Episode 202: Serious Comedians: Patton Oswalt, Richard Pryor, and Mary Tyler Moore

== Show Notes ==
: We discuss comedians who took on purely dramatic roles: Patton Oswalt in Big Fan, Richard Pryor in Blue Collar, and Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People.
== Films Discussed ==
*The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966) - TV series
*The Nutty Professor (1963) Dir. Jerry Lewis
*The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977) - TV Series
*Lady Sings the Blues (1972) Dir. Sidney J. Furie
*Taxi Driver (1976) Dir. Martin Scorsese
*Silver Streak (1976) Dir. Arthur Hiller
*Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) Dir. Robert Benton
*Blue Collar (1978) Dir. Paul Schrader
*Taxi (1978-1983) - TV series
*Ordinary People (1980) Dir. Robert Redford
*Raging Bull (1980) Dir. Martin Scorsese
*The King of Comedy (1983) Dir. Martin Scorsese
*Quiz Show (1984) Dir. Robert Redford
*Good Morning Vietnam (1987) Dir. Barry Levinson
*Moving (1988) Dir. Alan Metter
*See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) Dir. Arthur Hiller
*Awakenings (1990) Dir. Penny Marshall
*The Fisher King (1991) Dir. Terry Gilliam
*The Cable Guy (1996) Dir. Ben Stiller
*Happy Gilmore (1996) Dir. Dennis Dugan
*Good Will Hunting (1997) Dir. Gus Van Sant
*The Truman Show (1998) Dir. Peter Weir
*Chairman of the Board (1998) Dir. Alex Zamm
*American Beauty (1999) Dir. Sam Mendes
*Man on the Moon (1999) Dir. Miloš Forman
*The Majestic (2001) Dir. Frank Darabont
*Punch Drunk Love (2002) Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
*One-Hour Photo (2002) Dir. Mark Romanek
*Insomnia (2002) Dir. Christopher Nolan
*Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Dir. Michael Gondry
*The Number 23 (2007) Dir. Joel Schumacher
*Lions for Lambs (2007) Dir. Robert Redford
*You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) Dir. Dennis Dugan
*Big Fan (2009) Dir. Robert D. Siegel
*Spotlight (2015) Dir. Tom McCarthy
*Sandy Wexler (2017) Dir. Steven Brill
*Green Book (2018) Dir. Peter Farrelly
*Uncut Gems (2019) Dir. Josh & Benny Safdie
*The Joker (2019) Dir. Todd Phillips
*Richard Jewell (2019) Dir. Clint Eastwood
== Discussion Notes ==
*Our hosts define the 'Sandler' discourse - talented guy who has squandered his talents
**Similar argument can be made with Michael Bay 
*The canon of comedians turned serious
**Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Christopher Guest, Jerry Lewis...Carrot Top?
***The desperation to escape lowest common denominator entertainment
***How far are they actually moving from their comedic work?
***Robin Williams declared king of the comedic-to-dramatic turn
*Big Fan
**Patton Oswalt's big dramatic turn
**His performance works because the role is a similar extension of his comedy persona (with footbal instead of geekdom)
***His interests represents his whole world, and he is happy for it
***Empathetic and frustrated - you care for him despite not agreeing with his decisions
*Blue Collar
**One of Richard Pryor's dramatic turns
**Initial scenes gives you the impression that you'll get a regular comedy role
***His classic explosive energy is stamped down, his character is broken
****Always a sadness lurking just under the surface
*Ordinary People
**Mary Tyler Moore's Oscar-winning turn from TV
***Film-bro take - it stole Best Picture from Raging Bull!
***Turns out, our hosts really like it
**Balances a performance of being cold with turning into a villain
**"Bergman-esque" - a complicated film without any easy answers
== Listener Letters ==
*Carlos
**Will our hosts revisit Pauline Kael?
***Nope!
***Will acknowledges that she was a "brilliant crafts-person and original thinker"
**Do you think the internet has had a negative impact on film criticism?
***Better than the newspaper-only days - now there's more variety and nothing has to be 'law'
****Still lots of bad stuff though!
== Post-Outro Discussion ==
*Our hosts reflect on the life of Kirk Douglas
**He broke the blacklist!
**Highlighted films
***Ace in the Hole (1951) Dir. Billy Wilder
***The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) Dir. Vincente Minnelli
***Paths of Glory (1957) Dir. Stanley Kubrick
***Diamonds (1999) Dir. John Mallory Asher
**An incredible chin that made it to 103!
***Allegedly a real bad guy off-screen
**The Douglas family team-up film - It Runs in the Family (1994) Dir. Fred Schepisi
***A family reunion not seen since the Sheens in Wall Street (1987) Dir. Oliver Stone
****Or in Hot Shots Part Deux (1993) Dir. Jim Abrahams
Category:Episodes
Category:Patton Oswalt
Category:Richard Pryor
Category:Mary Tyler Moore