With Robert DeNiro’s recent disastrous turn as grizzled stand-up comedian Jackie Burke in “The Comedian,” I was reminded of another time DeNiro played a comedian – this time to much loftier results. The year was 1983 – just seven years removed from his career-making turn in Martin Scorsese’s tour de force “Taxi Driver" and just three years removed from his Oscar-winning turn in Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.” This time Scorsese used DeNiro as a wannabe comedian named Rupert Pupkin. The differences between DeNiro’s boorish lout Jackie and the milquetoast but determined Pupkin are striking. Perhaps only DeNiro is capable of playing both characters so well. But the grave similarity is that neither is funny.
The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy
The King of Comedy
With Robert DeNiro’s recent disastrous turn as grizzled stand-up comedian Jackie Burke in “The Comedian,” I was reminded of another time DeNiro played a comedian – this time to much loftier results. The year was 1983 – just seven years removed from his career-making turn in Martin Scorsese’s tour de force “Taxi Driver" and just three years removed from his Oscar-winning turn in Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.” This time Scorsese used DeNiro as a wannabe comedian named Rupert Pupkin. The differences between DeNiro’s boorish lout Jackie and the milquetoast but determined Pupkin are striking. Perhaps only DeNiro is capable of playing both characters so well. But the grave similarity is that neither is funny.