Throwback Thursday: ‘The King of Comedy’

“Why not me? Why not? A guy can get anything he wants as long as he pays the price. What’s wrong with that? Stranger things have happened.”
– Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) in ‘The King of Comedy’

Six years after Martin Scorsese gave us Robert De Niro as a mentally unstable Viet Nam vet turned taxi driver, he gave us another De Niro-played, mentally unstable character. This time, however, it was played for laughs. However, playing it for laughs or not, with ‘The King of Comedy,’ Scorsese put together a film that told a story as dramatically connected to the world as anything he had done before or since. It is a film about celebrity and the lengths to which people will go just for a glimpse, a taste of it.

Sadly, also, 27 years after its release, it is a film whose timeliness is becoming increasingly more grounded into our reality with each, passing day. Today, we have reality stars, family members of celebrities, and people who become famous just for the sake of it. No one has gone to the lengths ‘The King of Comedy’s Rupert Pupkin went for a little taste of fame, but you know if it happened tomorrow no one would have any excuse for being shocked.

A little about the film.

Robert De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe comedian who is obsessed with Jerry Langford. Langford, played by comedy legend Jerry Lewis, is the Johnny Carson-esque host of a talk show. Langford seems to hold the keys for success for budding comedians, and Rupert will go to great lengths to be noticed. What begins as slightly humorous actions of an obsessed fan quickly grows into something much darker, as Rupert continuously attempts to inject himself into Jerry’s life.

‘The King of Comedy’ is, without a doubt, a very funny film. De Niro and Lewis go toe-to-toe in the comedy department here, even if their scenes together are designed to be more than a little dramatic. The early scene with the two of them in Langford’s limousine right after Rupert has “saved” him from a mob of fans sets the tone of the film perfectly. Rupert just wants a moment of Langford’s ear, not realizing how uncomfortable he is making the other man. When Jerry gives Rupert the okay to call his secretary sometime just to get away from the obsessed fan, he doesn’t realize the floodgates he has opened.

Scorsese captures Rupert’s mindset flawlessly with scenes that capture what is going on in his head. We see made-up conversations he has with Jerry. The first involves the two of them in a restaurant, as Jerry is trying to get Rupert to cover hosting the show for him. Another revolves around Jerry listening and loving Rupert’s taped material he has given him.

These scenes are incredible, but nothing captures Rupert’s frame of mind quite like the single shot that pulls back from him, as he is standing in front of a mural of dozens of laughing audience members. It is as if he is playing up to his audience, feeding off the laughter that only he can hear in his mind. That one shot does so much for our understanding of Rupert’s character. By the time his actions grow somewhat violent near the end of the film, we are not surprised in the least.

It should be noted that, up until this time, De Niro was mainly known for his dramatic roles. He had done many comedies early in his career, ‘Hi, Mom!’, ‘Jennifer on My Mind,’ and ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’ to name just a few. However, in the years leading up to ‘The King of Comedy,’ he had been nominated for four and walked away with two Academy Awards, all for dramatic turns. It was with ‘The King of Comedy’ that he turned back to his roots. Even though he had already played Travis Bickle, it seems De Niro was forced to turn back on his own mental state more so with Rupert Pupkin than any other role he had played up until that point.

Jerry Lewis is perfect as Jerry Langford, and it is almost unthinkable that he was nowhere near being Scorsese’s first choice for the role.   Scorsese’s initial idea was to have Johnny Carson play himself.   When that idea fell through, each member of the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., etc.) were considered.   It was after Dean Martin’s name was thrown about that the idea of bringing in Lewis for the role came up.

Before production began, Lewis, who had a history of getting involved in the director’s business on previous films, assured Scorsese that this would be Scorsese’s film.   He did have some kind of say on certain aspects of the script, though his proposed ending where Rupert kills Jerry was turned down.   Because of this denial, Lewis has gone on record claiming he feels the film has no true ending.

The ending is something that, nearly 30 years later, is still being debated.   With the earlier scenes involving the goings-on in Rupert’s head, there are some that claim the entire ending of the film is all made up, a figment of Rupert’s imagination.   Strangely enough, in this way, the ending of ‘The King of Comedy’ can be seen as a droll reflection to the ending of ‘American Psycho.’   Both leave the viewer in the dark as to the validity of what we are seeing.   There is no culmination in either films’ final moments that reveal the true nature of the events that are transpiring before our eyes.   We simply have to work it out on our own time and determine for ourselves whether what we are seeing is true or only occurring in the minds of the unstable protagonists.

‘The King of Comedy,’ 27 years after its release, is still just as witty and just as relevant in today’s market as it was when it first came out.   In this day-and-age of reality TV stars and fame just for fame’s sake, it is horribly surprising that no one has mirrored Rupert Pupkin’s actions just for a little taste of fame.   Here’s hoping the actions depicted in ‘The King of Comedy’ stay within the confines of the film, and what an incredible film it is.

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