Is This Thing On?

by Mike McGranaghan

“I think I’m getting a divorce. What tipped me off was that I’m living in an apartment on my own, and my wife and kids don’t live there.” That’s what Alex Novak (Will Arnett) tells a comedy club audience the first time he sets foot on stage. He’s not a professional comedian and he doesn’t have a formal bit. The poor guy is just venting because he needs somebody to listen.

Is This Thing On? details Alex’s rise in the New York City stand-up comedy scene. His separation from wife Tess (Laura Dern) leaves him feeling lost. Getting up in front of a crowd is initially a spur-of-the-moment decision designed to avoid having to pay a $15 cover charge. Over time, however, it becomes how he processes the sadness that’s eating him up. His activity is initially kept quiet from everyone except best friend “Balls” (Bradley Cooper). Once Tess learns that he’s using their relationship as the basis for jokes, the dynamic of their split changes in an unexpected way.

Every once in a while, movies try to take on the subject of stand-up comedy. The results typically aren’t impressive. 1988’s Sally Field/Tom Hanks drama Punchline didn’t light up the box office, nor did 2016’s The Comedian, which awkwardly cast Robert DeNiro as a funnyman. Is This Thing On? fares a little better, since it’s as much about the Alex/Tess relationship as it is about the comedy scene.

Arnett and Dern bring their A-games. The former perfectly depicts Alex’s uncomfortable, self-confessional routines so that you can feel the catharsis he gets from dumping his problems onto an audience. Arnett also conveys the growing self-confidence that comes from repeat performances. Dern is reliably fantastic, making Tess’s frustration with Alex understandable while showing that there’s still love for the guy inside. Their scenes together are among the film’s high points.

Cooper, who also directed, takes care to depict the behind-the-scenes chaos at a comedy club, where performers support each other, occasionally compete, and always commiserate after a show. Several real-life comedians portray themselves, helping to add a level of authenticity. The movie captures the energy of such clubs, where a good set can lift a person up and a bad one can bring them crashing down. Those scenes are great fun to watch.

We’ve seen other films and TV shows deal with comedians turning stuff from their lives into routines. Jerry Seinfeld famously did it on Seinfeld; Louis CK did it to an even greater extent on Louie. On the big screen, Nora Ephron’s underappreciated 1992 gem This Is My Life carried out the concept particularly well. For that reason, Is This Thing On? doesn’t feel entirely fresh. It’s a pleasant iteration of something that’s been done multiple times before. Finding a new perspective would have made the film even better.

The magic Arnett and Dern create is worth the time, though, and the comedy club sequences provide a nice counterpoint. The great film about stand-up comedy has yet to be made, but this one is sufficiently entertaining to hold us over until it is.

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