The King of Comedy 5 Star Movie
		Made: 1983 Cast:  Robert de Niro, Jerry Lweis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard Director: Martin Scorsese Screenwriter: Paul D. Zimmerman Cinematographer:  Fred Schuler Producer: Arnon Milchan "A man can get anything he wants, as long as              he is willing to pay the price"
	This is one of the funniest movies ever to me, though to say why is hard. It is a "Serious" comedy in the vain of Dr. Strangelove or The Accidental Tourist, where in the actors play the comedy straight faced and the things that are funny are not just jokes said out loud but careful observations. A lot of people would not list this as one of Martin Scorsese's best movies but to me it is my second favorite right behind Taxi Driver. Again teaming with De Niro, there is something still "obsessive" about the main character but that is about the only similarity.     Rober De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, a wanna be comedian that refuses to do the hard work necessary to break big in show business. Part of him is scared and part of him is lazy, after all he still lives with his mother and he is in his late 30's. He is obsessed with Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis, in one of his best roles) who is a talk show host in New York like Johnny Carson was in the 80's. His fellow cohort in obsessiveness is Masha (Sandra Bernhard). She is as oblivious to real life as Rupert and to watch them talk is always a treat. The plot involves the weaving in and out of reality Rupert does in his quest to be like Jerry, eventually becoming an unsuccessful kidnapper/stalker.     Nothing in this film takes itself too seriously, which is why it works. Some people would not get it, but for those of us who are tired of seeing movies "try" to be funny and jokes ware totally thin, this kind of movie is actually refreshing. Scorsese is at his oddest and most inaccessible in the 80's, also continuing with After Hours and The Last Temptation of Christ after this. After Hours is very much like this film, except that the main character in that is in denial of what happens to him and people run into him; in KOC, Rupert runs into people. Personally I think The King of Comedy appeals more to ambitious people because they know what it is like to look at lazy bums. If there is a deciding line between which is better in Scorsese's films: Casino / Goodfellas (gangster), Raging Bull / Taxi Driver (De Niro), and Gangs of New York / The Aviator (epics), the dark comedy war is definitely King of Comedy / After Hours. KOC wins every time in my book though, the movie has a relevance that most movies of any kind lack. Just look at Jerry's face when he sees Rupert at the end on TV. What a surreal, daring film.