Doc Watch: Funny Ha-Ha

MISERY LOVES COMEDY (B) - We just never tire of documentaries about the art of comedy. See also "Comedian," "The Aristrocrats," etal.

Here, veteran funnyman Kevin Pollak assembles a truckload of fellow comics (and offspring of comics, plus a widow of one) for an examination of what makes comedians tick. It's not much of an intellectual exercise -- and he fails to really prove his premise -- but his interviews elicit a lot of refreshing honesty, introspection and emotion. Not to mention laughs.

You either want to spend an hour and a half with insecure, neurotic comedians or you don't. The talent assembled here is quite an array of funny men and women. There's your ringers like Tom Hanks, Bob Saget, Amy Schumer, Martin Short, Lewis Black, Larry David and Jimmy Fallon. There are under-appreciated geniuses such as Stephen Merchant, Maria Bamford, Matt Walsh and Dana Gould; back-benchers like Alan Zweibel, Bobby Slayton, Paul Tomkins, Mike Birbiglia, David Koechner, Kathleen Madigan and Greg Proops; over-exposed moderately funny folks like Mark Maron, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Norton, Kevin Nealon, Chris Hardwick, Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith; people you don't think of as classic stand-up comedians, such as Bobby Cannavale (he's got good stories), Sam Rockwell, Jon Favreau and Matthew Perry. We're even treated to George Carlin's daughter, Mitch Hedberg's widow and Freddie Prinze Jr. We're spared Jerry Seinfeld; we get Jason Alexander instead.

It's great company. Christopher Guest, now an elder statesman, simply can't not be funny. Janeane Garafolo is a sight for sore eyes. Australian Jim Jefferies steals the show with some delightful insights into the craft.

That's it. Nothing fancy here. It's a parade of talking heads. Endlessly entertaining talking heads. I could try to pluck out a bunch of one-liners, but I would do none of them justice. Few of them are gut-busters. This is not a game of one-up-manship like "The Aristocrats"; it's a relaxed exploration of the art of comedy. What it lacks in insights it makes up for in charm.

BONUS TRACK
Here's the trailer: