“The Last Laugh” is a feature documentary that proceeds from the premise that the Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy. But is it? History shows that even the victims of the Nazi concentration camps themselves used humor as a means of survival and resistance. Still, any use of comedy in connection with this horror risks diminishing the suffering of millions. So where is the line? If we make the Holocaust off limits, what are the implications for other controversial subjects — 9/11, AIDS, racism — in a society that prizes freedom of speech?
Shot on Super 16mm, “The Last Laugh” thoughtfully weaves together an intimate cinema verité portrait of Auschwitz survivor Renee Firestone alongside interviews with influential comedians and thinkers ranging from Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, and Gilbert Gottfried to authors Etgar Keret, Shalom Auslander, and Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, as well as archival 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 doing so, “The Last Laugh” offers fresh insights into the Holocaust in a way we haven’t seen before.
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”).
Official Selection of:
- Tribeca Film Festival
- HotDocs
- San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
- BFI London Film Festival
- Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival
- Jerusalem Film Festival
- Rome Film Festival
- Dallas VideoFest (winner)
- Aspen FilmFest
- Chicago International Film Festival
Featuring 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, and Renee Firestone.
Written by Robert Edwards and Ferne Pearlstein.
Directed, Photographed and Edited by Ferne Pearlstein.
Opens in N.Y. on March 3rd and in L.A. on March 17th with a national roll out to follow
