ENTERTAINMENT: Existential Desert Stand-Up and The Struggle For Connection

Comedy is a tricky thing; it’s hyper-subjective and typically draws from dark elements to create laughter. The search for one’s own comedy is thus, in a sense, the result of grappling some of the least desirable aspects of the human experience and wrangling it into something with a punchline. This is why the cliché of the “sad clown” is so prevalent and continues to be perpetuated to this day, such as with Marc Maron‘s self-loathing diatribes and the tag posthumously attributed to Robin Williams.

The art of comedy is to take the moments that fill us with fury and disappointment, such as in the case of Neil Hamburger, the stand-up name of Gregg Turkington, this dynamic is actually inverted, with the darkness put front and center, sometimes even threatening to obscure the carefully crafted joke which it sprung.

Entertainment follows The Comedian, played by Turkington and called Neil Hamburger throughout, as he embarks on a ludicrously low-level stand up tour; playing dive bars and prisons, with a mime opener in tow. His act is a send-up of old Vegas-style joke-based stand up that always has him in an ill-fitting tuxedo, sporting a greased comb over and always precariously managing more beverages than anyone would need at one time, from which he drinks using straws.

One of his jokes in the film, that is actually a standard from his real-life act and typifies his style of joke-telling goes: “What’s the worst part about getting gang raped by Crosby, Stills and Nash? No Young!” Throughout the film he leaves voice mails in a futile attempt to reconnect with his estranged daughter, and generally finds displeasure wherever he goes. The tour culminates with a gig at a famous actor’s birthday party and will serve as a test to determine whether The Comedian is an under-appreciated voice of our times or if he truly deserves his middling status.

Laugh and The World Laughs With You

The film was shot in 2.66:1 super-wide aspect ratio, creating some beautiful landscape shots. Its main application however, is to expand the empty space on either side of Turkington, as he is most often pictured alone, dead center of the frame, visually illustrating his isolation from his family, audience and the world at large. The setting of the film, the Mojave Desert, recalls Antonioni‘s Zabriske Point, but whereas his lost souls were navigating their desolate environs in a search for meaning, Entertainment‘s protagonist does so in order to continually confirm meaninglessness.

Neil strays from a group tour of a desert oil field, meanders through an old western style tourist town and sits alone in a box of red light, all with an uncaring expression that speaks to The Comedian’s resignation to a life without meaning. The only time he appears joyful is in discussion with a Mexican man who sequestered himself from those around him by language; the only kindred spirit he comes across, united by their isolation.

Speaking of joyful, John C. Reilly gives an expectedly enjoyable performance as Neil’s cousin John, a wealthy orange grove farmer who lives in the desert and acts as the perfect contrast to The Comedian’s withdrawn cynicism. He’s the type of person that can’t stand silence, and will just say anything to fill that void, such as when he begins to reminisce about The Wizard of Oz then begins an impromptu session of Christmas caroling.

Like his cousin, John is split between sincerity and social niceties, encouraging Neil in his career while at the same time denigrating his material, but he always means well. Director of Entertainment, Rick Alverson, implies that these characters operate in a sort of yin and yang relationship, both defining themselves in contrast to the other, as when the two cousins sit outside together being one of the few instances in the film that Neil is framed out of center and next to another person.

But in a sense John is also the enemy; the uncultured and trusting average American who is both the source and target of The Comedian’s biting act. These are the people who can’t appreciate Neil’s comedy on its own terms, who want him to be a more traditional funny man and to really make them forget their worries, as he continuously claims he does, rather than shine a light on them. John provides the only conduit for The Comedian to have an honest interaction with this set, as he remains nearly silent around anyone when not wearing his trademark costume. As the film nears its conclusion, The Comedian begins to waver under the weight of this balancing act, as his two personas, one of strength the other weakness, threaten to consume each other until only one remains.

Conclusion

Turkington has a persona that he embodies in order to go onstage, as do all comics, his is just more pronounced. Whereas most comedians try to present the most likable version of themselves, Neil Hamburger is a reflection of Turkington‘s most anti-social characteristics, and provides a catharsis for his most vitriolic opinions.

Yet, there is an extra layer here because it’s a movie, as he is playing a character who in turn is playing a character, but who is also the character he plays in his real life. Thus one is tempted to equate “Neil” in the film with the real-life Turkington, as they both share the character of Neil Hamburger. However Turkington is a successful actor, writer and comedian, so one would be wise not to see Entertainment as a biography, but rather a memoir, using some life experiences to form the basis of its fictional story.

Much like The Comedian at its center, Entertainment is difficult and will likely leave some confused or even angered, even those who are already fans of Neil Hamburger, as was the experience for fans of Tim & Eric who went to see Alverson’s last film The Comedy expecting zany surrealism. Though often bereft of dialogue and slowly paced, Entertainment reveals itself as a remarkably dense, if not difficult, film that rewards patience and a willingness to step into the anti-social mind.

Entertainment is now playing in theaters across the U.S. and on V.O.D.