Rating: 
Summary: This is a documentary not a comedy special
Review: Somebody told me not to watch this cause it was stupid but i was curious so i rented it and had very low expectations. It turned out that this was a very interesting look at what its like to be comedian. Seinfeld has to start his act from scratch and we see how the act evolves and some behind the scenes conversations on comedy with Chris Rock and Colin Quinn. I think the most interesting conversations Jerry has are with Orny Adams (the young comic also featured in the film) and Bill Cosby. Also i thought it was kinda funny when him and Ray Romano were sitting and talking and Ray looked a little intimidated by Seinfeld and what he was trying to acheive. The movie goes back and forth between Seinfeld and Adams. The Adams portion of the movie is probably a lot more interesting because you see more of the process a comedian has to go through in order to get where Seinfeld is. Adams has some moments that seemed pretty raw and real unlike Seinfeld who always is light-hearted looking pretty confident. In some moments it looks like Adams was not aware he was being filmed. They showed some stand up from both Seinfeld and Adams but for the most part its a back stage look.
Rating: 
Summary: Well, Whatever Makes You Unhappy
Review: This is a very atmospheric documentary that absolutely nails the subject. It's about Seinfeld and Orny Adams. A guy on the way down from the top, a guy on his way up, on some level. It's not that Jerry is finished, but you don't go back to that peak again.
So, being a comedian is maybe 10 years of working on and with an hour or so of material. The hard part is getting the material, but also delivering it and having some star quality, or at least personality. So if Adams makes a dozen appearances on Leno, he might have that many segments out of his hour of material. The material might be 10 years old, but it's new to TV. Adams has an interesting website, ornyadams.
It's not a pursuit for the happy. It's a pursuit for the gnawing perfectionist. It's truly touching to see Adams finally make it to Letterman only to be told the Lupus joke has to be a psoriasis joke. We've never told why. Does it mean anything? No, That's Entertainment, apparently. I guess if I were a comic, I would rather be Louis Black. Where he exists, the rules are not so strict. This sidebar in how denatured the mainstream media are is interesting.
More than half the movie is about Seinfeld. The 'catch' goes back to the HBO special, where he buries the old material. Now he is starting anew. It's an odd process. Seinfeld is different. The material is different. Seinfeld's story isn't terribly compelling, but it's interesting. He flies around on a very nice private jet. He's a funny man, but it seems doubtful he would ever be the cutting edge of comedy. We like old comics, whether Klein or Cosby or Carlin. These guys do other things, like awards shows.
This film paints a wonderful portrait of New York at night, although I'm sure it only shows one small aspect. There are a lot of things in this film.
Rating:
Summary: SOUNDTRACK
Review: Just a quick note for those of you (like me) who LOVED the soundtrack. Here is a link to the list of all the songs used in the film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328962/soundtrack
It's work, but you can compile it yourself. It's definitely worth it.
Happy listening!
Rating: 
Summary: One word - Orney
Review: Although this documentary is entitled "Comedian" rather than Seinfield... I rented it mostly expecting a documentary following Jerry. However, much of the time is spent on an up and coming comic Orney Adams. Since I write this in 2004 and he hasn't become the next Jerry I have to assume he never became big but he was the most unsettling part. I suppose Jerry was trying to show the insecurity of a comedian trying to make it, but Orney was so arrogant... and I think in need of medication it really bugged me each time he came on. He seemed manic, indicating how little he slept, and being prone to tremendous highs and lows.
It was such a contrast also... Jerry clearly enjoys telling jokes and being a comedian, while Orney seemed to hate his job. I even think that came through in his comedy act -- which seemed to come accross as angry. Although I did think he was very funny.
Overall I think the documentary was good. Many times I was going to turn it off but I never ended up doing it. It kept me interested and had just the right amount of comedy bits to keep me laughing. When the pace would get slow a comedy bit would get me interested again.
Rating:
Summary: A great tool for a leadership conference
Review: This ends up being less a documentary about comedy and more a character study of a mature and an immature craftsman. The craft here is comedy, but it really could be anything, especially any type of art. A friend and I watched this and afterwards talked about how well Jerry Seinfeld and Orny Adams illustrate the principles of leadership.
Jerry Seinfeld is the portrait of a mature craftsman.
1. He is able maintain a healthy separation between himself and his craft. When a bit is not funny, it doesn't mean he isn't funny, it means the bit needs work. So he reworks it. When a set doesn't go well, he accepts the responsibility (doesn't "blame it on the candles") and figures out how to make the next set go better.
2. He has a life outside of his work. We only see his family for a few seconds; this is a film about comedy, and that's his job, not his life.
3. He views other craftsmen in his field as resources and comrades, not as threats and enemies. It is clear Jerry has a warm relationship with other comics, most notably Colin Quinn, and is able to discuss the craft and refine material with them. He listens to their advice, airs his concerns, and hears their concerns. He learns more about the craft by discussing it with other craftsmen.
4. He is willing to take risks in order to make himself a better craftsman, and produce a better craft. The real story of Jerry Seinfeld here is that he is starting over -- all new material -- in order to sharpen himself, to challenge himself and stay on top of the game. It's a huge risk that makes him a better craftsman.
Orny Adams is the portrait of an immature craftsman.
1. He is unable to maintain a healthy separation between himself and the craft. When a set doesn't go well, Orny takes it personally. It's like the audience is attacking is worth, his value as a person. He believes that if he is not funny, he is worthless. As a defense mechanism, he gets angry. At different points in the movie, he rages at a bad audience, a bad club, and a bad time slot.
2. Apparently, he has no life outside his work. He calls his mom once, to tell her he has one a contest. But it's clear he's unhappy, and it's quite possible it's because all he has and does and is is comedy.
3. He views other craftsmen in his field as threats and enemies. It's pretty clear that other comics respect Orny Adams, but none are his friends. At one point in the movie, another comic tries to give him some advice -- primarily about what I noted in point #2, that he needs to have a life outside of his comedy -- but he gives it like he's giving it to a rattlesnake about to strike. He is constantly verbally backing away, disclaiming, trying to say what he has to say without being struck. And Orny receives it like a rattlesnake. He cannot hear what the man has to say, and instead tells him what he ought to be saying to him. At another point, he says he has respect for Jerry Seinfeld, but it looks more like envy to me. He wonders at one point, if Jerry's success is not simply the result of luck.
(That may be misquoted in the movie. I got a strong sense while watching it that Orny doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut, and that the documentary editors cut pieces of his dialogue from their context to make what he says sound worse than it actually is.)
4. The prospect of taking risks with his craft makes him anxious and miserable. He has to take a pretty minor risk when he goes on Letterman -- he has to change one key word in his set -- and it gives him fits. He rages against the show, and is clearly a nervous wreck afterwards. The sad thing is, the risk worked. The bit was still funny. But his inability to separate his craft from himself (back to #1) mean that this risk absolutely wrecked him.
Orny Adams is a very talented comedian, and in all fairness, if we went back and watched Jerry Seinfeld twenty years ago, he probably would have looked much the same. Here's hoping that he matures into a competent craftsman. My advice to him would be to take some time off -- spend a year away from the circuit, away from comedy, so that he can establish an identity that isn't the craft. Then come back. If not, I have to agree with George Shapiro's words: "Yeah, Orny, I think you'll be big. But I think you'll still be unhappy."
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, at the most.
Review: I love that, hah haaah!!! The special features on Comedian have Jiminy Glick - twice-ah!!! Glick interviews Gerry Steinfeld, and also chats it up-ah with Horny Adams (*not* a prop comic - ha haaah!). Jiminy gets into great depth, in a way the documentary *tries* to do. I love it!! Okay, the main feature: It's a cold world, and comedians must bare their soul up on stage, naked if you will. (Unless you have a melon smasher!). So Steinfeld humbles himself, going back into the real world that he knows. Athletes call it muscle memory... you just have to recondition, and it'll all come back. Steinfeld steps back in smooth to the world. But besides getting adulation, he absorbs/stomachs some negativity ("What are you doing here!"), rather than throw it back. He's truly polite, later taking some TUMS for the human team. Then there's Horny... an edgy guy! He's bold, he's brash-uh! He's like a young Corey Hart, who wore sunglasses at night, *before* it was safe! On stage in front of strangers (drunk, bored, ticked) with nothing but his craft, a comedian needs some armor. And Horny's armor is prickly! Ha haah! (He even jokes about diseases! Based on a bus sign that no one has ever seen... in homage to the classic "1 out of 3 people are/have X. If the person on either side of you ain't it, it's you! Ha Haah!) All the best to Horny and Steinfeld as they try to make it in the laugh business. This documentary is disconcerting, and cold, and has a lonely feel -- it's all as dark as going solo in the world with nothing but yourself and your ideas to count on. And you must protect yourself, while opening up night after night, after night. So much freedom, so little security. These guys are incredibly brave-uh! These days, so much of show-biz folk are getting smooth makeovers. But Steinfeld shows the true rough side. And we benefit.... Okay, back to Jiminy Glick. Does anybody have the tape? I heard there's a tape out there... looks like it's filmed through night goggles.... And it shows Jiminy and Dixie doin' some luuuvin'!!! Ha Hahhh!
Rating:
Summary: Getting to the Joke
Review: Jerry Seinfeld can do most anything and I would laugh, but this documentary came close to the limit. A behind the scenes look at stand up comedy and the struggles of both superstars and wannabes. To see Jerry swear was new, to see Jerry with other comedians was cool, but on the road, on stage, in the wings, on his jet, were all interesting, but not very entertaining. Though documentaries intend to provoke thought, not necessarily entertain and the fact Comedian does both makes this film satisfying. Comedians are all insecure and tortured with the exception of Bill Cosby. The wannabe in the film is Orny Adams, who shows the ugly and unpleasant side of the business and his personality. He is a bad man. More than anything else Comedian shows Jerry is not much different than his SitCom character. He is a funny guy that made it big, but not much different from anybody else. The DVD special features were a bonus especially the Jiminy Glick interviews. md Michael Duranko
www.bootism.com
Rating:
Summary: Orny rhymes with corny. Remember that.
Review: I thought this was an overall very interesting piece of work. It was particularly entertaining to see Jerry Seinfeld - JERRY SEINFELD for chrissakes! - struggling with his act on stage and getting nervous, etc... It must be rough to go from having one of the best shows on television to doing stand up again, and I had to keep reminding myself that he chose to do things that way. To wit: we see Jerry jetting off to his gigs in his obviously private plane, and you know most comics who are "starting out" are lucky to get tickets in coach. So it's a struggle, but certainly not make it or break it financially for Seinfeld. Great cast of comics throughout the film (Cosby, Colin Quinn, Chris Rock, Gary Shandling, Ray Romano to name a few), with the exception of one particularly annoying person - Orny Adams. Man, what a live wire. Seriously wound waaaaaaaay too tight, he spends most of the movie freaking out about himself, insulting his audience once he's off stage and just generally being annoying. Somehow, he manages to land George Shapiro as his manager, so I guess he doesn't suck that much, but what is shown of Corny Orny in the film is not flattering. I'm reducing the rating on this one to three stars because of Orny. 4 stars if he weren't in it.
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