20130825: Documentary Review--Business of Comedy

The Business of Comedy

1. American live action documentary, 48 minutes, NR, 2013.
2. IMDB: one trailer and a one paragraph description.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: nothing to be found.
4. Featured in interviews: Robert Klein, Susie Essman, George Wallace, Tom Dreesen, Budd Friedman, Stewie Stone, Judy Carter, Shecky Greene, Traci Skene, Gabe Waldman, Howie Walfish, Sasheer Zameta, Modi.  Richard Zoglin, commentator.
5. The documentary covers business issues for comedy clubs, dating from the 1960s to the present, with some concentration on the 60s, 70s, 80s.
6. The 1960s: The Improv (NY, Budd Friedman), The Second City (Chicago),  Las Vegas (casinos), The Catskills (Concorde Hotel, and others).  Ed Sullivan gave big boosts to comics.
7. The 1970s: The Tonight Show (Johnny Carson), Catch a Rising Star (NY comedy club; Jay Leno grew there), The Comic Strip (NY), The Improv (LA version),  and others.
8. The 1980s: comedy inflation set in.  Many more comedy clubs and television gigs in were opened.  There was a serious dilution of talent versus number of clubs and tv shows.  Retrenchment followed.  The crash started in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  Judy Carter's how-to book about being a standup comedian made this worse.  Even some of the vanguard clubs closed, such as Catch a Rising Star.
9. Current state of comedy clubs: after a down time in the 1990s, comedy clubs started picking up again. By the early 2010s, there are more comedy clubs than ever.  Clubs now stream live shows to television, and record for future showings.  The purpose of this was to provide feedback to produce more customers in the clubs.
10. Social media: tweets and retweets, facebook likes, YouTube statistics all help comedians hone their craft, gain exposure, and increase popularity.  Some comedians even do their standup as YouTube comedy series.  Newer comedians are not so dependent on being 'discovered' by some element of established entertainment figures.
11. Overall, comedians and comedy club owners are much more business savvy than in the late 80s and in the 90s.
12. Three stars of five.

Cinematography: 10/10 The archival visuals are mostly stills instead of poor videos.  Otherwise the new footage shot for the film is fine.

Sound: 9/10 A few of the speaker could have been better miked.

Acting: N/A

Screenplay: 6/10 Well-organized, but dull.  The points made in the film could have been made in 20 minutes instead of 48.