Misery Loves Comedy
Steve Coogan recalls that his father always tried to be funny, but never was. Little wonder he developed a marvelous deadpan in the face of absurdity. The British comic is one of 60 professional funny people who responded separately to the same set of questions posed by director Kevin Pollak in his documentary, Misery Loves Comedy. Their answers are various (and usually funny); many started young, determined to overcome shyness by making people laugh.
Iris
Iris Apfel is draped in necklaces with beads the size of skulls, her wrists covered in ladybug bracelets. At age 93, she remains a sought-after fashion maven in this documentary by Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens). Maysles inhabits his subject’s surroundings and gives her time to chat about her life. Gracious and humorous, Apfel is skeptical of young designers with “no sense of history, no curiosity” and decries a world with “so much sameness. I hate it!”
“The Hee Haw Collection”
From a 21st-century perspective, “Hee Haw” was meta—a deliberately corny TV show commenting on the corniness of a certain segment of American pop culture. During its 1969-1971 run, it was hard to know what to make of its innovative use of animation and instant replay, coupling sideways comic skits with performances by Roy Clark and Buck Owens in contemporary-country style and Grandpa Jones looking and sounding like a circa-1900 Appalachian.
A Murder in the Park
A convicted murderer, Chicagoan Anthony Porter, had already been measured for his coffin and asked about his last meal when a stay of execution saved his life. Investigations by a Northwestern University journalism class prompted an eyewitness to recant and coaxed a confession from another man. And then their investigation began to implode under the weight of misconduct and deceit. A Murder in the Park is a fascinating documentary of the ensuing crossfire of allegations.
