I just found a laserdisc version, so CD-Rom was not the only format for this release.
1989
60 min.
Directed by Bran Ferren
Cast includes (but is not limited to), playing themselves: Emanuel Azenberg, Bob Balaban, Peter Boyle, Marshall Brickman, Roger Caras, Dick Cavett, Didi Conn, Melissa Gilbert, Adolph Green, Anne Jackson, Alan King, James, Kirkwood Jr., Jim Lowe, Sidney Lumet, Susan Ruttan, Gene Saks, Murray Sayle, Fred Schneider, Eli Wallach, Henny Youngman, Frank Zappa, Mort Zuckerman, etc.
Unlike either a John Candy or a Woody Allen film, "Funny" doesn't leave you waiting very long between laughs: There are 89 genuine, guaranteed jokes in Bran Ferren's quirky, fast-paced anthology, a sort of "Punchline" without the lugubrious plot—just lots of would-be stand-up and sit-down comedians.
Among the celebrities who might get invited back for auditions at the local comedy club: droll deejay Jim Lowe, Broadway writer Adolph Green (his body English is terrific), publisher Mort Zuckerman and naturalist Roger Caras (great voice, technique and character). Musicians Frank Zappa and Fred Schneider are funnier in their own milieu, while actors Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Melissa Gilbert and Balaban are surprisingly stiff in their deliveries. There are only two professional comedians: Alan King comes across as self-centered; Henny Youngman is his usual untouchably unique self.
"Funny" is unrated and contains a number of off-color jokes.
Wasn't this a CD-ROM only project?
As far as I know, it was CD-ROM only. The FZ segment is about 30 seconds long, and goes like this:
Frank: (Laughs slightly at something just said, appears to chuckle for a moment.)
Man off camera: (Says something, but is laughing too hard to tell what he's saying.)
Frank: (Groans.) That's like the... what do you... what do you call a person from New Zealand with more than two girlfriends?
Man off camera: What?
Frank: A shepherd.
(Rim-shot sound added)
Basically, it looks like the guy off camera told a real groaner, so Frank told another one. Nothing to write home about, really. Some of the other people are in several segments, but there's just this one with FZ. I'll bet there was some fun footage that didn't make it in, though.
I just found a laserdisc version, so CD-Rom was not the only format for this release.
Maintained by Román García Albertos