Friday, January 15 . . .
And the late night wars just keep getting uglier. As if the world didn’t have enough to contend with.
We’ve all heard the latest about NBC’s brilliant strategizing regarding the debacle of Jay Leno’s disastrous foray into prime time. Seems they’re going to return him to his old late night spot to appease affiliates. One person who is decidedly not appeased is Conan O’Brien, who – as of this writing – refuses to relinquish the slot he inherited from Leno.
The history of Late Night programming is littered with notable names: Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Ernie Kovacs . . . and Rupert Pupkin.
Um . . Rupert Pupkin?
In honor of the Jay/Conan feud, today’s Movie A Day salutes the institution of Late Night TV shows, and the strange cult of celebrity it can create, with Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy, ‘The King of Comedy’. Robert DeNiro inhabits one of the quirkier roles of his diverse career as comedian and late night wannabe Rupert Pupkin, who makes up in chutzpah what he lacks in talent. In a bold bid to get booked on a ‘Tonight Show’ clone, Pupkin kidnaps host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), refusing to release him until he gets booked on the show.
‘The King of Comedy’ is dark, funny, disturbing, and loaded with industry in-jokes. Scorsese nails the details, right down to the casting of real-life Tonight Show producer Freddy DeCordova, in a small role. In addition to an edgy turn by Sandra Bernhardt as Pupkin’s partner in crime, Scorsese’s most audacious move was casting Jerry Lewis in the role of Jerry Langford, a pastiche of all great talk show hosts. Originally, Johnny Carson considered playing the part himself, but bowed out, leaving the door open for Lewis – who turns in a restrained and credible performance. Restrained, indeed – he spends about half his screen time literally immobile, tied down with duct tape. And who among us hasn’t secretly yearned at some point to tie Lewis down with duct tape?
Myself, I never found either Leno or O’Brien to be funny. My taste ran to the great, lamented parody of late night, ‘Fernwood Tonight’, a spin-off of the even loopier ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman’. ‘Fernwood Tonight’ starred Martin Mull (as unctuous chain-smoking host Barth Gimble), and skewered the format while saluting it at the same time. Way ahead of (or behind?) its time. NBC could do a lot worse than buying up the old shows and airing them instead of Leno’s white-bread monologues.
Check out a clip from ‘The King of Comedy’ at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU6TBPQRM0c&feature=related
Then, sample a taste of ‘Fernwood Tonight’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_iYmu_7zR4
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