Director Jordan Brady’s I Am Comic is a funny behind the scenes look at the world of standup comedy. It mostly consists of a combination of interviews with comics from the last 3 decades and footage of them performing. While it may not be the most illuminating look at the development of comedy, the interviews and standup provide consistent laughs for the entire runtime.
It covers a lot of information already provided in other films. Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedian devoted an entire movie to cover an artist’s developing and honing a new act to perfection. The Aristocrats gave us a look behind the scenes of the comedy world by way of showing a multitude of comics working the same bit. Judd Apatow’s severely underrated Funny People showed us the life of people whose job it is, is to make people laugh and the neurosis and dysfunction that comes along with the profession. So while I Am Comic might not be bringing a lot new to the conversation it is entertaining due mostly to the laugh per minute ratio it maintains.
There are some standout moments. Sarah Silverman and Roseanne discussing being offensive and the limits of good or bad taste is perfect. I mean who else could talk about this. (George Carlin is dead, so he was not able to appear.) It was also great to see Carlos Mencia confronted about his stealing of material. I would rather see him confronted about not being funny, but that’s just me. Surprisingly he seems very very proud of his joke theft.
The narrator of the film is Ritch Shydner. He was a popular comedian in the 80s who walked away from comedy in the early 90s. Throughout the film we watch him try to restart his career taking small timeslots in small comedy clubs in an attempt to work out his act. It is endearing to watch but also a little awkward. The awkwardness stems from the simple fact that he is not very funny. It certainly is not like watching Seinfeld in the aforementioned Comedian.
It may not be revelatory but it is an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half.
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