PUNCHING THE CLOWN 3/4 stars
Viens Films, Unrated
Not exactly a euphemism for spanking the monkey—but coming awfully close—Punching The Clown follows the mockumentary misfortunes of 21st century X-rated standup funnyman/freaky folk troubadour Henry Phillips as himself, and distills plenty of offbeat laughs. With a pseudo-serious tone serving as the setup for vintage vaudeville-derived borderline bawdy and always with a determined straight face, solemn songster Phillips manages to pull off making fun of himself without ever coming close to cracking a smile.
Photos from Punching The Clown
A small-town Bible Belt truck stop guitar strumming performer who gets nearly excommunicated after graphically sexing up his blasphemous stage routine, Henry heads to LA to pursue that elusive big city holy grail of fame and appreciation. There, his equally loser aspiring actor brother (Matt Walker) sets him up with rock bottom feeder talent agent Ellen Pinsky (small-screen Seinfeld sensation Ellen Ratner, in a zany turn that repeatedly threatens to steal the show).
Though never less than wowing his audiences, a chronically melancholy Henry is still stalled career-wise at a paycheck-free gig set up by Pinsky, featuring his salacious serenading during open mic night at a java dive know as Expresso Yourself. Pinsky’s introduction of her broke and downcast client to the phony LA swells at a wickedly satirical music industry shindig, doesn’t help matters either, or at least not until a tabloid rumor connecting a baffled Henry to bagel addiction and neo-Nazi tendencies perks up record label honcho ears, and propels him into stardom. Well, not exactly.
Boasting fabulously flamboyant screenwriting by co-conspirator and serial loon Phillips and director Gregori Viens, Punching The Clown is essentially standup comic cinema at its most irreverently outrageous, which nicely compensates for a narrative that feels far too faintly familiar. But with its bookend FCC violation inserted Captain Chaotic insomniac overnight radio show, during which jaded jock Wade Kelley and an incorrigibly raunchy pokerfaced Phillips rudely diss the FCC’s naughty word police, Punching The Clown is no-budget heady hardcore humor that is impossible to resist.
