One of the worst aspects of the pandemic lockdowns has been the loss of communal entertainment experiences. This year has especially been tough missing out on laughter amid crowds at comedy clubs, but two amazing documentaries should sate the appetites of any comedy fans jonesing for a hit of onstage magic.
Showtime’s recent series “The Comedy Store” offers an amazingly detailed and fascinating look at the nearly 50-year history of what is arguably the best comedy club on the planet. Written and directed by Mike Binder, who was a regular there himself in the 1970s and ‘80s, the five-part doc has an amazing array of A-list interviewees and an infinite treasure trove of classic clips to bring the storied venue to life.
The story of the Comedy Store is also the story of the standup comedy world as a whole over the past five decades, since nearly every superstar honed their chops on its three distinctive stages: the massive, 400-plus seat Main Room, the electrifying and tight-knit Original Room and the cutting-edge, experimental 75-seat Belly Room.
Binder divides the history up in perfect fashion across each episode, with the first covering the birth of the Store and how its unique owner Mitzi Shore rode a rocket to rapid fame for the club. The Store was housed in a former legendary Mob restaurant called Ciro’s and between the shady lives of the mobsters who entertained there and the mercurial, substance-addled comics who partied there, it’s believed to be an incredibly haunted space.
That mysterious dark side is explored in parts throughout the series, as numerous comics share stories of creepy sightings and drop hints about the club’s propensity to be used as a venue for seances and other assorted occult activities. The Store’s most controversial period – when it was the subject of a volatile comics’ strike in the late ‘70s – is addressed in the second episode.
The third episode recounts its wildest days in the ‘80s, with a particular focus on the insane antics of Sam Kinison, while the fourth episode covers how Joe Rogan managed to save the club from outright financial ruin when he hit it big in the 2000s. The series concludes with top comics including Jay Leno, Paul Rodriguez and Whitney Cummings on the club’s roof discussing the state of the club and standup as a whole today.
Overall, it’s a rich ride through history that provides plenty of extra insights to both longtime comedy fans and especially for new lovers of the art form. If you don’t want to pay for Showtime, you can sign up for a free 7-day trial subscription and then cancel.
Meanwhile, I also recommend a documentary that is from 2018, yet still fresh and potent: HBO’s two-part, four-hour “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.” Written and directed by Shandling’s famous protégé, standup comic/filmmaker Judd Apatow, “Zen” takes a look through the life of the legendary comic (who died of heart failure in 2016) through both his ample body of work and his seemingly endless collection of diaries.
What makes “Zen” powerful (it won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special) are those diaries, which reflect Shandling’s immense emotions that drove a lifelong quest to be a kind and loving person above all else. The doc reveals that the tragic loss of his older brother during childhood affected his work and relationships throughout the rest of his life, providing an undercurrent of sadness amid the many hilarious standup clips and fascinating insights into his creative career as the creator of two of TV’s most acclaimed sitcoms: “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and “The Larry Sanders Show.”
Whether you’re a comedian, just a comedy fan or simply a human being who appreciates learning about a great person, “Zen” has plenty to offer. It’s well worth seeking out HBO for a free trial too, if you don’t want to pay for the channel.
Finally, I want to throw in a bonus pick of the week: a movie that is raucously entertaining but would no doubt also benefit to an infinite degree if one could enjoy it in a theater. “Con Air” is a fantastic yet ludicrous slice of pumped-up action-movie cheese from June 1997, when its star Nicolas Cage also managed to have a second blockbuster in the same month with “Face/Off,” in which he costarred with John Travolta.
The movie stars Cage as Cameron Poe, a decorated military man with a ridiculous Alabama accent who kills a man in self-defense when he and his wife are attacked by some thugs outside a bar. Due to some loophole that couldn’t possibly exist in the real world, Poe is sent to do 7 to 10 years in a federal prison, and as the movie starts, he is finally getting paroled and sent home on a private prison plane.
The problem is that the plane is packed with some of the worst prisoners the US system has to offer, and they’re played with utterly nasty joy by an amazing supporting cast that includes John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Danny Trejo, Dave Chappelle and Steve Buscemi. Malkovich plays a killer nicknamed Cyrus “The Virus,” and oversees an elaborate overtaking of the plane that’s intended to help the entire bunch flee safely to Mexico.
But Cyrus hasn’t counted on Cameron’s deep sense of honor, or a nervously energetic federal agent played by John Cusack, who races against time to stop the prisoners from switching planes and escaping forever. As Cameron and Cusack spring into action, the movie winds up exploding into a nonstop series of utterly thrilling yet absurd action setpieces and absolutely hilarious one-liners that make this not only my new favorite action movie of all time, but perhaps my favorite “fun movie” ever.
You have to see it to believe it, and it’s streaming now on Amazon Prime.
