[Chappelle, who loved the joke, could never make time to film. The directors were lucky enough to catch Chris Rock backstage, with camera in hand. As for the venerable Richard Pryor,] Every comedian in America wishes they were Richard Pryor, ... We could hear him laughing and coughing in the background. |
[Hackett] told it on the Tonight Show during a commercial and when they came back from commercial break [Johnny] Carson was just busting a gut for like four minutes trying to get his **** together, |
As we set about to edit, I watched 150 hours of footage over and over for a period of months. I had to figure out what hanging out with these artists doing this joke meant. In that process some ideas began to emerge: craft and art, freedom and creativity, boundaries and taboos, etc. So we used comics' performances that illustrated those ideas. We wanted to show rather than tell. |
Everybody did an amazing job of letting their hair down and being fearless, |
Gary is awesome, he's amazing, ... The music in the movie alludes to jazz, bebop and pop but has an improvisational feel and he did an amazing job with just a few minutes. |
He has a rich history with this joke. This joke was his favorite joke in the world, |
He was a huge champion of the idea and a big cheerleader for the movie, and this is where it gets heartbreaking, ... We were supposed to bring it over to his house and screen it for him right after Sundance, and he died while we were at Sundance. |
How many impressionist painters painted the same damned thing? How many actors have played the same part in renditions of a play or dancers do the same dances, |
I don't know if the audience wants to hear it, |
I was surprised how deeply that affected us. Every comedian will say Johnny was just the biggest influence on their life. |
If you can handle some raw language, come on in, and have a great time with us. To each his own. |
If you've ever been offended by any particular word, you'll probably hear it 100 times in this movie. |
inviting people to have fun with us. |
Johnny can't gain his composure, Ed McMahon is doing his characteristic bull moose guffaw, the band -- the instruments are banging into one another -- the audience is in tears, and every time Johnny would try to gain his composure, he would look at Buddy and it would start all over again. |
Penn and I conceived the film together, |