedy' was years ahead of its time, and underneath a couple of cheap laughs it has disturbing dark undertones that make it one of the most fascinating creations in Scorsese's career.
Jerry Lewis plays not the goofy kind of character he's famous for, but is actually quite impressive playing straight man for Robert De Niro, who is nothing short of brilliant (as he always was when working with Scorsese).
De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring but obnoxious stand-up comedian who is certain that talk-show superstar Jerry Langford (Lewis) is the one who will help him get to the top.
As Rupert Pupkin, De Niro is a hapless loser posing as an amateur comedian, clinging to the idea of being "discovered" by a Johnny Carson type celebrity named Jerry Langford - (played wonderfully by Jerry Lewis, what a great casting choice that was!) - that Rupert is obsessed over.
The King of Comedy is a dramatic comedy about a man called Rupert Pupkin, played by Robert De Niro.Rupert wants to be a comedian.His idol, talk-show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) comes to town to have a show.Rupert wants to be like Jerry, so he shows him some of his jokes that he has done.But Rupert doesn't succeed, so he kidnaps Jerry with his even more psychotic friend Marsha, played by Sandra Bernhard.So maybe that would help Rupert.And it does.
Rupert gets to have his show on TV.But just one time.But he succeeds in it.The King of Comedy is a great movie.Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis are great actors and they are just great together.Great film..
Though 'The King of Comedy' stands on its own two feet (and quite well, I might add), it bares a striking resemblance to 'Taxi Driver'.Aside from the blatant Scorsese-De Niro connection, both films center on similar characters, though that is not to say they're identical.
Jerry Lewis plays Jerry Langford, a Johnny Carson-like talk show host that Pupkin fixates on as a means of starting his comedy career.
Sandra Bernhard plays a psychotic, obsessed Langford fan who has built a vaguely defined friendship with Pupkin over their shared Langford fixation.The theme of the film is the power of fame and celebrity in American culture and its perverse effects on those who seek it and those who have it.
Despite the title and the presence of Jerry Lewis in the cast, this Martin Scorsese film is only nominally a comedy- it's more of a companion piece to Taxi Driver, and in some ways is even abrasive.
De Niro's character, Rupert Pupkin, is a celebrity hound whose goal in life is to appear on a talk show, hosted by a Johnny Carson-type character played by Jerry Lewis.
In the hands of most talented actors he would probably be funny, but the De Niro of this movie is closer to the guy who made Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Once Upon a Time in America than the guy who made Meet the Parents and Rocky and Bullwinkle (In some ways, De Niro's role as La Motta seems to have prefigured his own acting career.) He has to be the most unlikable character De Niro has ever played, which is saying quite a lot.
I've never actually seen a Jerry Lewis movie, and I'm not in any rush to either, but from what I do know about him his performance bears little resemblance to the rest of his work; in King of Comedy, he is perhaps the sanest character, since he actually knows that being famous doesn't lead to complete fulfillment.
Rupert is a man who idolizes and wants to be like Jerry Langford (Played by comedy great Jerry Lewis).
Rupert Pupkin is an obsessive fan who's not only obsessed with Jerry Langford, the Carson-like host of his eponymous television show, but obsessed with getting a little fame himself.
Unfortunately for Jerry his devoted fan is going to more and more extreme methods to get hold of him There is a fundamental problem with THE KING OF COMEDY and that is you feel you're watching a reworking of Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER .
But nearly a quarter century later, 'King of Comedy' seems to lack real satiric power, and despite some great acting from De Niro and Lewis, feels like it's lost its way.De Niro plays Rupert...
Nevertheless, I don't feel that Sandra Bernhard's hysterical babbling in her scene alone with Jerry Lewis works either as drama OR comedy, and Rupert's comic abilities seem to improve dramatically overnight for no reason at all.These aren't my major problems with 'King of Comedy' though.
Robert de Niro turns in one of his best performances as the driven Mr. Pupkin in Martin Scorcese's The King of Comedy, a film that did not achieve box office success but is now considered by many to be a classic.
It is this huge difference between the fantasy world in Rupert's head and the reality of his life (he's lonely, an egotist, he still lives with his mother, his friends are mainly autograph hunters and to top it off, he's actually not that funny), it is these things that make you realize about half way through the film that the man is insane.This is one of those rare movies which make you laugh as well as make you uncomfortable; in its own way it is probably a more unsettling film than Taxi Driver because you never know how you are meant to react as a viewer; various parts of the film blur the line between reality and fantasy, and the ending is extremely ambiguous.Overall rating: 8 out of 10..
The cast is outstanding, no one holds back, Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard are great and the movie wouldn't be the same without them, but the majority of credit must go to Robert de Niro, who I always knew was a good actor but never knew he could play a character like this, it's far from the Godfather of Raging Bull, it's a very troubled comedian, who starts off very likable, and as the film continues he becomes more of an anti-hero, what I loved about Rupert Pupkin is that he never saw bad in what he was doing, he came across as a reasonable and sensible person when he speaks, but it was clear that he would stop at nothing for a bit of recognition.
This is a unique dark comedy because it is much more restrained than others, and it isn't a comedy that will have you laughing throughout the movie, but it works in a creepy and unsettling way thanks to Scorsese's direction and De Niro's inspired performance.This satire of our celebrity obsessed society was written by Paul D.
So with fantastic characterisation and a real sense of the modern age with a lot of the film revolving around television; us watching the film through television; the director Scorsese casting myself as a director; having real-life commercial success Jerry Lewis as the 'idol' for Pupkin and narrative being purposely played around with, The King of Comedy not only hits the mark as a piece of entertainment but as a funny and clever film dealing with obsession; the American Dream in an alternate form and mental illness in another form..
De Niro gives one of his most on-target performances as Rupert Pupkin, a slightly demented fan of talk show host Jerry Langford, who wants to be a stand up comic and goes to very extreme lengths to achieve his goal.
Pupkin dreams of becoming a stand-up comic, and he believes that New York talk-show host Jerry Langford, played by Jerry Lewis, is his ticket to the big time.
In The King of Comedy, there are a couple of sequences in which Jerry Lewis, as Langford, is  accosted by fans on New York's streets (during one of these, Lewis, spotting a stalker, played by Sandra Bernhardt, begins to jog and then run away from her, doing so ironically in the fashion Lewis made famous in his earlier screwball films).
Martin Scorsese's film The King of Comedy (1983) stars Robert De Niro as Rupert Pupkin, a man who has his name spelled wrong everywhere and is desperate for becoming a real comedian in television alongside his idol, a hyper popular talk show host played by Jerry Lewis.
Definitely a brilliant drama, with wonderful performances from De Niro, Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhardt, an underrated actress who's over-the-top performance here is perfect.But it is surely NOT a comedy, although as in all great drama's there are comical moments, but anyone who laughs through this film surely has problems of their own.It's a story of a deeply disturbed man, Rupert Pupkin, a Walter Mitty character who imagines his way through life.
Great Gem. King of Comedy, The (1982) **** (out of 4) A sometimes funny but often depressing look at a wannabe comic (Robert DeNiro) who is obsessed at hitting the big time so he kidnaps a talk show host (Jerry Lewis).
The King Of Comedy is about a man looking to do a bit more to get his chance at stardom.DeNiro creates one of his great characters in Ruppert Pupkin who knows that if he can land a spot on the evening Jerry Lankford show his future is secure.
Psychotic stand-up comic Robert De Niro (as Rupert Pupkin) idolizes legendary late-night talk show host Jerry Lewis (as Jerry Langford).
This is a near masterpiece.Scorcese's film is about a man named Rupert Pupkin who idolizes stand-up comedian Jerry Langford and dreams to be on his show.
Jerry Lewis as Jerry Langford is excellent as the man who dislikes being famous.Overall, The King of Comedy is your quintessential Martin Scorcese film.
It almost like what Stanley Kubrick did with Dr. Strangelove, taking a serious subject and turn it into a dark comedy.Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is a struggling stand-up comedy in New York, and idealises a popular talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis).
In Scorsese's other movies, the ambition of the main characters is more pursuit of happiness by means of respect or escaping loneliness, but not by way of fame and instant gratification.It's also a very different film for Robert De Niro because he plays such a pathetic man, and he plays him so well!
It's also a great way for people who are not famous to know how NOT to act when encountering celebrities.If there was one thing this film could have done better, I think it probably would have been more firmly establishing De Niro's character.
Rupert's comedy act  when it eventually comes  is actually genuinely funny, a big surprise considering how we had been led to believe he was absolutely hopeless.Aside from De Niro and Lewis  who are both superb in this  another key character is Masha, a fellow reckless Langford fan, played by Sandra Bernhard.
Like the former it is unforgettable, disturbing, and yet unlike Taxi Driver it is also hilarious if very black in its humour.The film follows the unshakable attempts of stand up comedian Rupert Pupkin (De Niro) to make it onto the Jerry Langford show (Langford is played by but not a parody of Jerry Lewis).
"The King Of Comedy" is good movie as it stands alone, but it is certainly not De Niro's or Scorsese's best.
This is top-notch writing.Scorsese and De Niro were just the men to bring such a story to life during their creative zenith from the early 70s to the early 80s and "The King of Comedy" holds up extremely well next to known classics like "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull."  One of the most underrated and under appreciated movies ever.
Director Martin Scorsese addresses the matter and makes some observations and speculations about the cause and effect of fame in `The King of Comedy,' starring Robert De Niro as aspiring stand-up comedian Rupert Pupkin.
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin (Robert DeNiro) wants to achieve success in showbiz, by resorting to stalking his idol (Jerry Lewis), a late night talk show host who craves his own privacy.Not a bad film, but not DeNiro or Scorsese's best work.
This film, in my opinion, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as those.Robert De Niro delivers an impeccable performance as Rupert Pupkin, a delusional and obsessive comedian who simply won't leave comic icon Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) alone until he gives him the opportunity he so desperately desires.