# Ever see funny stand-up comedy in a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367 "2011-11-18T17:46:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/21 "2011-11-19T18:51:14Z")
In the movie _All That Jazz_, Joe Gideon, the main character and director, was editing a movie called _The Stand Up_, and you saw quite a few clips of the guy doing his stand up routine. I didn’t find it all that funny, but there aren’t too many standups that I do laugh at. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/22 "2011-11-21T13:44:37Z")
It was short, but I remember Woody Allen in Annie Hall’s stand up scene being funny. I haven’t seen it in many years, though. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/23 "2011-11-21T14:22:06Z")
_Man on the Moon_ with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman had some good stuff, especially near the beginning with Carrey as Kaufman as “Foreign Man” as Elvis. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/24 "2011-11-21T15:48:14Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I listened to an interview with Aubrey Plaza (April from Parks and Rec) where she explained that Apatow pretty much forced all the actors to go out and do real stand up in front of a live audience before the movie was filmed. Some of them, like Aubrey, had never even done stand-up before. Weird since sandler, rogan, ansari, and hill are ALL standups by training. also, i’m positive i’ve seen plaza on youtube doing standup where she does stand-up impersonating sarah silverman’s standup - rather well too. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/25 "2011-11-22T02:16:28Z")
I’m guessing that the OP isn’t interested in performances in which the actor is a stand-up comedian just doing his regular act in the context of a movie, such as Louis C.K. in his sitcom, or Woody Allen in _Annie Hall_. And it also can’t be recreations of a real standup act, such as Andy Kaufman’s act in _Man on the Moon_. It should be like a _Studio 60 on Sunset Strip_ scenario, in which an actor is playing a fictional character (not essentially just himself or herself) doing an act written for the character in the movie. Furthermore, in the movie, it has to be in the context of an actual portrayal of a standup act, so Jerry Lewis generally clowning wouldn’t count. Robin Williams in _Good Morning, Vietnam_, might be a border case, but really Williams was (1) just doing his regular Robin Williams shtik in front of the camera and (2) he was portraying a real person who did actually try to be a funny performer, so I think it shouldn’t count. Dave Chappelle in _The Nutty Professor_ would count. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/26 "2011-11-22T08:16:28Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Are you talking about part of the script is a spot where the films characters perform as stand-up comedians? > > Or can scenes that masquerade as a situation but are actually standup routines count. If so, I nominate every Abbott and Costello film, every Martin and Lewis film, and every Bob Hope film (with or without Bing). if it’s the latter, i nominate quentin tarantino’s “piddling on the bar” joke in “desperado.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/27 "2011-11-22T13:01:17Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Are you talking about part of the script is a spot where the films characters perform as stand-up comedians? > > Or can scenes that masquerade as a situation but are actually standup routines count. If so, I nominate every Abbott and Costello film, every Martin and Lewis film, and every Bob Hope film (with or without Bing). For the former, Abbott & Costello performing “Who’s on First” in _The Naughty Nineties_. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/28 "2011-11-22T17:33:12Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Weird since sandler, rogan, ansari, and hill are ALL standups by training. also, i’m positive i’ve seen plaza on youtube doing standup where she does stand-up impersonating sarah silverman’s standup - rather well too. In front of a crowd, or just posting an impression on YouTube? There’s a big divide there. She’d never performed live standup before Apatow made her for Funny People. I believe the same is true for one of the other smaller parts, and I believe Rogan said he hadn’t done standup since very, very early in his career and was never good at it. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/29 "2011-11-22T18:40:54Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Sa9hXA4mo) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/30 "2011-11-22T21:20:39Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > :o > > I want to be clear here…you’re saying, per the OP, that this was funny? > > Because I thought it was torturously unfunny. Point of fact, I thought it was the lowest point in Star Trek history. Even worse: Data could pick any stand-up comedian in history, and he went and chose _Joe Piscopo_???:rolleyes: There was an episode in **WKRP in Cincinnati** , where Venus Flytrap dreams he’s doing stand up. It started out pretty funny, but a heckler began to bother him and it all fell apart. Vic Hitler in **Hill Street Blues** was very funny with his quips, though, of course, it didn’t work out when he went on stage (though he probably would have been fine if he had stayed awake). ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/31 "2011-11-22T21:23:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Even worse: Data could pick any stand-up comedian in history, and he went and chose _Joe Piscopo_???:rolleyes: OK, who did you think an android with no sense of humor would pick? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367/32 "2011-11-22T21:53:38Z")
Ventriloquist [Nina Conti](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy-Wst77qxs) (and her main puppet, Monk) was (were) in the Christopher Guest movie _For Your Consideration_ playing a ventriloquist “weather girl” who was funny. So she wasn’t doing stand-up and wasn’t doing her routine but she was being a funny ventriloquist in a movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-see-funny-stand-up-comedy-in-a-movie/603367.md?page=1)