Original subtitles

To understand humanity is to understand the sweet, lovely,

wonderful foolishness of the human condition.

The best comedy comes from your living experience.

Every comic sees the world through a prism

that the average person doesn see through.

All we do is point out the obvious, really,

and then twist it somewhere.

I just can believe the way people are.

What is it with humanity?

What kind of a world do we live in?

Anderson: You’re not alone, ultimately.

I think that’s what the comic’s saying.

Reality is the fodder for comedy because it’s what we have.

So where else can we find comedy if not in real life?

David: As opposed to what, fake life?

You know.

Life is real. Yeah, we got that.

♪

First, a philosophical question.

Have you ever noticed when you’re driving

that anyone who’s driving slower than you is an idiot?

[ Laughter, applause ]

And anyone driving faster than you is a maniac!

You see a million things a day in your life,

and they all go on the back burner

of your six‐burner Wolf, ridiculously priced mind.

A comedian comes out and brings it to the front burner.

I don like other people’s showers.

There’s always a problem with temperature adjustment.

There’s always a little hair stuck on the wall.

[ Laughter ]

And you want to get rid of it, but you don want to touch it.

I don know how it got up that high in the first place.

Real life is funny because it’s relatable, period.

That’s it.

And people are at home watching something relatable,

that will make them laugh because they go,

"Oh, that happened to me, too."

Remember when you were a kid and you’d go on vacation?

You’d be, like, "Why is dad always in a bad mood?"

[ Laughter ]

Now I understand.

Don! No!

Hyah!

[ Laughs ]

Is this Grandma?

Yeah, she’s still alive.

David: Why is the family a good place to look for humor?

Was that it?

Where else ‐‐ Where else is it?

Maybe you should ask Santa for a new family?

I don want a new family. I don want any family.

Families suck.

Do you ever notice where you trip on something,

when you’re walking, and you go, "What was that?"

Well, that was your family.

Would you forget the paper?

Anderson: They put their foot out.

Just don get so ahead of yourself.

Anybody got them mothers that would hit you with a shoe?

I had a mother that would throw a shoe at you

at the drop of a dime

and fuck you up wherever she was aiming.

[ Imitates gunshot ]

[ Applause ]

[ Whistles theme from "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" ]

I don want to give you the wrong impression of my dad.

He never hit us.

He carried a gun.

[ Laughter ]

He never shot us. He just ‐‐

[ Imitates gun cocking ]

[ Laughter ]

When I started, I just did fat jokes.

I didn know other families had that

insanity that I grew up with.

"Oh, yeah, Mom told me to tell you today.

You’re adopted."

[ Laughter ]

"You’re ruining this whole family."

Rosenthal: That’s why we laugh.

That’s why the family sitcom has always prevailed.

Oh, I could just crawl into a hole and die!

That’s the second hole she’s crawled into in two days.

Rosenthal: In the ’50s, you get these sitcoms that, frankly,

aren really trying to be that funny.

Boy, nobody can make pancakes like Mom.

Nobody can eat ’em like Pop.

These shows are presented by soap sellers, car sellers.

They wanted their product to be nice, with no sharp edges,

so they couldn be that daring.

Very sort of white‐bread portrayals of family

were what the public wanted to see at that time,

but in the ’70s, all of that changed.

♪ And you knew who you were then ♪

The comedy grew out of transgression.

Shows like "All in the Family"

showed a different side of that nuclear family.

Do you realize how many boring things

I gotta do in a single day that drive me crazy?

I gotta get up. I gotta brush my teeth.

I have to shave, and I hate to shave.

There are mornings when I stand there,

debating with that mirror,

should I shave, or should I cut my throat?

But I shave.

You know, it’s too bad you always lose that argument.

What was it about "All in the Family"

that was so different from the things

that had come before?

I wasn aware at the time there was anything different.

I was writing out of my own experience.

I grew up with a father much like Archie Bunker

who insisted that I was

the laziest white kid he ever met.

You are a meathead.

What did you call me?

A meathead ‐‐ dead from the neck up.

Meat. Head.

Norman Lear blows the lid off what a family sitcom is.

Oh, Archie!

Out of the way, Edith.

We were writing about what we knew,

what was happening our families ‐‐

up the street, down the street,

across the street from each other,

and that’s how we got to the real problems.

I think it’s time we had a brother‐to‐brother talk.

Or to put it delicately,

a talk about the birds and the bees.

Well, I have to study right now.

I’ll teach you about sex some other time, okay?

Norman Lear gave you "All in the Family."

He gave you "Good Times." He gave you "The Jeffersons."

He gave you different looks of what real,

niched versions of the American family

were in different segments of this country.

Well, he married into one of them mixed‐up families.

What do you mean, mixed‐up?

Zebra city.

He’s white. She’s black.

The kids are medium‐rare.

It was basically all flawed characters,

but that was what was good about it.

People could relate to the fact

that these were not perfect human beings, far from it.

You could draw a line right there.

That’s where it started to change,

and that paved the way for everything that came after.

I’m going to get married when I’m 23.

23.

And I’ll have a husband named Bud.

Husband named Bud?

Bud what?

Bud Huxtable.

"The Cosby Show," in the ’80s, normalizes the black experience

in a way that was super important.

That felt more like my family

than when I heard what the myth of the black family was.

How do you expect to get into college with grades like this?

‐No problem. ‐Huh?

See, I’m not going to college.

Damn right.

We had "Cosby Show," "Family Ties."

We had the Seavers.

And those families were saying we’re all basically the same.

Kohen: It was a more conservative era,

and so you had these upper‐middle‐class households

who don worry about money,

are able to, like, balance their careers and their kids,

and then in comes "Roseanne."

I’m sorry.

What do you want me to do, throw myself off a bridge?

Yeah, and take your brother and sister with you.

Are you ever sorry we got married?

Every second of my life.

Cryer: We’re used to a certain amount of slickness in our sitcoms,

but "Roseanne" got rid of all of that,

mostly because she was never that kind of performer.

This was not "The Cosby Show."

They were letting it all hang out and letting it be funny.

You’re being totally unfair

just ’cause I don want to eat your stinkin’ beans!

Wrong. I am being totally unfair

because that is my job!

Now, you sit down and have a nice dinner with your family.

‐I hate you. ‐Hey!

I say disown her.

I wanted to do a show

that was about real people, that wasn about,

"Honey, bathroom bowl needs cleaning."

I wanted to do a show that was, like, just the joy

and the horror of, like, life.

Every person from a family recognizes all that stuff.

Human beings are a huge pain in the ass.

How any of them get along with any others of them...

Knock it off!

...they really don, actually.

Sometimes, I just ‐‐ I don know what to do.

Sometimes I just want to smack you!

Cryer: You’re stuck with your family.

There’s nothing you can do about them,

and you put up with stuff from your family

that you wouldn put up with from anybody else.

What do you mean, he don eat no meat?

Oh, that’s okay. That’s okay.

I make lamb.

Come.

Anything that you find horrifying as a kid,

just write it down

because when you’re older, you can make money off it.

You used to scream all night, we didn feed you.

You turned out fine.

I didn turn out fine! I’m a fat comedian with OCD.

I get up in front of strangers and talk about my dick.

This is not good parenting.

[ Laughter, applause ]

[ Alarm ringing ]

I feel like I was just here a minute ago.

I know what you mean, but you’ll get used to it.

Everybody does, eventually.

The workplace is something we all have to endure

in some way or another.

I gotta get out of here. I think I’m gonna lose it.

Uh‐oh.

Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.

[ Chuckles ]

You can go to work on a TV show,

you can go to work in an insurance office,

you’re still gonna have a boss,

you’re gonna have a pain‐in‐the‐ass worker,

you got somebody maybe you’re attracted to,

and you gotta deal with that.

So, this is a human experience

that transcends all generations.

[ Laughs ]

Comedy’s about an imbalance in power.

Everybody who’s ever had a job realizes it’s a power imbalance

the minute that they get there.

I’m the new vice president of East Coast Television

and Microwave Oven Programming.

That sounds like you program microwave ovens.

I like you.

You have the boldness of a much younger woman.

So, you go to work, and your boss is an asshole.

If you write a joke about him, and everyone laughs at him...

‐Is that decaf? ‐No, no, it’s regular.

Markoe: ...suddenly, you go from being his victim to being his captor.

The joke is refiguring the scales of justice.

When you were dismissing some of the staff,

did you intend to fire me, too?

Especially me.

I wanted to check.

I’m very sorry I troubled you,

you little runt!

Early sitcoms were just about home life,

and I used to make the joke all the time,

in "Ozzie and Harriet,"

you know, what did Ozzie do for a living?

And then Van Dyke was the first time

you saw his home life and his work life.

Oh, is that the comedy spot?

No, bubble‐head, this is a comedy spot.

‐Rob! ‐Buddy.

‐Sally. ‐Mel.

‐Rob! ‐Sally!

Buddy!

Go ahead, Curly, it’s your turn. Say, "Rob."

Rob!

Oh, wonderful, wonderful.

Somebody asked me to do a situation comedy

after I finished being on the "Show of Shows"

because situation comedies weren very good.

They didn mirror life.

I asked myself, what piece of ground

do I stand on that nobody else stands on?

Well, I worked as an actor/writer

on a variety show,

and I write about what happens at home.

And at home, I talk about what goes on at the office.

Are you doing this because you’re afraid of Alan?

No, I’m doing it because I respect Alan Brady.

A man of his caliber has great firing power.

Oh, geez.

Rosenthal: It was a hybrid of family life/work life,

and you cared about them like a family

because you saw them together every day.

They were a family.

Afternoon, everybody.

Norm! Norm! Norm! Norm!

Hey, Mr. Peterson,

there’s a cold one waiting for you.

I know. And if she calls, I’m not here.

Charles: On TV, family short of transcends blood.

You recognize that family system,

that family dynamic even if it’s not biological.

Sure, things didn go your way.

Sure, we’re a little disappointed,

but we’ll get over it.

What’s important here is that you tried

to do the wrong thing.

Hey, that’s right. I did, didn I?

‐Sammy! Sammy! ‐Sammy! Sammy!

You have certain archetypes in the bar,

in the office, in the workplace, in the taxi company.

They’re there because they are real

and they’re honest and they’re true

and we all recognize them.

I don deserve this.

You know? God damn it, I don, but you do.

Because you are all losers!

Every motherfucking one of you.

Loser.

Loser!

Rosenthal: The worst word you can hear

when you’re trying to make a comedy

is "likable" from the suits.

It’s not believable if everybody’s likable.

We’re not!

What’s happened to the old idea

of doing something for your fellow man,

of service?

‐I mean, today, people just ‐‐ ‐Mr. Fawlty!

Yes, I’m coming, I’m coming! Wait a moment!

Rosenthal: There’s no comedy in likable.

I always go to Louie De Palma

on "Taxi," played by Danny DeVito.

[ Telephone rings ] Sunshine Cab!

Hey, crazy lady, gimme a break here!

It’s Ma.

This was a troll ‐‐ mean, said the worst possible things.

Is that likable? No.

Is it lovable? Yes.

Why? He’s really funny.

This guy does the best Ali G impersonation.

I ‐‐

I can. You do it.

Go on.

I‐I don. I think you mean someone else.

Oh! Sorry.

No, it’s not you. It’s the other one.

The other ‐‐ The other what?

Um...

Paki?

Ah, that’s racist.

I think the thing that made "The Office"

successful with Ricky Gervais

was the realism was more relationship‐oriented

and commented on the mundaneness of situations

that we all find ourselves in.

If I have to work with him for another day,

I’m just ‐‐ I will ‐‐ I will slit my throat.

You won do it like that, though.

You get the knife in behind the windpipe,

pull it down, like that.

Or I could just apply for another job.

The jokes or the stories or the emotion isn from the work.

It’s from the people who work together.

All right. Where to first?

Your mother’s butt.

[ Laughter ]

All you need to relate is the human connection,

the believability

that these people live together,

know each other, love each other.

And it’s that love underneath that allows

for all kinds of behavior.

[ Blowing raspberry ]

I, um ‐‐ I can argue with this.

"Puberty usually begins between the ages of 11 and 14,

when profound hormonal changes occur.

The onset of these changes

is the function of a small gland

called the pituitary.

This gland sends chemical signals throughout the body,

most notably resulting in height increase

and hair growth in the genital area.

[ Stifled laughter ]

Hey! Hey! Knock it off.

Think this is funny?

Just try me.

Okay.

People love coming‐of‐age comedy

because it’s innocence to not innocence, you know?

Obstacles to growing up,

obstacles to maturing are always really hilarious

because most of the time things did not go well.

You don know how to deal with the emotions of it,

the physical aspects of it,

and so it’s just gonna be very embarrassing.

Fred, she’s gotten her boobies.

Oh! [ Laughs ]

I’d better go get my magnifying glass.

Beatts: When I was in high school and my mother said to me,

"Some day you’ll look back on all this and laugh."

I didn realize it would take like 20 years.

But ultimately, she was right.

My two front teeth didn fall out

until I was in fifth grade.

Which is late.

And that same week, I got my period.

Which is early.

Any stage of life,

if you tell a story honestly, it can be funny.

That’s what people connect with.

Everybody’s been 12 years old.

Everybody knows what that feels like.

Were you typical?

Yeah, I was typical of a ‐‐

of a, I guess a young, budding future pervert.

[ Boys "Ah" ]

Ever been sitting around

when you was young, man, and just sitting in class,

and your dick get hard for nothing?

You’ll be just sitting there, and your dick say,

"Hey, what’s going on in here?"

[ Laughter ]

That’s when your teacher said,

"Mr. Murphy, want to come work out this problem on the board?"

We’re just trying to figure out how to be humans,

and your body’s changing.

And you’re becoming aware of how it’s changing,

and sex is just this crazy, mysterious thing.

Jim?

Well, we’ll just tell your mother

that we ate it all.

Beatts: Let’s face it, all of these unpleasant subjects,

one way of dealing with them is humor.

I can believe this. They fucking forgot my birthday.

Apatow: John Hughes captured many different eras of life,

but he was one of the great storytellers

about being a high school student.

Cryer: He took his teenage characters

incredibly seriously ‐‐ all of them.

I loathe the bus.

"Sixteen Candles" was a revelation to me as a kid

because I thought, "Oh, I’m Anthony Michael Hall.

That’s who I am."

[ Gasps ]

All right.

I knew you’d come around.

Hall: It epitomizes what it’s like to be 15, 14,

you know, a freshman.

You know, he’s anxious to be at the senior parties,

anxious to be with this girl, you know.

Smith: That guy, who’s normally made fun of in other movies,

is a hero in this movie.

Farmer Ted is, you know, you could argue,

the lead of that flick for a lot of us.

Very nice.

We’re five minutes and ‐‐

I’m at a loss.

[ Cans clatter ]

Prior to John Hughes,

most of the comedies weren aimed at us.

The teenager to us in the movies

was Olivia Newton‐John and John Travolta.

These kids, when they were in high school looked like,

you know, my parents.

It was kind of like he woke up one day and was like,

"This is an entirely underserved audience here.

Let’s make movies about them, for them, on their level,

talking the way they talk,

using actors that look their age."

Hughes: I think one of the mistakes

that is commonly made in Hollywood teenage pictures

is that they’re going for the bucks,

and they’re not going for the heart.

I think he’s very honest,

and that he doesn try to show us

for something that we’re not.

He took the simplest of canvasses

and ones we were all familiar with.

‐Bueller? ‐Growing up...

‐Bueller. ‐...staying home from school,

the sneaky stuff we like to pull off.

Ferris: Life moves pretty fast.

You don stop and look around once in a while,

you could miss it.

O’Rourk: John was obsessed

with sort of the middle‐American outlook on life.

There is no clearer expression of John’s affection

for what is a flawed society, but he loves it.

Vernon: All right, that’s it.

I’m gonna be right outside those doors.

The next time I have to come in here,

I’m cracking skulls.

He celebrated the normalcy in all of us.

He made it bigger. He made the attention an event.

‐He made oddballs okay. ‐[ Whimpers ]

And we’re all pretty bizarre.

Some of us are just better at hiding it, that’s all.

[ Sighs ]

Oh, God.

Because he has cracked the code

with the teen audience, others that followed realized,

"Oh, you don have to talk down to ’em,

you can talk up to ’em, or talk right at their level."

Man, I hate high school.

Apatow: On "Freaks and Geeks,"

what was important to everybody at the show

was that it realistic.

Oh, my God!

Man: All right, come on, guys, let’s go!

Would somebody please tell me

what’s supposed to be fun about this?

Sacks: Paul Feig wrote characters that were more authentic.

He really, more than anyone else,

to me, understands,

really, what it was like and hasn forgotten

what it was like to feel like an outcast.

Boys: [ Coughing ] Homo.

Hey, hey, hey!

Now ‐‐ Now, if Sam wearing something different to express

his individuality makes him a homo,

well, then, I guess

we should all be proud to be homos.

Now, you go ahead, Sam.

Paul had this idea

that he wanted to see a high school show

about the kids no one ever talked about.

You’re dead, Weir.

That was very different for network television.

What seemed bizarre to them ‐‐

Why did they fail all the time?

And we just thought, because you fail all the time.

It was that simple.

I guess we live on the same floor.

If you live on this floor.

I don know where you live. I ‐‐

Cryer: What I love about Judd Apatow

is that he took the smartness of the John Hughes

but let the kids be a little less articulate about it.

They’re a little more lost.

They’re not quite as sure of themselves.

Evan: It’s just not fair

that they get to flaunt that stuff, you know,

when like, I have to hide every erection I get.

I mean, just imagine if girls weren weirded out

by our boners and stuff and just,

like, wanted to see them.

I mean, that’s the world I want to one day live in.

No matter how much we try to add new viewpoints to it,

we’re still the same people reacting to the same change,

and there’s something really startling about that.

Boop, boop, boop.

If you get to the heart of it, beyond all the funny,

and find out there’s a ticking, living,

breathing heart there that you can identify with,

you’ve got the audience.

I love you.

I love you.

Women know what men want. Men know what men want.

What do we want?

We want women. That’s it.

[ Laughter ]

It’s the only thing we know for sure, it really is.

We want women. How do we get them?

Oh, we don know about that. We don know.

The reason relationships are such a fertile area

for comedy is because what’s ‐‐

what do you look for in life

anything more than love, except maybe money?

And money’s just so not funny.

How man women’s purses are about five pounds heavier

in case you do sleep elsewhere this evening?

[ Laughter ]

You guys may think we’re being spontaneous,

but women have to pack for these events, boy.

[ Applause ]

Whether you’re in a very insanely committed relationship,

or you’ve been dating somebody for a couple of days,

you can recognize the ridiculousness

of this situation.

Like, we go through an awful lot...

[ Screams ]

...you know, just to get naked with people.

The only time I get hit on is last call at the bar.

What a weird time of night, right?

The lights go on,

it just feels real rapey all of a sudden.

You see some dude in a full blackout

just walking at me like a zombie,

just pointing at his own dick, like, "Here."

[ Laughter ]

I’m like, "I’ll get us a cab."

[ Laughter ]

Romance is a great source for comedy

because everybody wants it.

Also, romance gives people instant vulnerability.

It’s a situation where stakes are really high,

and whenever the stakes are really high,

funny shit’s gonna happen.

Did you want to see some brochures?

Ooh!

This is so awkward. I really want you to leave,

but I don know how to say it without sounding like a dick.

Oh.

The idea that human beings couple up,

you know, for good, it’s ridiculous.

Imagine if marriage didn exist.

You’re a guy, and you ask a woman to get married.

You’d be like, "Hey, so, you know,

we’ve been hanging out together all the time,

spending a lot of time together and everything."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"I want to keep doing that till you’re dead."

Smith: It doesn really make sense.

Because of that, it’s rife with comedy.

That takes courage to go on a date,

for both sides.

Two very different kinds of courage.

The male courage, traditionally speaking,

is that he decided to ask.

He went up to a random woman who he has no idea

if she’s gonna like him or not,

and he walked up to her, terrified.

Everything in your body’s telling you,

"Just go the fuck home and jerk off.

Don do this."

It’s a hilarious subject because it’s awkward,

and it makes you feel great or makes you feel terrible.

Are you breaking up with me?

You know, I can believe I even thought of getting

back together with you.

We are so over.

[ Fake sobbing ] Fine by me!

Boosler: If I had a terrible breakup,

I would just come and wail about the breakup,

and I think because it was so real and honest,

it related to people.

Chupack: It’s actually really comforting to realize

that something that is just truly troubling in your life

could be great fodder for comedy.

Annie: Now, those were the days

when people knew how to be in love.

You’re a basket case.

They knew it.

Time, distance, nothing could separate them

because they knew it was right,

it was real, it was ‐‐

A movie.

That’s your problem. You don want to be in love.

You want to be in love in a movie.

We have a love‐hate relationship with romantic comedies

because it sets these ideals

that you could never reach, but love is so relatable,

you immediately empathize with one of the people,

and you feel like you’re falling in love.

Did you put that breakfast burrito on my desk?

I just thought you might be hungry.

That’s why I love you.

I love you, too.

Oh.

Yeah.

Yeah, you’re right, I needed that.

The cliché about romantic comedies

is it’s boy meets girl, boy gets girl,

boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.

There’s no new stories, in that respect.

It’s just, what’s your take on the old story?

Alvy?

Let’s face it.

You know, I don think our relationship is working.

I know.

A relationship, I think, is like a shark.

You know, it has to constantly move forward, or it dies.

And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark.

Weide: "Annie Hall" was a game changer.

Woody said, "I want to do a real film about real people,

where you could care about the characters

and be somewhat emotionally invested."

I think we better call this relationship quits.

That’s fine, that’s fine, that’s great.

Well, I don know what I did wrong.

I mean, I can believe this.

Somewhere, she cooled off to me.

Is ‐‐ Is it something that I did?

Never something you do. That’s how people are.

Love fades.

Love fades?

God, that’s a depressing thought.

Weide: There’s no, you know,

happy ending with a neat bow tie at the end.

But ironically, "Annie Hall"

became one of the funniest movies ever.

It changed so much about the way people thought of,

you know, romantic comedies.

One of the summer’s surprise hit movies stars

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

It’s called "When Harry met Sally."

Men and women can be friends

because the sex part always gets in the way.

That’s not true.

I have a number of men friends, and there is no sex involved.

‐No, you don. ‐Yes, I do.

‐No, you don. ‐Yes, I do.

You only think you do.

You’re saying I’m having sex

with these men without my knowledge?

No, what I’m saying is they all want to have sex with you.

Man: Nora Ephron wrote "When Harry Met Sally,"

and she got a lot of help

from Reiner creating the neurotic main character.

That’s because he was based on Rob Reiner.

"When Harry Met Sally" was, you know,

it was an extension

of what I had been through as a single person,

having been married for 10 years

and then being single for 10 years.

It was the experiences I had with trying to get with women

and, you know, the confusion of,

can you be friends with a woman?

If you have sex, does it ruin the friendship?

Why can we get past this?

I mean, are we gonna carry this thing around forever?

Forever? It just happened.

It happened three weeks ago.

You know how a year to a person is like seven years to a dog?

Yes.

Is one of us supposed to be a dog in this scenario?

Rob Reiner’s collaboration with Nora Ephron,

they very much both worked together

to have an equal female and male perspective.

There are a lot of desperate women

out there looking for love.

Especially over a certain age.

You know, it’s easier to get killed by a terrorist

than it is to get married over the age of 40.

That is not true. That statistic is not true.

That’s right. It’s not true,

But it feels true.

Cryer: Even a romantic comedy where you know

what’s gonna happen,

there’s still something satisfying about it.

I don know why, but there’s still something that works.

I mean, that’s why they use the formula over and over.

Boosler: I mean, love is the bottom line,

and there are so many billions of ways to be with somebody.

It’s never finished.

Relationship material is never finished.

Frankly, I wish I just had someone

I really cared about that I could hold.

But I don have that person, so...

I’m just gonna jerk off and go to bed.

[ Laughter, applause ]

Aren people stupid?

[ Laughter ]

Not us, it’s the others.

You ever notice ‐‐

‐Have you noticed ‐‐ ‐What is it with ‐‐

Why are hemorrhoids called hemorrhoids,

and asteroids called asteroids?

Wouldn it make more sense if it was the other way around?

[ Laughter ]

But then if that was true, you wouldn be a proctologist.

You’d be an astronaut.

David: There’s so many things that are distasteful

in life and stupid.

There are these rules that everybody has to follow.

It’s tedious, so they deserve lampooning.

This was an awful morning.

Like, I get up this morning,

I put my maxi pad on adhesive side up.

[ Laughter ]

Oh, come on, you’ve done it.

Leifer: There is so much comedy in the little details of life.

It’s just taking a magnifying glass

and throwing it out to the audience.

Well, that’s sort of my job, to think about stuff

that a lot of us are too busy for most of the time.

Little things that occur to us.

We have universal ground, you know.

Like, did you ever ‐‐

did you ever belch and almost puke?

[ Laughter ]

Charles: We think that we’re alone,

and then a comedian steps onstage and says,

"Have you ever noticed ‐‐" Kaboom, it explodes.

In that moment, we all connect,

which is an amazing charge, really.

It’s kind of an adrenaline rush

to connect on that kind of a level.

We have to fight these battles.

We’re all alone in the bathroom.

Alone!

Whatever goes wrong, you have to handle it.

Did you ever flush a toilet in a big party,

and the water starts coming up?

[ Laughter ]

This is the most frightening moment

in the life of a human being.

Anderson: It’s an illumination on something

that was right in front of you.

It was right there, but yet, when they bring it up ‐‐

It’s the way they shine the light on it.

What ‐‐ What are we doing?

What in God’s name are we doing?

What?

What ‐‐ What kind of lives are these?

We’re like children. We’re not men.

No, we’re not. We’re not men.

[ Laughter ]

We’re pathetic, you know that?

Yeah, like I don know that I’m pathetic.

"Seinfeld," you know, initially was,

they called it the show about nothing.

I mean, obviously, it was not about nothing,

but that’s what they called it.

The initial idea was Larry David and Jerry had an idea

about just two guys hanging out and talking about stuff.

Listen to this.

Marcy comes over,

and she tells me that her ex‐boyfriend

was over late last night, and yada, yada, yada,

I’m really tired today."

What do you think she was tired from?

Well, obviously, the "yada, yada."

Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, those two minds together,

you know, that’s just comedy dynamite.

What do you think did it?

Can you take a step back and say, "This made this show"?

I think it was the style of the writing was fresh,

and I think it was the strength of the cast.

The cast is very, very strong,

and the writing had a different sound to it.

The conversation sounded different

than the other sitcoms that you see.

So, you think you’re spongeworthy?

Yes, I think I’m spongeworthy.

I think I’m very spongeworthy.

I’m out there, Jerry,

and I’m lovin’ every minute of it!

The ideas were seemingly insignificant,

where the comedy came from.

Usually small, quirky, idiotic things.

[ Laughs ]

Weide: Larry always carried this little notepad in his pocket.

Whenever something would happen that he thought

would make a good idea, you know,

he’d write it down,

and eventually, it would wind up in a show.

You mean shrinkage?

Yes!

Significant shrinkage.

David: It’s a little thing that I might notice

that I could expound on.

Expound on or expand on?

Expand on.

Both.

Both, expound and expand, yeah.

I got it. Oh, no, no, no, I’d like to pay for mine.

Now, Julie, Julie, don insult me.

What difference does it make who pays for lunch?

It’s totally meaningless.

Okay. Thanks, George.

Here’s your big salad to go.

Oh, thank you.

I remember I was editing an episode with Larry,

and we took a break for dinner,

and he turned to the editor and he said,

"Carol and I are gonna get a bite.

Would you like something from the restaurant?"

And she said, "Yeah, will you bring me back a big salad?"

And when we got back to the editing room,

I took the salad, and I gave it to Janet.

Thank you, Julie.

Oh, you’re very welcome.

And then, like, two months later,

there’s an episode that is written called "The Big Salad."

She just took credit for my salad.

[ Chuckles, snorts ]

‐That’s not right. ‐No, it isn.

I mean, I’m the one that bought it. Yes, you did.

Don you think she should have said something?

‐She could have. ‐Oh, I know.

It’s, like, "Hmm, I wonder where that came from."

Oh, right, that was me. Perfect.

Weide: A lot of Larry’s humor is based on the difficulty

of just being out in the world.

Smile.

And everything is a land mine

waiting for you to step on it.

Hey, mind your business. How about that?

Hayes: We all think that shit,

but Larry just points it out, you know?

It’s so great.

it’s just material.

I know, but really, look at these pants.

I’ve seen pants bunch up before, yes.

I have never seen a bunch‐up like this in my life.

I have. This is like a five‐inch bunch‐up I got here.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" is brilliant.

Larry took the essence of himself, of Larry David.

I mean, it’s not exactly Larry, but it’s pretty damn close,

and when you get close to the bone,

the audience can somehow feel that that’s real.

Get me off the speakerphone, please!

Jeff: Hold on. Now you’re off the speakerphone.

What’s the matter with you?

I thought I was having a private conversation.

I didn know anybody else was in your car.

I think with "Curb,"

Larry gets to be the full completion of himself.

David: It was the person I’d like to be,

but social mores prevent me

from being that way all the time.

[ Tires squeal, horn honks ]

Hey!

I’ll call ‐‐ I’ll call you back.

What ‐‐ What the hell are you doing?

What the fuck are you doing?

What am I doing? What are you doing?

We decided that we should walk this line

where people watching it wouldn quite be certain

if it was really a documentary or if it was embellished,

but to play it as close to real as possible.

And sure enough, there were people who thought it was real.

When you walk through my door, you play by my rules.

You take off your fucking shoes!

My feet have a tendency

to get a little chilly when I take my ‐‐

He’s a psychotic. Get him out of the house.

Get out!

David: I had no idea that,

until the show was on the air,

that anybody would ever have to leave the room

because they couldn bear to watch a scene

because they were cringing as to what was about to take place.

I kind of liked it, yeah.

Thank you for fixing Judy’s hair.

Oh, you’re welcome.

Mommy! Mommy!

That bald man’s in the bathroom,

and there’s something hard in his pants!

[ People groaning, murmuring ]

Man: Kick his ass!

Man: Pervert!

Woman: Let’s get him!

It always seems like such a shame

to just dump this in the trash.

Maybe birds would like to make nests with it

or, I don know, maybe you boys

could use it for school projects.

[ Blows ] Arms up.

Cryer: People love family comedies.

Dude.

And now it seems like the family comedies they want

are, how strange can this family possibly be?

And now I’m expected to climb back on top of Kitty

and do my thing again.

I mean, this family runs into problems,

it’s, "Oh, let’s have Gob [bleep] our way out of it." What is wrong with you?

‐What is the matter with you? ‐Hey, come on.

Rosenthal: There’s a lot more variety

in families represented on television today

because it’s represented in real life.

‐Okay, you’re ‐‐ ‐He’s our son.

‐And my grandson. ‐I’m his daughter.

‐So, you’re ‐‐ ‐His uncle.

Cryer: I have to believe that, for kids of today,

seeing that families can come

in all kinds of weird permutations

has to be pretty great.

What the hell is that?

I had Andre do it while we were gone.

We’re floating above her, always there to protect her.

Okay, well, that’s reassuring, right, Lily?

Yes, we tore you away from everything you know,

but don worry, things are normal here.

Your fathers are floating fairies.

A show such as "Modern Family" or "Will & Grace" before that

really sped up the conversation

about gay marriage and people’s tolerance.

Huge news!

I have met ‐‐ are you ready for this? ‐‐ Mr. Right.

Well, Mr. Right Now, anyway. Ba‐dum‐bum.

Good night, folks. I’m here all week. Jack 2000!

He works over at the Jumpin’ Java ‐‐

you know the coffee shop on 72nd ‐‐ and his name is Paul.

He is cute with a capital "Q."

Seeing people you don normally get

to see makes you realize,

oh, you should love them as much as you love anybody else.

That’s the finger.

Work in progress.

We’re trying to actually say

that my family’s different than yours.

You know, but if you look close enough,

you might see some things that your family is, too.

‐Hey! ‐Hm?

Why don the boys go with you?

‐Yeah! ‐Oh, no, no, not you.

You’re way too precious to me.

Good. Because Junior is the bad black person

who needs educating,

but after we get home,

he’ll be a bona fide Black Panther.

Actually, Dr. King had problems with the Black Panthers.

Do you know who the Black Panthers had a problem with?

I think television has a history

of helping us figure out how to deal

with some very difficult discussions

or changes in our time.

Listen, can we just close up shop here a little bit?

The knees.

Your male privilege is leaking all over the place.

The fearlessness of comedians bringing up subject matter

that we’re afraid to talk about

is a wonderful conduit to starting a conversation.

First off, up and owning it.

Yeah.

I don wanna freak you out,

but I think that I may be the voice of my generation.

Or at least a voice of a generation.

There’s a number of amazingly great,

unique‐voiced shows that are on TV right now.

They are standing apart from the wave of stuff

that’s being thrown at us all the time.

The guy said this was their best selling thing,

by far, okay?

I’m just trying to improve our sex lives.

Okay, well, here’s an idea.

How about you stop rubbing your eye

every time you shove your junk in me? What?

Yeah, you’re always like...

It’s distracting.

Now we’re in this weird world where there’s a demand

that people take chances.

No one wants generic stuff anymore.

I like Mama’s better because she makes good food.

And I love her more, so I like being there more.

Okay. All right, baby.

Louis C. K., he’s tapped into things

that most people don tap into.

He’s able to take that sensibility

that he uses so effectively onstage

and find a forum to dramatize it.

All right, go get on your PJs.

‐Bye, Daddy. ‐Okay, baby.

The more realistic comedy gets,

the more drama is in them, because real life

is not just drama all the time,

and it’s not just funny all the time.

Why do you say such hurtful things?

Because it’s the only way to get your attention.

That’s why I have a rage problem.

Oh, shut up, all of you!

Can I talk? Is it my turn yet?

I’ve waited 45 years to talk!

I screwed up my life!

I lost the best shitty job I could find!

I’m mentally doomed!

Look at all of you! It’s all your fault!

You’re all disasters!

I don want to be in this family anymore!

[ Groans ]

Wah, wah, wah. What a baby.

What’s great about comedy

is that comedy can exist unless it’s true.

You don laugh unless you know there’s an inherent truth to it.

Oh, my God.

I keep forgetting what a freak show this family

is until somebody new comes in and looks at us like that.

We all are human and fallible,

and we’re crazy, and we have foibles,

and we’re all in it together.

Lear: There’s nothing more interesting

than the foolishness of the human condition.

It takes the comedian to find the moment

that helps people laugh at themselves.

If you’re lucky in life, you will have seen it,

done it, eaten it,

fucked it, you know, all of it.

[ Sneezes ]

And now you can relive it through storytelling

and from somebody’s point of view all over again.

Life is not that complicated.

You get up, you go to work, you eat three meals,

you take one good shit, and you go back to bed.

[ Laughter ]

What’s the fuckin’ mystery?

[ Cheers and applause ]

Man: When you see these things, do you keep track of them?

‐I’m interested. ‐I do.

I write them down on a small pad.

Once I lost a pad, and it was ‐‐

it was the worst experience of my life.

And you can never get them back

because these incidents where you get the thoughts,

it’s ‐‐ it’s very specific.

It never happens again. It only happens that one time.

All those ideas ‐‐ gone. They’re still gone.

I’ve never thought of one of those things again.