untitled

11 guide 12-18 Aug 2017 (^)
Aguilar, meanwhile, believes
the contrast between the fortunes
of the two scenes onscreen
mirrors that of them off-screen,
too. “I think the music scene,
right now, is just not as vibrant
as the comedy scene is,” he says
simply. “You can’t get into The
Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip
on a Tuesday night unless you
know someone who can get you
on the list; it is completely sold
out, and that was not the case
five or 10 years ago. And, at the
same time, Tower Records can’t
stay in business one block further
up the street.”
The febrile political
atmosphere is a significant factor
in those fortunes, he believes.
“As much as we connect to music
emotionally, we connect with
comedy intellectually, with a
comedian telling you: ‘This
is another way to look at
the world,’” he says. “And I
think, at certain moments,
like now, or in the mid-
1970s, there is a greater
need for that.”
As Carrey commented
of the era depicted in I’m
Dying Up Here: “We were
coming out of Vietnam
and Nixon. It was a very
intense time, and that
helped give birth to a
new attitude and a new
desire to express yourself and
say those edgy truths.”
“You have an audience
hungry for that again now
because there is anger and fear
and frustration,” agrees Aguilar.
The recent British-made
documentary Dying Laughing
features interviews with some
of the most celebrated standups
including Billy Connolly, Jerry
Seinfeld, Eddie Izzard, Steve
Coogan, Amy Schumer and Jo
Brand. And there’s no doubt,
according to Lloyd Stanton – one
of its directors, who calls it “a
love letter to comedians” – that
such comics have a more crucial
role than ever to play in the
current political climate.
“As Chris Rock says in the
film: ‘It sounds corny, but we
are the last philosophers,’”
Stanton says. “And that is what
you think when you see Louis
CK and Chris Rock, or you watch
Colbert or The Daily Show: in an
era of fake news, you go to these
people, feeling that they are able
to tell the truth.”
Stanton and his co-director
Paul Toogood will further
examine the genre in a 10-part
television series, exploring what
they see as “this new golden
age of standup”. Their previous
work includes the documentary
Something from Nothing: The Art
of Rap. “It struck us that standup
comedy was also, perhaps,
similarly misunderstood, and
that standup comedians
possibly don’t get the praise
they deserve as artists,”
says Toogood.
With comedy,
Stanton adds, there
is an inherently high
risk of failure: “It’s a
bit like walking on
stage and picking
up a violin, and
learning to play and
write music in front of a
live audience. You can’t
practise on your own,
you can’t rehearse
Lol-ing stones
Steve Martin on
The Midnight
Special; (below
left) the cast of
I’m Dying Up Here;
(inset) Melissa
Leo as the show’s
fi ctitious comedy
maven Goldie