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 he best "character" in the documentary
"Comedian", which follows TV star and gazillionaire Jerry Seinfeld as
he returns to the comedy circuit with all-new material, is not Seinfeld himself,
but an unknown comedian name Orny Adams. At 29 years old, Adams is already
starting to stress about "not making it" and relentlessly wonders out
loud if he'll ever "make it" or be as famous as Seinfeld, who he meets
during a gig at a comedy club. Instead of listening to the veteran comedian give
advice, Adams stares obliviously at Seinfeld, frothing at the mouth as he waits
impatiently for his turn to speak.
There is, of course, one inherent problem with
"Comedian." Seinfeld claims he has shrugged off all the trappings of
stardom and having enough money to give Bill Gates a run for his set-for-life
status. But here's some little tidbits that Seinfeld and the documentary never
addresses: How can Seinfeld be just another face at the comedy clubs again if he
gets standing ovations just for stepping on stage, and he flies to gigs on a
private jet? These are two things your average up-and-coming comedian don't get
or have. So it's a little pretentious for Seinfeld to say that he's essentially
become "just another comedian out there" again.
Seinfeld aside, the most intriguing moments of
"Comedian" has to do with the improbably named Orny Adams. Adams is a
fast-talking, energetic, and completely miserable man. It wouldn't be correct to
call Adams arrogant, because his assumed arrogance isn't built on a sense of
superiority, but rather based on the knowledge of his own self-loathing. Adams
is so mired in his self-generated misery, his self-doubts, and his inability to
appreciate just about anything that has gone right in his life, that we know
without a doubt that even when he finally "makes it" (if he ever does)
that he'll still be the same shell of a man he is now. Meaning he won't be any
happier. This point is seen by everyone in the docu, even super agent George
Shapiro, who also represents Seinfeld. When offered this insight, Adams thinks
they're all crazy and out to get him.
Much of "Comedian" comes off as a vanity project,
with the cameras following Seinfeld through the dim corridors and back stages of
New York City comedy clubs where Seinfeld has gone to hone his new material. The
self-doubt that Seinfeld and his fellow well-known comedians express confirms
that comedians, as a group, are the most insecure people in the world. There's
Jay Leno, who refuses to spend a single cent from his "Tonight Show"
earnings. And Garry Shandling, who wonders out loud if his old material will be
trumped by Seinfeld's new materials when the two men have to go on the same
stage in the same night.
Unfortunately I knew all of this going in.
"Comedian" doesn't really tell me anything new. What it does tell me
is that when a star as big as Seinfeld, or Ray Romano, or Jay Leno shows up at
your club's doorstep and asks to go on without having booked a gig beforehand,
he usually gets his way. Again, this isn't something an "average"
comedian can do. By the very notion that Seinfeld can just show up at a comedy
club and ask if he can just go on to do a "quick set" means that the
whole premise of "Comedian" -- to show a star returning to his roots
to "start all over again" -- is a bit of a stretch.
The really good sections of "Comedian" all
involves the self-destructive Orny Adams, who dreams of big bucks, stardom, and
being recognized in restaurants, but has no idea why he wants all those things.
After Adams performs a successful set and gets invited to an important comedy
festival, he calls everyone he knows on his cellphone. Instead of being joyous
at having been accepted into the festival, Adams starts to whine and moan about
the people he couldn't reach by phone to tell them the good news. The
fact that the world doesn't revolve around his ups and downs, it seems, is too
much for him to bear.
The whole point with the Orny Adams character is just how
out of touch with reality he is. In another funny scene (to us, the viewer)
Adams takes a moment to collect his thoughts, before turning to the camera and
wonders out loud what "people in L.A." are saying about him now, and
what sort of "deals" they have installed for him. All of these
intimate moments with the brash Adams would be endearing if the man himself
wasn't so self absorbed and lacking in anything resembling humility. After Adams
performs badly at a gig, he goes outside the building to rant and rave about
what a miserable bunch of human beings the audience was. Of course, it never
occurs to him that maybe he just wasn't funny that particular day.
Not surprisingly, "Comedian" would be just
another stale vanity project without our daily injections of Orny Adams, who I
am now convinced is just a character, like Paul Reubens' PeeWee Herman -- only
less likable.
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