The King of Comedy (1982) on Netflix
An aspiring stand-up comic, Rupert Pupkin, is sure a meeting with talk-show host Jerry Langford will land him a spot on the show. Fellow fan Masha also waits at the studio.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.8/10135,781 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Rupert Pupkin, thirty-four, lives in his mother's house and dreams of a stand-up career even though he has never performed for a real audience. He and Masha both wait outside the New York studio where Jerry Langford tapes his late-night show. Masha wants to be near Jerry; Rupert wants to appear on the program. In his basement he keeps a mock set with cutouts of Jerry and his guests. When Jerry gives him a few minutes and some polite words meant to send him away, Rupert takes them as proof of friendship and of a promised booking. He uses that to impress Rita, a bartender he has loved since high school, while his calls to the studio and his waits in the reception area get him no closer to Jerry.
Cast
- Lou Brownas Band Leader
- Loretta Tupperas Stage Door Fan
- Peter Potulskias Stage Door Fan
- Vinnie Gonzalesas Stage Door Fan
- Whitey Ryanas Stage Door Guard
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The King of Comedy (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Scorsese's first choice for talk-show host Jerry Langford was Johnny Carson, who refused, joking "You know that one take is enough for me"; Joey Bishop, Orson Welles, Dick Cavett, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were also weighed before the part went to Martin's old partner, Jerry Lewis.
- Bob Fosse briefly considered directing the film with Andy Kaufman as Rupert Pupkin, Sandra Bernhard as Masha and Sammy Davis Jr. as a Jerry Langford modeled on a telethon host, but passed to direct Star 80 instead, after which the character became a late-night talk-show host.
- Michael Cimino was announced as the film's director in March 1979 but was replaced by Martin Scorsese that November after production stalled because Cimino was consumed by editing Heaven's Gate.
- Robert De Niro prepared to play the obsessive fan Rupert Pupkin by tracking down and stalking his own real-life autograph hunters, once meeting one who brought his embarrassed wife and asked to take him to dinner two hours from New York.
- Jerry Lewis proposed the scene where Langford refuses to speak to an old woman's relative and she screams "You should only get cancer!" because it was based on a real incident from his own life, and he personally directed the actress to get its timing right.
- Director Todd Phillips has repeatedly credited The King of Comedy, alongside Scorsese's Taxi Driver, as a direct inspiration for the screenplay of his 2019 film Joker, which also starred Robert De Niro.
