IMDb > "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" (2009)

"Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" (2009) More at IMDbPro »TV series

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Overview

User Rating:
7.5/10   53 votes
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View company contact information for Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America on IMDbPro.
Seasons:
Release Date:
14 January 2009 (USA) more
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Awards:
Nominated for Primetime Emmy. more
User Reviews:
Nice enough content RUINED by letterboxing! more (1 total)

Cast

 (Series Cast Summary - 17 of 41)

Billy Crystal ... Himself - Host (6 episodes, 2009)

Amy Sedaris ... Narrator / ... (6 episodes, 2009)

George Carlin ... Himself - Comedian / ... (4 episodes, 2009)

Leonard Maltin ... Himself - Film Critic / ... (4 episodes, 2009)

Chris Rock ... Himself / ... (4 episodes, 2009)
Larry Wilmore ... Himself (4 episodes, 2009)
Robert Klein ... Himself - Comedian / ... (3 episodes, 2009)
George Schlatter ... Himself - Producer / ... (3 episodes, 2009)

Michael McKean ... Himself / ... (3 episodes, 2009)

Larry Gelbart ... Himself - Writer / ... (3 episodes, 2009)
Dick Gregory ... Himself - Comedian / ... (3 episodes, 2009)

Joan Rivers ... Herself - Comedian / ... (3 episodes, 2009)
Anne Beatts ... Herself - Writer (3 episodes, 2009)
Dick Smothers ... Himself - Comedian / ... (3 episodes, 2009)

Whoopi Goldberg ... Herself (3 episodes, 2009)

Shelley Berman ... Himself / ... (3 episodes, 2009)

David Steinberg ... Director / ... (3 episodes, 2009)
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5 out of 12 people found the following review useful.
Nice enough content RUINED by letterboxing!, 21 May 2009
1/10
Author: tonstant viewer

Yes, it's nice to trot this material around one more time, and there are anecdotes here that may or may not be new to you.

But Buster Keaton said that comedy is in long shot, and these boneheaded producers chose to zoom in for widescreen and hack off the top and bottom in their clips of both movies and TV.

You can't show physical comedians cut off at the knees. These are full-body performers. You lose the feet, legs and space that contains the action, as well as the location information at the top of the screen. In the scene from "Animal Crackers" where policeman Basil Ruysdael pumps Harpo Marx's arm and several hundred knives fall out of his other sleeve, you can hardly see the knives appearing and the entire gag is killed stone dead.

To show the entire frame would have entailed black bars at the sides, but that would have been a lot better than destroying the visuals of Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Fields, Caesar, Ball and just about everybody else who worked in standard format rather than widescreen.

An absolute waste of time. Don't bother.

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America" (2009)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
What's funny? kdavis-29
Judd Apatow ttenchantr
billy crystal ruins it southloop
What a shame...and I blame PBS ! Grizz-14
Where is Fred Allen? m_hutt2
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