[Now for a bust that resulted from trying to explain one of the many cultural references that the animated show Family Guy made in the episode Barely Legal.]
The King of Comedy (1983) is an American black comedy directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott and Sandra Bernhard.
In the end Robert De Niro discovers that the only way to break into television is from behind the barrel of a gun.
Middle-aged living-at-home-with-his-mother stage-door autograph hound, De Niro, plays an aspiring stand-up comic with obsessive ambition that far exceeds his actual talent.
A chance meeting with famous comedian and talk show host, Jerry Lewis, leads De Niro to believe that there is a place on Lewis's show for him if he really wants it.
However, De Niro's attempts to collect on Lewis's apparent offer are continually rebuffed by the show's production staff.
Along the way, the wanna-be star indulges in ever more elaborate and obsessive fantasies where he and Lewis are colleagues and friends, until finally, Lewis is forced to shatter De Niro's dreams, after De Niro invites himself and his would-be girlfriend, Diahnne Abbott, to stay at Lewis's weekend retreat.
Nevertheless, convinced that he is destined for greatness, one way or another, the humiliated and frustrated De Niro hatches a kidnap plot, with the help of obsessive Lewis-stalker, Sandra Bernhard.
The ransom is for De Niro to be given the opening spot on that evening's show (guest hosted by Tony Randall), and that, before Lewis is released, the show must be aired nationally, as usual, so that Abbott can see that De Diro wasn't just some crazy fantasist.
To the surprise of the show's producers and the police, De Niro's exaggerated autobiographical stand-up routine goes down well with the audience. Even his confession that he is only there because he has kidnapped Lewis gets a laugh.
In the meantime, between the show's recording and broadcast, left alone with her idol duct-taped to a chair in her parents' Manhattan townhouse, Bernhard attempts to seduce Lewis.
But the seduction only allows Lewis to escape, just in time to catch the end of De Niro's routine in which he explains that "Tomorrow you'll know I wasn't kidding and you'll all think I'm crazy. But I figure it this way: better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime."
And perhaps he had a point, because a news report covering his eventual release from prison, featuring shots of storefronts piled high with his "long awaited" autobiography, King For A Night, reveals that De Niro now has an agent with whom he is considering several "attractive offers" one of which turns out to be an apparent live TV special in which an excited announcer introduces him to an equally enthusiastic audience.
Scorsese has made a career out of depicting madness in it various forms. De Niro's celebrity obsessed fantasist is perhaps the least dangerous of his many creations. And the movie is a wonderful exploration of the dangers of the modern cult of celebrity, and a welcome break from the usual corruption and brutal violence that perfuse so much of his output.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Comedy_(1983_film)
The King of Comedy (1983) is an American black comedy directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott and Sandra Bernhard.
In the end Robert De Niro discovers that the only way to break into television is from behind the barrel of a gun.
Middle-aged living-at-home-with-his-mother stage-door autograph hound, De Niro, plays an aspiring stand-up comic with obsessive ambition that far exceeds his actual talent.
A chance meeting with famous comedian and talk show host, Jerry Lewis, leads De Niro to believe that there is a place on Lewis's show for him if he really wants it.
However, De Niro's attempts to collect on Lewis's apparent offer are continually rebuffed by the show's production staff.
Along the way, the wanna-be star indulges in ever more elaborate and obsessive fantasies where he and Lewis are colleagues and friends, until finally, Lewis is forced to shatter De Niro's dreams, after De Niro invites himself and his would-be girlfriend, Diahnne Abbott, to stay at Lewis's weekend retreat.
Nevertheless, convinced that he is destined for greatness, one way or another, the humiliated and frustrated De Niro hatches a kidnap plot, with the help of obsessive Lewis-stalker, Sandra Bernhard.
The ransom is for De Niro to be given the opening spot on that evening's show (guest hosted by Tony Randall), and that, before Lewis is released, the show must be aired nationally, as usual, so that Abbott can see that De Diro wasn't just some crazy fantasist.
To the surprise of the show's producers and the police, De Niro's exaggerated autobiographical stand-up routine goes down well with the audience. Even his confession that he is only there because he has kidnapped Lewis gets a laugh.
In the meantime, between the show's recording and broadcast, left alone with her idol duct-taped to a chair in her parents' Manhattan townhouse, Bernhard attempts to seduce Lewis.
But the seduction only allows Lewis to escape, just in time to catch the end of De Niro's routine in which he explains that "Tomorrow you'll know I wasn't kidding and you'll all think I'm crazy. But I figure it this way: better to be king for a night, than schmuck for a lifetime."
And perhaps he had a point, because a news report covering his eventual release from prison, featuring shots of storefronts piled high with his "long awaited" autobiography, King For A Night, reveals that De Niro now has an agent with whom he is considering several "attractive offers" one of which turns out to be an apparent live TV special in which an excited announcer introduces him to an equally enthusiastic audience.
Scorsese has made a career out of depicting madness in it various forms. De Niro's celebrity obsessed fantasist is perhaps the least dangerous of his many creations. And the movie is a wonderful exploration of the dangers of the modern cult of celebrity, and a welcome break from the usual corruption and brutal violence that perfuse so much of his output.
Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Comedy_(1983_film)
