The Bitter Buddha

THE BITTER BUDDHA is a documentary that tells the story of comedian Eddie Pepitone's failure to have become a successful comedian by age 52. Understandably, he's bitter; it's the nectar of his humor. The "Buddha" part is less obvious. If it was intended to mock his improved outlook after achieving sobriety, I'm not laughing. Maybe this is a clue why comedic success has eluded him.< That's not entirely fair for me to say. He is actually very funny, albeit inconsistently. He's addicted to tweeting, here's my favorite featured in the movie: "Whenever someone yells 'can I get a woot woot?' I like to yell 'only if you promise to read a book in your lifetime."< There are many talented artists who fail to achieve material success, and it is a very sad and all too common circumstance. One tries to control luck, contain their bewilderment and confusion as less talented people speed right past them. If these factors seem discouraging,imagine the impact of having the story of your failure as the subject of a film that features comments from your more successful peers praising your talent as they contemplate why you haven't been able to achieve what they have. Gee, if only they could put in a good word for you…… Dana Gould, a (rather) successful comedian comments: "I wouldn't say he walks the talk so much as he trudges the trudge." With friends like these….. I couldn't discern the intention of this movie. If it's meant to be a launching pad for his comedy career, it's disingenuous. It feels like a showcase (a performance intended for an industry audience, usually not as good as a show for a general audience). If it's meant to depict the unfortunate realization of unrecognized talent, it feels mean spirited. Despite this criticism, I am comfortable recommending the film, as Mr. Pepitone is genuinely funny, but I add the caveat that it will be most enjoyed by comedy fans and those who know the entertainment business rather than civilians who have had no exposure to what happens behind the scenes while they're laughing.

I've been hearing Eddie Pepitone on Dana Gould's podcast for a while now, loving his thoughts, jokes, and take on the world. When I saw that this doc was on Amazon Prime, I had to watch it and man, was I rewarded.

It's well worth it to see this for Pepitone's stand-up alone, but the peaks behind the curtain to get a feel for the real struggles this guy is going up against are really what pulled me in. Hilarious but tortured is a common statement for a lot of stand-ups and Pepitone fits that perfectly. Yet, while he's struggling with a lot of different aspects of life and himself, you do get the sense that he's making progress, understanding and coping to the extent that he can and getting better or at least trying to. Some of the people interviewed cast him in lesser light or go after him because of his level of success hasn't reached their level of respectability which shows their own lack of understanding in our niche media world. If he's able to be successful enough to live in LA by just doing stand-up and bit parts, then he's on a level that most people who dream of doing that will never achieve. Perhaps some of his recovery would be stronger if he dropped the friends that seemed to just use him as a punching bag.

Soapbox aside, I heartily laughed at the comedy and the by the numbers "working my way up to a big show" end was easy to give yourself over to since the charm helped you believe in it more. His show-stopping heckler bit at the end was genius and the highlight of the show.

Watch this one now.

Eddie Pepitone is an older comedian who can't quite get his stardom. He was originally from Staten Island with his angry father and is now living in LA. He's cleaned up his life. He has a girl. He has his cats. Marc Maron makes fun of him a lot. Patton Oswalt is a good friend. He specializes in yelly loud angry standups. He's into tweeting. But is he too old to make it big?

There are some suggestion of difficulties in his life. But I feel that's what's missing from this documentary. Instead we mostly have cameras following Eddie around. We get glimpses of his life, but nothing too deep. There are some funny bits. Everybody is making fun of everybody else. It all ends with a big standup gigs at Gotham in NYC. If he wasn't willing to get psychologically deep, it may be better to do a regular standup special.

What a great documentary.

This is not just for people that comedy nerds. This has an additional theme running through it that most of us didn't expect. It was a well done documentary. I highly recommend it. I laughed, was sad, was surprised and glad that I paid the money for this movie. We need more movies like this.

I think many young comedians are going to understand some of the gems he shares along the way in this documentary. All of you young comedians that purely do topic comedy will have something to think about.