BEFORE: Full disclosure, I started watching this late one night in April, just as something to have on in the background while I scanned the DVR's guide for new available movies on the premium channels. I assumed this was just another Robert Klein comedy special, God knows there have been many, many of those over the years - I think he might have made more HBO stand-up specials than even George Carlin, which is quite an accomplishment. If you live long enough and you're good at what you do, you just end up breaking records, it's as simple as that.
But really, it's a 2016 documentary about Klein's whole career, which is extensive, and sure, there are clips from his stand-up specials here, but it's a look at where he is now (umm, four years ago), living in upstate New York and still working on new material, and at one point he goes to visit Fred Willard, his improv comedy partner years ago, when they came up through the ranks together at Second City.
So I've already sort of been through this one, and added a bunch of people to the IMDB credits, which is what I do, and any chance to get Fred Willard and Chris Messina another appearance in 2021, I'm going to take. But I'm going to re-watch this one again today, the whole thing through, because I could really use a laugh. I'm stressed out at work, struggling to get more shifts at the new part-time gig, and my parents are moving in to assisted living today. My sister's up in Massachusetts coordinating the move, and I begged out of the process because I've got too much going on here in NYC. It's definitely the right time for my parents to make this move, which is before they HAVE to, and my mother needs better access to medical care and physical therapy, and my father needs to be less stressed out about making sure she takes her medications right, but it's hard to be happy about something like this, even if it's better for them in the long run. The future's uncertain, maybe they'll just ride out the winter without worrying about shoveling snow, maybe one or both of them will return to the house someday, it's tough to say. At some point I'll need to drive up there and get whatever I have stored in that house out of there, and at some other point my sister and I will need to make a decision about what to do with that house, but these are questions for another day.
THE PLOT: Combining decades of archival material, interviews with some of comedy's biggest stars, and new footage, this is a hilarious and poignant look at the life and career of Robert Klein.
AFTER: The name of this film comes from a routine that Robert Klein's done, over (and over) the years, performing as a blues harmonica player who can't seem to stop his leg from moving to the music, and that's always what's he's singing about, too, the fact that he can't stop his leg. It's funny maybe the first few times, but now it's the technical definition of a bit that's just gone on way too long. I kind of wish they'd left off the last two words of the title, because "Robert Klein Still Can't Stop" is a better title, it's much more positive and a great summation of his attitude right now. So many of the people interviewed here, or seen in archive footage, have passed away that it almost depicts a darker side to comedy. We laugh, and try to make others laugh, because life is too short and ultimately has no meaning other than what we project on to it, so we might as well enjoy the ride. Seriously, since this movie was released in 2016, we've lost interview subjects Don Rickles, Fred Willard, George Segal, and then there are prominent mentions of Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin and Ed McMahon, all of whom have aged out of this program called life since the turn of the millennium. Then when you factor in the comics who died before that, like Milton Berle, Henny Youngman, Steve Allen and the Three Stooges, it starts to feel like there are more dead comedians than living ones. And I re-watched this to try to cheer myself up.
Both Pryor and Carlin get name-checked here in a segment that's lifted directly from an episode of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" (I should know, I binge-watched that whole series during the lockdown last year) and then that same format continues in other parts of the documentary that were shot live, as Robert Klein goes grocery shopping, gets a haircut and attends a comedy-writing class at SUNY-Binghamton to critique the stand-up performances of college students. Some of those up-and-comers are fine, but he hated the one who used music, partially because mixing comedy and music is Klein's thing, and of course he's much better at it than some 20 year old kid.
But is he, though? Klein has a background in musical theater, even got a Tony nomination in 1979 for Best Actor in a Musical for "They're Playing Our Song" (written by Neil Simon, and with music by Marvin Hamlisch). Plus he was married to an opera singer for a time. But every HBO special he ever made included a song, and they're not all gems - like his odes to colonoscopies and medical marijuana. Then there's that "I Can't Stop My Leg" song, which based on the montage has appeared in every single special in one form or another, so come on, really, how "special" can that be, then?
Beyond the TV specials, he's been in movies ranging from "The Owl and the Pussycat" to "Mixed Nuts" to "Reign Over Me", and even carved out a spot for himself in the romantic comedy genre, in films like "Two Weeks Notice" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". He even played the mayor of NYC in TWO "Sharknado" films, but the movie that I remember him best from is "Next Stop Wonderland", which I saw at the Sundance Film Festival way back in 1998, when he played a corrupt Boston businessman who wanted to take possession of the land where the New England Aquarium was.
But according to this film, the lasting influence of Robert Klein comes mainly from his comedy albums, which were owned and listened to, over and over, by the comedians of today when they were younger. Klein was among the first comedians to perform really smart topical humor, like social commentary - Carlin got to the same sort of material later on in life, after he went through his hippie goofball phase. But Klein got there first, and then sort of headed the other direction, when Klein got older that's when the goofy songs about pot and sexual abstinence came along. But as for those early albums, they influenced Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Billy Crystal, Jon Stewart, Richard Lewis and many others.
After tooling around the Hudson Valley for a while, doing errands, we get to see Klein working with Don Rickles, filming a promo for a series of celebrity roasts, now (then) available on DVD. And then there's a long story about going sailing on a very stormy day with Rodney Dangerfield - only there's no real payoff for the bit. Klein worked with Dangerfield for about 11 years, on and off, so I have no doubt he's got many great stories about the man, but he could probably do much better than "that time Rodney almost drowned". Hell, Chevy Chase told a better story about Rodney's off-screen habits and vices during an episode of "Norm MacDonald Has a Show" (the latest Netflix show I binge-watched, right after Norm passed away).
I'm glad Robert Klein is still semi-active, at a time when most comedians his age have packed it in. But it's possible that he used up all his good material (and best songs) already - he hasn't had a new comedy special since 2010, and a documentary that uses so many clips from the older specials isn't really a substitute for a new stand-up special. Still, we all need laughs in this crazy world, probably now more than ever, and we need to celebrate those comedians that are still with us, because God knows we've lost too many already.
Also starring Robert Klein (last seen in "Definitely, Maybe"), Lucie Arnaz (last seen in "The Jazz Singer"), Mike Binder (last seen in "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"), Eric Bogosian (last seen in "Uncut Gems"), James Burrows, Harry Cohen, Rhoda Cohen, Billy Crystal (last seen in "Everything Is Copy"), Budd Friedman, Melanie Roy Friedman, Michael Fuchs, Myrna Jacobson, Allie Klein, Jay Leno (last seen in "Between Two Ferns: The Movie", Sheila Levine, Richard Lewis (last seen in "She's Funny That Way"), Bill Maher (last seen in "The Accidental President"), Bob Mankoff, Larry Miller (last seen in "Isn't It Romantic"), Rick Overton (last seen in "A Futile and Stupid Gesture"), Don Rickles (last heard in "Toy Story 4"), Ray Romano (last seen in "Bad Education"), Jerry Seinfeld (also last seen in "Between Two Ferns: The Movie"), Bob Stein, David Steinberg (last seen in "Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic"), Jon Stewart (last seen in "Too Big To Fail")
with archive footage of Roger Ailes, Steve Allen (last seen in "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan"), John Belushi (last seen in "The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart"), Tom Bergeron (last seen in "Quiet Riot: Well Now You're Here, There's No Way Back"), Milton Berle, Yogi Berra, Lenny Bruce (last seen in "The Last Laugh" (2016)), Curly Howard (ditto), George Carlin (last seen in "Bill & Ted Face the Music"), Johnny Carson (last seen in "Tina"), David Letterman (ditto), Barbra Streisand (ditto), Gary Collins, Rodney Dangerfield (last seen in "The Onion Movie"), Larry Fine (last seen in "Zeroville"), Moe Howard (ditto), Chris Messina (ditto), Henry Fonda (last seen in "Jane Fonda in Five Acts"), Adam Goldberg (last seen in "Once Upon a Time in Venice"), Merv Griffin (last seen in "MLK/FBI"), Charlton Heston (last seen in "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead"), Craig Kilborn, Thomas Lennon (last seen in "The 15:17 to Paris"), Mickey Mantle, Matthew McConaughey (last seen in "The Dark Tower"), Ed McMahon (last seen in "Echo in the Canyon"), Jack Paar, Richard Pryor (last seen in "Hitsville: The Making of Motown"), Ed Sullivan, (ditto), Phil Rizzuto, Diane Sawyer (last seen in "All In: The Fight for Democracy"), George Segal (last seen in Stick"), Gene Shalit, Jonathan Winters (last seen in "Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind"), Henny Youngman.
RATING: 6 out of 10 appearances on "Hollywood Squares"
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