Don't Make a Scene: The King of Comedy

The Story: The Lord is getting a bit less sleep these days; Jerry Lewis passed away last Sunday. Lewis is what I call "an unmedicated genius," an enfant terrible who never grew up, a child-man with no presidential aspirations. He just wanted attention and love (is that so wrong?). He had "no dolby, no squelch" and approached his work by turning it "up to 11."

One thing I could always count on with Jerry Lewis—at least once, during every one of his movies, I would get one genuine belly-laugh, and if it's something I haven't seen before, at least one instance of surprise and admiration. Lewis is good. He might be undisciplined, but very good at what he does.

My favorite work of his is his portrayal of a popular talk-show host (read "Johnny Carson" but not completely) in Martin Scorsese's (and Newsweek film critic Paul Zimmerman's) underrated but very prescient and insightful The King of Comedy.

 

The picture is a photo-negative of Scorses's Taxi Driver: instead of focusing on the night-time adventures of a hulking sociopath with dreams of grandeur, The King of Comedy focuses on the day-time adventures of a hulking sociopath with dreams of fame...on late-night TV. Like Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle, The King of Comedy's Rupert Pupkin is an obsessive, a stalker, but one so focused on his goals that he doesn't notice his own stumbling over rationality or even sanity while pursuing it. He wants to be a stand-up comedian, and specifically Jerry Langford, so bad that he doesn't even notice that he has slid from reality into a deluded fantasy that will, and can only, lead to his success. That he might be crazy never enters his mind...it might crowd out the illusions that slip him out of reality to a faux-simulated fame that he thinks is only "a break" away. If John Hinckley haunts Taxi Driver, Mark David Chapman haunts The King of Comedy.

Lewis' work in The King of Comedy looks deceptively easy, but there's a lot of ad-libbing in it, and a lot of subtle shadowing in Langford's moods and expressions, but is it Langford...or Pupkin's imagining of Langford? Hard to tell sometimes, as Scorsese never distinguishes between reality and fantasy. But, one thing's for certain...the scene featured today is Pupkin's fantasy of Langford's reaction to his tape.

The Set-Up: Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), messenger-boy-man, has day-dreams of being a stand-up comedian. Even as he pursues his goal, the optimistic alternate reality in his head can't help invading and setting his hopes impossibly high. Like right now, as he delivers a cassette of his stand-up routine to the front-desk of the offices of The Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) Show

Action!

48 INT: AN OFFICE - DAY

A large, corner office furnished in royal red, with high ceilings and a huge desk. Potted palms and hydrangeas rest on a marble floor. LANGFORD is moving about restlessly, clutching PUPKIN's tape in one hand and waving it about. PUPKIN is seated on a comfortable couch.
LANGFORD At least once in his life...
LANGFORD ...every man is a genius. I'll tell you something, Rupe...it will be more than once in your life for you...because you've got it.
LANGFORD From what I've heard here, yeah, you've got it.
LANGFORD ...and you're stuck with it. If you wanted to get rid of it, you couldn't. It's always going to be there.
LANGFORD I know there's no formula for it.
LANGFORD I just don't know how you do it...and I'm not curious, mind you...because I want to use the material.
LANGFORD I'm curious because I don't know how you do it.
LANGFORD I really have to ask you that. How do you do it?
PUPKIN I think it's that I look at my whole life...and I see the awful things in my life...and turn it into something funny.
PUPKIN It just happens...
PUPKIN But what about the first few one-liners? Were they strong enough?
LANGFORD If they were any stronger, you'd hurt yourself.
LANGFORD They're marvelous, you daffy bastard. Leave them alone. They're beautiful.
LANGFORD A man said- Listen to me. Listen to me.
LANGFORD A man said something very profound some years ago...which I later originated.
LANGFORD "If it ain't broke...
LANGFORD ...don't fix it."
LANGFORD Want to know how I know it's so good?
PUPKIN Yes.
LANGFORD 'Cause I envy you.
LANGFORD I hate you...
LANGFORD ...but I envy you
LANGFORD ...because it's purity...
LANGFORD ...it's marvelous...
LANGFORD ...it's humor based on you.
LANGFORD No one else could do it, but you.
LANGFORD I wouldn't lie.
LANGFORD I wouldn't lie to you, Rupe.

The King of Comedy

Words by Paul Zimmerman

Pictures by Fred Schuler and Martin Scorsese

The King of Comedy is available on DVD from Warner Home Video.