“Entertaining, thought-provoking…Pearlstein’s very deft assembly manages to raise all these ideas and others for viewer consideration while underlining that there are few, if any, definitive responses to them.”
— Dennis Harvey,
“Director Ferne Pearlstein [explores] not only the limits of humor and free speech today, but how Shoah victims and survivors used humor as a salve, defense mechanism and weapon despite their powerlessness.”
— Andrew Silow-Carroll,
“…entertaining and wrenching…The Last Laugh received a standing ovation at its star-studded Tribeca premiere on Monday.”
— Thelma Adams,
“Pearlstein’s film doesn't only examine the issue from those with a microphone, but through Holocaust survivors who add a deeper dimension to the film: humor as a necessary survival tool.…By seeking humor in the darkest dark, The Last Laugh gets at the intrinsic nature of comedy.”
— Jake Coyle,
“The best part about the documentary is getting to listen to these funny people talk about all of these issues.…That alone is worth the price of admission.”
— Sheila O'Malley,
“Reveals…the intensely personal nature of what people find funny.…It doesn’t downplay the tragedy behind the comedy.”
— Alex Needham,
“Is the Holocaust funny? This Tribeca documentary tackles the question of whether a great Jewish tragedy can equal comedy.”
— Gabriela Geselowitz,
ABOUT THE FILM
LONG SYNOPSIS
Are we allowed to make jokes about the Holocaust? In this outrageously funny and thought-provoking film, director Ferne Pearlstein puts the question about comedy’s ultimate taboo to legends including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried, Alan Zweibel, Harry Shearer, Jeff Ross, Judy Gold, Susie Essman, Larry Charles, Jake Ehrenreich, and many other critical thinkers, as well as Holocaust survivors themselves.
These interviews are woven together with a vast array of material ranging from “The Producers” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” to clips of comics such as Louis CK, Joan Rivers, and Chris Rock, to newly discovered footage of Jerry Lewis’ never-released film Holocaust comedy “The Day the Clown Cried,” to rare footage of cabarets inside the concentration camps themselves. In so doing, THE LAST LAUGH offers fresh insights into the Holocaust, our own psyches, and what else—9/11, AIDS, racism—is or isn’t off-limits in a society that prizes freedom of speech.
THE LAST LAUGH also disproves the idea that there is nothing left to say about the Holocaust and opens a fresh avenue for approaching this epochal tragedy. Star-studded, provocative and thoroughly entertaining, THE LAST LAUGH dares to ask uncomfortable questions about just how free speech can really be, with unexpected and hilarious results that will leave you both laughing and appreciating the importance of humor even in the face of events that make you want to cry.
Created by the award-winning team of Ferne Pearlstein (“Sumo East and West” and "Imelda"), Amy Hobby (Academy Award nominee for “What Happened, Miss Simone?”), Anne Hubbell (“Gayby”), Robert Edwards (“One More Time” aka “When I Live My Life Over Again”) and Jan Warner (“Poetry of Resilience”).
Writers Ferne Pearlstein, Robert Edwards
Producers Ferne Pearlstein, Robert Edwards, Amy Hobby, Anne Hubbell, Jan Warner
Supervising Producer Steven Bennett
Co-Producers Anne Etheridge, Dori Stegman
Associate Producers Adrienne Collatos, Yelena Rachitsky, Jamie Lauren Davis, Catherine DeCioccio
Editor Ferne Pearlstein
Cinematographers Ferne Pearlstein, Anne Etheridge
Sound Richard Fleming, Nico Ruderman
Cast Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Sarah Silverman, Robert Clary, Rob Reiner, Susie Essman, Harry Shearer, Jeffrey Ross, Alan Zweibel, Gilbert Gottfried, Judy Gold, Larry Charles, David Steinberg, Abraham Foxman, Lisa Lampanelli, David Cross, Roz Weinman, Klara Firestone, Elly Gross, Deb Filler, Etgar Keret, Shalom Auslander, Jake Ehrenreich, Hanala Sagal
FESTIVALS
2016: Tribeca, IDFA, BFI London, Hot Docs
FESTIVAL TERRITORIES
The World
EXHIBITION FORMATS
DCP, Blu-Ray, DVD
PRESS KIT
Download Press Kit
AVAILABLE PRESS IMAGES (click to preview)
DOWNLOAD IMAGES
DIALOGUE LIST
Download Timecoded Dialogue List