Pollak making directorial debut with stand-up documentary.
It has been announced that stand-up comedian/actor Kevin Pollak (‘Red State,’ ‘A Few Good Men,’ ‘The Usual Suspects’) will direct the documentary ‘Misery Loves Comedy’ for producers Becky Newhall of Newaley Pictures and Burton Ritchie and Ben Galecki of Heretic Films.
‘Misery Loves Comedy’ will explore the mind of the stand-up comic and all those who choose to write or perform comedy as a profession. The documentary will use interviews, day-in-the-life sequences, archival and historic footage and photos, observations, essays and insights to explore why a person gets on stage in front of a room full of strangers when, in fact, public speaking is all other Americans’ #1 fear, even above death.
Pollak and his producers have assembled a veritable who’s who of comedic talent both onstage and off. A partial list of includes: Michael Ian Black, Rob Delaney, Jon Favreau, Paul Feig, Jim Gaffigan, Christopher Guest, Chris Hardwick, Penn Jillette, Peter Serafinowicz, Stephen Merchant, Richard Kind, Lisa Kudrow, Richard Lewis, Marc Maron, Jim Norton, Opie & Anthony, Jason Reitman, Andy Richter, Bob Saget, David Wain, Alan Zweibel and many more.
Additionally, Pollak will spend time with sons and daughters, ex-wives and widows of the greats like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Richard Pryor.
“My hope is that we shed all new light on the pain behind the humour, but also uncover more about the minds and hearts of comedians than any of us think we know,” said Pollak in a statement.
“As a true fan of stand-up comedy, I wanted to produce this film to better understand the inner workings of the comic,” added Newhall. “Burton and I look forward to working with Kevin to help audiences gain insight into these amazing artists.”