Famous Comedians Discuss the Highs and Lows of Standup Comedy in Trailer for DYING LAUGHING
by Joey Paur, GEEK TYRANT
"Comedy is purely a result of your ability to withstand self-torture.”
If you’re a fan of standup comedy then you’re going to want to watch this new trailer for an upcoming documentary called Dying Laughing. It features interviews with dozens of famous and popular standup comedians talking about their experiences as comics and the highs and lows that come along with it.
Some of the comedians that the doc highlights include Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Steve Coogan, and the late Garry Shandling.
Ben had a chance to see the movie, and as you’ll see in the trailer, he called it “A poetic, brutally candid examination of stand-up comedy.” Make sure to check out his full review here.
A stand-up comedian is his or her own writer, director and star performer. Unlike any other art form, there is no safety net. In its singular realization, comedy thrives on a stage—often in front of hostile audiences. For most people, baring your soul and being heckled would be a life-changing trauma. For stand-ups, it's just part of the routine.
Directors Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood achieve a startling level of intimacy in a series of riveting interviews with Garry Shandling, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Billy Connolly, Amy Schumer and many other masters of the comedy universe; allowing in-depth access to the emotional and psychological highs and lows of answering the call to become a comic.
The film was directed by Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stanton, and it’s set to be released on February 24th. You can watch a previously released trailer for the film here.
Dying Laughing is a new documentary that feels like it should have been called I’m Dying Up Here, because it features one-on-one interviews with stand-up comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Cedric The Entertainer, Russell Peters, the late Garry Shandling and more, all talking about their worst experiences on stage. These are the times when the bombed, died, crashed and all the other words which describe the worst thing that can happen to a comedian on stage: not getting laughs.
Watch the Dying Laughing trailer below.
Other features comedians talking about their worst stage experiences include Billy Connolly, Steve Coogan, Mike Epps, Jerry Lewis, Sarah Silverman, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Eddie Izzard and even Oscar nominee Jamie Foxx, who some forget got his start in stand-up and sketch comedy.
Dying Laughing premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year, and was picked up by Gravitas Ventures for release in limited theaters and on VOD this year. Directors Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stantonhad this to say about their movie:
Over two years, as the film began to emerge from the thousands of miles traveled and hundreds of hours or interviews, we learned about the physical and emotional dedication that it takes to become a stand-up comedian, and that the prospect of failure haunts even the most experienced and celebrated practitioners. We hope that the audience will find the final piece as touching, thought-provoking, inspirational and as funny as we do.
The Hollywood Reporter caught the documentary last year, and it sounds like despite being a bit repetitive at times and covering some territory that has been explored in other comedy documentaries, it’s still worth a watch:
Though the engaging documentary treads through unavoidably familiar territory — the loneliness of the road, the anguish of bombing — its chorus of testifiers often find sharp new angles of approach. Like the jokes they hone, many of their insights arrive with the impact of well-crafted punchlines.
Every comedian has stories like this, from the rising stars to the top tier performers, and they’re always fascinating to listen to. Apparently, Toogood and Stanton interviewed twice as many comedians as ended up in the final cut, and I’d love to pore over all that extra footage. Maybe some of it will be released on home video.
Dying Laughing hits limited theaters and VOD on February 24.
Chris Rock, Kevin Hart Talk Stand-Up Nightmares In 'Dying Laughing' Trailer
by Elijah C. Watson, OKAYPLAYER
Being a comedian can be tough, especially when you are first starting out, and even then you are prone to possibly having a bad night.
This is what Dying Laughing is all about, a film in which a number of comedians from the past and present discuss what it is like having such a career.
A new trailer was released today that summarizes the movie. In the two minute clip everyone from Chris Rock and Kevin Hart to Jerry Seinfeld and Sarah Silverman, discuss a number of different topics centered around being a comedian.
“A lot of comedians just want laugh, laugh, laugh,” Rock says in the trailer’s opening seconds, before saying how he likes his performances to be a combination of emotions and feelings.
“When you walk out onstage the only thing you can do is grab the reins and just try to ride it,” Cedric The Entertainer adds.
In a statement for Dying Laughing, this is what directors Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stanton said about the film:
“Over two years, as the film began to emerge from the thousands of miles traveled and hundreds of hours or interviews, we learned about the physical and emotional dedication that it takes to become a stand-up comedian, and that the prospect of failure haunts even the most experienced and celebrated practitioners. We hope that the audience will find the final piece as touching, thought-provoking, inspirational and as funny as we do.”
Judging by its trailer Dying Laughing will be worth a watch. It is interesting to hear the beginnings of many of these performers’ careers, and seeing what they have become since then. Case in point? Rock, who landed $40 million for his first comedy specials in eight years.
Those specials (two specifically) will be airing on Netflix, with the first show being taped some time in 2017, following a new world tour that’s currently in the works.
Check out the trailer for Dying Laughing below, and check it out when it hits limited theaters and VOD on February 24.
When we see comedy specials on tv, it's months and months of the comic working on the material and perfecting everything. The preparation, though, is where you really see what you're made of as a comic.
Check out the trailer for Dying Laughing, where comics like Jerry Seinfeld, Cedric The Entertainer, Chris Rock and more explain how tough the job really is. Dying Laughing is coming out on February 24th in theaters and On Demand.
'Dying Laughing' Trailer: Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart and Amy Schumer on the Highs and Lows of Stand-Up Comedy
by Michael Nordine, INDIEWIRE
The connection between stand-up comedy and sadness has long been apparent, and what we see of these performers onstage is almost never the full story. For a more lighthearted examination of this than, say, the documentary “Misery Loves Comedy,” consider the trailer for “Dying Laughing” — a nonfiction look at the failures that preceded the successes of Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jerry Lewis and more.
“Comedy is purely a result of your ability to withstand self-torture,” says Seinfeld as it opens. Lewis, meanwhile, points out that audiences can always tell the difference between a rehearsed joke and something spontaneous that “comes from the heart.” None of them are exempt from bad nights and hecklers, of course, and Kevin Hart — by many metrics the most successful comic in the world at the moment — recounts being told to his face that he had no potential as a stand-up comedian.
Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Jamie Foxx and Garry Shandling (RIP) also appear in the documentary, which is due in theaters and on demand courtesy of Gravitas Ventures on February 24.
Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, and more comedians talk stand-up nightmares in Dying Laughing trailer
By Nick Romano, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
According to Jerry Seinfeld, “Comedy is purely a result of your ability to withstand self-torture.”
The veteran comic joins the likes of Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and Kevin Hart in the trailer for Dying Laughing, which features interviews of comedians reflecting on their lives in comedy and how it feels to fail in front of an audience.
“It’s definitely not a great way to invest in your romantic life,” Schumer jokes.
For Jamie Foxx, “a little bit of us dies” when audiences take away that “thirst of ‘laugh at us.'” He adds, “When I was younger, it used to just, literally it would kill me. Now I’m able to flow through it now because I have money…I’m very famous.”
Cocoa Brown, Billy Connolly, Steve Coogan, and Suli McCullough also dish on some of the harsher audience reactions to their stand-up, including one who punched Connolly on stage, an audience that would throw chairs at comedians, and the general lack of filters.
“When you walk out on stage, the only thing you can do is grab the reins and try to ride it,” Cedric the Entertainer advises.
Dying Laughing, which also features interviews with Garry Shandling and Jerry Lewis, will arrive in theaters and On Demand Feb. 24. Watch the trailer above.
All of Your Favorite Comedians Discuss Failure in the Trailer for Dying Laughing
by Devon Ivie, VULTURE
You think national treasures Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock were never subjected to an array of rousing boo choruses during their prime stand-up years? Well, of course they were — ’tis the life of a touring comedian — but did you ever imagine they would actually talk about it in a documentary? Twist! The new doc Dying Laughing manages to wrangle a handful of esteemed comedians to candidly discuss the highs and lows of their stand-up history, and boy, they sure don't hold anything back about their shitty experiences. A random sampling: Kevin Hart fondly recalls the time someone told him he has zero potential, Steve Coogan reminisces about chairs being thrown at his face, while the late, great Garry Shandling questions if there's a hidden secret to stand-up success. It'll be available in theaters and on demand February 24. Maybe keep your day job.
Dying Laughing Might Be the Comedy Documentary My Fractured Sanity Requires
by Lauren Evans, JEZEBEL
There has been precious little laugh about in the past year, so when I watched the trailer for Dying Laughing, I was initially unsure what was happening to me. Was I having a stroke? Was this the sound of my soul fleeing the earthbound shackles of my body? There’s a moment in Philip Roth’s Sabbath’s Theater where an old man laughs for the first time in years:
“A bark came out of Fish, sounding like a noise coming out of a cave. Must be what he remembers of a laugh.”
The trailer is not overtly hilarious, but it does give you a taste of the crushing misery endemic to the career of every comedian—torture and death are invoked no less than six times in the course of the two minute excerpt. I did bark quietly when Sarah Silverman replicated with perfect accuracy the sound of a cartoon bomb dropping, as well as Jamie Foxx deadpanning about how rich he is. It felt good to bark-laugh, even if a little bit of dust and some spiders did puff out of my esophagus as a result.
As the film’s creators, Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stanton, toldVariety:
“Over two years, as the film began to emerge from the thousands of miles traveled and hundreds of hours or interviews, we learned about the physical and emotional dedication that it takes to become a stand-up comedian, and that the prospect of failure haunts even the most experienced and celebrated practitioners. We hope that the audience will find the final piece as touching, thought-provoking, inspirational and as funny as we do.”
It’s true that the universe is not wanting for films on the slow-breaking existential horror that is life as a stand-up comedian, but when you have Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Jamie Foxx, Garry Shandling, Billy Connolly, Steve Coogan, Cedric The Entertainer, Mike Epps, Eddie Izzard, Jerry Lewis, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Keenen Ivory Wayans and MORE talking about all the chairs that have been thrown at their faces over the course of their ultimately illustrious careers, well, sign me up.
Dying Laughing will be in theaters and on demand on February 26.
Comedians Wax Poetic on the Virtue of Choking in 'Dying Laughing' Trailer
by Charles Bramesco, SCREENCRUSH
It’s the bugaboo that every comic who’s ever gripped a mic and squinted into the spotlight knows all too well: silence. You keep telling the jokes, and your best material isn’t getting a peep. The flop sweat starts to gather at the small of your back, and all of a sudden, you regret not taking the bottle of water they offered you backstage. The colloquial turn is ‘choking’ or ‘bombing,’ and it happens to the best of the best. They admit as much themselves in the new trailer for the upcoming stand-up documentary Dying Laughing; all the Emmys in the world can’t protect the biggest talents in the world from an occasional nuclear-class bombing, and the upcoming doc captures all the agony and ecstasy of life in comedy.
Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx and plenty more all appear in talking-head segments during the trailer in advance of the documentary’s release on February 24. They offer wisdom and perspective on topics ranging from the hungry days starting out to the profession’s effects on dating prospects to nightmarish recollections of bad sets to the moment they knew they had made it. (Foxx gets a little laugh at the tail end of the trailer, as he takes pleasure in talking himself up a bit.) Seinfeld himself pretty much sums up the complex masochism inherent to stand-up comedy with a single line at the outset: “Comedy is purely a result of your ability to withstand self-torture.”
An unexpectedly potent moment comes when Garry Shandling, now dearly departed, asks, “There’s gotta be a secret, right?” That’s the attitude that comedians have toward their craft: it’s a mystical, sacred duty that few are capable of withstanding on a professional level. To get jeered by strangers takes nerves of steel.
Trailer Premiere: Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer + More in Documentary 'Dying Laughing'
SHADOW AND ACT
From directors Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood comes the feature documentary “Dying Laughing,” which is described as a candid look at the complicated and fascinating lives of some of the world’s greatest stand-up comedians.
Synopsis: A beautiful, moving, funny and unique feature-length documentary on the agony and the ecstasy of making people laugh. A stand-up comedian must be the writer, the director and the star performer—and in stand-up there is no rehearsal, no practice, no safety net, as it only works in front of a live audience, with feedback being instantaneous and often brutal. For most people, baring their soul on stage and having an audience “boo” at you would become a life-long trauma, but for stand-up comedians, it’s a nightly challenge. The funny and heartfelt documentary contains original interviews interlaced with personal footage of life on the road—all from a comedian’s point of view. Once you take this step behind the curtain, you will never look at these funny folks the same way again.
Among those featured in the film are familiar comedians like Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer, Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Lewis, Steve Coogan, Garry Shandling and others.
Gravitas Ventures will release the film in theaters & on demand beginning on February 24.
Coming Soon: Comedy Doc "Dying Laughing". Watch the Trailer Now
by Rachel Crowe, THE INTERROBANG
A ridiculous roster of stand-ups, some posthumously, and others thankfully alive, rallied to share the joys and agonies of a life in comedy in the upcoming documentary “Dying Laughing”. It’s inherent that star-studded documentaries often take themselves too seriously, but sometimes that’s an okay price to pay for juicy nuggets of wisdom. The highly augmented, tightly-edited trailer promises some pretentious, easy moments, but many worthy revelations from legends like Garry Shandling and Jerry Seinfeld. The trailer includes a few moments that appear too orchestrated to really land as touching, but then there’s the heartbeat where Shandling, an old-ish man, but so very young looking with those wide eyes asks, “there’s gotta be a secret, right?”. And you’re hooked.
The film appears to be a string of seated interviews with comedians (based on the trailer), but the sum charisma of its cast is enough to ensure that won’t grow tiresome. The revelation that you’re never too good or too famous to fail, from literally any viewpoint including the most polar of imaginable circumstances on this planet, looks promising. Maybe that’s only true for stand-ups and comedy nerds, but the story-telling abilities of the film’s subjects should ensure the rest of humankind is into it, right? Doesn’t everyone find this stuff interesting?
“Dying Laughing” will be available in theaters and on demand February 24th and was co-created by Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood. If you need to know specifically what the “ridiculous roster” entails, it’s interviews from Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Sarah Silverman, Cedric the Entertainer, Eddie Izzard, Billy Connolly, Steve Coogan, Mike Epps, DL Hughley, Amy Schumer, Bob Saget, Bobby Lee, Bonnie McFarlane, Cocoa Brown, Dave Attell, David A. Arnold, Dom Irrera, Emo Philips, George Wallace, Gilbert Gottfried, Jim Jefferies, Paul Provenza, Rick Overton, Russell Peters, Sam Tripoli, Sandra Bernhard, Tommy Davidson, & more.
A stand-up comedian is his or her own writer, director and star performer. Unlike any other art form, there is no safety net. In its singular realization, comedy thrives on a stage—often in front of hostile audiences. For most people, baring your soul and being heckled would be a life-changing trauma. For stand-ups, it’s just part of the routine. In Theaters & On Demand 2/24!
Directors Lloyd Stanton and Paul Toogood achieve a startling level of intimacy in a series of riveting interviews with Gary Shandling, Chris Rock, Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Billy Connolly, Amy Schumer and many other masters of the comedy universe; allowing in-depth access to the emotional and psychological highs and lows of answering the call to become a comic.
Watch the official trailer to upcoming comedy documentary movie "Dying Laughing"
SONYPARK360.NET
Dying Laughing is an upcoming comedy documentary movie which shows the success stories as well as challenges and failures that most stand-up comedians face on their journey to stardom. It definitely isn’t easy to make people laugh, and while some succeed in entertaining a large audience, others get their careers crushed by the response of a disappointed crowd.
Dying Laughing shows the pain and struggles each comedian faces in their quest to please their audience, and it features a lot of great comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Hart, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Lewis, Garry Shandling, and many more.
Dying Laughing is scheduled to premiere in theaters on the 24th of February, 2017.
'Dying Laughing' Trailer: Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock Talk Heckling Horrors in Comedy Doc
by Ashley Lee, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Courtesy of 4045 Films
'Dying Laughing'
Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Steve Coogan and the late Garry Shandling are among the dozens of comedians who discuss the highs and lows of their profession.
"Comedy is purely a result of your ability to withstand self-torture," says Jerry Seinfeld in the trailer for Dying Laughing.
Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Sarah Silverman, Steve Coogan and the late Garry Shandling are among the dozens of comedians who discuss the highs and lows of their profession in the documentary by Paul Toogood and Lloyd Stanton.
In the preview, comics recall the worst things they've ever heard while performing onstage. "When I was younger, it used to literally kill me," says Jamie Foxx of heckling. "Now I'm able to float through it — because I have money."
Gravitas Ventures releases the doc in theaters and on demand on Feb. 24.
