Cinema Canada (Jan-Feb 1981)

IN PROGRES Comics “My feet are freezing.” “T-wish I was like Miles. He has electric socks.” “What ?” “Electric socks. Socks with an element wrapped around inside. Like an electric blanket.” It’s past midnight on the set of Comics, and there are still four more hours to go. No one ever said night shooting in Montreal during November was easy — especially when the story is set in Los Angeles. The former Pretzel Enchainé on Clark Street has become The Funny Farm, a fictitious LA. comedy club. Its interior is remarkable : wall-sized posters of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields and The Marx Brothers loom high above the small black tables, cluttered with Budweiser and Miller Lite bottles that surround the tiny, empty stage upon which the comics will later succeed or fail. But tonight the shooting takes place outside in the parking lot — where the temperature is —6° Celsius. Standing in the middle of the set, wrapped in a thick blue parka and smoking a cigar, is Ron Clark, directing his first feature film. He appears unperturbed by the cold or by the lapses in concentration his cast and crew are experiencing during their first shot back after supper. The long Comics p.c. Filmplan International 1980 exec. p. Pierre David, Victor Solnicki p. Claude Héroux d. Ron Clark d.o.p. René Verzier 1st a.d. John Fretz p.man. Roger Héroux p.co-ord. Daniéle Rohr bach unit man. Jean Savard 2nd a.d. Frank Ruszczynski 3rd a.d. Michel Sarao loc.man. Christine Burke sec. to p. Monique Legaré admin.asst. Mei Chan cont. France Boudreau art.d. Carol Spier, Barbara Dunphy (1st asst), Nikki Geoghegan (2nd asst.) set dress. Serge Bureau, Pierre Gros D’Aillon props mas. Gilles Aird set props Jean Bourret, Michel Comte carp. Dean Eilertson hair Constant Natale make-up Kathryn Casault focus puller Denis Gingras 2nd asst. cam. Jean Jacques Gervais stills Pierre Dury gaf. Don Caulfield elec. Yves Tessier key grip Francois Dupéré 2nd grip Michel Périard sd. Jos Champagne boom Yvon Benoit ed. Marcus Manton, Jean Marc Magnan (asst.) cast. Ginette D’Amico, Elo Gallant (asst.) drivers Claude Delorme, Charles Toupin, Murray Ostroff pub. Pierre Brousseau I.p. Jack Carter, Eileen Brenner, Miles Chapin, Tracy Bregman, Howie Mandel, Peter Aykroyd, Gene Clark, Maurice Lamarche, Alan Riven, Marjorie Gross, Mike McDonald, Tony Molesworth, Marty Galin, Lou Dinos, Howard Busgang, Alan Katz, Briane Nasimok, Arthur Corber ae 4/January—February 1981 On the steps of The Funny Farm comedy club, they'll do anything for a laugh: here (left to right) Comics’ Howie Mandel, Marjorie Gross, Eugene Clark and Peter Ackroyd. cover shot calls for Howie Mandel, playing a hyper comic moonlighting as a pizza delivery driver, to pull up his car on the sidewalk in front of parking lot attendant Marty Balin. After shuffling frantically up and down the stairs trying to decide whether to go inside or to deliver the pizzas, Mandel finally goes in and Balin helps himself to a snack as he parks the car in the street. “Is there a pizza we can rehearse with ?” calls first assistant director John Fretz over the megaphone. During the first dry run, Mandel forgets to shift the car into park. With one foot out the front door, both he and the vehicle suddenly lurch backwards toward the camera. The crew crack up. “Howie,” Clark quietly suggests to his actor before the next run-through, “there’s also an emergency brake.” During another rehearsal, Mandel goes inside, then comes right out during Balin’s action. “Don’t stop until someone yells ‘cut’,” shouts Fretz. “I know,” replies Mandel, “I just didn’t want to get warm.” After several rehearsals, they're ready for the real thing. Take one is great, except, as script person France Boudreau points out, the parking sign is missing. “Someone must have forgot,” says Clark calmly. After it’s put back in place, they try again. This time, there is no pizza for Balin, who plays out the shot anyway with an invisible slice. Clark reacts with humor. “Cest le théatre de lavant-garde,” he quips to the crew. During take three, both parking sign and pizza are in place. “Good. Not great,” declares Clark. “Let’s do it again.” He confers with director of photography René Verzier: “There are still some shadows.” Take four is a winner. Mandel, Balin, the camera, the parking sign and the pizza are all great Ron Clark, even though he wrote the script, even though he’s seen the shot nearly ten times already, even though it’s cold and conditions aren't great, still laughs at the funny parts. “I find comics fascinating,” says Clark, who has lived around them for the last twenty years, writing stand-up material for Jack Carter, Buddy Hackett, and Alan King; television shows for Steve Allen, Jackie Gleason, and The Smothers Brothers; hit plays for Broadway; and films for Mel Brooks and Blake Edwards. “A profession in which you make people laugh is half noble and half crazy. The difficulties and chances of failure are tremendous.” Comics is the story of Mark Chapman (played by Miles Chapin), a kid from Cleveland who drops out of college to try to make it as a stand-up in LA. He meets a lot of other young comics at The Funny Farm, lands a job as the club’s parking lot attendant, and falls in love with an actress moonlighting as a waitress (Tracy Bregman). Mark’s debut as a comie¢ is mediocre, he becomes discouraged and thinks of going home. Instead, he tries again and succeeds. He is offered a TV series, buton the verge of this overnight success the show’s producers replace him with a