
The King of Comedy
- PG
- Year:
- 1982
- 109 min
- 515 Views
FADE IN:
1EXT:
MIDTOWN MANHATTAN STREETS - DAYBehind the opening credits, we watch a montage of RUPERT
PUPKIN making his daily rounds as a messenger delivering
manila envelopes and packages to various New York offices,
always courteous and polite in his demeanor, PUPKIN is an
attractive-looking young man just past thirty and dressed
in a stylish blue suit, broad tie and wide-collared shirt.
His shoes are neatly polished, his hair carefully groomed.
As the montage continues, we see that he has finished his
deliveries and is walking rapidly towards his destination.
It turns out to be a television theater north of Times
Square whose marquee announces THE JERRY LANGFORD SHOW.
It is dusk and the show is about to break. There is a
very small crowd already positioned at the stage door --
a few young girls, a few curious passers-by who have
stopped to see who will emerge. Three professional
autograph hunters are clustered together:
MAE, a lady in her sixties, wears a red velvet dress, a
lace hat and much too much rouge.
SIDNEY is in his mid-twenties, tall, badly-complexioned,
slicked hair but otherwise neatly dressed. He carries
CELESTE is an enormously fat woman in her mid-thirties.
She wears a large cape to conceal her obesity.
A middle-aged MAN, dressed in a corduroy suit, emerges
from the backstage door which is guarded by a large,
white-haired POLICEMAN. The non-professionals in the
crowd just peer at the MAN but MAE immediately steps in
front of him with her autograph book raised.
MAE:
(to the MAN)
Are you somebody?
MAN:
No, honey, I'm just a working stiff.
The MAN keep walking and MAE returns to her cohorts
just as PUPKIN arrives.
MAE:
Hi, Rupert.
CELESTE:
(coolly)
Hello, Rupert.
SIDNEY:
Who did you get?
PUPKIN:
(distractedly)
Nobody.
PUPKIN carefully places himself near the door, a step or
two away from the other professionals.
MAE:
(to SIDNEY)
I got Mr. Raf Vallone outside 21.
CELESTE:
He'd never tell you anyway, Sidney.
MAE:
Then I got him again at the
Pierre at four o'clock.
SIDNEY:
Be a dear, Mae. I don't happen
to have Mr. Vallone.
MAE:
You know what I want for him.
SIDNEY:
But I have only six Barbra's left.
You know how difficult she is to
work with.
MAE:
I don't have her even once.
CELESTE:
(to MAE)
PUPKIN shoots a hostile glance back at CELESTE.
SIDNEY:
Would you do that, Rupert? You don't
feel about Barbra the way I do.
MAE:
I'll give you Mr. Burt Reynolds too.
CELESTE:
(needling RUPERT)
Look, Sidney, Rupert doesn't do
that sort of thing.
SIDNEY:
How about it, Rupert? I'll give
you whoever you want.
SIDNEY starts pulling little white cards out of his paper
bag and reading them off.
SIDNEY:
Rodney Dangerfield ... Richard
Harris ... Liza Minelli ... and
she's not so easy to work with
either ... Louise Lasser!
CELESTE:
You're wasting your time.
PUPKIN has been trying to remain apart from the other
three. Finally he turns to SIDNEY.
PUPKIN:
Look, Sidney. I'm just not
interested. This isn't my
whole life, you know.
CELESTE:
What's that supposed to mean --
that it's my whole life, or
Sidney's or Mae's?
MAE:
It is so my whole life.
CELESTE:
Shut up, Mae. What about your
mother? Isn't she part of
your life?
MAE:
It's her whole life too.
The show breaks. The doors swing open and people pour out.
The crowd around the backstage door swells.
POLICEMAN:
(to the crowd)
If you want Jerry's autograph, give
me your piece of paper and I'll
send it backstage.
A number of people in the crowd hand in pieces of paper.
(1.00 / 1 vote)
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"The King of Comedy" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2021. Web. 8 Mar. 2021. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_king_of_comedy_888>.