The 15 best movies about comedians and the world of comedy

Andy Kaufman was not for everybody, and that was his intent. Even though he was a cast member on a network sitcom and routinely appeared in Saturday Night Live , he was also a performance artist. Jim Carrey starred in this seriocomic biopic of Kaufman, and according to a documentary released years later, Carrey tapped into some of Kaufman’s antagonism while filming.

One of many films based on a Neil Simon play, The Sunshine Boys reunited a legendary vaudeville act. Walter Matthau and George Burns both earned Oscar nominations, but the latter got the win in Best Supporting Actor. Hey, he had vaudeville experience, so it was right up his alley.

Between the Brat Pack and the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. had a couple of notable films amid personal turmoil. To date, his best performance on screen is arguably in Chaplin. As you can likely suss out, Downey played Charlie Chaplin in a biopic of the screen legend.

Released as TV shows in England, The Trip and its sequels have been trimmed down into movies for American release. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, two British comedians, play heightened versions of themselves in these films. The two travel, eat, and riff. It’s simple but effective.

Some comedic performers turn to stand-up because they want to work solo. However, if you are the collaborative sort, you may turn to improv. Ah, what happens if one group member finds the success you are all secretly striving for? That is at the heart of Don’t Think Twice, a fairly accurate look at the dynamics of being an improv troupe.

OK, so Punchline may not be accurate. A comedy club in the film has lockers for the performers, when at best, in the 1980s, you would have a cramped green room absolutely caked in nicotine at your disposal. That being said, Punchline costars Sally Field and Tom Hanks. Both have multiple Oscar wins, so there’s that.

Chris Rock playing a successful comedian? What a stretch! The actor was likely tapping into his personal feelings with Top Five, a movie he didn’t just star in but also wrote and directed. At the very least, Rock knows that world quite well.

The darker side of comedy is on display in The King of Comedy . It’s a Martin Scorsese film, after all. But there is some humor in it. Robert De Niro plays a struggling, deranged standup comedian who goes as far as to hold an embittered talk show host, played by Jerry Lewis, hostage to get some time with him. It’s kind of like if  Taxi Driver had been about comedy instead.

Nora Ephron began her career as a successful writer, but eventually, she got a chance to direct (and was quite successful in that realm, too). This is My Life was co-written by Nora and her sister Delia and focuses on a young single mother who dreams of being a standup comedian.

Rudy Ray Moore is a distinctive figure in the world of entertainment. Starting as a standup, he began transforming into the lewd character of “Dolomite,” which led to success in that world. Then, he parlayed that into truly independent filmmaking and became something of a staple of Blaxploitation film. Now, Moore wasn’t a good filmmaker, but neither was Ed Wood, and he’s a legend. Dolemite is My Name is a tribute to Moore that served as a return to film stardom for Eddie Murphy.

The Coen Brothers can do gripping thrillers and hilarious comedies in equal measure. Hail, Caesar! is about old Hollywood and is focused on the fixer Eddie Mannix, played by Josh Brolin. We see several different films made during Hail, Caesar!, and a couple of them are comedies, usually of the singing-and-dancing variety. No, it’s not purely about comedy but partially about it.

The Artist is somewhat metatextual, a modern silent movie about the silent era of film. A movie about movies, some of the films being made are comedies. As a love letter to film, The Artist was a confounding, if not a surprising choice for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

OK, one last movie looking back at the “Golden Age of Hollywood.” Singin’ in the Rain is a predecessor to The Artist in many ways. It’s about film transitioning from silents to talkies, with plenty of looks at comedy films thrown in. While The Artist is a silent movie by and large, though, Singin’ in the Rain is a musical. Both won Best Picture, though.

Lenny Bruce was a significant figure in the history of comedy. He pushed the envelope on stage, even though it led to charges of indecency that led to jail time and the hindering of his career. Lenny, directed by Bob Fosse of all people, focuses a little too much on the bitter, ranting days of Bruce, forgetting that first he had to, you know, become a popular standup. Still, if you are talking about movies about comedy, especially standup, you have to include Lenny.

Sketch comedy existed before Saturday Night Live came around. Take, for example, Sid Caesar and his shows. Set in 1954, My Favorite Year focuses on the writer of a show starring a Caesar stand-in. This young writer wants his favorite actor – an Errol Flynn type – to guest on the show, only to find out that this actor (played by Peter O’Toole in an Oscar-nominated role) is an unreliable alcoholic.