Dying Laughing (2017)

Excellent, smart action film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

After the shock of Robin Williams death the world was alerted by the complexities of being a comedian. Being a stand-up comedian is both complicated and rewarding. At times it can be self-deprecatory and lonely. This is what I gathered from "Dying Laughing". Making others laugh is a great experience to these comedians but when that stimulus isn't there it can leave a void that can only be refilled by external social gratification. It's an interesting documentary for people who enjoy stand-up, but seeing How I'm not one of those people I found it rather boring and pretentiously narcissistic.

How many talking heads docs about comedians talking about comedy do we need? Apparently one more…. The stories are good as always, but this one is hit with a crate of unnecessary pretension (black and white? Really?). Kevin Pollack's "Misery Loves Comedy" is similar, but is better and more focused; watch that instead.

I have individually herd most of these comedians talk about the craft. There is even a HBO special produced by Ricky Gervais were he's sits down with three really famous comedians and they talk shop. It's an excellent special but this documentary tops that.Having all these comedians being interviewed together and having their stories inter cut with one another and their experiences layered into one gave a very complete inside look at what it takes to be a comedian.What's awesome about this too is that it's a wide range of comedians. From here in the States to across the pond black, white, women, black women, Latino, Asian, middle Eastern. From the really famous to the living legends to the truly iconic, to people who have been in the biz for decades but you've never herd of them. They even took some time to do a segment of one up and coming black woman whose not remembering what it's like to start out but actually going through it.It's a lesson in time and dedication and the struggle to hit the stage and what it takes to do it for a living. Very fascinating and entertaining, heartwarming sometimes serious, but overall funnyA must see.http://cinemagardens.com

I don't watch a huge amount of documentaries, but when I do I am rarely disappointed. But what makes this one special is that this features people who didn't just do a bunch of research and got it published in journals and made books. These are working comedians, of various success, and it was all about their collective experiences. Many of which conflicted, such as not every comedian having mental health issues or a terrible life. And with that, I feel if you really were interested in comedy, be it out of curiosity or perhaps as a career, you got the type of information you'd need to make a decision for yourself.