Is Davis Newman supposed to be funny?
Because I thought he was painfully unfunny. Was he meant to be like that?
Quite a good film, though.
He was wretchedly unfunny. I think that's how the average person found Lenny Bruce, though, that Bob Fosse made a movie about previous to this one. Maybe that's the reference.
shareIt's definitely a reference to Lenny and the character of Newman is meant as a criticism of Dustin Hoffman but Lenny Bruce was funny at least when he was shown at the peak of his career.
Newman was never funny.
That character was like a primer for Dane Cook. You don't have to write anything funny, just over pronounce and over do your gestures and be loud and sheep will applaud.
He was hideous. Nothing like Lenny Bruce or even Dustin Hoffman as Bruce.
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I can see your dirty pillows.
It's OK on its own. Nothing remarkable and quite indicative of a stand-up comic in a small venue in the 70's.
The main reason it hurts so much is that it's a lame bit that we have to listen to over and over, dissected and in pieces and it just becomes more lame with every telling. If you just heard the bit once and it was sandwiched between some great comedy bits, it might not be so bad.
And lots of rum usually helps.
"Atlas Shrugged- Part 2"- Coming in 2012! --The saga continues!
Actually Fosse using Cliff Gorman for this part was very significant. Fosse wanted to use him to be Lenny Bruce in Lenny. But the studio made him use someone famous and that is how Dustin Hoffman got the part. I can very much imagine that if Dustin Hoffman did come to see Fosse in the hospital. He would be about as funny and entertaining as bark on a tree, as portrayed in in ATJ.
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