Rupert Pupkin
Jul. 28th, 2003 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinKibo showed me the fine Scorcese flick The King of Comedy last night. I can see why this is Conan O'Brien's favorite movie.
But it gave me nightmares. Or not exactly nightmares, but worse: those obsessive half-awake thoughts that won't let you get entirely to sleep and won't shut up unless you become completely awake. Something in my head was telling me I was like unto Rupert Pupkin. Rupert Pupkin. Rupert Pupkin. The last movie that did this to me was Fight Club. I think it's pretty much a sign that the movie is good, in a particular dark way.
Rupert Pupkin is Robert De Niro's character in the movie, one of those obsessive losers he often plays, in a typically brilliant performance. Pupkin lives in his mom's basement and spends his days talking to cardboard cut-outs of Jerry Lewis and Liza Minnelli. He imagines that he is the greatest stand-up comic in the world. Eventually, with the help of a standard-issue crazy stalker played by Sandra Bernhard, he kidnaps Jerry Lewis's character, who is this Johnny Carson-like figure, so he can get on the show. Tony Randall ensues. Jerry Lewis, believe it or not, gives a fine dramatic performance as the guy who would really like to get rid of the annoyance of Rupert Pupkin. Sandra Bernhard is just Sandra Bernhard.
One of the things I liked most about the movie is that when we finally hear Pupkin's routine, it's pretty bad, but it's realistically bad: not completely over-the-top bad, but the kind of bad you'd hear from an actual really lame stand-up comic. Jokes about how crummy Passaic, New Jersey is. And he actually gets a few chuckles from dimwits in the audience.
I AM NOT RUPERT PUPKIN, DO YOU HEAR ME???
But it gave me nightmares. Or not exactly nightmares, but worse: those obsessive half-awake thoughts that won't let you get entirely to sleep and won't shut up unless you become completely awake. Something in my head was telling me I was like unto Rupert Pupkin. Rupert Pupkin. Rupert Pupkin. The last movie that did this to me was Fight Club. I think it's pretty much a sign that the movie is good, in a particular dark way.
Rupert Pupkin is Robert De Niro's character in the movie, one of those obsessive losers he often plays, in a typically brilliant performance. Pupkin lives in his mom's basement and spends his days talking to cardboard cut-outs of Jerry Lewis and Liza Minnelli. He imagines that he is the greatest stand-up comic in the world. Eventually, with the help of a standard-issue crazy stalker played by Sandra Bernhard, he kidnaps Jerry Lewis's character, who is this Johnny Carson-like figure, so he can get on the show. Tony Randall ensues. Jerry Lewis, believe it or not, gives a fine dramatic performance as the guy who would really like to get rid of the annoyance of Rupert Pupkin. Sandra Bernhard is just Sandra Bernhard.
One of the things I liked most about the movie is that when we finally hear Pupkin's routine, it's pretty bad, but it's realistically bad: not completely over-the-top bad, but the kind of bad you'd hear from an actual really lame stand-up comic. Jokes about how crummy Passaic, New Jersey is. And he actually gets a few chuckles from dimwits in the audience.
I AM NOT RUPERT PUPKIN, DO YOU HEAR ME???
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Date: 2012-10-12 01:26 pm (UTC)