Comedy PTSD

I talked last week about comic judgment, which leads me to one of my most terrifying nights as a comedy writer. I still have a little PTSD so you’ll excuse me if the writing of this post seems a little stilted. I have to stop every few sentences and take a break.

It was 1982. I went to the Fox Village Theater to see this new movie, VICTOR VICTORIA. It was directed by Blake Edwards, a very nimble comedy director. Among his credits are the first few PINK PANTHER movies and THE GREAT RACE (starring Natalie Wood so I’ve seen it twenty times). VICTOR VICTORIA had a stellar cast. Julie Andrews (Mrs. Blake Edwards), James Garner, Robert Preston, even funnyman Alex Karras.

It’s a remake of a 1933 German film, and who knows more about funny than the Germans?

The theater was full, the audience was roaring, and I was having a panic attack.

Why?

Because I didn’t find the movie remotely funny.

Now normally you’d think, “So what? That’s what makes a horse race.”

EXCEPT…

It’s my JOB to know what is funny. It’s my JOB to know what makes an audience laugh. And if they’re roaring and knee slapping and I have no idea why, even with over twenty-years experience, then my career is over. I’m a musician who is suddenly tone deaf.

I looked up VICTOR VICTORIA on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics score: 97%, audience score: 86%. Vincent Canby in the New York Times said: “Victor/Victoria is so good, so exhilarating, that the only depressing thing about it is the suspicion that Mr. Edwards is going to have a terrible time trying to top it.”

You probably saw it and laughed your ass off.

Similar material and subject matter was explored in LA CAGE AUX FAUX and was released before VICTOR VICTORIA and I thought it was hilarious. And that was with subtitles! So it’s not that the subject matter is one I don’t find amusing. I loved BIRDCAGE, the American remake of LA CAGE AUX FAUX and even the musical.

I see VV pop up on TCM from time to time and wonder if I should take another look. Would another 38 years give me a different perspective? Might I finally see what everybody was laughing at. However, my fear is: what if I still don’t find it funny and have a repeat panic attack? So I’ve never seen it again.

Seriously, this movie occupied several sessions of therapy. If you’re a comedy writer and you start doubting your judgment, you’re in trouble.

So how did I shake it? Eventually I just said, they’re still paying me to do this. I must either know enough or am doing a good enough job fooling them. And I finally moved on.

But since then I can never go to horror movies.

from By Ken Levine