Have you ever considered throwing away everything you've ever done and starting again? Well, Jerry Seinfeld, while at te top of his game did just that after his HBO special, "I'm Telling You for the Last Time." He tossed all his stand-by jokes, all his time-tested, comfortable routines and started from scratch.
His efforts to come up with an entirely new show are documented in "Comedian," a new film directed by Christian Charles and produced by Gary Streiner -- who worked with Seinfeld before on a number of projects, including a series of American Express commericals starring the comedian -- and filmed over the course of a year on a pair of hand-held, store-bought video cameras.
The 1:20-minute film is loaded with cameos by famous comics like Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Colin Quinn, Jay Leno, Robert Klein, Gary Shandling and others. But Seinfeld, and a young New York comedian Orny Adams are featured as they struggle to attain their idea of success.
The cocky and confident Adams has been working hard trying to make a successful career for himself, working the New York clubs. He starts to get breaks -- an appearance on Letterman, a deal with a top agent -- but still feels unfulfilled. He's having to rectify his high standards with a possibly unrealistic view of what the business is all about and what it's like to be a star.
{INSERT_RELATED}Meanwhile, Seinfeld, who appears to have everything going for him, finds that after the initial applause, audiences are just as tough on him as they are on any comic. So, while trying out new material, he faces self-doubt, insecurity, occasional failure and other obstacles.
Meanwhile, every other comedian in the film seems terrified of what Seinfeld is doing. Why, they wonder, would a successful comedian step out on to the precariously thin ice of touring with a set of entirely new, almost completely undeveloped material.
But, talking to other comics and searching his own soul, Jerry begins to develop a new insight into what he wants to do next. At the same time, he's beginning to polish the new material and crowds are beginning to respond.
There's lots of great backstage insight in "Comedian" and plenty of footage of Seinfeld hanging in comedy clubs with Quinn, Leno and the rest. But the film's message clearly is that being a comedian isn't as easy as it looks and just when you think you've conquered the business, you've thought wrong.
This is the perfect film to see before Seinfeld arrives in Milwaukee in a few weeks.
"Comedian" opens Fri., Nov. 1 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
