Nitehawk’s BOOZE & BOOKS celebrates COMEDIANS IN FILM with a 35mm screening of Robin Williams in THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.

Books: Book giveaways courtesy of THE STRAND
Booze: Flying Dog’s Head Harbor special

Based on the John Irving novel from 1978, The World According to Garp stars Robin Williams in one of his best dramatic roles as TS Garp. Chronicling his life with his mother Jenny Fields, both son and mother are writers, the film reveals him to be a wistful writer wrestling with our screwloose modern age. As a grown up Garp has some success writing fiction, but not nearly so much as his mother has with feminist-themed nonfiction. Rich and famous, she starts a center for troubled women, and while Garp marries and has children, he remains a constant, if somewhat critical, observer of the strange community that forms around Jenny.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (The Serious Comedian).

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Robin Williams, Amanda Plummer, David Hyde Pierce, Mercedes Ruehl, Kathy Najimy, Harry Shearer

For me, comedy starts as a spew, a kind of explosion, and then you sculpt it from there, if at all. It comes out of a deeper, darker side. Maybe it comes from anger, because I’m outraged by cruel absurdities, the hypocrisy that exists everywhere, even within yourself, where it’s hardest to see. – Robin Williams

Parry is a homeless history professor who lives in a fantasy world full of castles, Red Knights and damsels in distress. Jack is New York’s #1 shock deejay, whose off-hand arrogance triggers a tragedy which ruins his career. Penniless and without prospects, Jack finds himself plucked from disaster by the most improbable of saviors…Parry. And so the amazing story of the Fisher King unfolds a modern quest for redemption and the Holy Grail, filled with humor, heartbreak and ravishing romance.

Dice channels Philip Marlow by way of Jersey in the goofball private eye comedy THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE. Presented in 35mm!

I’ve been getting in trouble my whole life and I really don’t care what anybody thinks of what I do on stage as a comic. – Andrew Dice Clay

The rock-and-roll comedian takes a small step into the role of a rock-and-roll private dick in this crass LA noir-comedy. Dice plays Ford Fairlane, a detective who specializes in sleazy music biz cases. When an apparent accident at a heavy metal concert leaves a rock star dead, a shock jock hires Fairlane to track down a missing groupie who might have a lead on the singer’s death. A parade of LA bimbos, sleazeball record execs and a koala bear follow leading Fairlane on the ride of his life with barely enough bullets for all of the people he’d like to kill.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Stand Up/Stand Up Companion).

Starring: Meryl Streep, Roseanne Barr, Ed Begley Jr., Linda Hunt, Sylvia Miles

B-Sides, Meryl Streep: Although her dramatic roles may get the most attention, Meryl Streep’s comedic performances truly show off her powers. As Mary Fisher in She-Devil she lets loose as a privileged narcissist, with absolutely wild physical comedy.

Roseanne Barr takes her messy wife routine to the next level when she stars as a frumpy housewife and mother named Ruth Patchett in She-Devil. Unkept and a total mess, she’s the exact opposite of beautiful and wealthy romance novelist Mary Fisher (Meryl Streep). Though different in every way, the do have one thing in common: Ruth’s account husband Bob. Although Bob always thought his wife was a total disaster, once he decides to leave her for someone more put together, all bets are off for Ruth. Bent on revenge, she pulls out all the stops in her mission to become the ultimate domestic demon!

The clown community is as perverse as you always thought in Bobcat Goldthwait’s SHAKES THE CLOWN. Presented in 35mm!

In my first stand-up acts there wasn’t material even. You know, I’d go on stage and cry and read a Dear John letter or gut fish on stage. I could be odd – and it’s what interested me as a comedian. – Bobcat Goldthwait

Upon its release in 1991, Betsy Sherman’s famously referred to Shakes the Clown as “the Citizen Kane of Alcoholic Clown Movies” in her Boston Globe review. And it’s true, this outrageous comedy directed and starring comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is uniquely amazing and borderline genius. Dueling clowns are pitted against each other in the all-clown town of Palookaville. Shakes is a kid’s party clown who spends all of his spare time getting really drunk who gets framed for his boss’s murder. So what does he do to clean up the bad clown element taking over his town? He goes undercover as a mine. Gold.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Late Nite).

Richard Pryor spits fire in his return to the spotlight, RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE ON THE SUNSET STRIP. Presented in 35mm!

“So Black people – we the first people who had thought, right? We was the first ones to say, ‘Where the fuck am I, and how do you get to Detroit?’” – Richard Pryor

Live on the Sunset Strip is an extraordinary feat even for a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Richard Pryor. His third stand-up film, Sunset Strip, captures Pryor as he makes his triumphant return to the stage after his whirlwind ride into stardom left him junked-out, burnt-up and broke. Cut together from two shows filmed at the Hollywood Palladium in 1981, Pryor starts off uncharacteristically shaky before settling into a remarkable performance that wrestles with the black experience in America, his formative years of poverty and grift, and his spiraling, hopeless addiction to drugs — and, somehow, it’s just about the funniest thing ever put to film.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Stand Up/Stand Up Companion).

POOTIE TANG is too cool for words. Presented in 35mm!

No comedian wants to have to analyze and defend something. It’s like, you thought something was funny; you wrote it down; you acted it out; you talked to people. You know? It works or it doesn’t work. – Chris Rock

Directed by Louis C.K. and adapted from a sketch of the “The Chris Rock Show,” Pootie Tang is probably strangest comedy to be released by a major studio. It may have been panned at release but it’s now a cult favorite. A satire of blaxploitation films of the 1970s, Pootie Tang centers around a hero and role model to the kids, Pootie. Everybody looks up to Pootie except for the evil Dick Lecter, CEO of Lecter Corp, the company that makes cigarettes, alcohol and fast food. Watch to see if Pootie’s cool determination and strength prevail over the evil Dick Lecter and his crew. Did we mention that Pootie also speaks his own language that the audience can’t understand but those in the film with him do…do you speak Pootie?

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Late Nite).

An unplanned pregnancy complicates things for a single and unemployed Brooklyn comedian in OBVIOUS CHILD.

I don’t think men have time to be funny because they have to make all of our rules about what we can do with our vaginas. – Jenny Slate

Anchored by a breakout performance from Jenny Slate, Obvious Child is a winning discovery, packed tight with raw, energetic comedy and moments of poignant human honesty. For aspiring comedian Donna Stern, everyday life as a female twenty-something provides ample material for her incredibly relatable brand of humor. On stage, Donna is unapologetically herself, joking about topics as intimate as her sex life and as crude as her day-old underwear. But when Donna gets dumped, loses her job, and finds herself pregnant just in time for Valentine’s Day, she has to navigate the murky waters of independent adulthood for the first time. As she grapples with an uncertain financial future, an unwanted pregnancy, and a surprising new suitor, Donna begins to discover that the most terrifying thing about adulthood isn’t facing it all on her own.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Women in Comedy).

Seven lame superheroes try to save the day in MYSTERY MEN!

I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth. – Janeane Garafolo

When Champion City’s legendary superhero, Captain Amazing, falls into the hands of the evil madman Casanova Frankenstein and his disco-dancing henchmen, an aspiring group of misfit superheroes called the “Mystery Men” show what they can do. Based on the Dark Horse comic, Mystery Men includes: Mr. Furious, whose power comes from his boundless rage; The Shoveler, a father who shovels “better than anyone”; The Blue Raja, a fork-flinging mama’s boy; The Bowler, who fights crime with the help of her father’s skull; The Spleen, whose power is pure flatulence; Invisible Boy, who’s only invisible when no one’s watching and The Sphinx, a cliche-spewing philosopher.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (Women in Comedy).

Jim Carrey portrays the legendary comedian Andy Kaufman in MAN ON THE MOON.

Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. – Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey delivers one of his best serious roles in Miloš Forman’s Man on the Moon by playing one of the most enigmatic figures in comedy, Andy Kaufman. Famous for his roles on Taxi and Saturday Night Live and his bizarre appearances on the David Letterman show, Kaufman was best known for playing elaborate tricks on his audiences. Who was the real Kaufman? This film explores this a little by showing his personal life (girlfriend and illness) and confusing public persona. Consider this the ultimate comedian on comedian in film.

Part of Nitehawk’s summer program COMEDIANS IN FILM (The Serious Comedian).