![]() Melissa Leo's character Goldie runs the hottest comedy club in town in 1973 and boasts of many of her comedians making it onto Carson's show. The series is loosely based on I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak & High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era by William Knoedelseder, but it builds a group of fictionalized jokesters who dream of the spotlight from inside the boozy, smoke-filled clubs of Hollywood. It follows a group of standup comedians trying to make it big, namely getting "asked to the couch" on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In a typical peak TV move, the series is an often bleak drama about comedy. When it occasionally finds ways to have a little fun, I’m Dying Up Here kills.I'm Dying Up Here, Showtime's exploration of the comedy scene in the 1970s, is executive produced by Jim Carrey and includes a strong cast and potential for greatness. While some viewers may be turned off by a dark show about comedians, most would be turned off by a boring show about comedians. While Dying has few real laughs (even when the comedians are on stage) the show succeeds when it stops trying so hard to prove that it’s important. But, like the other bleak aspects of its aspiring comics’ lives, the show doesn’t gloss over this less than unflattering part of their the world. ![]() Although it’s well-intentioned, the barrage of racist, sexist and anti-Semitic jokes can be jarring. The series takes on the racism and sexism in comedy's past and present, challenging the idea that people offended by jokes just don’t get them. Stephen Guarino also stands out as Sully, a menschy comic who is trying to balance his ambitions with the wants and needs of his wife and newborn. In addition to Leo’s scenery-chewing matriarch, Ari Graynor grounds the show as Cassie, the only female comic in the bunch who's heckled by men asking her to strip onstage and believes she has to work harder than the boys to get to the same place (aspects of the comedy world that are largely unchanged today). We get it.īut Dying finds its voice when it moves beyond the death and focuses on its diverse and charming cast. “(Expletive) no, we’re in one,” she says. And the rest is so self-serious it borders on parody, especially in moments such as one in which the grouporganizing a memorial, asks Goldie about booking a church. An early death erases much of the scarce laughter in the episode. clubs to Johnny Carson - the show ham-handedly explains the intricacies of “getting the couch” from Carson after a stand-up set. While die-hard fans may remember the path to success for comedians like Carrey - from L.A. ![]() It takes a few episodes for Dying to establish its rhythm, and its messy pilot struggles to establish its tone. Most of the time, however, Dying’s appealing cast is able to smooth over its tonal dissonance.īased on the book by William Knoedelseder, and executive producer Jim Carrey’s time on the stand-up grind, the show is set at Goldie's, a club run by an exacting mentor (Melissa Leo) and a group of comics hoping to "kill" (as opposed to "dying") onstage and catch the attention of Tonight Show bookers. ![]() While that’s an accurate portrayal of starving artists, it’s a bit of a drag for a show about funny people. While you might expect a sitcom based on this concept, the drama, created by Dave Flebotte ( Masters of Sex) offers a bleak portrait of its comedians dealing with poverty, drugs and death. That’s the central theme of Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here (Sunday, 10 ET/PT, ** ½ out of four), which follows a fictional group of stand-up comedians trying to make it in the L.A. Watch Video: Jim Carrey opens up about his hard times ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |