Paul Provenza

Through unprecedented backstage access and candid interviews, the film weaves through the absurd world of the working comedian and reveals a crazy and hilarious psychological profile of its practitioners. We also follow retired comic Ritch Shydner's attempt to climb back on stage after a thirteen-year hiatus. At the top of his game in the 1980's, Shydner had HBO specials, shot five pilot TV shows, and numerous late night appearances (Carson, Letterman, Leno, etc.) but the big time eluded him. Equipped with the collective wisdom and nutty musings of over 80 of his peers, he gives it another shot. Does Ritch have what it takes to connect with today's young crowds and still get the laughs?

One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.

More terror/magic hijinks from Penn & Teller, with support from some other players. Paul Provenza spends the whole show trapped in a system of giant tubes. Skits include a new director and an auditioning starlet who can and will do anything, and the Three Stooges on a construction project. Other notable tricks include earthworms finding a photo from a stack, a borrowed ring apparently cut from a volunteer's stomach, and a bullet swap.

A bunch of city slickers from different backgrounds go into the wild mountains to be one with nature, but basically to have a good time. However, a paramilitary group has chosen the same time to go camping. When one of the soldiers thinks their boss has been killed by one of the city slickers, he coaxes his team into exterminating all of them. They will have to rely on their wits and on each other in order to survive.

The Documentary takes an unconventional journey through the life of one of America's most original comedic voices. Eddie Pepitone, "The Bitter Buddha", is looked at in this portrait of creativity, enlightenment and rage.

Noah Talbot is a long-time alcoholic whose drinking begins to have a devastating effect not only on his personal life but on his family as well.

Haunted by uncanny similarities between Nazi stage techniques and the showmanship employed by modern entertainers, a filmmaker investigates the dangers of audience manipulation and leader worship.

The craft, creative process and complicated lives of Stand-up Comedians.

“Silenced” is a film about the state of free speech in America.

The life and career of one of comedy's most inimitable modern voices, Mr. Gilbert Gottfried.

A celebration of life, love, acceptance and family, "Food for the Heart" is a sweet romantic comedy, about two best friends, Delmar (Jorja Fox) and Hortense (Suzanne mara), whose culinary talents and gift for hospitality leads the two women to host evenings of love and laughter with an eccentric circle of half-baked family and friends.

Three longtime pals live in San Francisco: Darin is married to Natalie, but their family life is too still and Darin is not happy about it, Matt is ladies' magnet but tired of it, trying to get something stable from his relationships, and goofy Kevin doesn't have any success with women at all. Darin starts an affair with his friend's wife Maxine and Matt falls deeply in love with a woman he has seen once.

Four stories intersect in this violent film parody. Exterminators dress as hit men and try to protect the wife of their boss, Montello. Meanwhile, the strippers at Montello's strip club, dressed as nuns, attempt to rob him. Tag-team wrestlers steal Montello's briefcase, thinking its contents are valuable. Finally, Bumpkin, running to deliver a script, loses a lot of the pages.

Was Jesus a historical person? We'll trace and compare existing evidence to modern mythology.

Four students who work on different jobs during their vacations in summer are tired of doing the same thing every year. Therefore they decide to open up a moving company together and confront themselves with the former boss of one of them.

A frustrated crime reporter is given the job of food critic by his editor and when he writes a bad review of a mob owned restaurant, he must face the consequences.

Alan is a gambler desperate to erase the huge sports debt he owes to a cruel but quirky Chicago mobster.

Frank (Miller) is a gay journalist who goes undercover at the urging of his therapist boyfriend Jonathan (Provenza) to write an exposé of Dr. Apsey (Butler). Apsey performs conversion therapy on gay male clients, a practice which Jonathan finds reprehensible. Frank quickly comes clean with Apsey but continues to meet with him under the pretense of interviewing him, but finds himself questioning himself, Jonathan and their six-year relationship.

Originally a pilot that aired as a late movie on the CBS network. it was never picked up to continue as a series. It featured Phil Hartman, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, and has appearances by young Bob Saget and Emo Phillips. Very obscure, it wasn't included in any of the mentioned performers' filmographies until 2024.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.

The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979, to May 7, 1988, making it the longest running sitcom of the 1980s. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focuses on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, an all-female boarding school in Peekskill, New York.

The story of the Miami Police Department's vice squad and its efforts to end drug trafficking and prostitution, centered on the unlikely partnership of Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs - who first meet when Tubbs is undercover in a drug cartel.

Deadline is a television series which was shown on NBC in the 2000–2001 season. It starred Oliver Platt as Wallace Benton, who worked for the fictional New York Ledger. This was a daily newspaper which was seen in many episodes of Law & Order.

After receiving a scholarship from the state, a recent Columbia University medical school graduate is required to set up his practice in an eccentric Alaskan town.

Two conservative men support their younger brother when he comes out as gay, and help him navigate being openly homosexual in 1980s Philadelphia.

Beggars and Choosers is a comedy-drama series broadcast by Showtime. Developed by Peter Lefcourt and Brandon Tartikoff, the series was a comedic, behind-the-scenes look at network television. Its 42 episodes aired between June 19, 1999 and December 12, 2000.

Charles in Charge is an American sitcom series starring Scott Baio as Charles, a 19-year-old student at the fictional Copeland College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who worked as a live-in babysitter in exchange for room and board. Baio directed many episodes of the show, and was credited with his full name, Scott Vincent Baio. It was first broadcast on CBS from October 3, 1984 to April 3, 1985, when it was cancelled due to a struggle in the Nielsen ratings. It then had a more successful first-run syndication run from January 3, 1987 to November 10, 1990, as 126 original episodes were aired in total. The show was produced by Al Burton Productions and Scholastic Productions in association with Universal Television, and distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution and New Line Cinema Corporation.

The saga of a wealthy Denver family in the oil business: Blake Carrington, the patriarch; Krystle, his former secretary and wife; his children: Adam, lost in childhood after a kidnapping; Fallon, pampered and spoiled; Steven, openly gay; and Amanda, hidden from him by his ex-wife, the conniving Alexis. Most of the show features the conflict between 2 large corporations, Blake's Denver Carrington and Alexis' ColbyCo.

Pursuit of Happiness is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 30, 1987 to January 22, 1988.

The Oldest Rookie is an American crime drama that aired on CBS from September 16, 1987 to January 13, 1988. The series stars Paul Sorvino as Officer Ike Porter, a middle-aged deputy chief in charge of public relations that decides to leave his desk job to become a street cop, and D.W. Moffett as Detective Tony Jonas, his young new partner.

Weekends at the D.L. was a talk show on Comedy Central, created in July 2005. In a typical episode, host D. L. Hughley entertains guests around a coffee table, where they drink wine and smoke stogies on the D.L. Comedy skits, both live and in the form of short video clips, were also featured in the program. The show aired Friday and Saturday at 10PM EST until January 2006, when it was canceled due to low ratings.

J.J. Starbuck is an American crime drama series that aired on NBC from September 1987 to June 1988. The series follows cornpone-spouting Jerome Jeremiah "J.J." Starbuck, a billionaire Texan who wears ten-gallon hats, cowboy boots and fancy western shirts. He drives a flashy limousine with steer horns on the hood and a horn that plays "The Eyes of Texas," and spouts a steady stream of folksy homilies.

On her sixteenth birthday, Sabrina Spellman discovers she has magical powers. She lives with her 600-year-old aunts Hilda and Zelda as well as talking cat Salem in the fictional town of Westbridge, Massachusetts.

Comedian and director of the obscenely hilarious hit film The Aristocrats, Paul Provenza invites some of the biggest names in stand-up to sit down and try to beat each other to the punch line. From politics and racism to sex and money, no topic is off limits in The Green Room.

The West Wing provides a glimpse into presidential politics in the nation's capital as it tells the stories of the members of a fictional presidential administration. These interesting characters have humor and dedication that touches the heart while the politics that they discuss touch on everyday life.

Kids take each other to court and "The Honorable Judge O. Meter" decides their verdict. Paul Provenza is the host of this short-lived and relatively forgotten late 80s Nickelodeon show.

This two-part documentary chronicles the life and work of the legendary comedian, tracking George Carlin’s rise to fame and opens an intimate window into Carlin’s personal life, including his childhood in New York City, his long struggle with drugs that took its toll on his health, his brushes with the law, his loving relationship with Brenda, his wife of 36 years, and his second marriage to Sally Wade. Intimate interviews with Carlin and Brenda’s daughter, Kelly Carlin, offer unique insight into her family’s story and her parents enduring love and partnership.

Widowed pediatrician Harry Weston is a miracle worker when it comes to dealing with his young patients, but he's more challenged by the other people surrounding him: daughters Barbara and Carol; his wisecracking office assistant, nurse LaVerne Todd; and obnoxious neighborhood mooch Charley Dietz. Thank goodness he always finds a friendly shoulder (and a warm, wet tongue) in Dreyfuss, his enormous dog.

Gotham Comedy Club, a popular comedy venue in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, is the setting of an hourlong series that is shot in front of an audience at the club. Each episode features routines by several comics -- a list that has included such names as David Alan Grier, Gilbert Gottfried and Artie Lange -- in what the network says is an unedited and uncensored format. In addition to the big names of the field who take the Gotham stage, the show also features up-and-comers who want to make a name for themselves in the stand-up comedy business.