On DVD: I Am Comic Director Jordan Brady Gets Serious About Humor

"A series of talking heads does not a movie make," says comedian-turned-filmmaker Jordan Brady, and that automatically puts him ahead of about 70 percent of the documentarians in the marketplace today. It also helps explain why I Am Comic (now available on DVD from Monterey Video) is so bracingly entertaining when it could have just been a bunch of funny people sitting around being funny about being funny.

In addition to interviews with many of comedy's leading lights (Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman, Kathy Griffin, Phyllis Diller, and Lewis Black, to name just a few), I Am Comic features Ritch Shydner, a prosperous TV writer who was a stand-up star back in the days when Johnny Carson was still hosting The Tonight Show. Over the course of the film, we see Shydner get the itch to go back onstage, and he goes from being the film's Greek chorus to its protagonist.

Shydner has a lot in common with the film's director -- Brady was a stand-up and MTV host (remember Turn It Up?) who earns a living making commercials but also makes well-received indie flicks like festival hit Dill Scallion. In an IM interview, Brady spoke with Movieline about the film and the addictive nature of stand-up comedy.

I have to start with a confession.

You hate the film?

No! But when I met you and Ritch before the screening [at the Bel-Air Film Festival], I totally didn't recognize either of you. But then when you showed the vintage clips in the movie, it was like, "Oh, THEM!"

Well, Ritch has been out of the limelight a while, and my fame was junior varsity at best.

And you've found a better haircut. So I think what really elevates the movie is the Ritch through-line, the journey he winds up taking. Was that a surprise that popped up along the way, or did you know that getting him back in the game would whet his appetite for stand-up?

Well from the start, after interviewing comics, I toyed with idea of following young up-and-comer, had some good leads, and then I noticed Ritch getting all flustered and such after interviews -- and he walked out of a club in NYC while we chilled watching comics. Like, I bought the crew drinks and nachos after we interviewed, watched a show, but Ritch could not take it. That night I told him he had six weeks to get five minutes, then I would sign him up for an open-mic night.

Is comedy something that one can analyze without sucking the life out of it?

Jerry Seinfeld says, "When you dissect comedy, it often dies on the operating table." So I was very mindful of that. I had to make at least a humorous film, or it would die a slooowww... painful... death.

So you've also left stand-up for a more lucrative career. Do you ever get the urge to go back onstage?

I did a show at Borders in Westwood in June and "The Laugh Pack" comedy night in a cowboy bar in the valley last month, probably two or three shows a year. The film made me realize some comics are f*cking awesome while others have so little new to offer,

so yeah, the film fueled the itch. I can manage the swagger, 'cause directing uses that at times, but the material -- man, it's tough to write good stuff. Ritch, oddly, lost his swagger until really the end of the film.

So you've had some success in indie films, but your day job is doing commercials. Do you see yourself continuing to go back and forth between the two?

God willing, yes sir. I love indie film. My one studio, Miramax in the Harvey days [with the film Waking Up in Reno, starring Billy Bob Thornton], was a behind-the-scenes chore, a great opportunity I was not ready for, he-says-with-humility. But true indie film is a rush, and such a pure expression for a director and his/her point of view, I feel.

Anything currently in the hopper?

You mean other than I shoot McDonald's "Extra Value Meal with a Dreamworks DVD" commercial next week? Kidding. Yes: A sequel docu focusing on urban stand-ups, We Be Comics. Seriously yes. Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and young guys I've discovered after doing this. And also a mockumentary on a Prince-like character, now middle-aged, called Velvet Hail. It's a passion project I've flirted with for years, and now I am ready, damn it.

What's the best one-liner you've heard recently?

Wow. I read a LOT of funny tweets, but hard to remember. Hang on, here's a tweet from Dana Gould (@danajgould): "You know one of the miners is all, 'Let's stay in touch! Reunion committee sign-up!' And the others are all rolling their eyes."