Exploring Genre – Laughing ‘Til It Hurts: The Dark Side of Comedy
Sponsored by the Ed Berkowitz Film Education Fund.
Groucho Marx once explained the difference between amateur and professional comedians:
“An amateur thinks it’s really funny if you dress a man up as an old lady, put him in a wheelchair, and give the wheelchair a push that sends it spinning down a slope towards a stone wall.
For a pro, it’s got to be a real old lady.”
The best comedy, in other words, makes no waivers. It is real, and often it is harsh. In this evening event, NPR film critic Bob Mondello will guide the audience through a tour of comedy’s dark side, from the pratfalls that Plautus used to entertain ancient Rome all the way up to the Oscar-winning comic riffs of BIRDMAN. A 45-minute multimedia lecture will be followed by a screening of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, Mel Brooks’ classic 1974 film starring Gene Hackman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr and Madeline Kahn.
Series Events
Lecture and screening of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
Thu, Nov 5, 7:30 pm – 10:15 pm
Tickets: $20 / $18 Avalon members
Series Curators
Bob Mondello has reviewed movies and covered the arts for NPR News for more than a quarter century, seeing at least 250 films and 100 plays annually, then sharing critiques and commentaries about the most intriguing on NPR’s award-winning newsmagazine All Things Considered. Mondello has also written about the arts for such diverse publications as USA Today, The Washington Post, and Preservation Magazine, as well as for commercial and public television stations. He has been a lead theater critic for Washington City Paper, D.C.’s leading alternative weekly, since 1987.
The Ed Berkowitz Film Education Fund
A great friend and supporter of the Avalon, Ed Berkowitz lived in the Chevy Chase DC neighborhood and provided legal advice during the theatre’s startup period. He served on the Avalon’s Board of Directors for six years, combining a great interest in film and a dry wit that kept board meetings lively. The Ed Berkowitz Film Education Fund is funded by Ed’s family and friends to support film education programming at the Avalon. Films sponsored by the Fund reflect some of Ed’s film tastes and preferences.