''Diary of a Young Comic'' is a 1979

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

comedy film starring

Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...

Dom DeLuise Dominick DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, director, producer, chef, and author. Known primarily for his comedic performances, he rose to fame in the 1970s as a frequent guest on television variety shows ...

and George Jessel and directed by

Gary Weis Gary Weis (c. 1943) is an American filmmaker. He is known for creating multiple short films that aired on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the late 1970s. He co-produced and provided visual effects for the documentary ''Jimi Hendrix'' (1973); he co- ...

. The film is a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

take on

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and follows the story of a young

stand-up comic Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

who moves to Los Angeles trying to make it big.

Plot

Billy Gondolstein (

) is a young Jewish

from New York City who decides to change his surname to Gondola and try his luck on the Los Angeles comedy scene, much to his family's dismay. In Los Angeles, Billy reconnects with his cousin, Shirley Gondolstein, also from New York. She advises Billy that she now goes by the name "Shi" and that "Essence is all that matters to me anymore." Shi lives in a bare apartment and, while Billy is visiting, her boyfriend Fred (now known as "Fre") shows-up to dump some

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

on the floor. Shi tells Billy that the straw is "a queen-sized bed." Billy soon finds that everyone he meets is either obsessed with celebrity or is an out-of-work performer working a part-time job: His landlord, Mr. Porzinski (

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fictiona ...

) also works as a

stunt man A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

and Billy takes a cab and finds out that his driver is also a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. One of Billy's neighbors ( Linda Kerridge) is the

spitting image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ov ...

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

. Billy visits a

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

(

Richard Dimitri Richard Dimitri (born June 27, 1942) is an American character actor and comedian principally known for his roles as the twin characters of Bertram and Renaldo in the 1975 Mel Brooks television show ''When Things Were Rotten'' and Roman Troy Moron ...

) whose office walls are covered with the pictures of the celebrities he has treated, with their eyes covered with strips of black tape to supposedly protect their identities. On his way out of the therapist's office, Billy remarks "Say, isn't that Flipper?"

, George Jessel,

Gary Mule Deer Gary Mule Deer (born Gary C. Miller; November 21, 1939) is an American comedian and country musician. Biography During a career spanning six decades, Gary Mule Deer has performed on many major concert stages in the United States, and has made o ...

Nina van Pallandt Nina, Baroness van Pallandt (born Nina Magdelena Møller; 15 July 1932) is a Danish retired singer and actress. Acting Van Pallandt acted on television and in films. From 1969 to the early 1970s, she appeared as a guest on several episodes of t ...

and

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

all make

cameo appearances A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in the film as themselves.

Cast

Production

Prior to ''Diary of a Young Comic'', director Gary Weis was the creator over 45 short film segments for ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' (''SNL''). ''SNL''s creator,

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

, served as the film's

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

. The script was written by Richard Lewis and Bennett Tramer, based on a story originally conceived by Weis. Weis decided to put Lewis in the film after watching him perform at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

in Los Angeles. Tramer approached Lewis after one of his stand up sets at

The Improv The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s. History Originally, it was a ...

and suggested that Lewis might be a good fit for a project he was working on with Weis.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

aired the film on February 3, 1979, during ''SNL''s timeslot, while the show was on hiatus.

Critical reception

Reviews of the film were mixed, but mostly positive. Owen McNally of the ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

'' wrote: "''Diary of a Young Comic'' is a clever, offbeat, often amusing special which pinch-hits rather capably for ''Saturday Night Live'' tonight on NBC...it has much of that harsh, satiric kind of comedy that makes ''Saturday Night Live'' such an invigorating blast of clean, bracing air in a medium polluted with tedium." Somewhat in contrast, Michael Kilgore of ''

The Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

'' wrote: "It's funny, mostly through an outsider's viewpoint in California, poking holes in the jacuzzi/est/mellow lifestyle there, but it's funny in a traditional way, not in the bizarre/rococo manner we've become accustomed to on ''Saturday Night''." He added that the film "is easy entertainment, traditional comedy instead of ''Saturday Night''s madness, but that doesn't make it dull." John J. O'Connor of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called ''Diary of a Young Comic'' "a struggling film about a struggling young comedian. Perhaps in a clever attempt to reflect its subject, it is childish, pointless, wildly uneven and, not infrequently, devastatingly funny," and added that the film "has a generous share of nice touches." The review by Tom Jory of the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

'' was even more positive; he referred to the film as "90 minutes of non-stop hilarity" and referred to the supporting cast as "impressive".

Howard Rosenberg Howard Anthony Rosenberg (born June 10, 1942) is an American television critic. He worked at ''The Louisville Times'' from 1968 through 1978 and then worked at the ''Los Angeles Times'' for 25 years where he won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', however, was not as impressed. He called the film a "sloppy amorphous and undisciplined story," and that "it's the kind of comedy you'd imagine

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

doing as an adolescent, teasingly providing enough unpolished gems to keep us interested, and occasionally howling, but never complete satisfaction or evidence that mature artists are at work." Rosenberg added: "The energy is there and some of the humor is right on target, but the story is thin and seems to be chiefly a vehicle for one-liners and gags, even some of the best of which ultimately are ruined when carried to excess."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0075941 1970s satirical films 1979 comedy films 1979 television films American comedy television films American satirical films Films about comedians Films directed by Gary Weis Films set in Los Angeles Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles 1970s English-language films 1970s American films