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Comedian (2002)
6.9/10on IMDb
Released
The closest thing to a manual for stand-up. It follows Jerry Seinfeld as he relaunches his stand-up career with brand-new material, bombing and rebuilding in small clubs like anyone else, while newcomer Orny Adams chases late-night spots and a sitcom deal.
The pairing is the point. One comic has every advantage and still struggles to make five minutes work; the other has hunger and not much else. Anyone who has tried an open mic will recognize the notebook-scribbling and the silent drive home.
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The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling (2018)
8.4/10on IMDb
First aired
Judd Apatow's portrait draws on Garry Shandling's own journals, private letters and home video, so you get his thinking in his own hand: notes to himself about honesty, ego and what makes a joke true, alongside interviews with nearly four dozen friends, family and colleagues.
It is long and often more sad than funny. But for anyone who loved It's Garry Shandling's Show or The Larry Sanders Show, it explains how one restless mind shaped TV comedy and the people who made it.
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The Aristocrats (2005)
6.4/10on IMDb
Released
A whole film about one joke. Dozens of comedians tell the same filthy, ancient backstage gag, each in their own way, and the real subject becomes performance itself: how timing, voice and nerve turn identical words into wildly different results.
It is a masterclass disguised as a dare. Be warned that the material is as crude as it gets and repeats by design; if that sounds tiresome, the craft discussion between tellings is what keeps it fascinating.
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Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of The Dana Carvey Show (2017)
7.7/10on IMDb
Released
The funniest film here about failure. The Dana Carvey Show had a primetime slot on ABC and rising talents such as Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and Louis C.K., and it collapsed almost instantly.
What makes it essential is the post-mortem: the people involved laugh about it, argue about it and own their mistakes, which shows how network comedy gets made, sold and killed. A cheerful watch that doubles as a lesson in knowing your audience, and a reminder that a flop can launch careers.
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Dying Laughing (2017)
6.8/10on IMDb
Released
No single star, just a long run of working comedians talking frankly about the job: the high of a killer set, the misery of a dead room, the travel, the loneliness and the strange need to keep doing it.
It plays like a group therapy session for stand-ups, and it leans more sad than funny. Watch it for the shop talk about hecklers, bombing and writing, which is about as close as an outsider gets to the conversations comics have after the show.
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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)
7.3/10on IMDb
Released
Filmed as Joan Rivers turned 75, it shows a legend who still feared an empty calendar. She chases bookings, works on material and frets about the next job, and the film never pretends the hustle is glamorous.
It is the best portrait here of comedy as a business: the money, the insecurity and the refusal to slow down. Rivers is ferociously funny on stage and startlingly candid off it, which makes this both a laugh and a gut punch.
More about Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work7
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop (2011)
7.0/10on IMDb
Released
Shot during Conan O'Brien's Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television tour, after he left The Tonight Show, this catches a performer who cannot switch off. He is charming on stage and exhausted and prickly backstage, where his constant needling of his staff struck some reviewers as affectionate and others as mean.
That honesty is why it belongs here. It shows what a comedian does with anger and a sudden void in his career, and how much grinding work goes into making a live show look loose and silly.
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George Carlin's American Dream (2022)
8.3/10on IMDb
First aired
A two-part HBO portrait from Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio that won the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. It tracks George Carlin from clean-cut nightclub comic to the counterculture's sharpest stand-up, and on to the angry philosopher of his later specials.
The value for comedy fans is in the reinventions: how Carlin tore up a successful act, rebuilt his voice and kept writing new material for decades. It also handles his addiction and family life without softening them, so expect the second half to hit harder.
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Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (2026)
First aired
Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio's two-part HBO documentary sits Mel Brooks down for long interviews and lets him tell it: from writing for live television to The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, with plenty of archive footage in between.
This is the warmest film here and one of the funniest, because Brooks is still a performer in every answer. It also has quieter stretches on self-doubt and his marriage to Anne Bancroft, which give the gags weight. Ideal for anyone who wants comedy history told by someone who lived most of it.
More about Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!10
STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces (2024)
7.5/10on IMDb
First aired
Morgan Neville's Apple TV+ documentary comes in two parts that work as a matched pair. Then covers Steve Martin's rise up to the moment he quit stand-up in 1980, told through archive with no talking heads on screen; Now follows the 70-something Martin at home and at work, doing most of the talking himself.
The first half is a precise study of how he built an anti-comedy act from props, banjo and studied absurdity until it filled arenas. The second is gentler and surprisingly moving about what he chose instead.
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Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)
7.6/10on IMDb
Released
Built from behind-the-scenes footage shot while Jim Carrey played Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon, footage that sat unseen for nearly 20 years. Carrey stayed in character as Kaufman, and as Kaufman's alter ego Tony Clifton, on and off camera, and the crew's bewilderment is all on tape.
Present-day Carrey is the only interviewee, reflecting on identity and performance. It is unsettling more than funny, and the best film here on what happens when a comic commits to a bit completely.
More about Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton12
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
7.9/10on IMDb
Released
HBO's portrait of Robin Williams is told largely in his own words, from the wild late-1970s stand-up years onward, so the film moves at something like his own speed.
It is the clearest look here at improvisation as a way of thinking: the archive shows him spinning whole routines out of a single prompt. The final stretch is heartbreaking, and the film is honest about it, so this is one to save for when you want the joy and the sorrow together.
More about Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind13
Love, Gilda (2018)
7.4/10on IMDb
Released
Gilda Radner's diaries, audiotapes and home videos carry this portrait of the original Saturday Night Live star, with friends and colleagues filling in the rest.
It shows how character comedy is built, from childhood games to Roseanne Roseannadanna, and how much of Radner's own life went into her characters. Expect tears near the end. Fans of sketch comedy will also enjoy present-day performers reading her words and explaining what she meant to them.
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John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
8.0/10on IMDb
Released
Colin Hanks directs this Prime Video portrait of John Candy, produced by Ryan Reynolds, following him from his breakout on SCTV in Canada to some of the biggest comedies of the 1980s and 1990s.
Never-before-seen home videos and memories from family and close friends make it as much about the man as the movies, including the pressures he battled off camera. It is a gentle, affectionate watch, and a natural companion to the SCTV documentary on this list.
More about John Candy: I Like Me15
Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald (2026)
Released
Judd Apatow's Netflix documentary on Norm Macdonald, the master of deadpan, whose life and career were uncompromising and full of contradictions.
Macdonald built a cult around jokes that go on far too long on purpose and a refusal to play to the room. That makes him an ideal subject for anyone curious about anti-comedy and total commitment to a bit, and a strong pick if you already love his talk-show appearances and want the person behind the poker face.
More about Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald16
Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story (2026)
Released
Co-directed by Judd Apatow and Neil Berkeley, this Netflix portrait follows Maria Bamford, the stand-up who turned her own mental health struggles into some of the most original material around.
It asks where jokes come from when life is hard, blurring the line between performance and personal crisis. Bamford's voices and characters are wildly funny, and the film treats the illness behind them with care rather than spectacle.
More about Paralyzed by Hope: The Maria Bamford Story17
SCTV: The Greatest Show You've Never Heard Of (2026)
Released
Jason Hehir's Netflix documentary reunites the cast of Second City Television to tell the rise, fall and lasting legacy of a scrappy Canadian sketch show that made comedy history.
The draw for comedy fans is the format: a fake TV station as a framework for endless parody, which let its cast play network bosses, hosts and viewers all at once. A great primer if you know alumni like John Candy and Catherine O'Hara but never saw the show itself.
More about SCTV: The Greatest Show You've Never Heard Of18
Who Is Martin Mull? (2026)
Released
Directed by Bob Saget and Neil Berkeley for Netflix, this traces Martin Mull's restless reinventions, from folk clubs to sitcoms to gallery walls, told in his own words and by friends including Steve Martin, Tom Waits and David Alan Grier.
Mull is the cult comic many fans know only from supporting roles, and the film makes the case for his deadpan as a quiet influence. Pick it if you like the odd, sideways careers in comedy more than the superstar ones.
More about Who Is Martin Mull?19
Live from New York! (2015)
6.7/10on IMDb
Released
Made for Saturday Night Live's 40th anniversary, this goes inside the show to explore how its comedy has reflected and shaped American politics, tragedy and pop culture.
It is less about backstage gossip than about what topical sketch comedy is for, with clips from political impressions and the show's return after the September 11 attacks. A good overview before digging into the individual SNL portraits elsewhere on this list.
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The Comedy Store (2020)
8.2/10on IMDb
First aired
A documentary series about one club: The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, which has launched the careers of a remarkable run of stars.
Pick it to understand the club circuit as an ecosystem, with its gatekeepers, rivalries and late-night excess. Some chapters are wild and funny, others dark. Watch it when you want the stories comics tell about each other rather than one person's life.
More about The Comedy Store21
Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America (2009)
7.5/10on IMDb
First aired
PBS's history of American comedy mixes performance, biography and history, with interviews with more than 90 comedians, writers, producers and historians.
This is the survey course of the list: vaudeville, slapstick, sitcoms, satire and stand-up laid out as one family tree, so you can see who borrowed what from whom. Lighter on raw emotion than the portraits, but ideal for anyone who wants context before choosing which comic to dig into next.
More about Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America22
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (2015)
7.2/10on IMDb
Released
The history of National Lampoon, from a subversive humor magazine in the 1970s through radio, stage shows and movies, with rare footage throughout.
Here comedy is an institution rather than one person: a group of writers builds a voice, feeds talent into Saturday Night Live and Hollywood, and then burns out. The title is a fair warning about the casualties, so the second half is more cautionary tale than celebration.
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Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) (2009)
8.1/10on IMDb
First aired
A six-part series covering 40 years of Monty Python, from their school and university days through Flying Circus and the films to the Spamalot era, with the surviving members interviewed at length.
It is a rare chance to hear a comedy group explain how they wrote together, fought over credit and kept working anyway. Fans of British sketch comedy will love the detail; newcomers get the context to see why the group still shapes absurd humor today.
More about Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)24
Lucy and Desi (2022)
7.7/10on IMDb
Released
Amy Poehler's documentary debut, made for Prime Video, explores the partnership of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, the couple behind I Love Lucy.
Watch it to see a sitcom built as a business as well as a performance: Ball's physical comedy on one side, Arnaz's production instincts on the other. Their own recordings carry much of it, and the marriage story makes it as touching as it is funny.
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