A truly funny movie can be hard to come by. But if anyone could pick a film guaranteed to elicit laughter, it would be a comedian.
Enter “Comedians and Comedies,” a five-movie series hosted by Vermont International Film Foundation in which five local comedians present the films that shaped their formative years. The summer series begins this Sunday, June 16, at the Screening Room, VTIFF’s 32-seat theater at Main Street Landing in Burlington, which opened in March.
Each comedian will introduce their chosen movie by speaking about what resonates and why they find it funny. VTIFF tabbed Marianne DiMascio, cofounder of the sketch comedy troupe Stealing From Work, to pick the comics. The movie lineup includes both beloved classics and more obscure finds, according to VTIFF executive director Steve MacQueen.
“What’s funny is such an interesting idea, right? It’s so subjective,” he said. “I thought it’d be funny to get people who are paid to be funny’s perspective.”
Kicking off the series on Sunday, June 16, comic Adison Eyring presents Drop Dead Gorgeous, a mockumentary film that satirizes the world of beauty pageants. Despite its initial flop at the box office in 1999, the film is now considered a cult classic.
Next up, on June 22, is Real Genius, a 1985 sci-fi comedy starring Val Kilmer. An uptight first-year student at the fictional Pacific Tech college gets paired up with a genius senior to work on a laser, only to learn the government intends to use their project as a weapon. Max Higgins, who won a Seven Daysies award for Vermont’s best standup comic in 2023, said he’s been a longtime fan of Kilmer’s dry humor.
“It’s this classic thing of this, like, really uptight character being pushed to his limits by this absolutely crazy, off-the-wall guy,” Higgins said. “Watching the dynamic of those two is so funny.”
On July 5, Seth Jarvis, a director for Stealing From Work, introduces the 1933 film Design for Living, the oldest movie in the series. Risqué for its time, the movie is about three Americans who find themselves in a ménage à trois in Paris.
DiMascio presents Harold and Maude on August 2. The 1971 romantic comedy follows Harold, a young man fixated with death, as his relationship with the 79-year-old Maude gives him a new perspective on living life to the fullest. The movie holds nostalgia for DiMascio, who remembers watching it as a child with her mother.
“It’s quirky; it’s sad. Probably inappropriate in some places,” DiMascio said. “I just grew up loving the film.”
Concluding the series on August 11 is The Incredible Shrinking Woman starring Lily Tomlin, about a woman who gets poisoned by the chemicals in her household products and shrinks in size. Amy Halpin Riley, cofounder of Full Circle Theater Collaborative in South Hero and also a member of Stealing From Work, presents the 1981 sci-fi comedy.
MacQueen said the movie is one of the more unique picks in the series.
“I’ve never heard anybody list that movie as one of their top-10 comedies of all time,” he said. “So it’d be great to see somebody who I know is funny tell me why it’s funny.”
“Comedians and Comedies”: Drop Dead Gorgeous, Sunday, June 16, 3 p.m.; Real Genius, Saturday, June 22, 7 p.m.; Design for Living, Friday, July 5, 7 p.m.; Harold and Maude, Friday, August 2, 7 p.m.; and The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Sunday, August 11, 3 p.m., at the Screening Room @ VTIFF, Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center, in Burlington. $5-10. vtiff.org
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2024.
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