For Madmen Only

Documentary - 2020 - USA - English - 87 minutes

In the history of comedy, the most famous and influential person to whom all comics pay homage is Del Close.  Starting his career with Nichols and May, training most of the original cast of SNL and forming Second City, and being the inspiration for the ever popular Upright Citizens Brigade theater (UCB), there isn't a comic working today who wasn't fostered or mentored in some way by Del.  But Close's 40+ year career had more twists and turns than anyone could have imagined, and when he's asked to write his memoir in the 1980s, his excavation of his past is something that almost undoes him completely.  Director Heather Ross' inventive, exhilarating, and constantly hilarious documentary unpacks what made Del tick, and in doing so, gives a fitting tribute to one of the most maddening and beguiling performers of all time, and a bighearted ode to the madcap pursuit of chasing creativity.  Featuring: James Urbaniak, Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Jason Sudeikis, George Wendt, Amy Poehler, and more.

Official Selection: SXSW