Synopsis
Do you have to be miserable to be funny? More than sixty comedians—including stand-ups, writers, actors, and directors from the US, Canada, and abroad—take on this question, sharing anecdotes and insights with lively enthusiasm.
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Cast
- Jon FavreauSelf
- Kevin SmithSelf
- Bobby CannavaleSelf
- Freddie Prinze Jr.Self
- Matthew PerrySelf
- Whoopi GoldbergSelf
- Martin ShortSelf
- Jimmy FallonSelf
- Christopher GuestSelf
- Janeane GarofaloSelf
Recommendations
- 80
New York Daily News
Explaining humor is usually like boiling water — it evaporates. But the funny folks in actor Kevin Pollak’s well-structured doc can actually break down what they do. - 75
The A.V. Club
To a person, these comedians are looking for a connection, some attention, and appreciation — which makes them, as Penn Jillette points out toward the end, just like everybody else, only they have microphones and spotlights. - 70
Village Voice
Misery Loves Comedy reveals artists adept at sounding out the darkest depths of our lives — and then transmuting what they find to laughter, a gift I bet sad young poets might ache for. - 63
RogerEbert.com
It's hard to tell if Kevin Pollak's documentary Misery Loves Comedy is too much of a good thing or not enough. - 60
Empire
If only he had probed a bit deeper, and widened his scope beyond the predominantly white, male subjects (including our own Rob Brydon, Steve Coogan and Stephen Merchant), this could have been a fascinating film as well as a funny one. - 50
The Dissolve
More than anything, Misery Loves Comedy does not need to exist. The niche it aims to fill has already been occupied by people willing to go much deeper than Pollak. - 50
New York Post
Pollak obviously had fun, but you get the feeling the best bits never made it in. - 30
The New York Times
Misery Loves Comedy, Kevin Pollak’s survey of the opinions of a bunch of professionally funny people, is an evident labor of love and also a work of grating amateurism.
